I am popping in to say hello! It is a really busy time around here. Julia is quite independent as far as taking care of Olive but I enjoy participating a bit with the fair process. Over the weekend Julia and Ray had to get the pen ready at the fairgrounds. Julia is showing “independent” this year which means she isn’t a part of a 4-H group or an FFA program. The academically rigorous high school she goes to makes it really difficult to participate in those other programs. Since she worked with 4-H last year, we talked to her leader and she was positive Julia could handle this as an independent.
However this means it was up to her and Ray to get water piped into Olive’s pen.
Also, she had to make her own decorations. For this, she made a poster with a cute 8×10 picture of her and Olive. I made a bunting using pig fabric that Julia found on-line. The pen looks cute.
Olive moved in on Monday morning. She didn’t enjoy the eight mile ride to the fairgrounds and ended up cutting her snout on something in the trailer. Poor girl. Julia washed the cut and put betadine on it. She was told to use Desitin ointment to help it heal and it looks much better even two days later.
Today was the first day of the county fair. I think this picture of this cute little guy visiting with Olive is just adorable. So many kiddos don’t have an opportunity to see farm animals up close and personal. Julia was hanging out with Olive for several hours this afternoon answering questions and helping children pet her. Fortunately Olive is so social and she loves to be handled. Makes it more fun for the kids that want to touch her.
Tomorrow is a big day for Julia. She will compete in two areas with Olive. One is called Market Class. This competition judges the animal’s structure and development. Doing well here means the animal’s owner chose well when buying the piglet and was feeding her correctly and exercising her to achieve good muscle structure. The second competition is Showmanship. Here is where all of those walks that Julia did with Olive will pay off. Olive is fairly good about responding to Julia. It is anyone’s guess though because Olive and Julia have been working together in a familiar environment without the chaos of lots of pigs being in one show ring. Hopefully Olive will respond to Julia. Sometimes a pig will just go bonkers and run around trying to play with the other animals. Other times a pig will become agitated and can be snarly with other animals out of fear. Olive won’t do this – she is so sociable. However, running around and trying to play? Yep, that one could happen. 🙂
On another subject, our vegetable garden is just going crazy and we are inundated with tomatoes and cucumbers. Tonight for dinner I am making spaghetti. I wanted to make a meat sauce with the billion tomatoes sitting on my kitchen counter. To do this, I processed the smaller tomatoes (including quite a few cherry tomatoes) in the food processor. I also wanted some big chunky pieces of tomato in the sauce. But that would mean peeling some tomatoes or I would end up with big pieces of tomato skin floating in the sauce.
I didn’t feel like doing the whole deal where you dip tomatoes in boiling water and then ice water so the skins slip off. Instead I cheated and it worked great!! Once I had the sauce mostly there, I put several washed, whole tomatoes right on top of the sauce and covered the pot. I left the tomatoes to steam for a few minutes. Using tongs, I took the tomatoes out and put them on a plate to cool a bit. The skins slipped right off! Hurray.
I cut them into chunks and put them in the sauce. It smells so yummy in the kitchen right now. Dinner is almost ready!
I am working on a cute dress for my grand daughter this week. I will share it soon as I can. Tomorrow I will be at the fair with Julia all day and then I am working a shift in the quilt exhibit. I’ll let you know how Olive does. Cross your fingers for Julia!!
Mmm! I can just imagine the smell of that spaghetti sauce! Wish Olive and Julia good luck for me!
Hi Janice – I know you are traveling but I wanted to say thanks for the good wishes. Julia had a long sweaty day yesterday but she did great and I can tell she is so proud of herself. She took 2nd in showmanship which is awesome. Today is a slow day and all that is on my to-do list is some gardening and a trip to the grocery store. There is just about nothing edible in the refrigerator (well other than nine billion cucumbers from the garden – hahaha)
Good luck Olive and Julia!
Go Olive and Julia! Great idea/tip on the whole tomatoes. Sure makes sense, and makes it so much easier than going through those other steps!
Oh my gosh Wendy – it was so slick! I will still peel lots of tomatoes and freeze them but for a quick project, it really worked out nicely. I am headed out to the garden in a few to pick more (they just won’t stop !!)
