Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Where Has the Summer Gone?

School is already starting for some area kids!  It seems like the Summer has been in full speed mode! Not one "lazy day of Summer" that I can recall.

July was the rainiest month since last October!  Farmers were challenged to manage their fields between drenching storms that seemed to never end since Spring.  Children on Summer break from school were sad that their sports were being rained out and trips to the swimming pool were infrequent.  Weather has improved greatly in the final week of July and first week of August.

Here it is mid-August, and the Hartford Fair is enjoying its 157th year of festivities.  Tonight will be the demolition derby event, which a lot of local folks not only like to watch, but also ride!  In less than two hours, beat-up vehicles will be getting even more bruised and battered to the delight of a cheering crowd of onlookers.   The Homer Village Market is located on the route to the fairgrounds, so maybe I'll see some of the derby vehicles heading to the demolition event--or at least hear them roaring down the road.

This week Monday was the "lamb cookoff" competition, and one of our local youth won a prize for her entry!  I can't wait to get the recipe and try it myself.  Once the Hartford Fair Board publishes the winning entries, we will put a link here so you can enjoy some good country cooking recipes.

This past weekend (August 7-9) was the annual Pelotonia bicycle ride to raise money for a cancer cure.  This year, nearly 8,000 bicycle riders (supported by thousands of volunteers at rest stops) made their way from Columbus Commons along several routes of varying distances and difficulty (from 25 miles to over 125 miles) including steep inclines and rolling hills.  Hundreds of Pelotonia riders traveled the 100 mile Bennington Chapel Route, which started in Pickerington, stopped at the Homer Library, among other rest stops, and finished at Kenyon College in nearby Gambier, Ohio.  Millions of dollars have been raised for donation to our local cancer research institute.  You can learn more about their cause on the Pelotonia website.   It was a beautiful day for a ride, and here are a few pictures as they passed through the intersection in Homer.





Earlier this summer, my biggest thrill was seeing the blooms in the yard.  All that rain did some good, apparently!





Well, I hear some really loud mufflers!  Going to check it out right now and see if I can snap a picture or two of these wild rides heading to the fair tonight!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!  Please stop by the store to say hello and see what's new!  We have had some really delicious boneless ribeye steaks and ground angus for grilling.  Plenty of sweet corn and other fresh vegetables are for sale at farm stands in our vicinity right now!