September Wrap-Up

September seemed to fly by this year. Summer was left behind and the leaves are starting to change little by little. Here's a recap of September around our house.

This month started all about the fair. I shared the kids' entries, but I never shared the results. We took a trip the the fair one afternoon to check out animals and exhibits....and yes, to check out how their entries did.

We picked up their exhibits and their ribbons a few weeks ago. They did well! And are excited about next year- and about the checks they will receive in the mail next month. Just to give you an idea- the blue ribbons pay $10, red ribbons pay $6 and white pay $4. So yes, they will get a pretty good paycheck!

We ate watermelon. Lots of watermelon. These are Rylan's Orangeglo. They are very pretty and sweet too.

Rylan saved up his money again. This time he was saving for a self propelled lawn mower. He talked Cohen into helping to pay for the last little bit, so they share the mower. It's win-win since they seem to love to mow and Paul doesn't have a lot of spare time to do it!
 

And we ate more watermelon.  I think we've eaten one a day for most of the month. Half for lunch and half for snack.

We took a trip to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. We only saw a couple birds- my crew isn't exactly patient or quiet enough for bird watching- but we saw a few blue herons. And a muskrat, turtles, fish and this caterpillar.

We have been harvesting just a few of our sweet potatoes. So far it looks like it will be a good harvest. The garden is winding down- still peppers, okra, eggplant and beans and a few late planted summer squash plants.

We went apple picking for the local food bank. The orchard donates over 100,000 lbs of apples every year- they just need help with picking!

 

This Saturday was National Hunting and Fishing Day, so we drove down to the Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. 

They had archery, bb gun target practice, fly fishing instruction and casting practice.

We have family visiting this week. Tonight we cooked out- burgers, hot dogs and s'mores around fire. The perfect end to the month!
 

And if you haven't been over on The Free Range Life, head over there to read the following articles:

• How to Make a Quick Shelter Out of Pallets
• 6 Quick and Easy Pallet Projects for the Homestead
• Soil Nutrient Deficiencies and How to Fix Them
• How to Preserve Eggplant
• The Many Uses and Benefits of Oregano

And that is it for our September! Did you do anything fun this month?

More Mountain State Fair Entries

 So I missed a few when I shared the kids projects the other day. Like Cale's completed sculpture.

And their baking. 15 total baked goods. Things like snickers fudge, cookie dough fudge, orange chocolate truffles, peanut butter truffles, sweet potato yeast bread, pesto rolls, chocolate crinkles, apple muffins, apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies....

And spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes, skeleton cupcakes, spider cupcakes and sheep cupcakes....

A metal craft robot, bottle cap wind chime and a recycled bottle ice cream truck.

Pottery Rylan and Cale made in a class they took this year, which they entered in the pottery category.

 Rylan's biggest watermelon entry. It was a big one!

13 art pieces (one not shown)...oil, chalk, watercolor, pen, collage, crayon...

8 photos in all...the top 2 are Cale's and Cohen's. The rest are Rylan's which I showed last time.

When we dropped off the big entries were weighed:

 And today we dropped off a few more entries. Rylan's herbs and flowers in the flower show for a grand total of 95 entries between the 4 boys!

The Mountain State Fair: Project Round Up

 It's that time of year again. For the past 3 years my kids have enjoyed entering projects in the fair. Drop off day is Tuesday. Which means Monday will be spent in the kitchen- since Lakin is finally old enough for the competition we have a total of 11 baked goods to be entered. I capped them at 4 each and one didn't go through. It'll be a long day with lots of dish washing! I will apologize in advance that most of the pictures are from my phone and instagram!

This year the boys are entering more from the garden. Rylan is going for the largest watermelon.  I don't have a picture of it since it's still out in the garden. He had plans for other squashes- winter and summer, but with all the rain and other odd weather, the plants had a hard time. Cale and Cohen are both entering winter squashes seen below, and Lakin is entering his butternut squash (not pictured)

Cale, Cohen and Lakin have also been working on some of the craft categories, here are a few of their projects. Cohen's santa ornament made from a recycled coke can, felt and alpaca fiber. Cale's basket made from a hose and zip ties. 

This one has been hanging in the living room for months now. It's Cale's recycled decoration- a skeleton made out of  milk jugs.

Lakin's jewelry. Beaded earrings and a bracelet for the recycled jewelry category.  Do you remember Cale's peacock sculpture from last year? This year he's entering this Big Head as his sculpture. It's still a work in progress- which must be finished tomorrow! Cohen is also making a sculpture- of a beetle. And we have a couple more Christmas ornaments not shown as well as some art- oil pastels, watercolors, etc.

Of course, I have mentioned Cale's big pumpkins. The stems were getting soft- some sort of fungus I think- so we picked them since the bugs were starting to pick at the soft spots. We crossed our fingers that they would last until the drop off date.

But today this happened. The smaller of the 2 giants...rotted from the stem and bottom. It was great fun considering this occurred in the living room! It smelled TERRIBLE and took about 20 or more towels to clean up and Rylan, Cale and me to drag it out of the house- gagging all the way. We are still hoping the biggest will last. Like I said- not a good squash year. 

 

 This year Rylan didn't enter many arts and crafts- 2 pieces of art work was it. He did enter 3 model kits, a lot from the garden, baked goods and 6 photographs. My dad let him use his camera, and I thought he got some great shots!

So there are just a few of their projects. I'll post pictures of their baked goods on Tuesday once they are all done!

The Mountain State Fair: Winning Ribbons

Today was the day the boys got to pick up their fair entries and see the results up close! They were really excited! So here are a bunch of pictures of them with their ribbons. They were so, so proud of their achievement and so am I!

Cohen won 3rd place for his Christmas ornament, 2nd for his yeast bread, and first for his pie, cupcakes and cookies. His chocolate chip cookies also received a large Judge's choice ribbon (he was really proud of that big rosette!)

Cale won 2nd for his peacock, tempra painting, and his decorated cupcakes. He placed first with his soft pretzels, fudge and metal craft. His panda bear cupcakes also received a Judge's Choice rosette!

Rylan placed 3rd with his dried basil and his cheesecake. He got 2nd place for his banana peppers, oil pastel drawing and garlic bread sticks. His black and white flower photograph and decorated cupcakes came in first. Last year he made flower cupcakes and they placed first and received Best of Show. He made the same design this year and came in first and Best of Show again. He was really excited to see that ribbon again!

 This year Lakin was finally able to take part in the fair in the participation section. He received 3 ribbons (and $3) for his great projects. He worked hard right along with everyone else and I am happy he was finally able to take part.

 Now I have 10 framed art pieces to hang up in the stairwell and shelf space to find for all of their other pieces. They immediately decorated their walls with their prize ribbons, Rylan added his current ones to last years. They already are making plans for what to enter next year!

Have your kids ever entered projects into the county or state fair? I highly recommend the experience!