New London County 4-H Fair 2014

Nathalie showing Beef

Samantha showing Beef

Samantha and Nathalie showing Dairy

Cori showing dairy

Samantha showing chickens

Nathalie showing chickens

Samantha showing dogs

Samantha's champion bantam rooster

Windham County 4-H fair 2011

Because we were at Nationals during New London County's 4-H Fair, we attended Windham County's 4-H fair. Abby and Hannah each needed to show a goat in order to fulfill the requirements for attending the Big E 4-H show in the fall. Nathalie participated in the dog show, but it didn't qualify her for the Big E, so she'll have to attend the Hartford County 4-H Fair in a few weeks, in order to qualify.

Hannah and Abby both took first place in showmanship for the goats, Hannah in Juniors and Abby in Seniors. Abby won the overall goat showmanship award and so participated in the Premier Showmanship competition. This competition requires each competitor to show from each of the species represented. In Windham county's case it was: Working Steer, Beef, Dairy cow, Horse, Goats, Sheep, Chickens, and Rabbits. I missed taking pictures of Abby showing the horse and the working steer because I was so intently watching her, I forgot about taking pictures! Abby was amazing with the working steer; she finished the course and was able to back them up!

Showing Beef

Showing Dairy

Showing Sheep

Showing Goats

Showing Rabbits

Showing Chickens

SHE WON!!

Nathalie showed Pippi in the Showmanship, Obedience, Agility, and Costume classes. Pippi was great and didn't run away even once! We are excited for what she and Pippi can do in a few weeks at the Hartford County 4-H Fair dog show!

Pippi on recall.

Exercise finished!

Showmanship Champion!

Obedience Grand Champion

Costume Class Winner

Ledyard Fair

For the first time in three years, the Ledyard fair had wonderful weather! Not a drop of rain to be found. In the barns we were so thankful as we sat and reminisced about previous years' rains and hurricanes. At least now we can laugh about it all!

We had 45 goats in the barn this year and eleven exhibitors. Several kids from the cow barn participated in the goat showmanship competition and four of the Smith girls competed in the Beef and Dairy showmanship competitions.

One of the boys in the cow barn (Justin) had a mini competition going with Abby. On Saturday, she placed over him in both the Beef and the Dairy competitions. He competed against her in the goat showmanship, but she placed over him there too. On Sunday both of them participated in the Livestock Competition. This event involved showing Beef, Dairy, Goat, and Sheep, one right after the other, to see who was the best overall livestock showman in the barn. Abby placed second to Justin by ONE POINT! It was nice to see a friendly competition and they had fun egging each other on throughout the weekend.

We had our first Ledyard Fair Goat Obstacle course Friday evening, which drew quite a crowd and one reporter from the New London Day. He spoke to Rachel and since she always says something cute/funny, the reporter got his quote and ran with it. I don't know how long the article will be available, but she basically told the guy all about our sending the goats named for dead presidents to the auction.

Sunday afternoon we had our first Ledyard Fair Costume class. Abby put the lion costume Nathalie had made for Pippi onto her baby goat, Abigail Adams. Hannah borrowed a small pony saddle from the petting zoo to put on Venezuela, and Rachel threw a backpack onto Betty Ford to be a school kid. Samantha came to me just a few minutes before the show, begging for me to help her make a costume. Out of time and not wanting her tearing through the camper looking for something, I thought quickly, and her goat, Dolly Madison, went dressed in The Emperor's New Clothes!

It was a busy weekend, and for the first time in a very long time, we overslept this morning! Only the big E is left for this year's fairs. It has been a great fair season and I have very much enjoyed all the time we got to spend together as a family.

Lebanon Fair

We had a terrific weekend at the Lebanon Fair! The weather was absolutely perfect: sunny, with a lovely breeze, and NO humidity! We saw so many friends and had so much fun visiting!

We arrived at the fair on Friday at 11:45AM. The girls rushed off to get their exhibit hall entries entered while Sam and I unloaded and set up the goat barn. We had 47 goats in the barn this year! Friday, as usual, was a flurry of activity as all the exhibitors settled their animals and set up their tack areas. And, as per tradition, we had Friday Night Fair Food for dinner. Sam and I had a yummy sausage with peppers and onions grinder! Abby was working her job on Friday night at the petting zoo on the fair grounds and Rachel and Samantha tagged along with her.

