Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Farm Show 2009

I grew up just outside of Detroit, Michigan. This week in Detroit is the Auto Show. Car manufactures from around the globe converge in Detroit and show off their newest and greatest automobiles.

I now live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This week in Pennsylvania is the Farm Show. Farmers and 4Hers from around the state converge in Harrisburg and show off their newest and greatest animals.

I love both. I love the Auto Show and being able to sit in cars that I will never be able to afford. I love the Farm Show and looking at animals that I never want to be able to afford.

We have lots of fun wandering around looking at the animals. We saw goats and horses and pigs and alpacas and cows (I don't really like cows...long story).

I wish this picture better showed just how large this cow is (can you hear Chris and Jenn yelling it's a STEER!!!???)

We watched a few of the carriages be judged. There were several that were hearses. I didn't like them, they just seemed so sad to me.

But Avery and I picked a favorite and it came in 2nd place! Cinderella's carriage:

We wandered around through all the vendors and sampled some wine:

Rode the carousel:

And showed off to everyone how cute we are:


This year was extra special for Jenn. She was invited to help out Chris and his father with the event they organize-the Obstacle Course. She felt ever so important. She got to help them set the course up, and then while the horses were doing the course, Jenn and Chris would reset the course.

The plywood boards are painted in different designs. The horses don't have depth perception so it appears to be a hole or some other odd thing to them. The object is to have your horses trust you enough to walk over the boards even though they are frightened. I felt kinda bad for the horses, but this is life in good ole farm country. Here is a video of the beginning of the obstacle course to give you a bit of an idea.


Avery got to go down on the course for the last horse and carriage. It was her bribe. I was the official Avery and Delaney watcher, and as long as she was good for all the other horses, she got to go down with everyone else for the last horses.

Everyone had fun. They even spent some time on the course goofing off.

They were doing various dances (the lawnmower, the grocery cart) and even got caught on film doing it. See this is televised. Jenn and I made sure to have the Tivo running so we could watch it when we got home. (Why yes, I do have plans to cut off Chris's middle finger...everytime I get a good picture of him he has his finger up...um, grr!!)

Even my job was done so well that I made it on tv:

(I'm in orange, Joni is to my right, behind me is Roxanne, in front Avery and in my arms Delaney)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

cool pictures! and that video of the horses is so interesting!! i kinda feel bad for them too. plus, it seems like an instinct you wouldn't want to discourage - i'd want my horse to be avoiding holes, etc! :)

Jen said...

That is kind of cool, and I love the picture of the lamb (or sheep or whatever it is)...it looks like he's wearing p.j's!

Anonymous said...

Glad you had a good time at the Farm Show. Hope the stink goes away soon. Jenn looked like she had a great time helping Chris and Del.

Anonymous said...

Wow you look like a natural on tv! Maybe we should move to California.... Oh wait we can't cause it's going to fall off and get sucked into the ocean lol

L

IrishNYC said...

Even though I'm a life-long big-city girl, I love me a farm show. Looks like you had a great time!

B said...

Looks like fun! The one thing I miss most about home sometimes is the Lea County Fair and Rodeo. : ( I'd stay all week!!!

Rachel said...

Love it! The county fair is the highlight of Labor Day weekend here in the Nort'woods every year!
(I love the bunnies and all the weird chickens, Ceara loves the horses, and my best friend loooooves pigs)