Life Short and Sweet: 4-H Fair Time!

Fair has begun! Always a hectic but nostalgic time for me. Katie took three projects this year. She does Shooting Sports which involves a monthly meeting starting in April at the shooting range at the Linden Conservation Club. She shoots revolver, pistol, rifle, muzzle loader, and bow. Jason takes her (not my thing). She has to make a poster for the fair. She earned a blue ribbon on her poster. She also did Farm Toy Scene. This is another project Jason is more the expert in than I. She did a display board with a silo, goats, loader, and truck/trailer. She also earned a blue ribbon. By far her favorite and most involved project is her sheep. She had two sheep this year, a black face commercial ewe and a Dorset market lamb we purchased from Stillwell's in Frankfort. She was pretty good about getting up before we had to leave for the sitters to walk and feed her sheep everyday. Jason sheared them (I'm glad I just have to help with washing them) while Katie kept it calm on the stand. Getting the sheep ascetically ready for the fair is Katie's least favorite part. Her favorite is showing the sheep. This year, we met our neighbor down the road who raises Shetland sheep. He helped some local 4-Hers by leasing his sheep and teaching them about the breed. One 4-Her had his sheep in the same class, so needed someone to help show and he asked Katie. She was thrilled because she got to show more and since it is a small class, he won Grand Champion as well as other awards. He let Katie keep some of the ribbons if she promised to show Shetland's next year. She is sold because they are small and require next to no prep for fair. She will also do some market sheep, but really likes the little guys. She won first in her class with the ewe (a total surprise to both her and I) and second in her class with the market lamb. She was thrilled because the only lambs that beat hers were owned by families that show all over the place at national shows and always win at our fair. It also allowed her to show in two champion drives, which she liked because she got to show more. She also did showmanship. She picked her market lamb (the biggest) for showmanship and she did AWESOME. She had her huge lamb set up the whole time and looked like an expert. She didn't win and they only announce the winner, but we all agreed she was probably second and the judge took a while to pick. She was a little disappointed, but she knew the winner showed all year long and her showmanship class was very large. I was very proud of her. We still have a few days left of fair, but here are some pictures from the beginning of the week.