We went to the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday...this is a HUGE fair and it is very agriculturally based. The kids to love to go see all the animals (barns and barns and barns of them.) They really like the movie "Charlotte's Web" (the original) right now so every pig was named Wilbur... and we walked around all the pigs so Sterling could say "Hi Wilbur" to all the pigs. Another highlight is watching the cows get ready for showing...they love to watch them get bathed. I don't know why this is so interesting to them, but last year we actually watch them for over 45 minutes. They also love the horses, they get so fancy and they love to watch them parade down the street pulling their wagons.
Because we are Iowa (and 1 in every 6 jobs in Iowa is influenced by agriculture---we know Spence just completed and Economic Analysis of it...see the news release at: at:http://www.supportiowasfarmers.org/county/impact09.pdf) We get to have really cool things at our fair to try and help people understand what agriculture is...one of these things is "Little Hands on the Farm" it's sponsored mainly by Pioneer (a seed company), and it's all about how the food gets from a seed to the store and how everything has to work together. So here are the kids going through:
First: Get ready to work!
Second: Take a picture because you are cute in your aprons with your little baskets...that's actually not a requirement for agricultural practices (but it makes Grandma happy when she has pictures to put on the yearly calendar.)
Next: Pick your seeds (both kids picked tomato seeds) (Seeds are plastic disks--color coded for each plant--red=tomato)
Next: Plant your seed, using your little spade. Sterling was doing this like a regular pro. He tried to "help" Hannah, but her new phrase is "I do it."
Hannah trying to figure out how to cover the seed.
After the seed grows you get to "pick" your produce. Kids are supposed to pick the same thing they grew, so here are the kids picking a tomato to put in their baskets.
Next are the apple trees. They can pick them off the ground or from the tree and put them in their baskets.
Next you stop in the grain bin to get a baggie of soy beans and a baggie of seed corn. Then you stop in the chicken coop to gather eggs.
Next you need to take care of your fields...you trade your soybeans in for ethanol to run your tractor. Here is Sterling "filling his tank."
And the race is off...except Hannah can't reach the pedals. Ü
This picture looks like she's having a blast, but she's really yelling at me to let her do it...even though she can't reach the pedals or turn the sterling wheel.
A few more stops after the field work were the sheep stall to get some wool and the cow barn. At the cow barn you have to trade your corn grain in, so the cow makes milk. They even have a life size (fake) cow to try milking with. I think it's easier than a real cow, but it gives kids the basic idea of where milk comes from. Then you get a box of milk (school lunch size---empty of course, the heat of the day would make for a lot of smelly milk Ü)
Then you take your items to the farmers market. The kids sort the items into the baskets and get "paid" a dollar to then go to the store. 
They get to choose from Popsicle, crackers, apples, bananas, juice and granola bars. They actually have a pretty big selection. They pick what they want, pay the cashier and head outside to eat. Sterling got animal crackers and Hannah got a Popsicle. They sat on a straw bale to eat...
Hannah got a little bit of straw stuck to her fingers and then stuck to her face...
Another great thing about the fair is the Baby animal building. They have animals (soon to be Mommies) in pens in this building. Then when they give birth, people can actually see it. Here are the kids watching the ducklings scuttle around. They could have watch them for hours I think. They had a little pond and everything. They also had chicks...and lots of eggs so you could watch them hatching, a few new calves, lambs, and even an ostrich. The best part was the pigs. They have the nice farrowing crates that keep the babies from being smashed by mom when she rolls over...well they had a few that were just a few days old...and while we were waiting in line to see the babies, there were 9 born, within 2 minutes of us seeing them, then there was another one born just 30 seconds after we walked past. They film the whole thing and have it projecting on TV's throughout the building. This way everyone can see and not have to crowd the pens and make mommy nervous.
We think it's a rip-off to go on fair rides (especially when you can get an all day pass to adventure land for the same price as 3-4 rides at the fair), but we try to do something fun with the kids each year. The Iowa State Fair has one of the last and original "Tunnel of Love"s. They call it "Ye Old Mill." We thought we'd take the kids on that...lots of families do, so it wasn't just us with our kids and a bunch of other couples making out. Ü This is us after getting off...I guess there is a reason it's a Tunnel of Love, it was very dark with only a few lighted spots...I guess that so you can get untangled before coming out Ü.
The kids like to hold hands to protect one another. They like to make sure the other isn't being left out.
The fair is HUGE into things on a stick. Our first year there was only 22 things you could get on a stick (3 years ago) this year there was 54 can you believe it 54 things on a stick...you can even get your program on a stick. This is Hannah with her hard boiled egg on a stick, she thought it was a popsicle so she was licking it.
Then it was time to cool off in the fountain, they weren't sure at first but...
They got the hang of it Ü
Other favorites from the fair:
- Pork Chops---you can get those on a stick too, but we prefer getting them at the Pork Producers Tent with chips, beans and applesauce. I will make them for you if you come visit, and if I can ever figure out how to make an Iowa Chop as good as they do. I've even watched them get cooked...I just can't figure it out. Iowa chops are about 1 inch thick of pure pork chop goodness (I don't think I had even eaten a pork chop before coming to Iowa, but I'm a big fan now!)
- Cook Out Contest---Every year Farm Bureau has a cook out contest, you have to be good just to make it to this part of the contest. The best part is the taste-testing! You can get all the recipes from this year at: http://www.ifbf.org/images/09recipes.pdf The winner was the Lemon Basil Turkey breast...I didn't get to try that one, but the ones I try were really good.
- Landmines---we went the wrong way down a few aisles in the animal barns, there was no avoiding the landmines that dotted our path, so we just plowed on through...it adds to the experience right??? Especially with me yelling at the kids to stop touching the tires on the stroller. Thank goodness for grass and the dew that was still on it!
- FOOD!!!! I love walking around and seeing all the different foods...one of these days I'm going to just go crazy at the fair and buy one of each thing I love to eat. We didn't get much this year since we were only there for the one day (we usually go 3 times because Spence would be doing stuff for work...he only needed to go 1 day this year.) I do love fair food, but I saw someone eating a corndog at 9 in the morning...all smothered with mustard, it looked very yummy, but at 9 in the morning?!?!?!?
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