It's finally fall!

You have no idea how welcome fall is at our house. Sadly, this fall is without many of my favorite fall things, specifically the Tennessee Valley Fair and the Southern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF). Who knew that COVID would still be around to rob us of those events? I guess that this year I’ll have to just look back on the past and relive the good times.

As you might have guessed, I’m a slightly competitive person. Year before last one of my fair entries was a fairy garden replica of Namaste Farm. It was so cute! I spent the summer making little farm things and growing miniature trees. Last year, it was all about our wool sheep, which involved a good bit of time spent halter training my lambs to show. I also showed my fleece. We came home from the fair with a bunch of ribbons and a stomach full of funnel cakes.

At SAFF, in October, the fun is a weekend long. Last year I attended a workshop to make a beautiful basket on the day before the real show started. It wasn’t a good year at the fleece show, although one of my fleeces won the judge’s choice for long wool. The problem was that the whole layout of the fair had to change due to Legionnaires disease in the vendor building. As a result, the fleece show was cut off from the rest of SAFF and not much wool was sold. Still, who can not enjoy days of shopping with so many great vendors. It was a wonderful chick’s weekend out with my friend and fellow craft enthusiast, Robin. We didn’t come home empty handed!

This fall will be filled with other things, like seeding the fields, raising meat chicks, and going to some herding trials. It’s still nice to leave hot weather behind. As we watch the days grow shorter and prepare for the holidays, let’s hope that Christmas events won’t get cancelled too.