Down on the (Little) Farm

While driving the beautiful local countryside recently, enjoying the Americana views of working farms, I was reminded of a popular exhibit I had seen at the recent Badger Steam & Gas Show.  I was there to work, stationed at a table near a miniature farm scene. Children of all ages were drawn to the large farm model with many moving parts: A car driving in and back out of a garage, corn moved up an elevator, water gurgling in a pond.  There were cows and horses, tractors and fire trucks. The man who built the model said that he didn't live on a farm.  He had professionally been a mechanic and a fire fighter.  He had started building the model when his children were young and had kept working at it after they had outgrown playing with it.  His work became so elaborate that he won a best-in-show award for it at a national competition.  There was much activity and many attractions to be enjoyed at the Badger Steam & Gas Show, but there was a special interest down on the (little) farm.