Family, Fun... and Banana Peels!

My family spends a lot of time preparing for the fair and when the week of the fair finally rolls around, we have a lot of work to do!  Luckily, our family works well together and we have fun working with our cattle.  The picture above is of me and my younger cousin, Danni - this is Danni's first year in 4H and I've enjoyed helping her learn the ropes!

In the photo above, Danni and I were eating watermelon after our 4H club's annual showmanship clinic where we practice showing or cows and have a real dairy judge critique our showing abilities to help us improve our craft.  When it comes to 4H, family and food - one of my best memories is of a of few years when my mom and I were making the early morning trek into the fairgrounds from our farm about 10 miles away.  We make our trip in to the fairgrounds around 6AM to start chores every day and during the drive, my mom would also (and still does!) eat a banana.  When she was finished, she would always have me roll down my window and throw the banana peel out for her.  It was late in the week and needless to say we were really tired, so this particular morning, my mom rolled down my window and threw the banana peel across me, or should I say she tried to....  Instead of hitting her target of the open window, she hit me right in the face with her slimy banana peel!  I was definitely awake for chores at that point and ready to get out of the car and into the barn!  Needless to say, every morning since then on the way to the fairgrounds, I happily throw the banana peel out the window for her!
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Author Tessa Hershey is a junior at Northwestern High School where she is active in the Northwestern FFA Chapter and holds the office of Student Advisor. She also participates in rural soils judging, partiamentary procedure, ag sales, grain merchandising and horse judging.  On her family's dairy farm, Firestone Homestead Jerseys, Tessa is responsible for milking and feeding cows and calves.  Tessa is also a member of the Wayne County Junior Fair Board, is a 4H Camp Counselor and Junior Leader.