Fun at the Fair

I love fairs!

After our farmers market we got a call from Mandee*.

She wanted us to join her and her friends at the Jefferson County Fair!
Without hesitation, we said we'd be there!

*Mandee found James's ad for workers need on Craig's List and
she's been working with us every now and again this summer.
This is how I, we, met her

We purchased the unlimited rides wrist band and we went on several rides while we waited for her church friends to arrives.

We literally went on every ride that we could, we even walked through the crazy house! And as you can imagine, we went on several of the rides more than once, up to 6 times!

Have I said that I love fairs!

James and I waiting for the Twirl to start!
We rode this 4 times.
Very Fun, less scary each time!

Mandee and I in the crazy house!
Do we not look a lil short and round?!
My poor leg looks so distorted!

This is the Swing, probably our favorite ride of the night
-as we went on it at least six times!
It spins and swings at the same time!
Love it!
...again gets less scary each time.
This ride even took my breath away a few times!

There were so many rides I'd love to talk about, but those are the only pictures Mandee captured for us, because I didn't have my camera with me. And it's just not as fun to talk about a ride with a picture to prove it.

But.. I can't resist. There was this one that was like the Swings at Camp Snoopy. EXCEPT it took you up in the air at least 150 ft. It was soo fun, a little scary to think about the swing flying off, but soo fun!

There was also the ship ride - not like the one at Valley Fair that swings all the way around. But just back and forth! VERY FUN!

..and I guess that all that's worth mentioning.

It was such a blast!

I love fairs!

Sold Out!

The last several days we've finally had nice weather! And by nice, I mean mid 70's with a partly sunny sky! I'm loving it! Although, last night it got down as low as 46 degrees! Can you believe that, mid July? Our strawberries are slooowing way down! We have three varieties that are pretty much done, with only a few strawberries here and there. We have one variety producing big strawberries, but they are ripening rather slowly, so there aren't many on each plant. Though, just enough to make it worth us going to farmers markets still!

James at our Farmers Market in Clayton.
The St. Laurence River is right behind those trees.
Great attraction town, many people on vacation.
Perfect for selling strawberries...

Story:

Notice our "BerryWorks" sign up front? I warned James that it was a terrible spot to hang it, but of course "it's fine.." as he just assumed it was me nagging trying to make something look better. But.. sure enough a lovely rather tall lady, smacked her forehead right on the corner of it. OUCH!
...he then agree to put in the back where we normally have it, like in this next picture I am so conveniently blocking.

Me at the Farmers Market in Watertown.
This is by far our most profitable market.
People going to work, on lunch break, and after work.
Women with their kids during the afternoon.
Men looking for a refreshing lunch as they didn't pack one.
And little old ladies looking for some local produce!

Story:

Today this picture was taken to record our SELLING OUT IN 1 HOUR day! We had strawberries and raspberries (both red and black) today and they were all sold within our first hour of being there. As we contemplated on what to do: 1.) just pack up and go home OR 2.) send someone for more; the people walking through helped us decide. "You're out of berries already? I just walked down to the end and I was coming back to get some, I just didn't want to carry them and you still had a full table, so I figured it was safe." "Oh no, you're sold out? I came just for your berries I was going to make strawberries rhubarb pie, oh well I'll just take some rhubarb then." and "I have only had strawberries a few times this season, I was so happy to hear someone say you had strawberries down here."
We got the message, it was worth going back for more. I was the lucky one to race back and pick-up what had been picked while we were gone. Just 5 quarts of strawberries and 5 of raspberries. Needless to say, we still didn't please everyone. We also had the 11 bundles of rhubarb that we had forgot to grab earlier.

When I returned there were people standing there waiting for me..and literally, a mob overwhelmed me once we had placed everything on the table. The berries were gone in less then 15 minutes and we walked away carrying one bundle of rhubarb. Not bad, huh?!? Especially since we didn't have to pay the fee for setting up a stand, since we were there a couple of hours.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the Wild Wild East: