Weekend Adventures: The PA Farm Show

This past weekend, Ash and I made a trip out to Harrisburg to visit the Pennsylvania Farm Show. I've never attended until this year, I think partially because it's always baffled me that this event takes place in January. With a full week run of the show, each day has different judging events, demonstrations and activities, so it's hard to choose just one day to attend if you want to see it all.

We arrived just in time to see the judging of Black Angus cows. All of the animals were prepped beautifully for judging - they looked like they were covered in velvet rather than fur. Cows always amaze me. I'm used to working with horses, which can weigh upwards of 1,000 pounds, but some of these cows were approaching 1,500 pounds. Being so much shorter and compact than a horse, and not as well trained to be harnessed and led around, that is not an animal I'd want to hang out with if it was having a bad day. We actually saw two pissed off cows - one that was giving a grown man some trouble, and one that nearly dragging a little boy halfway across the judging ring. The kid had sense enough to let go of the lead rope, and after he did, the cow made a couple of leaps through the crowd of participants and cows waiting to be judged before it was caught by somebody. I think that cow was even the winner of the class - maybe it was just excited to celebrate.

After we had enough of the cows, we made our way to the arena where the horses were. Sadly, we'd just missed the Western riding competition, which I would have loved to see. Thanks to my years riding and training with Jill at Tory Hill Farm, I jump at the chance to watch others ride while I silently judge them (in a harsh British accent, no less "That horse is in no shape to be doing that work with that bloody foolish rider..."). We caught a couple of demonstrations during the last couple of minutes of judging, and I can say that their half passes could have used a little work. Those horses were not "straight." But anyway, what we did see was the feed scurry. Belgians and Percherons were attached to a sled and teams - two at a time - competed while driving the sled through a course of cones and loading/unloading bales of straw in a particular order. The fastest team to complete the course was the winner.

After our fill of events, we wandered around to look at all the different exhibition halls of fruits, veggies and animals that were judged at the show. I love that this is what some families do together - raise animals, grow crops, work hard and then show off what they've put their blood, sweat and tears into. I've always admired farm life. I love the smells, the sounds, the hard work. Given the choice, I'd rather come home covered in dirt and physically tired over clean and mentally tired any day. 

Here are some more fun sights from the show:

You'd think these two were best friends, right? A little horn huggin'.

With a name like "Awesome Whisky Girl" you're guaranteed to be the coolest cow around.

How cute is this little pig taking a drink of water? 

His and hers...what a perfect way to ride off into the sunset!

And finally, a fun fact: Did you know that Pennsylvania is the top state in the U.S. when it comes to the number of farms and acreage of land permanently preserved for farming? [1] Pretty cool!

Sunny Days

What a beautiful weekend we had - sunny and 80 degrees both days. I don't spend time in the gym on weekends, but I had plenty of exercise with all of my outdoor activities.

At the farm on Saturday, we moved all of the tools in the barn and made an area to hang all of the horse blankets for the off-season. God knows how many years' worth of dust I spent up during that! Someone also pulled down a tree in front of the barn, so that had to be moved. I picked up the tree trunk and started walking. It was a small-ish tree...maybe 6-8" in diameter and about 12 feet long...but away I went dragging it around the barn, across the top field, through the gate and all the way down into the middle of the farm until I reached the burn pile. No joke, I probably walked a quarter of a mile with that thing. Then I ran up the hill going back to the gate. Dang. I stopped on the way up to admire this hoof print in the ground:

How's your luck, buttercup?

On a farm that's been established for more than 50 years, there are all sorts of treasures to be found. The one I'm really excited about is an old metal bathtub. I said it would be a great planter for a garden, so Jill said "Take it! It's yours!" Wooooohweeee. I decided we should leave it at the farm, clean it up and plant a pretty garden in it. I can't wait to get started on that project. I went to Home Depot yesterday and bought a steel brush, primer and paint. Once we figure out where to put it (and...uh...how to get it there...), I'll fill it partly with mulch and then soil. I've already decided what plants to put in it, too.

