Your 2014 State Council

Your 2014 State Council

Thursday, January 31, 2013

My Years in the Pennsylvania Farm Show

Well, another successful PA Farm Show can go down in the books!  Hope you all had a chance to go there and experience it at least once this year.  The weather was fantastic and records were set once again for attendance!  I can remember my very first farm show I participated in many years ago.  I was very excited to actually be an "exhibitor" in the event I was in awe of.  That year, I proudly marched my "giant" pumpkin into the vegetable room to be displayed with all the others.  Little did I know that my pumpkin was going to be judged against all the fruit and vegetable farmers also displaying their product against mine.  I was awarded third place for my pumpkin!

Also that year, I can remember competing in an event called Aquaculture.  I loved that contest!  You were first given a written exam, something I didn't enjoy as an eight year old, then the fun began.  You went to a room where you were given an aquarium and filter.  It was your job to bring the substrate, plants, and fish to create a small native habitat for them.  I chose to create a habitat for Kissing Gouramis.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was very short and struggled to reach my tank, but I did it.  I stood on an upside-down turned bucket and worked feverishly to get my tank just right and when I was finished, I was soaked from head-to-toe! 

I proudly showed other commodities that year, but I must say that the pride I felt from completing the Aquaculture event has stayed with me all these years.  Why am I bringing this up now?  Well, this year, eight years later, I am still proud to be a participant in the Farm Show.  This year was an especially good one for me too.  I acted as a representative with the PA 4H State Council which offered me countless opportunities to meet some incredible people, speak at conferences, participate in celebrity cow milking, volunteered in the 4-H beef booth, and more.  I also volunteered for the first time as an official Dauphin County Master Gardener.  I participated in the fleece to shawl and sheep to shawl where I sheared a sheep for our team.  I showed my pig, which if you read my last post, not only made weight, but it also made sale placing second in its class!  Whew, sounds like a lot, but I wasn't finished there.  I also helped out with Equine Showcase that my sisters participated in and volunteered for my county 4-H in the information booths. 

I'm only sharing all of this with you because I was just a kid who used to get excited just going to see the PA Farm Show.  Then I joined 4-H and my world exploded.  The opportunities that exist for our youth are endless.  Hope I've sparked some interest in you too!  Oh, I hope they bring back the Aquaculture contest sometime because it was great!



2 comments:

  1. I remember that little kiddo by the fish tank!!!

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    1. That was the year we got "hooked", no pun intended.

      :)

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