Almost Time, Pennsylvania Farm Show

The 2012 Pennsylvania Farm Show runs Jan. 7 through Jan. 14 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg.

The largest indoor agricultural event in the nation, it offers 24 acres under one roof that feature nearly 6,000 animals, 10,000 competitive exhibits and 300 commercial exhibitors.

Highlights include livestock competitions; celebrity draft horse team driving, Tuesday, Jan. 10; VIP dairy showmanship contest, Wednesday, Jan. 11.; celebrity cow-milking contest, Friday, Jan. 13; a sheep-to-shawl contest, high school rodeo and tractor square dancing, Hershey’s chocolate cake contest.


A butterfly house, where visitors can see and learn about butterflies for a small fee, supports the Friends of Farm Show Foundation.

Admission is free; parking, $10. For more information, visit www.farmshow.state.pa.us.

Photo above, 2011 winners of the Holstein Youth Show - Junior Champion Kirbyville Goldwyn Sash ET, held by Mikayla Davis, and Reserve Junior Champion Arethusa Fortune Arista, held by Courtney Campbell.

'Horse People, Scenes From The Riding Life'

Michael Korda is an editor and a fine writer/author. This passage is from his book, Horse People, Scenes From a Riding Life (a New York Times notable book).

"Lord Melbourne's favorite piece of advice that 'the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse,' remains more in the spirit of my own view - the horse offers us healthy exercise, communication of a kind with a different species, and a vigorous pursuit of the outdoor life. That's not to say that I don't think people have something to learn from animals in general, horses includes, though it seems to me that it may have been best summed up by Walt Whitman:

"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth."

(By the way, Korda's illustratations are quite humorous and add to the appeal of the book. The black-and-white photos are a plus.)

Lend A Hand On Terra Firma Farm

Terra Firma Farm has a mission to "teach children to grow through growing, to care by caring for, and to nurture by nurturing."

The farm is located in southeastern Connecticut and offers many opportunities for campers over the summer and birthday celebrations, plus community supported agriculture, known as CSA.

Even children are welcome to help out with adult supervision. Volunteers from schools, businesses, religious congregations and other organizations may help with tasks or a company can host a group volunteer day. For more information e-mail brianne@terrafirmafarm.

Regular volunteer hours are the first Saturday and Sunday of the month (through November) from 9 a.m. to noon. Other hours can be arranged.

Work can range from planting, transplanting, weeding or harvesting or caring for livestock, including barn work, socialization, daily chores and feeding.

Terra Firma Farm is located at 330 Al Harvey Rd., Stonington, Connecticut, and is open Monday through Saturday for visits and self-guided tours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed on Sunday. Call (860) 535-8171 for information.

Grazing In Vermont Conference?

Have you heard? Jan. 22 and 23, is the 2010 Vermont Grazing & Livestock Conference at Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vermont.

Scholarships available to support registration and lodging for dairy farmers.

Online registration, by credit card, electronic funds transfer (EFT) or personal check is now open.

Contact Jenn Colby, conference coordinator, at (802) 656-0858, or jcolby@uvm.edu.

The conference is coordinated by the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture's Pasture Program.

An intensive day of workshops is set for Friday, with the main conference on Saturday.

The kids’ conference will offer outdoor activities, such as sledding, skating and snowboarding, as well as educational events.

Pre-conference workshops will feature weed control through livestock, plus a full day business planning workshop and a multi-farm tour.

The main conference will include 30 workshops on topics of importance to a variety of grass-based livestock needs.

Chester Fair Weekend, Family Fun

The Chester Fair opens Friday, Aug. 28. Family fun includes a midway, plenty of livestock to meet in various sheds and barns, and the main events in the center ring, which include:

Pony pulls at 7 p.m.

Livestock judging is at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29. The cattle draws start at 9 a.m. and continue all day.

Frog jumping contest is at 1 p.m.

Antique tractor pull, 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 30, draft horse pulls start at 10 a.m.

The Chester Fair is produced by members of the Chester Agricultural and Mechanical Society, and is a member of the Association of Connecticut Fairs and the International Association of Fairs and Expositions.

Admission is free to the 4-H Fair Weekend at the fairgrounds in Durham, this weekend, Aug. 7, 8, 9. (Parking is $5.)

Antique tractor pulls, youth showmanship, square dancing, plenty of livestock and agricultural exhibits - the 4-H fair is a real family treat. This is a fair perfect for families with small children. For more information about the entertainment line-up see
http://www.4-hfair.org/fair/schedule.html.