Chapter 17 - Preparing for the Fair

It's that time of year again. Fair time.

The County 4-H Fair.

The Wisconsin State Fair.

The little kids work on their 4-H projects - model rockets, quilts, paintings, small animal husbandry - all year long waiting for the opportunity to compete for a ribbon and having their work on display at the local fairgrounds.

City kids and farm kids are part of 4-H, 7 million of them across the country as they learn and become engaged in science, healthy living, and food security.

As the kids, especially those on the farm with access to land and larger animals, get older the projects get bigger.

Harmon is raising a calf this year for the fair.  It's been a great hands-on and real-world learning experience for him as he's come to understand what it takes to raise healthy livestock.

His sister is competing with vegetables, specifically radishes, and I think she may have grown the largest and best looking crop of the little veggies I've ever seen around these parts.  She has poured her heart into them - spending time every day to talk (yes, talk) to them and water and make sure they are getting some good natural fertilizer.

Harmon is happy to provide his sister with fertilizer from his calf.  The calf is named Polka because Harmon thought it had polka dots all over her when she was born.

It's tough raising a calf once it's been weaned from it's mother.  When the little calf outweighs you when it turns four months old, it gets even tougher.

He's learned how to clean the little one, comb it, and has spent countless hours walking with her in the precise way the judges require in the ring.

Scotty is maybe more excited than Harmon; spending time after supper teaching Harmon some of the intricacies of raising livestock that might help in this year's fair and in the years ahead when he might take on a bigger role helping on the farm.

Time's running out - the fair starts next week.

Follow this link to catch up on the whole series.