After the treasure hunt, another working student and I brought two of the horses to the outdoor arena. Because these horses stay in a herd, they can get pretty antsy when you separate them. Especially when one of the horses being separated is the boss. Make him leave his boys, and he will be sure you know how unhappy he is about it. We pulled slats from the outdoor arena fence to create a quick-escape in case the horses got too antsy. I walked our new boy Jeffrey up and set him to work right away walking over cavalettis and doing figure-eights through cones. He didn't mind wandering around the new environment at all, and enjoyed some extra snack time. When we decided the boys did a good job and we could stop work on a high note, we walked them out the gate, took off their harnesses, and let them run free. Watching a thoroughbred gallop down a hill is a beautiful thing.

See you later, Jeffrey. 

Sunday was no day of rest in my backyard. Mission: build a cat-proof fence. I've been finding some "gifts" left in my vegetable garden by my neighbor's thoughtful cats. Off to Home Depot Ash and I went for all the building materials for a fence and a real-deal gate. Oh yeah...hinges, latch and all! For four hours we worked and worked and worked planting a few new flowers and herbs, pulling weeds, taking down the old fence, putting in posts for the new fence, attaching the new fencing material and finally cleaning up. The last part of the project is building and attaching the gate, but we were running out of daylight and had to stop working for the night. By Wednesday, the garden is going to look fantastic. It already looks so much better. All of the beds were made so neatly this year, and the plants were arranged with adequate spacing and supportive structures. I can't wait until it all fills in. I should have taken some before pictures to do a comparison, but I'll just have to settle for after. I was having an absent-minded moment and could not find the charger with my camera battery of course still in it. How one loses a charger that was last seen plugged into the wall, I will never know. Hopefully I find it tonight.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Take advantage of all these beautiful spring days!

Oh hey, it's Friday!

This morning, I treated myself with this:

A grande vanilla latte with skim milk, and a pumpkin spice cookie (okay, two pumpkin spice cookies) from my favorite neighborhood coffee shop.

I pulled over on the side of the road to park my car a little before 10. I felt a twinge of envy for all the people who were getting to enjoy their coffee while relaxing inside, or strolling down the street. It really is a beautiful morning. The sun is shining, you can feel the warmth in the air, and a little green is peeking out here and there. Just more proof that there are always brighter days, especially given the cold, rainy weather we had yesterday.

So last night, I went to my regular ballet class at 6:30 at my gym. I'm starting to feel a little more sense of friendship and belonging with the other people who come to class, even though I don't know their names. I started speaking up, helping others who were having trouble with steps, even after the teacher's demonstration. Then, when class ended, a few of the others in the class encouraged me to come to Zumba with them...so I did! Saying "yes" and going with something new, rather than being nervous about the unknown, has always been a challenge for me. But I joined everyone in the large gym, walked out to a spot on the floor between strangers, and danced my ass off for the next hour. It. Was. So. Fun!

Earlier in the night, when we were doing a choreographed ballet step that took us across the entire floor, my teacher stopped me and said "you have the step right, but I want to see you dance it!" It wasn't the first time an instructor has told me to loosen up. In my 13 years of dancing, I'd definitely heard that one before. So that's what I tried to do during Zumba - loosen up, go with the music, not concentrate so hard on accurately executing every step. Just watch, and dance!

Now...where does all this go? In the end, it's all going to come back to my training work with Charlie, that beautiful beast of a 17-hand Holsteiner. In classical dressage, there is a very important part of riding and training called "let." You can really teach "let," you just have to do "let." It sounds simple - just relax - but it's more than that. It's allowing your hips to open up while your seat and legs melt onto your horse, maintaining a straight yet comfortable back, allowing your shoulders to drop (but don't you dare compromise that posture!) and your elbows to loosely hang at your side. Imagine weights on strings strategically attached to different points of your body, adjusting it into shape. That, is "let."

So, friends, here's to hoping we can all mentally "let" and cruise through Friday onto the weekend!

Oh yeah...and I didn't blow all of last night's hard work with this so-called breakfast...I have a hearty salad for lunch ;)