Fair Food & Furry Friends!

Last week I wasn't online because I was at our county fair.  In 5 days I think we worked about 100 hours.  We do double live remote broadcasts Monday thru Friday from 6 to 9 AND 1 to 5.

Since I took so many photos I will have to break these posts down for you.  Today I thought I would blog about the Fair Food and my Furry Friends.

First up...this building.  It was new last year but this year I helped stain the deck.  I also stained a wooden wishing well near the fair office.

The small area I live in is very much agriculturally based and therefore very involved with the local fair.

My husband is on the fair board and heads up the entertainment committee.  This year was the 85th Anniversary of the fair and there were 4 live concerts which included The Swon Brothers, The Bellamy Brothers, Cassadee Pope, and Confederate Railroad.  I will have more on the concerts in future posts.  The weekend before the fair actually started we were on the grounds volunteering/working on many different projects.  Afterwards a few of us gathered in the pavilion where the concerts were going to be held and I noticed this little sweetie scared in the middle of the floor.  I carefully grabbed two cups and nudged him in and walked him outside into a nearby hole so he could re-coop and be safe from the elements.  It was the smallest mouse I had ever seen!

Monday or Tuesday I visited the Bunny Barn.  I still want a bunny - might I add.  I noticed a group of babies snuggling in some of the naturally-shed bunny fur.  They were adorable!

Of course this didn't help the fact that I have been wanting a bunny!

No...I didn't come home with one but I would be fibbing if I said I didn't think about it.

Oh!  And YES!  The new camper worked out wonderful throughout fair week!  I was very pleased and the bed that we were given by a local business owner worked out great, too!

I was so blessed to have several people 'look out for me' all week with food!  Of course I brought some good old standby's, too!  I had a stash of Triskets, hummus, and vegan mayo and Daiya slices to grab on the fly!

But take a look at this!  The wonderful lady who ran the 4-H Restaurant hooked me up with Cantaloupe 4 days in a row!  2 of those days she also had blueberries and one of the days even some grapefruit!  Bless her!  4 days I paired that with peanut butter toast and the last day I did English Muffin with Peanut Butter instead.  It worked out GREAT!  Monday we had a Media Lunch and the organizer of that made me a HUGE salad which I will talk more about that later!

One of the other food booths that I volunteered at brought me strawberries for brunch or lunch almost everyday, too!  They really DID spoil me!

Another food booth I volunteered for - I know has a designated fry frier.  Only fries go in it.

And they use Soy Oil.  I didn't want fries to be my fair food staple but I splurged on the last day and had some from there.  They also hooked me up with a pretzel and mustard on a few of the days, too!

I mentioned on the airwaves - no matter what diet or lifestyle or food choices you standby - just ask and most if not all of the booths will accommodate!

Catching Up For REAL This Time!

Ummm, yeah...so...I mentioned last week that I was going to do multiple posts most days last week to CATCH UP and that sooooo didn't happen.  So...now I have twice as much to talk about, I suppose!  Oops, sorry, my bad!  Another LONG POST AHEAD!

I'll start back to the weekend before last, I guess.  We spent the weekend in Salamanca, NY, at their Falling Leaves Festival.  The weather was rainy towards the end of the day on Saturday and it was kind of nice on Sunday.  There IS a reason they call it Falling Leaves.  The leaves were CERTAINLY falling EVERY WHERE!  It was neat, tho!  Sales could have been better but overall it was an 'ok' event.

There was a Bird Rehab Center there as well as a Petting "zoo" with rehabbed animals.  One of the animals was this large rabbit that was so cute and soft!  Then I was able to spend time with some of the goats that I met last month at another event.  This one came up and gave me 'kisses' and nudges, even!  LOVE them!

Elvis was there!  Well...it was an Elvis Impersonator, actually, but he was pretty good!  He drove in on a Motorcycle!  He seemed like QUITE the crowd pleaser, too!

On Sunday there were Puppies/Dogs/Kittens from a local no-kill animal shelter.  They were adorable!  I swiped these photos off the website, actually!  The Reddish/Brown and White one is Atlas and the Black and White one is Lexi.  Atlas came to them from a Kentucky "kill" farm of sorts.  Apparently they arrived at the facility and they had to 'sell' them and if they weren't 'sold' in 5 days or less they were destroyed.  How awful!

My father fell in LOVE with Lexi right away!  He said she reminded him of his dog when he was 9.  A few days later he woke up and told my mom that he had a dream about Lexi the night before.  Last Friday My Mom & Dad officially adopted Lexi and my sister and her husband officially adopted Atlas!   I will have more current photos this week or maybe even later today!  They are amazing dogs!  Atlas is a Beagle/Pointer Mix and Lexi is a Retriever/Collie Mix.

In other news...Amherst, NY, my old stompin'-grounds finally has a Trader Joe's!  It opened this past weekend and I wasn't able to go YET but I will soon...FOR SURE!  Here's a photo I found on Facebook of the store!  It looks awesome, doesn't it!?

I've been snacking on Flax and Chia Crackers a lot lately!  I think this latest spur of interest is because of some of the dips and spreads I have been creating!  I have so many products I need to review - it's CRAZY!  Here's one of them!  Chipotle Chia Crackers from New Earth!  These are VERY VERY crunchy.  Crunch with Caution, I like to say!  These are powerful RAW treats!  Check out the ingredients:

organic sprouted buckwheat, organic red bell pepper, organic chia seeds, nutritional yeast flakes, pure water, wild-crafted Himalayan pink salt, organic chipotle powder.  Other ingredients: Joy, celebration and fun!

