Pennsylvania Farm Show

On January 13, we headed to Harrisburg, Pa and attended the 2012 Pennsylvania Farm Show. We were taken aback by how crowded the place was. I never knew so many people were that interested in farm shows. Farm Show lasts all week, but of course we only went on the day of the dairy show.

Really, where else would you see a statue like this


Or this...


Next year we will brave the cold and actually stand by the statue. :) (Thanks google for providing the images for me).

Farm Show was held from Jan 7-14 with activities ranging anywhere from an antique tractor pull to a celebrity cow milking contest; from dog demonstrations to a farm safety quiz bowl; from horseshoe pitching to Hershey's baking contests; from horseshoe pitching to mini pony pulling. If it has anything at all to do with agriculture in any way, or if you want to see varieties of any farm animal, farm show has it for you. You could probably go every day (of the farm show), all day, every year for the rest of your life and still not see everything. That takes some serious planning.

There are quite a large number of activities designed especially for children. Baby Cakes seems to like her sheep hat.



We stopped by the DVC information booth, and the barns to see....cows.


Bruce watched a bit of the dairy show while I found a quiet bathroom corner to feed Eliza.



I keep telling Bruce that dairy shows would be a lot more exciting if they taught the cows how to do tricks instead of just walking in a circle. He then informed me of how difficult it is to teach a cow to lead and walk in a circle. When a cow takes first place in showmanship - that is a trick. I was thinking more along the lines of jumping through hoops of fire, standing on their front two legs, and synchronized dancing.



We definitely had to see this years butter sculpture.


Yes, it is sculpted entirely out of Land of Lakes butter. Some close ups.


Seeing this not only amazes me, but makes me want to grab a giant slice of bread, a knife, and an extra large jar of jam. YUM!

And the Facts

• 1000 pounds of real dairy butter
• More than 10 days of sculpting
• Butter will be converted to energy in a local dairy farm's methane digester (not sure what the point of this is)
• 22nd annual butter sculpture

We went to almost every vendor's booth to snag up some free pens, pads of paper, and my favorite, magnets. We tried oodles of food samples mostly dips, salsas, cheeses, and BBQ flavorings including buffalo flavored pickled eggs. Yes, they were as nasty as they sound, maybe even more so. When eggs have a shelf life of up to 2 years after being opened, there are way too many preservatives - I can't imagine how pickled you would be after eating a large jar.

Cakesters and I had to take the classic farm picture.


It was surprisingly difficult or me to hold her while trying to get both of our heads in the picture. We spent $20.00 on food (and milkshakes), and $10.00 on parking. I'd say it was a day of fun.