I enjoyed reading all of the news on your side of the country. Good luck to Julia and Olive.
The pen looks great. Sweet pictures.
I love spaghetti 🍝
Mmmmm, the sauce looks great! Keeping my fingers crossed for Julia and Olive. Julie did a great job so no matter what the outcome Julia is a winner. How much does Olive weigh now?
Hi Shirley – Olive weighs about 250 pounds. Julia did a wonderful job training and raising Olive so I am really proud of her. She got a 2nd place in Showmanship which is fantastic. It was a good day all around. 🙂
Best of luck to Julia and Olive! I love the fair!
I do to Carole. Except for the heat. August is such a hot month for us so the fair is usually a sticky sweaty day. Julia and Olive did fantastic and she got 2nd place in Showmanship. I loved looking at the quilts even tho I didn’t enter anything this year. There were lots of nice ones.
Aww, best of luck to Julia and Olive today!
Thank you!! It was a fun, tiring day and Julia did really well. Happy to have a slower day today!!
Wishing Julia and Olive the best at the show! And minimal distractions for that cutie Olive.
Homemade sauce looks amazing. I can almost smell it from here. 🙂 Ours are still quite green. Not as warm as it needs to be but when they start to ripen, I’ll be canning away!
Have a great week Bernie!
I was thinking about you and your garden. Do you have an extra sunny spot at your place? It tends to be much cooler in your area than mine so your growing season must be shorter. I need to get off the laptop and head out to pick veggies before it heats up today! Take care Patty.
Good luck to Julia and Olive! And now I am very hungry for your pasta sauce! It looks delicious!
Thank you Judy! Olive and Julia did great! The sauce was yummy. I grew up on lots of pasta and it is a family favorite. But with fresh tomatoes it is even better.
Fun week for you!! I just caught your video of Olive and Julia at the fair. Looks like Olive is doing well. She’s so sweet! (I can’t believe I just said that about a pig , but I did!) Julia’s done a great job with her.
Haha – You are so funny. Olive has a very sweet temperament. We are all sad to see this come to a finish. Olive and Julia had a great day yesterday. I am so proud of Julia – she put so much work into this.
My fingers are crossed. I love the bunting. These posts are making me want to have a pet pig.
Hi Lisa, Olive did become a bit of a pet for us and Sunday is going to be tough on all three of us. (That is when she will be auctioned off at the fair). Julia loves this though so it is worth it. Hope all is well with you. 🙂
I just read your replies about how well Julia did – that is so great! She is so pretty and seems like a sweet, smart person. I think she was raised right. 😉
I actually bought a food mill and used it for canning tomato sauce. I had a lot more cherry tomatoes this year than regular tomatoes, and I did do the boiling water trick for the bigger ones. I made spaghetti sauce out of some of my cherry tomatoes, and my husband liked it better than any sauce I’ve ever made!
What are you going to do with your cukes? I canned pickles, but I’m not sure they are going to be to my liking (I’m putting off opening the first jar!)
So how were the pickles?? I have everything ready to make pickles this week. Just need to get done with fair and then I can start. I am doing dill pickles. Let me know if yours were a success.
Last night I cooked down a ton of cherry tomatoes for tomato sauce. I pureed them in the food processor. It turned out really good so I popped a few containers in the freezer. By now there are probably a bunch more to be picked though!
This made me smile as I remember when Julia first started with Olive the Pig . the idea of pigs 🙂
I’ll tell you something else that is great with garden tomatoes now. Boil a potato or two ( Cut up into small pieces ) Meanwhile make some spaghetti. Saute some garlic…toss the potato in and brown it a bit. Basically it’s garlic pasta with some potatoes in it for more sustenance ( learned from a MIL ) and then with each bite, there’s a side dish of fresh garden tomato just treated with salt and course ground pepper. It’s an August delight 🙂
Deb, We have been really enjoying all of the tomatoes – I have been slicing them as a side dish for most of our meals. Yesterday I cooked a huge number of the smaller ones down for tomato sauce and love having that in the freezer for meals later on. Summer tomatoes are the best!