Last Saturday was the Open Show for our county fair. What that means is that anyone can register and show their dairy animals. That Friday was the youth show, so the 4-H/FFA kids got their animals ready and showed them. Saturday, us adults can too.

#woot

Our friends who have Brown Swiss have a deal with us: They grow them and we show them. Pretty sweet saying, if I do say so myself since it just came to me Friday night as I was watching the Swiss. They have four animals that they want to show. In the past, the husband would show a few and my wife would show the rest, usually the smaller ones because he’s a big man and showing a little heifer looks silly. He’s gotten to the point where he’s letting me show now (he’s either hit his head or is blind because I don’t belong in the ring!).

Either way, we showed on Saturday and my wife kicked my butt. Two blue 1st place ribbons to my two red 2nd place ribbons. Of course, I got made fun of, but it is all in good fun. The barn is where the fun in and we had a great time talking and catching up with various people. I learned that I cannot be in the barn next year at this weight, so there’s that (the heat killed me). We’ll show again in another week at the State Fair. My wife will show two, I’ll show one, and the owner will show one as well.

After that, cabbage and broccoli and cucumbers oh my! We are being overrun with those veggies right now. We can’t just buy 3 cabbage, so we get a six-pack. Last year, we had to replant because rabbits snipped them, so they didn’t do so well. This year, they are massive! We’ve eaten three heads so far, with them being made into coleslaw, egg rolls, and a cabbage salad with toasted almond slivers and ramen noodles.

The broccoli are the same way right now. We have four plants, which doesn’t seem so bad. Last year, they didn’t produce great. This year, each of the first crowns is at least a pound in weight. We’ve chopped up one of the crowns and froze it, with another going into a broccoli and bacon salad. My wife also made a beef and broccoli dish with a round steak she found in the freezer that was amazing!

We’ve got our cucumbers on a cattle panel, bent into a trellis, with the plants climbing up. Before we left on our vacation, we planted a TON of seeds (my wife’s choice), and as we were leaving, they were just starting to poke their heads out of the ground. Apparently, that was a good batch of seeds because we have SO MANY cucumbers! We gave a bunch to my wife’s sister (along with some cabbage and broccoli), however, the potatoes starting to die back, the tomato plants are LOADED, the peppers/eggplants are looking good, and while not many of our watermelon and butternut squash seeds grew, enough did that we’ll get some fruit from them!

And, it’s almost August. School is coming. This summer, my wife and I have appreciated our break more so than ever before, so starting back will be difficult to do.

My calculations tell me I have maybe 5 years left, then, maybe a little more gardening (or traveling)! 🙂

Until then, we’ll enjoy our showing and eating from our garden!