Adventures with Madi at Blue Mountain Farms: Nationals...

Hello everyone! Or should I say, "Howdy ya'll"? I am very pleased to announce that there is only two more days before traveling to the great state of Texas! "Why am I going?" you might ask yourself. ARBA nationals! ARBA stands for the American Rabbit Breeders Association. ARBA is a huge show that is held in the fall of every year. I have been a part of this wonderful journey since 2008 and so far I have visited the following states: Minnesota, Indiana, Kansas, Last year it was here in Harrisburg, and now Texas. We have usually over 22,500 animals at the convention. Wow, that is a lot of rabbits! There are 48 different breeds of rabbits and each breed has there own standard. There are also 13 different breeds of cavies. You might be thinking to yourself, "What are cavies now?" but the answer is simple. They are guinea pigs, but in the rabbit world, we call them cavies.

Now for the really exciting part... What rabbits I am taking? Well, when you are preparing for this big of a show, you must choose your rabbits wisely. I am taking a total of nine rabbits and I am excited for each one. Keep in mind that I have those big, fluffy rabbits that love to chew their coats when in stress, so do the math. A 25 hour drive + A big, fluffy angora + A small cage = A chewed coat. How do you stop that? Simple, just put them in a bigger pen. It still is very stressful for you and the rabbit because you spent eight months to grow this coat on this rabbit for this show; you don't want to lose it now!

I am also going to participate in the royalty contest and the educational display. I had to pre-enter the educational projects and the applications and let me just say that they are very lengthy. I am in the Duchess category and a lot of girls are usually in that category as well. What I entered for the education display was a pair of fingerless mittens (the pair I made the pattern for) and a woven scarf. What I did was warped the loom for two scarfs and then wove them both in one day! It was very good practice for Farm Show(you will be reading a blog on that soon...) One of the scarfs I am keeping and I am donating the other scarf to the NARBC. NARBC stands for the National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club. Hope they like it!

I will be writing a blog as soon as I get home to update you on our adventure...