"We've had cloning in the south for years. It's called cousins." - Robin Williams

My mother, and probably most of the rest of my family, doesn't understand how I came to prefer rural living. I was raised in the middle of Seattle. We had a dog and a lawn, but that's as close as we came to animals and crops. What happened??
A: Prunedale. In 1976 we moved to that unincorporated rural area north of Salinas, CA where I pastored Grace Community Church for seven years. The youth group we worked with had several 4-H kids raising animals for the annual fair and everybody had a garden. Soon we had chickens, rabbits (meat!), a pig, a goat, a pretty sizable vegetable garden, and several fruit trees.
Since Prunedale we've lived in Riverside, CA, the armpit of SoCal, Grand Rapids, MI (in the city), Hudsonville, MI (actually, Forest Grove, a tiny farm community outside of Grand Rapids), Sun City, AZ (the desert), and now Elmira, OR. Which is to say that we can live anywhere and be happy, but rural living is SO much better. We thoroughly enjoy our chickens and the free entertainment they provide, and like eating veggies from our garden. As time and finances allow we'll expand our homestead to include more fruit trees and more animals.

One of our favorite memories from those rural settings is the county fairs we attended, so when we learned the Lane County Fair was this week attending it was a given. Today was senior day so we got in for $2 each. We walked through the arts and craft building to see the quilts, begonias, and paintings, but our real goal was the animal barns. So much to see! There's an incredible variety of chickens and rabbits, the goat kids are adorable, and the sheep are...stupid.
To be fair, this fair was nothing compared to what we saw in Allegan County, Michigan or Monterey County, CA. In the former we got draft horses, cows of all kinds, huge food displays, and really cool tractor displays, but that was the middle of farming country and this is logging country.

I talked for about 10 minutes with a man who runs a large sheep and goat farm in Creswell, OR. He gave me lots of great info about raising meat goats, something we're seriously considering as one way to use the soon-to-be-bare land we'll have when the infested trees are taken out.

I learned more about Boer goats, Boer/Nubian mixes, where to find good wethers (neutered bucks), and feeding them for maximum meat yield.
And if you've never had goat meat you'll have to trust me; it's very good! The French call it chevon and it's a delicacy.

If you have an opportunity to do so you should go to a county fair, and spend plenty of time in the animal barn(s). If you have questions ask anyone old or young who looks like they're part of the fair. They really like talking about their animals.

While we were at the fair we talked about the dog show we went to shortly before leaving AZ. That led to an internet search. Turns out there's a big all-breeds dog show in Portland this weekend and...it's FREE. We may go up for it Saturday. If we do you'll see pics.

Animals are cool.