The Iowa State Fair

We had a beautiful day at the Iowa State Fair this year!  82 degrees and sunshine!

We had a lot of fun: 



Pigs ARE good for Iowa!

 





Listening to Governor Branstad.





Coloring at the Iowa Food and Family Project sand sculpture (very cool!)

 



My name on the ISU Alumni wall!



The giant slide (AJ and Wyatt coming down).

My (and the kids) favorite part was the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit.  It is a wonderful way to involve kids in where their food comes from.  It takes you from the farm to all the way to the grocery store.  You turn in your soybeans for soy biodiesel, and your other "commodities (corn, eggs, pork, milk, etc.)" for money.  Then you get to go to the store to buy something!  Super cool!  Each stop seemed realistic.  The feed was like what we actually feed our pigs and cows.  The photos were of what you might actually see on the farm.  Just by seeing and feeling those things - they now have a great start of what a real working farm might look like.

My kids see most of what we saw at the fair on a regular basis.  They know that the hamburger on our plate came from a cow on a farm.  They know that the bacon they eat came from a pig like we have in our barns.  They know that the vegetables on the table have been grown by a farm.  They already have an idea of the practices used every day to get that food on their plate.  

I wonder how new the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit is for other kids (and their parents)?  If it is new, will it spark an interest to find a farm and visit it?  To ask more questions?  I really hope it has!