When summer days stretch to their limits and it’s hot as can be outside, my brain wanders to long days spent outside working with fair calves, training my horse, cleaning out the show box, clipping cattle, practicing tricks with my dog, and washing chickens (a traumatic experience in my book). Not only were we busy with livestock-related projects, but my three siblings and I always had an impressive list of non-livestock projects to complete as well. When we weren’t busy unloading hay, picking field rock, or helping with other chores on the farm, we were painting a sign for a citizenship project, matting photographs, testing a recipe, researching information to make a poster board, sewing a new seat cover for a refinished chair, or sanding some sort of woodworking project.
Now, I’m starting to watch my nephews do these very things, and it is bringing back a flood of memories of all the exhausting, yet fun projects we put together over the years. They may not have all been state fair worthy, or even deserving of a blue ribbon, but we learned so much about different project areas and equipped us with unique skills for our arsenal. Not only did we learn an immense amount from doing each project but completing the write-ups and then talking through the project with judges come fair time, were major skill-building opportunities during my childhood — just a few of the many ways 4-H and FFA programs help shape and teach youth.
For those of you in the thick of helping your kids with fair projects, don’t forget that the stress and little details will surely fade in years to come; however, the memories of preparation, togetherness, and achievement will last them a lifetime. They may run out of time to rewrite that scribbled-out project paperwork, or their show cow’s clipping job may not quite meet your expectations, but when they’re grown and hit with their moments of fair nostalgia, they won’t remember those things. What they’ll remember is that their parents stayed up late with them to help finish a project, taught them Grandma’s special recipe, and watched with pride from the edge of the showring. They’ll remember the water fights with friends during fair week, staying up late playing cards in the barns, or finally earning that state fair spot after years of trying.
Fair may come with faint memories of exhaustion, frustration, and nervousness. But, more importantly, fair time greets me with overwhelming feelings of joy, excitement, camaraderie, fulfilment, gratification, belonging, and a form of bliss. I wish you and your family the best of luck this fair season — it is truly a special experience!
The author dairy farms with her parents and brother near Hawkeye, Iowa. The family milks approximately 300 head of grade Holstein cows at Windsor Valley Dairy LLC — split half and half between a double-eight parallel milking parlor and four robotic milking units. In the spring of 2020, Molly decided to take a leap and fully embrace her love for the industry by returning full time to her family’s dairy.
