4-H'ers Ryan and Kristen Foley are rip roarin' ready and so are their projects for this week's Plymouth County Fair. [Click to enlarge]

(Editor's note: This is the third in a series of stories profiling 4-H families as they prepare for the Plymouth County Fair).

'Twas the night before the Plymouth County Fair and all through the house not a 4-H'er was sleeping not even Kristen's pet mouse. The projects were hung and ironed with care in hopes that the judge won't notice the spaghetti stain and tear. The children were sleepless and ready for bed yet visions of blue ribbons were dancing in their heads. With Mom frazzled and Dad rather fried everyone's hoping that the worm farm doesn't die. When out in the yard we heard a great "Moo!" We sprang from our beds to see what to do. When what to my tired eyes should appear but a miniature goat and eight stampeding steers. The animals were loose and all over the lawn eating the prized winning cabbages gone!

Does this Plymouth County Fair Eve sound familiar? This is no Christmas in July but many 4-H families can relate to the "night before" stress that can sometimes come about hours prior to the fair. So how does one avoid pre-fair disasters? First and foremost plan ahead. Do not wait until the night before to finish projects.

Kristen and Ryan Foley, members of the Johnson Jrs. 4-H Club of Akron, are two examples of 4-H'ers who have been preparing and working on their projects far in advance and as a result their cabbages and clothing projects are in prime condition for judging for this year's Plymouth County Fair.

"We've been busy this summer swimming and trying to get all of our projects ready," says 12-year-old Kristen Foley.

Kristen will be a seventh grader this fall at Akron-Westfield and has been putting her taste for trends to the test in the constructed Clothing Revue competition.

"I've made two spaghetti strap tank tops with a button closure in the back and a pair gauchos," says Kristen. "I chose the fabric for the tops because I liked the design and then picked a purple knit fabric for matching gauchos."

The Clothing Revue judging was held on July 10 at the Grace Lutheran Church in Le Mars.

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"I like doing Clothing Revue because I get to show people what I made and then they get to see what it looks like on me too."

To complete her lavender ensemble, Kristen accessorized with purple flip-flops decorated with eyelash thread and a macramé necklace with purple beads, which she also made.

As with any constructed outfit, Kristen did run into a few difficulties during the creation process.

"The knit fabric for the gauchos was really stretchy, which made it hard to sew and easy to rip when taking out the stitches. Sewing darts into my top was also kind of hard."

Kristen is planning to wear her newly constructed outfit for school, parties, shopping and even for dressier occasions.

"I love modeling at Clothing Revue," she said. "It's definitely one of my favorite things to do at the fair."

Kristen has also spent her summer days making zucchini bread, cream cheese mints, chocolate chip cookies and gluten free poppy seed bread, which she will be entering in the fair.

"My grandma gave me the recipe (gluten free poppy seed bread). She can't eat gluten so I'm doing a project on regular poppy seed bread versus the gluten free poppy seed bread to see if people can taste the difference."

Gluten free poppy seed bread is made with gluten free cake mix, which can be purchased at nutrition stores and by adding lemon flavoring and poppy seeds.

"I'm also making cream cheese mints for the fair. You just have to wait for the cream cheese to soften and put them in plastic molds. I've been adding cocoa and mint for extra flavoring to the mints too."

Kristen will also be taking a fleece tie blanket and a belt made with circles and interwoven ribbon to the fair as well. She can also proudly say that all of her write-ups are completed and she's ready for judging.

Kristen's younger brother, Ryan has also been prepping for the big county event as this is his first year participating in the fair as a 4-H'er.

"I was kind of nervous about judging day but our club's achievement show helped me get ready to talk with the judges."

Ten-year-old Ryan will be a fifth grader this fall at Akron-Westfield and has been busy this summer working on his 4-H projects.

"I built a stool/tool and tote carrier," said Ryan. "I found my idea in a woodworking magazine and it wasn't too hard to make because it only took me two days to build and dad helped me cut the boards for the project."

Painted with green and yellow "John Deere colors," what first began as a 4-H project for himself soon turned into a gift for someone else.

"I started out making the tool/stool and tote carrier for myself and then I realized that I didn't have a gift for Father's Day so I gave it to Dad instead."

Ryan is also baking a carrot cake recipe for the fair.

"I was first going to make a chocolate cake but I think I measured something wrong," said Ryan. "The cake didn't turn out quite right so I decided to make carrot cake because it was a little easier. I was also surprised that the cake actually had baby food in it."

This junior 4-H'er is also making a worm recipe to be entered in the fair but unlike his carrot cake this won't be entered in the Food and Nutrition category.

"It's a worm farm -- a jar filled with dirt, sand and oatmeal for them to eat," said Ryan. "We had made worm farms for a school project and I thought it would be a good project for the fair too."

The humble worm abode is an empty peanut butter jar filled with one inch of dirt, sand and one teaspoon of oatmeal. The sedimentary layers are repeated until the jar is filled and holes have been drilled in the top of the lid.

"I then put the worms on top of the layers so they could begin digging their homes in the jar," said Ryan. Finding out the hard way, he's also discovered that, "It's best to keep the worms in the basement where it's cool and they won't dry out."

Ryan will also be selecting some cabbages from his family's garden for showing. "We planted the cabbages in late spring before school had let out. Since it hasn't rained, I've had to water them a lot and worry about potato bugs getting at them."

When this soon-to-be fifth grader isn't working on his fair projects, he's also active in the 4-H "Shooting Sports" program at Sportsman's Club south of Le Mars.

"There are about twelve kids who participate," said Ryan. "We get to use shotguns and shells and practice trapshooting. It also teaches you about hunting and how you should hold a gun."

As the Foleys and other 4-H'ers finish icing their carrot cakes and varnishing their woodworking projects, it may be a late night for some 4-H families as they put their final 4-H efforts forth just in time for the 2007 Plymouth County Fair.

"As they finished their projects, 4-H'ers let out a whistle, and to the fair they drove like the flight of a missile. And I heard them exclaim as they went in for judging, "Happy Plymouth County Fair to all, and please no budging!"