The h2g2 Post Worldwide Farm Fair  The h2g2 Post has gone Down Home and Farm Fresh, folks! It's that time of year: the time when farmers, market gardeners, and backyard chicken fanciers (and we have one) join in for fun, frolicking, and bragging about what they've raised. (Except for Your Editor, whose cucumber vine is now reluctantly producing a second tiny pickle in spe. Oh, well.)
Everyone's joined in to make this a gala agricultural extravaganza, much like the county fairs of our respective homelands. We have it all: the thrill of racing the neighbours with our farm machinery and livestock, the awesome spectacle of vegetables grown in home dirt, and the solemnity of the annual rites and rituals of country life. We have barnyard race judges in formalwear. We have a town mayor who is required to kiss a horse annually. (Okay, it was a miniature horse, and it was real cute, but still…he has to make up to the local horses for all the ones that were stolen in the 1860s.) Above all, we have poultry in all its glory: running about, laying, and generally being decorative. Amy Pawloski claims that chickens are 'gateway livestock', leading to more serious addiction to farm pursuits. The next thing you know, we'll all want cows…
Me, I'm content with bunnies and the resident ground hog. I'm still trying to discourage the local deer. They hang around in my backyard at night, and the cops don't do a thing about it, even though this is a college town. Calls to the emergency services invite derision.
Do you have produce or livestock you'd like to put on virtual display? Do you have a tale to tell about the agricultural doings in your area? Send pics – your produce cannot possibly be more pitiful than my garden yield this year.
Tavaron has a fascinating set of childhood memories from her family's farm in Austria. It makes me nostalgic for the homemade butter and wild berry-picking of my own childhood farm visits in Tennessee. Read, and compare with your own experiences.
To all who have contributed on the subject of games during Create's August challenge, we thank you, and offer a quiz in tribute. Next month's challenge is 'Try to Remember'. It being September, Create want your September memories. What happened during this always-exciting month? Share!
The Post sends out fondest regards to Willem, still on hiatus, with hopes for his speedy return, and wishes Channel Swimmer Robbie and globetrotter Brian (last heard from in Vegas) the best of holidays.
Enjoy the issue – keep sending Stuff (like you did this time)! And have a great week!
STOP PRESS NEWS! We almost missed this spectacular travel opportunity. Nigel's dead jealous because I got a boarding pass for the next Mars mission from NASA, his heroes. They'll give you one, too, just sign up. You can go to Mars by microchip proxy. Well, it's a start, and you get Frequent Flyer miles (or kilometers). Sign up here, and don't use any rude names. They're checking.
Dmitri Gheorgheni
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