Saturday morning we woke to a brisk morning which felt wonderful! Sam and Nathalie left to take care of the animals back home while I made breakfast and the other girls took care of the animals at the fair. We then spent a leisurely morning taking in the fair, visiting with people and enjoying ourselves. At 2 PM the goat show began and since Sam and I won't be superintending it next year, we began showing the new superintendents how things work.

The girls did very well with their animals as did all the other kids. We had the only Oberhasli's in the show and so walked away with lots of blue ribbons! It was a very relaxed show and a lot of fun for the kids. Christina was again our ribbon girl and she did an excellent job! Someday we'll convince her to join 4-H!

In the exhibit hall all the girls did very well! Hannah's zucchini bread, Rachel's lego creation, Samantha's pillow, Nathalie's snapshot, and Abby's papier mache submarine, all took first place ribbons! I did not enter anything this year due to lack of time and organization on my part. Next year I'll be sure to compete!

Saturday evening the kids settled in the barn for a riotous game of Apples to Apples while the adults took turns supervising the barn and visited. By 11 PM the fair was winding down for the evening and everyone headed off to bed.

Sunday morning we awoke to another beautiful day. After we completed our morning chores and ate our sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches we trekked down to the horse ring to watch Rachel and Hannah compete in the horse show. Rachel rode first and did very well in her lead line classes, coming in seventh and third. Hannah did an excellent job in her two classes as well, but her horse was nervous and did not really behave for her. While she didn't place, she gained a lot of experience and I was very proud of how she handled herself.

After the horse show, we went back to the goat barn to set up for the fitting competition. We had three teams of three kids and one team of four that were willing to compete. Each team was provided a goat, a bucket of water, a set of clippers, either baby wipes or a rag, a scrub brush, and a broom. They had thirty minutes to clip and clean their goat as well as they could. The teams were judged on how well they worked together, their ability to communicate with each other, how clean they kept their workspace, and lastly, how well fit their goat was after the half hour. We had fun watching them and I hope they had fun doing it!

Rachel, Samantha, and Hannah spent the afternoon working at the petting zoo and at 5PM we began to clean up our barn and move non-essential tack down to the trailers. Rachel and Samantha returned to the barn to help load animals while Hannah remained at the petting zoo. Sam and I devised a plan where he would take Nathalie, Samantha, and Rachel back home with himself and the animals, while Abby and I remained at the fair to finish breaking down the barn and pick up the exhibit hall entries.

After loading the car with our entries we managed to get within a few miles of home when I remembered Hannah! She was still at the fair! I drove home, Abby called the petting zoo and told them we were on our way back to get Hannah. Sam drove back to the fairgrounds while I got the younger kids showered and in bed. When Sam got to the fairgrounds, Hannah didn't even know we had left she was so busy helping at the petting zoo!

Finally by 9PM everyone was home, showered and in bed.
Next fair: Ledyard!

Ledyard Fair

Despite the rather stormy, rainy, and chilly start, the weekend ended with sunshine and warmth! We had a great time at the Ledyard fair this weekend, showing our goats and chickens. All the girls did really well!

It was fun to have such a relaxing fair weekend, hanging out in the barn and visiting with friends. Ralph and Joyce came and had lunch with us one day. Grandma Smith and Aunt Rosann came to watch the girls show their goats. We have several new potential 4-H'ers that we were able to suck into the vortex too!

The only downside to the week was the news that Sam's car, also known as "Goldilocks", is dead. We are so thankful though that it died in the arms of our good friend (a mechanic) and NOT while Sam was on his way to Waterbury! We know she was in good hands and he did everything he could to save her. We definitely got our money's worth out of that car since we bought it in 2004, paid only $2000, drove it for over 100,000 miles, and it had no repairs above the normal oil change and brake pads!