At first bite I was not a huge fan of the texture but after gnawing on them I quickly changed my mind because they were tasty and somewhat addicting!  They are VERY power-packed with 22 grams of protein per bag!  YAY!

Another thing I wanted to share with you was my new favorite food attempt!  Almond Cheese!!!!  I have been LOVING the Whole Foods Co-Op in Erie's Cashew Cheese and this is darned close!  I will certainly be making this A LOT it's so good!

I used:
1 C Almonds
1 C Water
3 T Lemon Juice
2 Cloves Garlic
Pinch Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

As you can see it's awesome for dipping!  And spreading on things!  It thickens in the refrigerator over night.  YUMMO!

Another Raw Vegan Food Idea and Snacking Idea! 

The English Muffins are Sprouted from Ezekiel Bread.  The Flax Crackers are from Foods Alive.

Cuties From The Weekend

This past weekend we had a Wildtree Display at a Corn Festival in Youngsville, PA.  We've done this event in the past and it's been great sales-wise.  This year...not so much.  But there was a lot of stuff still going on and there were MORE people there Sunday VS the day before but the sales just didn't happen.  The weather was amazingly comfortable and the park was nice but some what out of the way.  They had it in the park this year because they are doing their Streetscape Project in their downtown area.  The City went thru that years ago and it really messes with everything that the community organizations and businesses TRY and do!  Been there - done that - TOTALLY feel for the organizers and local businesses!  So I 'do' understand why things were different this year.  Having said that...I did enjoy my time with some animals that visited the area yesterday.  I originally met the guy at another event last year and he really loves his animals.  Most of the animals were 'saved' from questionable circumstances, adopted, or rehabilitated in some causes, I believe.  My father and I have always LOVED Prairie Dogs - and years ago when I was more active in Care2 issues and activities I read that some states are having Prairie Dog 'hunts' because of over population.  This breaks my heart!  I mean look at these cuties!  They remained snuggling like this for at least 15 minutes!

  
There were sheep and goats there, too!  The sheep were VERY friendly.  Actually ALL of the animals were VERY friendly.  There was one goat that must have been the 'grand poobah' or even the bully of the bunch that was trying to steal everyone elses food, tho!  This goat on the left was so cool!  He was quite the ROCK STAR with his Salt and Pepper Shaggy Hair!

Some of the goats gave me love nibbles as I fed them!  I'm not going to lie...I loved every minute of it!

This Trio of Cuties were hanging out in the corner of the large pen area.  They loved eating the grass and playing.  The guy had an Old School "Fisher Price" type house that they LOVED.  I remember it from last year, too!  They all played in it and around it.  Some of them even liked to jump on top of it and stand or sit there and show off a bit.

I don't really know what this little guy's name is but my mom and I were calling him "George".  He was roaming around the grounds totally free!  He was quite the grass eater!  He let me pet him for at least 10 minutes. 

All of these cuties were extremely clean, playful, social, and adorable. 

There were some really LARGE rabbits, too, and they were so soft!  They all had access to grass, food, water, and play area ALL day!  There was a cute turtle as well as a few other animals of interest! 

I believe the gentlemen visited school often to teach the children about the different animals as well.  If he's at the one event again this year - like he was last year - I hope to talk to him more.

Bunnies & Birds

As you can see I'm still trying to catch up on posts from last week's Fair Week!

This year I spent a little bit of time in the barns but wasn't able to get many photos.  I was able to form a friendship with at least 1 of the sheep but the barn I had the most fun in while I was there was in the Combo Barn with the Bunnies and "Poultry".  They used to call it the Chicken Barn but it has more than 'just chickens' in there now.  They have chickens, hens, roosters, swans, ducks, etc.

Between seeing these sweeties at the Fair and reading all of Opal's posts about her furbabies lately I have been considering adopting a Bunny.  I don't think this will be something that will happen right away, however.  First, I want to educate myself quite a bit as I have never had a Bunny before and want to be sure I know more before I jump into it.  I want to be a good "furmama" to them, of course.  I am learning a lot from Opal.  I always learn a lot from her.  She's a wonderful person and always willing to help fill my head with knowledge!  I also want it to the be 'right' situation for both the bunny AND our household.  I want to make sure we have nice living quarters for them before we adopt them...plus I don't want to run out and 'get' just 'any' bunny.  I would like to look for a rescue or adoption situation...one that NEEDS a home. 

As for these photos...the first one I couldn't resist taking the photo - they were babies!  And LOOK at their markings!  How glorious!  This next lil guy was so sweet, too!  I tried to snap the photo when he was looking at me because his eyes were so adorable paired with his droopy ears!  But he moved a bit too quick!  And this last one was SO HUGE!  But he was VERY friendly and quite calm, cool, and collected!

All of them were amazing but I only got to take a few photos of a couple of them!

Speaking of Friendly Creatures - I saw this one and couldn't help myself either!  I spent a good 5 to 10 minutes with this beauty. 

This one really liked to interact with the passerby's!  Vocal, but not TOO vocal and 'strolled' with me back and forth as I walked by.

The one sheep I mentioned at the beginning of this post was like that, too!