International Plowing Match - 2011

Wednesday was another beautiful day so we decided to put our chores on hold and head off to the International Plowing Match which is being held in our area this year. It was an easy 50 minute drive away from home. Next year it’s about 8 hours drive away.

For those people that travel from far away to enjoy this event there is RV parking for about 1800! All with electricity. They deliver fresh water throughout the event and also provide pumping services. The RVers also get their own entertainment in the evenings (but you’d better like country music…).

Signs directed us to the parking area where people on the ground guided us to the next available parking spot. Then we were loaded into empty hay wagons for the ride to the grounds.

The general grounds were about 1km x 1km square, divided up by roads. It was packed with things to see – who knew there were so many tractor brands! And several companies with solar arrays and even a few windmills. There were sauna manufacturers, chain saw makers, septic tank makers, camper distributers, tents with educational displays, tents with sheep, tents with cows, tents with horses, tents with antique tools and farm implements, there was pretty much everything having to do with farming. There were tents with music dotted around the grounds. Oh yeah – and bad food which we absolutely required to energize us through our day.

There was a Super Dog/Horse event which was fun to watch. The dog with the world record in high jump was there – a pretty Ibizan hound. And the dogs did barrel racing against some serious quarter horses zipping around the barrels. The dogs won! Then they did a pole bending race, dogs in the weave poles, horses with their bending poles. I think the dogs won this one too – they were fast! The horses were pretty darn impressive as well – however did the riders stay glued to the horses backs the way they did?

Carm found lots of people to talk to about all kinds of things so he was happy (and I stood around listening to blah blah about heating units and solar arrays, septic tanks and chain saws to name just a few)! In the morning when we were deciding to go he wondered if all there would be to see would be the plowing… he wasn’t really sure he wanted to go until I assured him there would be a lot of things to see… and I really had no idea just how many things that would be!

One of the amazing things we saw was a giant quilt (36 metres long and 3.5 metres high) called the “Quilt of Belonging”. There is a block for all the First Peoples in Canada and one for every nation of the world. I hope they find a worthy permanent home. Check out the website for more information.

And can you believe that we went to a Plowing Match and didn’t even get to see the plowing! There was just so much to see and do that we ran out of time. Maybe we’ll have to go next year!