Tristen County Fair 2011

Tristen also had a wonderful fair! The most exciting for him was his foods, rabbits, and his showing his calf.

After all attempts and re-attempts on his Apple Bundt cake for his food entry, I got a call from the school on judging day from Tristen. He had won Champion Level 1 foods.  Therefore, he had to make it again so he could auction it off at the champion foods auction, which is a BIG deal. On the last baking of the cake, he discovered he has the ENTIRE recipe memorized! HA!

Tristen and Black Out got a blue ribbon for the bucket calf project. He learned so much, as did his parents. He learned how to clip and also learned a bit about weight gain when it was announced that Black Out had gained 120lbs since the spring livestock show, putting on 17lbs a week for 7 weeks.(Going from 180lbs to 300lbs) Isn't that amazing? (And no WONDER I can no longer push her along when she's being stubborn!)  He will be bringing her back next year I think as a breeding heifer, and the family that sold her to Tristen said they would AI her for him in the spring when they do their heifers, so if all goes well he can bring her back the year after THAT as a cow/calf pair.

I love these pictures. To me this is WHAT 4-H is REALLY about. Miss S was very patient and took the time to really explain things and help with whatever we didn't understand. She showed T how to do it, and then let HIM do the clipping, while standing over watchfully. I was very grateful to her!

He had a hard time deciding what he wanted to make for his woodworking project until I stumbled across plans on the net for a gumball machine. He thought he REALLY needed one in his room. It was a fun project for him and something you don't see everyday. He ended up getting a blue on it, brought it home and immediately filled it up with gumballs.

He also did Horticulture for the first time this year, and really enjoyed it. He took 2 different kinds of potatoes, and they each got a blue ribbon. Next year, he has plans for his own little spot in the garden. And we will plan better next year too. He grew some of his very own veggies this year, but they were more cooler weather crops, like peas.  Needless to say they were done and burnt up way before the fair.

There was also a friendly competition between Jacob and Tristen on who was going to win the rabbit award.  Jacob has some very nice Jr's right now, but Tristen had also just purchased a nice trio of  Dutch. In the end, it was Tristen who got the champion ribbon with his black jr Dutch, Oreo.

Tristen also did rabbit showmanship for the 1st time EVER at the fair. This has been a 3 year nag session, hoping that he'd give in and do it and just conquer it. He did it, and not only did he do GREAT, he only got beat by Jacob by 10 points. Really hoping he will continue, but I only asked that he just try it once, and that he did!

It was a great fair, and though I love the fair, I am VERY happy we have a year now to recover from this one!