Hi all! I’m ready jump back into blogging on the regular so let’s do it, shall we? As you are probably aware, this summer has been a big blur. I have been working and working at my part time jobs and with building my business/brand. So I didn’t have a lot of time for extra stuff, but one thing I did make time for was the fair. Specifically entering a pie and a photo into my local county fair. I see this as the epitome of having a homestead–entering something you’ve made at the local fair! And I was not disappointed. But, as always, there’s a story.

I was keeping my eye on the fair for a while, waiting for the details to be updated and keeping an eye on when I needed to register my entries. But in true typical fashion I got busy and forgot. Turns out the deadline was July 1st and I discovered this about two weeks later. So I hurriedly sent a message to the fair organizers to see if I could enter. I’m guessing that they wouldn’t turn someone down but you never know. A few days go by and I don’t hear back from them so I called. No answer. Leave a message. Okay. Done. A few more days go by and I decide to just send my registration in. They can’t possibly say no! Turns out I was right. They finally confirmed that I could still enter. Okay. Good. Because I’ve already sent it in! Oops! But I had to decide what I’m entering and which category. Keep in mind I can’t get in touch with the fair organizers because they must be busy organizing the fair (that is happening in about a week and a half). I know I want to enter my triple berry pie and my butterscotch pie and a photo. But I totally forgot about the pear pie! And then the categories seem very specific, as in the only one crust pie is pumpkin pie. So there goes the butterscotch pie…which in my opinion would be a show stealer 😉

Anyway, I made the triple berry pie and printed a photograph. I mean, this is the first time I’m doing this so it’s just a test run, right? So the day of entry arrives. I drive the 45 minutes to the fair grounds with the Intern in tow holding the pie in his lap, ask directions on where I’m supposed to drop things off (it’s the first time I’ve been to the fair grounds. I drive past them all the time, but never stopped or been to this fair). I drop my stuff off and head home. The judging takes place the next day and then the fair opens the day after. Now you know, I must be there for opening day! I need to know how I did!

Jump forward 2 days to opening day. The Mister’s family comes down and we all go to the fair. It’s a beautiful day. The weather is perfect and we head straight to the 4H building to see how I made out. If you follow me on Instagram, you already know. I won second place for my pie and third place for my photo. You can see all that in the first 3 photos above. Whew! I was so happy with the win!! Not a bad way to start off my (hopeful) county fair entries. With that out of the way we could walk around and really enjoy the fair. The niece and I got henna tattoos. She picked an elephant on our forearms. We rode some rides (umm…bumper cars are SO MUCH FUN)! She wanted to go on things like the ferris wheel and some of the other rides that toss you around. That was a hard pass from me. We did do the tea cup ride. Which I thought was really funny and it made me nauseous. But it was fun. And funny. We were walking past on of the carnies and he was telling everyone how to play his game. I started taking pictures and he said “come back later and I’ll give you one-on-one instructions”. Umm. That’s a hard ‘NO’ from me!

The whole day was nice. We looked at ALL the animals (except the cows. Their barn was closed because they were showing when we were at the animal barns). There were horse races (as in horse pulling and cart driving). It was a pretty big fair too. It doesn’t look like it until you get there and are walking around. The niece won a stuffed animal at one of the games we played. The Mister was rather cranky about us wanting to play games. It was $5 per person per game and ‘nobody ever wins these things’. But hey! We were there for one day and you only live once right? So we played a couple rounds of games. She won a stuffed animal and we all had fun. We ate some yummy fair food, got some milkshakes. It was good.

For next year I want to enter some of my canned goods, more pies, and more photos. Oh! And how could I forget to enter a knitted product?!?!? So definitely next year I’m entering something knitted. But take a look at all the talented entries. A hand crocheted dress?!? What?! It was simply stunning. I loved the maple syrup display (of course I didn’t enter any maple syrup either). The 4H displays were great. There were woodworking entries from 4H kids. It was just amazing. I’m glad I entered stuff. I’m glad I went to the fair. And I’m looking forward to next year. I’m already planning for it!