It is time for the annual cow chipping.

 

Well, it is that time of the year: Chatham Jaycees Annual Sweet Corn and Cow Chipping Festival in Illinois.

Small communities like Chatham are gems. Generations gather to renew friendships and celebrate history.  While there are competitions of all sorts, nothing, but nothing, is as intense and delightful as the Cow Chipping Contest.

The whole process is fairly simple. From their cow pastures, farmers select dried cow pies of the correct size, using a toilet seat as the measuring standard. The pies are then donated to the Jaycees where they are kept in a secure place. I am not kidding.

(There have been some accusations about sabotage; pies have been embedded with pellets or such in the past.  So, security is provided. Yes, it is. Honest. There used to be security men wandering around.) 

Future chippers--not afraid to get their hands dirty

"This event will take place on July 21-23 at the Chatham sports field. Any attendees wishing to participate in the cow chipping throw should attend when the event is announced.  Experience is not necessary. All should understand that participation may result in pungent particulates adhering to hands and clothing."

This is a quote from 2019 flyers.

Competition is serious business.

This is an international sport. Visitors travel to participate in this event.

Pinterest.com

 

Being a farm girl who was never daunted by cow manure, I did this: 

 

Notice that the patty is the size of a toilet seat. This an important element in chipping contests.  Equal sizes, etc. Standards must be maintained.

 

 

 Note the intense concentration.

 

Cow patty's final resting place

I shellacked the daylights of this thing and took it home with me to California. I placed it in a dry area by the patio, where it was whole for 2 years. Not enough rain to speak of, so this managed to impress all who saw it. 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Fields of July

  

 July is here and oh boy howdy. This is sweetcorn time of the year.  You cannot beat this.

In my home rural farm, our old house was surrounded by corn or wheat fields. The wheat was harvested first, and then corn appears. The stalks grow anywhere from 8 to 12 feet. 

Running through corn stalks is nasty. The blades/leafs can hide are as scratchy and they cut too well. 

 Even so, we played hide and seek, tag, and chasing. The photos below are me pointing to a cow patty.

This is me, pointing at a cow patty.

I was active in finding and scooping up the patty.

Notice that the patty is the size of a toilet seat.

Checking product for correct dry and texture
Considering aerodynamic and wind direction.

 

 

 Yes, I am holding a cow patty. It was sanitized. I took back to my home where it was placed in the garden area. It slowly fell apart. Great memory. 

 

Cow patty's final resting place

My brother Don knows all the people and businesses here. The community loves and appreciates what Don and his son Jeremy do for special events like 

The Sweetcorn Festival of Chatham, Illinois 

This is a fundraiser for the use of someone in the community may have need.

Let me tell you this: Being with my brother Don is a gift and the most interesting person. He organized the use of the pasture to collect cow manure, and then he gave me a quick tutorial of the throw.  Then Don drove us on places that were part of his life. Don is a reverend at Laomi Methodist Church and a Chaplain at Memorial Hospital in Springfield, Illinois. 

So, that's all they wrote. Reliving part of our past, discovering what we didn't know---good times.

2019 Cow Chipping and Sweet Corn Festival Conclusion

Where it all started
circle of life

This is a long video/slideshow, about 15 minutes. If you could just skim through it, you'll see an amazing community putting together this big event. It brought  people from around the state and you will see  them enjoying  their time in Chatham.  

And, yes, you will see some cow patties being collected. Little Miss Corn Festival is displaying a winning cow pattie.

Precious children

About 15 minutes slide show

Little Miss and Mr. Sweet Corn Festival and their royal court

Next year. Next year we will be there!

Let the Chips Fly Where They May

Harvest of fresh-yet-to-dry-out

Tonight my friends, we ride.

"This evening begins the annual Chatham Jaycees Cow Chip Roundup."

Wranglers on the prowl

Our legion of experienced chip wranglers will ride off to round up the 2019 crop of cow chips for the 2019 Illinois Cow Chip Throw! Wranglers round the chips up, then our chip technicians humanely cull the herd choosing only the best, ripest, and most aerodynamically perfect chips.

The chips are then transported to our one of a kind Cow Chip Confinement Unit (CCCU) patent pending, to rest and undergo a final inspection by one of the Chip Masters, primarily the Most Reverend Donald Peck.

After wind tunnel testing, those special chips are ready for their moment in the sun on July 20 at the Chatham Jaycees Sweet Corn and Cow Chipping Festival.

  

Painting CCCU to prevent satellite spying

Highly trained professional

Security personnel

Why do we go through such an elaborate and mostly fictionalized process?

Because we love you. And we put a little love in every chip. (For legal reasons we are unable at this time to describe that process.)"

    

Future  Chipper

Musicians play to encourage cows to produce. Earth, Wind, and Fire could not appear, altho they were requested.

Staff of Collection and Security Personnel

   

King of the Sweetcorn 

When the festival is over, excess cow chips disposed, celebratory bottles hoisted, this is what is left.

Farm in Chatham, IL

This is a follow-up from June 30, 2019 post. Now the time is upon us and I believed that you needed to know the new info. 

P.S.  Information and news releases provided photos and information for this post have been provided by the Chatham Jaycees Cow Chipping committee. Thanks go to the Most Reverend Donald Peck, who has been quoted as saying   "I was the Cow Chip Consultant, CCC. I have PhD in the business." As he is my brother, I can attest to the accuracy of this statement.