Another big day at the fair

I could write a book on the experiences at the county fair. If I did, yesterday would have gotten a couple chapters. There is a real pride in our kids that comes through when you put them on the stage and rehearsal is over. Just like the dairy show the day before, the swine and lamb kids put forth a huge effort that was just amazing. In the lamb show Marguerite Daus took top showman after a long drive in a huge class. During the selection process for the grand champion lamb the club had 3 out of the 6 in the ring. For us this is huge progress from the early years.

The swine show was also a day of real achievement. One of the pigs placed 5th in class which is the highest we have ever had a pig place. I know this sounds like a small deal but the competition in the Lake County swine barn is one of the most intense I've been around. Our

4-Her's in this project have had to work really hard to show these animals and it really came through in the show.

On the way out of the barn yesterday one of the superintendents of the fair pulled me aside and told me, "To watch those kids show you would have never known they didn't grow up on a farm." A true compliment to the kids, leaders and their parents who have put in all the hard work.

Cattle Day at the Lake County Fair

Yesterday kicked off the first day of competition at the county fair. Most of our dairy kids spent the night up at the fair so they could get an early start on washing, drying and grooming their cows and heifers. All this work paid off with the club bringing home most of the trophies and ribbons for the day. Best heifer went to Mata Stilp - Best cow and Overall Grand Champion went to Steph Slivka. Showmanship was taken by Jenny Hinkamp in the Jr. Division and Olivia Rowlands for the Sr. class. Be the end of the day the kids and the cattle were pretty wore out. Next up are sheep and then pigs. There is a second cattle show on Friday and then the sale on Saturday.

The big ride!

Question; how do you get 34 animals to the county fair? Answer; get a bigger trailer.

This past Friday Jim was able to pick up our new, customer designed Featherlite livestock trailer. Just in time for the trip north to the county fair. This trailer is really nice with many new features that will be great to moving animals and doing our outreach programs. A big thanks to all the donors who pitched in to help us make this purchase.

By Monday afternoon all of the Glenview Clovers 4-H club's critters will be at the fair. When I can I will post and blog about how we are doing. Please stop by the fair grounds and say hi.

Last week of camp

Every summer we host a 6 week farm camp for school aged kids. Three days a week the kids come and spend the morning doing chores, working with our livestock, learning about different kinds of farming, and participating in exciting fieldtrips. This is the final week of camp and just by the look of these pictures, it sure looks like our campers had a great time! We'll miss having their smiling faces around. Come back and visit us!

Oh Oats!

Here's something that you might not see everyday in Glenview. Jeff and Paul were out binding oats last week. After the binding takes place, Jeff and Beth walked through the fields and put them into shocks to dry out. After a while we'll use a threshing machine to remove the oats and use the remaining plant as straw for our animals.

Signs of Summer

As many of you may have noticed, this summer has been a particularly cool one. In light of this, vegetables have been sloooww in their growth. As I was walking through the garden this morning I happened to notice a tiny mini tomato growing on one of our plants-and it was red! So, not to fear folks, summer is still here and we'll soon have tomatoes to prove it!

The World's Best Farmer, my Dad

After a long fight with cancer we lost the needle to our compass.

Could it be a wood bee

While Andy and I were working today on the windmill project we heard a faint buzzing and both of us looked around to see if we could find the source. After a couple minutes we finally figured out where it was coming from. Inside the post next to us was a small hole that a number of bees were coming in and out of. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it

Teaching teachers

Not all of our farm tours are for school kids. We sometimes get to host teachers who want to learn more about agriculture too. There is a program that the Cook County Farm Bureau offers called Summer Ag Institute where teachers take a week long class and get to tour and learn about local farming and food. This year Wagner Farm was one of the stops and I got to spend a couple of hours with the class talking dairy and truck farming. I'm not sure if the highlight was the hand milking demonstration or the ice cream we served afterwords.

Field work with Paul

With a break in the weather our volunteer Paul got some much needed cultivation done in the corn field. I bet I have had almost a dozen people come up and ask me why didn't we grow corn this year. The fact that the spring was so wet and cold has put the crop back almost three weeks in my estimation. So much for "knee high by the 4th of July." "Ankle high" just doesn't have the same ring does it?

The tractor that Paul was using came to us from Craig Davis. It is a John Deere "H" with build in cultivator attachment. Paul and Dick worked all last summer and a good chunk of the winter restoring the tractor so it was field ready. Great work guys!

Our babies are getting bigger

As an update on the Barn Swallow nest, the kids are getting much bigger and loosing much of their fuzz. Mama is making a lot more food runs and they are getting more vocal in their demands. I hope to be able to catch their flight from the nest.

Congratulations!

All the hard work paid off! The Glenview Clovers 4-H July 4th float took first place honors. Their entry won "Best Youth Group". Congrats!!!

4th of July in Glenview

4-H night at the farm

Every year we have the 4-Her's as the highlight of one of our monthly volunteer meetings. This is a bonus for both groups since it give the kids a chance to talk about their projects before being on the hot seat with the fair judges and the volunteers like to see what the kids have been working so hard on. This year each of the kids got to come up to the microphone and tell the crowd something special about their animal and the project in general. Despite the heat it was a really great night.

Getting ready for the 4th

The girls have been working hard to get activities and the house ready for the 4th of July. After dinner everyone is looking forward to pulling taffy and fresh lemonade.

The end of the strawberries

It indeed is a sad day when the strawberries go away for the year. After a good spring harvest we have gotten used to having them almost everyday in pies, salads, and jams. My Grandmother Lois down in Missouri had a huge patch and would make preserves for the whole family. You could always tell her canned berries because she would reuse old jars and then label the top in masking tape. Growing up there were a few things we always had around and homemade jam and ketchup were constants. In fact it really wasn't until college that I tried much of the store bought stuff.
I might be leaking a old family secret but if you can find some berries still you need to try this recipe. It will be worth it, promise.

Grandmother Lois Preserves

1 quart heaping berries

1 quart sugar

In a large heavy pan put 1cup berries and 1 cup sugar- put on heat and stir constantly until juice forms. Then add rest of berries and sugar. Stir often until mix comes to boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Pour into 9x13 cake pan to cool. Stir often until the foam disappears and preserves thicken. When cooled let sit overnight and then put into jars and freeze.