The Show and Sale
I was raised on what would be called a hobby farm today. My parents owned 25 acres, of which 5 was tillable. The rest of the property was woods, a creek, hills and a hard to get to prairie hill top.
My dad, who worked full time in the big city, desperately wanted to get back to his farming upbringing (the ironic aspect was that, growing up, he sought to leave the farming life). Anyway, he spent a majority of his non-city working or sleeping time, working on this hobby farm. Since most of their property was not tillable, he decided to raise sheep (this was because he couldn’t afford to buy cattle).
As my sister and I got older, my dad tried to encourage us to explore an interest in raising livestock. One way he tried doing this was to get us involved with 4H.
One of the 4H events was a lamb show and sale. Little kids would bring their lambs to the state fairgrounds where they’d be judged and ultimately auctioned off. Dad cut us a deal.
He helped us pick and transport a couple of lambs to the fairgrounds. Then he help us get the lambs “prettied up” as he’d say (washing, drying, etc). We’d have to take the lambs into the ring to be judged (not easy since the lambs didn’t know why they were being held in place) and to the ring for the sale. Any price that the lambs got, in excess of the market price, we’d keep (come to think of it, I don’t know how my dad figured the market price so there might have been some parent shenanigans). My sister and I usually ended adding around $100 to our savings account (50 years ago so according to Google, that would be over $800). My dad used to comment that it was pretty good money for a long weekend of work and he was right. Unfortunately, neither my sister or I developed any interest in animal husbandry so our participation remained being volunteered to help.
I thought about this when I saw an old advertisement (1969) from a restaurant called The Heritage House, a smorgasbord. This restaurant and their smorgasbord offering were so engrained in the lifestyle of those people living there that I didn’t even hear of the concept of a buffet until I was an adult (and about the time they closed). The advertisement was inviting the people of Springfield to come to the smorgasbord the next Monday and Tuesday because they bought the Grand Champion from the show and sale and were serving it to their guests.
“When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.” - Psalm 114:1-8 ESV
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” - Luke 10:1-3
It was wonderful to have two very pleasant (now looking back and not then as I was working my butt off to get the lamb prettied), memories blended together by a couple of pictures. My dad was a workaholic and greatly desired to find the means to be a full time farmer/rancher but I know that he loved us greatly and wanted only the best for us. Who could ask to be blessed by a better upbringing?
