Want to learn more about homesteading? Visit your local county fair when it is taking place. Our county fair is going right now, my 7 yr old daughter is a 4-H cloverbud and entered some chickens this year. We have been going everyday so we can feed and water our chickens and have been doing a lot of visiting with other contestants and their exhibits. You can find out a lot of things about certain breeds of livestock or get some great ideals by walking through the exhibits of the clotheing, food preperations, posters, etc. It may very well entice you or your children to become more competative in both homesteading and showmanship.

Oh! By the way my daughter took 1st place premium with a set of wyandotts, and took 2nd place premium with a set of americannas. This is the first time either one of us has ever done anything like this before.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 07, 2001

Answers

Response to county fair

Congrats to you and your daughter for all your efforts at the fair. You both must be very proud and excited.I wonder how I would go about finding out if we have anything of the sort, like 4H in my area. I live in the city, in Florida. Don't know if we even have a 4H but sure would like to find out. My son is 7 years old and I am constantly trying to get him outdoors and interested in different types of projects. Especially those not known to many city dwellers. He loves gardening, composting, dehydrating foods (and eating them), even baking bread (especially the kneading). I would like to get him involved with some more "boyish" things and hopefully he could meet some other boys as well. I would like to know more about the 4H program as I am not even aware of all the different types of things they do. Congratulations again on your BIG WIN!!! :o)

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), September 07, 2001.

Congratulations! What county do you live in? We went to the Oklahoma County Fair about three weeks ago, and I have never been so disappointed in my life. I don't think my husband had ever been to a county fair, and I hadn't been in years, but I called the extension office and they told me the poultry exhibits were being judged on Saturday morning, so they would all be there then. (My husband wants some "cool" chickens, so I thought it would be good for him to see somthing other than the picture in a book) By the time we got there about 10 a.m., there was nothing there but a bunch of horses and about a dozen calves. They might as well have called it the Oklahoma County Horse Fair for all I could tell. Anyway, hooray for you and your daughter, and maybe next year I can find the Pottawatomie County Fair in time to hit it (that's where I was raised), and have a better experience too!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), September 07, 2001.

Greenthumbilina - check your local extension office. You should find 4H information there. Otherwise just do a search for 4H in Florida. Hope that helps.

I definitely agree with the OP - we love our county fair. Ours is very centered around the 4H program. My daughter has been in 4H for 5 years, starting out as a Cloverbud too. This year she's shown projects in Horse, Pet, Vegetables, Flowers, Home Environment, Foods & Nutrition and Rabbits. She showed 34 items, placing first in 22 items, 2nd in ten items and 3rd in 2 items (okay, done bragging!). She didn't get to show her horse because she broke her shoulder three weeks before fair! But she has done and learned some great things in 4H and we spend every day at our county fair (looking and exhibiting too!).

-- Lisa in WI (lehman16NOSPAM@vbe.com), September 07, 2001.

Rh, My dd and I are about to do the same thing this weekend. Not sure which one of us is more excited.I am a little worried about how we are going to catch them (they are skittish) but oh well. Many congrats on your daughter's well-earned prize.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 07, 2001.

We absolutely loved the County Fair! I think we saw everything at least once. And we're the proud grandparents of the girl that Lisa from WI was telling about. Yes...Lisa is my daughter and I'm proud of her too! Seriously, I feel that 4-H is a wonderful experience for children. I wish I would have had the chance to be in it as a child. God bless!

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), September 07, 2001.

Wish our county fair wasn't so early--it's held the last week of July, and usually too early for much produce to be entered, but they have a few and I mean a FEW canned items entered, as well as handicrafts and a few animals. The state fair has a lot more, but charges for entries there. Might have to try some of the other counties around. Jan

-- Jan in Co (Janice12@aol.com), September 07, 2001.

christine- I'm in Delaware county. You might be able to catch the tulsa state fair. I've always enjoyed going there and seeing the many exhibits. I could spend the whole week just in the livestock and 4-H buildings.

The Tulsa State Fair is usually the last week of Sept. and the first week of Oct. Should be announced in the local world newspaper.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 07, 2001.

My three girls are in 4-H and we all love it. My son will join next year. We have a very active program with many community service activities. We just put up our booth last week-end (our fair is currently being held). Our theme was "Boot-Scootin 4-H Style" The kids all dressed in cowboy clothes and had their pictures taken with horses, and other country style settings. We decorated the booth with cowboy hats, boots, and put each picture in a horseshoe frame. It is so awesome looking! Our booth was just overflowing with all of the projects the kids took, from sewing to cooking, beef, dairy, hogs, art, photography, you name it! We have a great group of kids in the club, they are all hard workers and good friends to one another. $-H is a spectacular activity for children to be involved in.

-- Melissa (CMNORRIS@1ST.NET), September 08, 2001.

Ok--We've got a grand champion here with black Austrolorps(4H poultry fair today). But given how the barred rocks were laying eggs during the auction--I think we should do that next.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 08, 2001.