Miss R & Cloverbud Creations

Fair this year for Miss R was a bit different.  She has been sick on and off over the past month and we needed to take it easy. But that didn't mean we missed out on taking her exhibits to the fair. 

Miss R is still a Cloverbud which means:
1. She gets to make whatever she wants, there are no project areas for her creations to fit in.

2. She doesn't have to write out the dreaded cards that must accompany all the exhibits, that's a fun killer.

3. She gets to interview all of her projects, not just a few as the 'Big 4-H' kids are limited to. 

     As you can imagine she had a lot of exciting stories to share with each of the precious projects she brought.  I think all in all she brought eleven.
4. She gets to pick the ribbon color she wants.  Her goal this year was to pick ribbons to match the project. I think towards the end, she just picked the color she liked the most. When it was all done, she had a mitt full of ribbons and a big smile to match! 

Here is a peak at a few projects she took this year.  Hopefully it will inspire you with your young children. 



I ordered her a wooden name cut out from Zulily and she decided to make it school colors. Painted it black and we added gold glitter.  Note that the project is still in the plastic bag, that glitter can get everywhere and we thought it was best to contain it at the fair, of course at home is a different story.  

The bowls are probably her favorite project.  I picked up the bowls at the church give away last fall. Last time I was in the big town, we picked up a 16 pack of sharpies. Nothing gets creative & organized kids more excited then a rainbow of sharpies. Miss R was instantly looking for ways to use them. It's easy to pull out the stencils and encourage her to make something special. I think she may give these as gifts to all of her friends for Christmas. 


She did her fair share of foam craft.  I find this is something easy for her to do that I don't have to supervise. This year she made a different snowman for each family member, including our new puppy, Cali. Well now it's official, if you have a foam piece, you're stuck with us.

 As I've said many times, the secret to getting 4-H projects done is working on them throughout the year. Miss R created this beautiful piece at her birthday party this year. It's her modern interpretation of golf. I think my golf game is the inspiration. Notice how the ball is not far off the tee, that's usually how far I hit it. 

A Cloverbud can't show livestock. So in her switch to being an official 4-H'er next year she will get to show. As we were watching her siblings show pigs the morning of the fair,  I said this will be you next year.  She said 'No, I"m not a pig showing girl'.  I said really?  She was quick to follow with 'No, I'm a beef girl.  I want to show heifers'. So, the prayers have began for her to be gifted with a mellow heifer to start her beef showing career out with. 

Memories of a Lifetime... Fair Recap

County Fair has come and gone in a flash.  Left in the wake are wonderful memories, many laughs and another successful year of accomplishments. We squeezed a lot into our small town fair.  It's not like many of you think a county fair is.  We don't have a carnival, we don't have venders that offer fair food or trinkets to buy, we don't have bands that play music.

What we do have is volunteers that make pies to sell as a fundraiser, we have kids that run wild with their friends laughing and enjoying the last drops of summer, we have good clean fun like kids doing gunny sack races.

The kids had an amazing fair. We were all very disappointed when the beef cattle project didn't work out this year. T's heifer was hurt early on and the focus was getting the heifer healthy, not a 4-H project. Miss O's heifer had an attitude and a will that made it impossible for a young girl to safely show the animal. So, for the first time the beef people didn't bring beef cattle to the fair. Let me tell you it was weird! We did have the pigs and it went well this year. No, major fights in the show ring and Miss R won Reserve Champ Market Hog. Best of all, we will have pork in the freezer soon!

I've had great feedback from my I'm NOT a Crazy 4-H Mom piece. Here is an update on our  projects.  I'm so proud of T and all he accomplished!  Our wood pile scavenging came together with a new end table, clothes hanger, and display base for his deer heads.  Thanks to our local carpentry shop the boards were plained and turned out amazing.  He's a creative boy and I really love how he can take his vision and with a bit of help make it happen. He's taking orders for the end tables if you would like one too.


Miss O had an outstanding fair. She spent every waking moment that was allowed at the event. She helped friends show goats,  had fun with a friend at the pet show, learned the value of a good interview and went home with 4 best of show's, 2 trophies and although she is totally exhausted, this may be the highlight of her summer.

 Miss R had to pace herself this year since of her sickness setback. She wasn't able to do extended activities. She filled her fair time with many memories. All of which is going to be in my next post. Believe me it deserves it own post...

My absolute favorite memory of this years fair, is this picture.  Dad sharing some solid advice with his son before going into the show ring.  That my friends is what it is all about.  Those tiny moments of sharing wisdom that stick with you for a life time.

