Hot and Dry at the Hamilton Show 2019

It would have been easy to skip the Hamilton Show this year.  We'd been before and really enjoyed it but it's over an hour and half from home and it was going to be bloody hot.  Tassie doesn't normally have to face up to 39 degrees but it was on its way on Saturday.  Regardless we headed off in the airconditioned ute and thought supporting this community far outweighed a bit of hot sun.  And what a community.  Lions members standing in the baking sun directing cars, volunteers manning the gas bbq slamming out some seriously good slow cooked meats with burgers, steak sandwiches and tasting platters including meltingly tender wallaby, salmon, pickles, bread and cheese, all putting in a staggering effort.  A ploughman would be proud.  The miniature goats are always up for a pat and we almost cleaned out the tree conversation stall of all the native saplings.  At $2.50 a tree, you don't think, you just buy. The birds love the natives and these trees are bullet proof, 'can't kill them' she said.  I could have disputed just a little given my history of unwitting plant abuse but didn't go there.  The sun got higher and cattle mustering had to be absent this year due to the heat.  Some thankful cattle somewhere hopefully sitting under a very large tree. 

Animals rely on us to support them in the he

at.  I came home to a house of deflated pets draped strategically around the living room floor.  Some can work out the cooler spots on the house, others not so much.  I had to drag Max out of the wardrobe in the hottest place upstairs.  The chickens were provided with multiple bowls of fresh water and seemed to enjoy the odd spray with the hose.  I was tempted to let them in deal with a very large cricket that had fainted inside the hallway but thought better of it.  So a hot and uncomfortable night for all and a welcomed cooler morning today.  Phew.  My thoughts go out to all of the volunteers at the Hamilton Show yesterday who spent the day in that scorching heat to make a great event for the local community and visitors.  Hope they had a few well deserved cool beers at pack up time.

Goat handling and fast cows

We went to Hamilton Show last weekend.  An agricultural show.  A real one.  Not the one that says it's an agricultural show and has to ship in livestock from over 300 kms away in order to charge you $37 for an adult and $22 for a child just to walk through the gate.  This show is about the local community and local animals i.e., from nearby.  Whether they be for grazing, eating, jumping or rounding up, Hamilton Show did a fantastic job representing them all.  Me, having come from an upbringing in the suburbs, the thought of growing up in a community that supported young women in sheep shearing championships and mustering on horseback is as far removed from this goat in the photo to a Kardashian.  This goat, whom I suspect deserves his ribbon better than anybody with a Kardashian surname for that matter was grumpy and not keen to be in the spot light.  The girl was commended for her handling and will no doubt be grateful for those skills in later life.  The women on horseback that could chase down a young cow (see I don't even know the correct term for young cow...) and young fast cow too, was simply amazing to watch.  Such control of the horse, these women were truly inspiring.  The food was either the standard orange variety i.e., some unrecognizable object dipped in batter and deep fried until orange, or you could queue up for the local guys BBQ with steak sandwiches, lamb in pitta bread for the vegetarians and a tasting platter with a few bits and pieces.  Included in the bits were some slices of a smoked lamb that was so tender you barely had to chew it, some cold smoked salmon and someone had done some pickled cucumber that had long forsaken its title of gherkin.  All good stuff.  So if you get the chance to support your local agricultural shows, go along.  We enjoyed our day and even managed to get home without purchasing a goat.  Came close though.  Phew.  Our trees are only just recovering from the last two, who would never win best in class. Unless there was a category for escape strategies.  Prize winners.