Sam and I spent last night (after unpacking children, goats, and chickens!) on the internet, looking at used pickup trucks, rebuilt engines for Ford escorts, and used small cars. We decided after an hour or so that we will look for a cheap used engine from a junkyard to put into "Goldi" and hope we can get another 6-9 months (13 months would be a real bonus!) out of her. If we can't find such a thing, we will just have to make do with what we have for another thirteen months, when we can afford to take on a car payment.

Haddam Neck Fair 2009

We had the best weather, ever, at the Haddam Neck fair this weekend. A bit chilly in the mornings, but I like it that way. The temperatures were cool with bright sunshine and puffy, happy clouds.

The girls all had fun showing their animals. Each one did very well in their goat showmanship classes. I even took third place in the "Over the Hill" showmanship class. (Or as one of my children dubbed it several years ago: "Over the Mountain" showmanship) Mrs. Jones took first place with her impeccably cleaned and clipped goat!

In chicken showmanship Abby, Hannah, and Rachel all placed first in their classes. Samantha placed second to Rachel. All of the chickens did very well in breed, winning either firsts or seconds. Abby's Bantam Rhode Island Red won Best Junior Bantam in Show.

We were able to relax and visit with lots of friends who stopped by to visit with us: the Tollmann's, the Welch's, the Darling's (x 2), the Tarpill's, Mrs. Mingo, and my friend, Jen, from grade school who I haven't seen in over 20 years! We talked with a lot of people who are interested in acquiring goats, or have just acquired some goats. At least three families were interested in joining our 4-H club in October. Even Senator Dodd stopped by to watch us milk our goats.

We spoke with a fellow "goat herder" who had done significant research into becoming a certified dairy. She shared with us what she had learned about the process and the requirements, some of which we already have in place. We are now excited and encouraged to look into this more seriously for ourselves. Yes Donna, another vortex has opened. Can you hear the sucking sound from Salem??

Lebanon Fair Weekend

This past weekend was the Lebanon Fair! We ran around like crazy and managed to scrounge up some pens for our goat show. So on Friday morning around 10:30 AM we loaded up all the goats, chickens, art projects, baking projects, lego projects, and snapshots into the van and camper.

When we arrived on the fairgrounds they told us where to park the camper. 15 minutes later we were requesting the backhoe to come and pull us out of the muck. They very nicely found us a drier spot to park after that!

All of the animals were off loaded and the projects were entered into the exhibit hall. It was 2PM and the girls reminded us that we hadn't had lunch. Then Abby and Nathalie said, "Oh, we never ate breakfast either! We were too busy finishing up our baking!" So Sam found a vendor that was open and everyone got a hot dog to hold them until dinner time.

We finished penning in everyone else's goats in our BRAND NEW GOAT BARN!! and Nathalie got the camper set up for us. The barn looks wonderful and is definitely a very nice addition to the fair. Many of the Lebanon Lions Club members came by throughout the whole weekend to admire it. The young fair attendees really enjoyed that our goats love attention and didn't run from them like the sheep.

Our goat show went very well, in spite of (or maybe , because of) my losing my voice. I still haven't found my voice, so it'll be an interesting week! I wasn't able to take too many pictures since I was also running the show.

All the girls' chickens placed first. Abby's bread took second and my black and white snapshot of Abby also took second. My dress placed second to Phyllis's! :) My nightgown placed first. Hannah's blackberries took second and Nathalie's lego project took second, too. Rachel and Samantha didn't do as well as they had hoped in the exhibit hall, but Rachel did take second in the watermelon eating contest! And Samantha lost her tooth, so the tooth fairy made a special trip to the fairgrounds!

It was a great weekend!

4-H Fair

The New London County 4-H Expo is this weekend! I think we are all ready! The word of the week is: FLEXIBILITY. With all the changes and challenges for this year's event, everyone must remain flexible and willing to go with the flow. Our Barn Meeting is slated for tomorrow night at 7PM at the cow barn on the fairgrounds.

Abby is away at camp in North Carolina this week, but she'll be home VERY late on Saturday. She will be joining us at the fair on Sunday. We really miss her around here.

Nathalie and Hannah have come up with a menu for the weekend. Nathalie has planned out the next few days for preparing the camper. It is good to see her working hard at her contribution to fairs. All the girls have completed their 4-H record books. Happily they needed little help from me!

Today I have to food shop for the ingredients for all their baking entries. Nathalie is making her "To Die For Chocolate Cake". We're all secretly hoping she messes up the first one so we can eat it! She is also entering the State Junior baking contest: Blueberry cake.

Last night I attended the Ledyard Fair meeting. It is good to see that our 4-H fair meetings aren't nearly as unique as we think they are. We are all set for the Ledyard fair goat show. I just need to find a judge...

Grace and Dianna spent the night here last night and Hannah slept over Samara's house. We will swap back kids today. We are settling into summer, I think.

Camp Smith Part 2: Day Five, Six and Seven

Friday we spent the day getting ready for the big weekend: two separate one day goat shows. An ADGA show in Vernon and the North Stonington Fair. We did grocery shopping, stocking the tack box, washing the goats, etc. After dinner everyone took showers and went to bed early.

Saturday dawned and everyone was up and moving by 5AM. When we finally finished loading the trailer and van it was 6AM and we were behind schedule. We did manage to get the animals loaded and were on the road by 6:20. We arrived at the ADGA show in Vernon and began to unload and set up for showing our goats. We had a great show. My goat: Lucille, won best udder in breed!! Many of our does placed very well in their breed classes. It was good to get the affirmation that we are heading in the right direction with our breeding program. I think the Kansas cousins had fun practicing their showmanship as they helped us (and everyone around us) show their animals in the breed classes.

The highlight of the day, though, was the fitting and showmanship classes. Sam and I strongly believe that fitting and showmanship are the most important, as that is when the child is judged on how well they care for their animal and how much they know about their animal. They are also judged on how well they move their animal in the ring. All of our girls did extremely well. Abby took first place in her class of Junior showmanship!! The judge commented on her knowledge of her animal and on goats in general. Rachel and Samantha's goats were reluctant to cooperate in the ring, but they are working with baby goats who need the girls to spend more time training them. It was wonderful to see that each of the classes had Great Goats 4-H'ers at the top positions!

Saturday night, again everyone took showers and went to bed early. Sunday morning dawned a gloomy gray but the forecasters were promising the sun would come out, so we packed everything, again. This time, things went much smoother. By the end of fair season we will have it down pat!

We arrived at the North Stonington fair at 7AM and began setting up for the show. As the goat show superintendents, we needed to check in all the animals and youth, make sure they were all entered in the right classes, and retrieve the ribbons. It sounds simple but when 85 goats descend upon you within a one hour period, it gets just slightly chaotic.

The show went well. We had a very good judge who took some time to teach the peewee and novice classes about showmanship. The breed classes went quickly and smoothly. We had an excellent ribbon girl. Christina, who came to Camp Smith Part One, arrived to pass out the ribbons as the judge placed the entries. She did a great job! I believe we were finished at around 2:30PM which gave everyone some time to sit back, relax, and visit the fair before we had to start cleaning up to go home.

Our chickens all placed well at the fair also. The chicken that Elizabeth chose to exhibit won first prize! She was very happy about that. I think all the kids had a fun weekend. The cousins were picked up and on their way to more adventures and we were in bed by 9PM! I would have more pictures but the batteries in my camera died. Also, I think my camera has been dropped one too many times, as many of the photos came out very blurry and grainy.

Abby in showmanship with Nite Lite

Matt 'Ski in showmanshipElizabeth helps show a ToggElizabeth and Rachel showing ToggsOlivia at the North Stonington Fair with Silicon just before the batteries died.Part of the Junior Showmanship class: Matt, Jeremiah, ?,?, Abby, and Kacey

Samantha trying to get Cadmium to move in Showmanship

Hannah showing Ya-elRachel showing Polonium

Someone took this picture of me despite death threats.

Abby and Nite Lite outside the barnJosiah and his doeRachel and Polonium exiting the showmanship class Abby very happy with her first place ribbon in Showmanship. Notice the ribbon has been partially eaten by Nite Lite. Abby's favorite goats always eat ribbons...