This year they helped plant the garden. I increased the garden size to accommodate our goal of entering 500 jars of canned goods at the fair this year.

Last winter we canned venison, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, chili sauce, tomato soup, turkey, catsup, barbecue sauce, fish, sweet potatoes, duck, butternut squash, pumpkins and potatoes. You might say that whatever we find, we can. The entries will help out the competition at the fair and it will give the boys a little bit of income.

I had never canned jams and jellies so we tried that. This year we are going to add jalapeno pepper jelly and canned squirrel. The canned squirrel was Smokey's idea. We asked the Fair Board to add it to the list of acceptable items and they did.

One parent asked me if we ever needed someone to pick up sticks. I said sure and they sent their son to help out around the farm. Then the apples were ready. Soon two more boys were there to help get the ladders out and pick the apples. Then something was ready in the garden and we decided to start canning and eventually decided to enter the Clay County Fair.

Music is my passion, singing, performing. I play piano and musical theater is my background.

I like to stay hydrated with water throughout the day and snack on apples, but my guilty pleasure would definitely be a caramel macchiato from Starbucks!