Birthday Girl Talks Beef

The baby of the family had a birthday!   I'm not exactly sure where the time has went, but as people say, it goes fast. The youngest of the Hadrick 5 has entered into the final few years of the single digits. This year we held a Art Studio Party for her friends.  Miss R's favorite subject is art and unfortunately she doesn't get enough of it, so what better way to celebrate then to buy some canvas and let there be paint! 

The party started out with tacos and dinner conversation that consisted of meat.  Of course, what else would 7 & 8 year old girls want to talk about... Miss R was quick to point out that the meat we were eating came from the cows outside our window. That left a few of the girls with confused looks on their faces. 

One friend said, "How can you eat something you care for?"  Which is a common question for many people.  Miss R never missed a beat and quickly respond, "We care for them, but they also make good beef that helps us grow strong." 

Another friend suggested we quit talking about cattle at the dinner table. But, the girls had many questions and comments about eating meat and they just kept coming.  

The class had recently been to the veterinary office on a field trip and started to relive moments from that adventure.  The discussion about how to make a steer was probably my favorite and the point where My Cowboy and I started to laugh and had to turn our backs. Apparently Dr. B explained how to band the scrotum to the kids and then the bull becomes a steer. The girls all laughed and I thought this is certainly not the usual conversations these girls have at their dinner tables. All of them were Miss R's town friends. To my kids, these are normal conversations we have at the dinner table. 

But for one last comment, from Miss Grace (I can put her name because her mother will know it was her anyway) "Well your dad raises some good beef and I need another taco!" BTW all the girls ate their tacos. We went on to paint some really cool pictures and of course did cheers and played games. 

I always tell My Cowboy that we can never get away from talking cows at the dinner table. I guess even at our daughters birthday party, we talk cows.  Maybe it's the table...

Don't Know My Round from My Loin

Today I got to do something I have never done before- it involved a hairnet, sharp knives and a trim bin. Any guesses?  Well a few more hints: I was in a lab, it was cold and conversation included terms like loin and round.  As a beef producer I think it is so important that I learn as much about the product I raise. How better to do that then spend the day fabricating a beef carcass. It was an amazing experience to start with the whole product and turn it into smaller cuts of meat- like ribeye steaks.  I now understand what product goes into ground beef and the process of making it leaner.  In fact I believe that all beef producers should be required to do this process. I think that it's provided me more insight into how to raise a better animal for quality meat. My group worked as a team to break down half a carcass and we were fortunate to have a ton of help from the meat scientists at South Dakota State University. They walked us through every step and explained every detail.  

We went from this 

To pieces like this... Cool.

I know I look pretty cool in my fabricating outfit.  My proud moment of the day was when our qualified helper said I did a great job at filleting the connective tissue off a piece of trim. Which means I finally figured out how to use the knife and he wasn't afraid I was going to cut off my fingers or hurt the guy next to me working on a different piece.
I consider myself fortunate to be a part of raising food for people and I'm proud of myself for taking the time to learn more about the food I produce so that I can do it better.

Sending A Thank You

I try not to let a day go by that I don't thank the Dear Lord for the many many blessing my family has. Maybe I'm at that point in my life that I reflect on those things more but I know especially this last year I have taken time to dwell on the positives and be thankful of all I have. One thing I started a few years ago was to say thank you to those who are serving in the military every chance I get.  Because I fly a lot I often see military personal in the airports. I have gone out of my way to walk up to a complete stranger to tell them and their families thank you for the freedom they are providing my family.  The response has been one of gratitude from them and always a smile. This summer when Teigen went with us on a trip I was so proud of him, as I said thank you to 3 men dressed in fatigues riding on a train with us, he looked at each of the men and said thank you too.

Our box all packed and ready to go

Today I sent a Christmas package to a dear friend who is in the military and stationed overseas. I turned My Cowboy loose in the grocery store this weekend to fill one of those flat rate boxes from the Post Office. He seems to enjoy buying random things and he did well with his purchases. When it came down to it we have 3 bags of candy, a handheld game, snacks, pens, puzzle book, beef jerky (of course), 2 containers of homemade cookies, 2 handwritten notes, and the latest BEEF magazine. The box was stuffed to the brim. Writing my note to Pat I thought about what a great friend he is to us and all the fun and adventures we have had. Sending this box was the least we could do to say Thank You.

So, Pat if you're reading this- the cookies with green frosting are from Marilyn (they are wonderful!!) the one's with sprinkles were made with love from the Hadrick women-keep that in mind because taste isn't really what we accomplished with this batch. We'll keep working on the recipe and send you more when we get them perfected.

For those of you who don't know someone in the military who will be away from their family this Christmas- find someone who knows someone and take the time to send thank you.