The Great Minnesota Get Together Part Two

On Farming Friday, we're taking you back to the Minnesota State Fair.  Two of our favorite things at the fair are the Miracle of Birth Center and Little Farm Hands.  What great ways to tell the world about where food comes from.  Of course, all the new baby animals in the birthing center are "oh, so cute" but are raised to become a meal on our tables.  The Little Farm Hands not only is a great place for kids to hang out (or adults for that matter) but teaches how food is grown and than sold with information along the trail.  It was quite exciting for us farming folks to know that the fair still has some major agriculture backing now that machinery hill is pretty much lawnmowers and garden equipment.  (can you imagine how many more acres it would take to have the quad tractors and combines on display? - the major implement choices would have to take turns from year to year).  Enjoy the photos from our favorites.....

Baby farm animals are born here everyday during the state fair. 

Baby calf  4 hours old!

Baby sheep about 8 hours old!
(How would you like to watch your babies be born in front of large crowds??)

This is just the neatest and coolest idea ever!!!  Way to support farming MN State Fair!!

Kids can wear an apron if they'd like to start their "mock" farming adventure.

Display boards were all around the "mock" farm to share information about the different aspects of farming.

Volunteers sitting in a grain bin (cute!) filling bags of corn to feed the animals.

Information about tractors inside the tractor shed.

This is one of the cutest ideas I've ever seen!!

Where are the red tractors?  Well, John Deere is a major sponsor of Little Barn Hands - come on Case!!

Doesn't it look real?  The kids had to "feed" the chickens and pick an egg.

Vegetable Garden sponsored by Butter Kernel vegetables.  The kids picked "mock" vegetables - there were real vegetables growing in the garden however - it was pretty neat!

Love these "did you know?" facts.

Even though is was a "fake" sheep, the kids could touch the wool.

More really good information display boards- I didn't know that Ottertail County (which is just north of us)
is #4 in the state for dairy production. (which by the way is where our son-in-law milks cows - Yeah!)

The kids had to feed the cow and than they could milk her.

This cow was at our local county fair this year and it stills milks water....."silly cow" as our granddaughter would say!

Don't you love the "trees"?

These boards were the best - especially the one on the right of the farmer's share of the money.
(If you are a pig farmer, you already know that from a $4.83 pound of bacon, you are making $.89,
the barley producer only makes $.06 on a $6.59 six pack of beer !
A family walking next to us made a comment "gee, farmers really don't make that much do they"
yep- that's the "real" story!

The kids gathered eggs, wool, vegetables, milk, and apples placed them in their baskets and "sold" them at the store where they received play money.

The kids took their play money and used it to purchase a cup of ice cream.

Main sponsors of the Little Farm Hands - way to go MN Corn Growers - woo-hoo!

There were more interactive things to do inside the barn from planting a field, to coloring pages of farming and more!

Local "real" farm families were showcased for their hard work and dedication to their life's passion!

An aerial view of the "farm" from the chair lift we took a ride on!

Wouldn't it be neat to do something like this at our county fair?
 How about it Douglas County Corn and Soybean Growers?

Hope you enjoyed "our favorites" - Julie -