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Soddy-Daisy’s Plotners gearing up for another blue-ribbon run at the Hamilton County Fair
When the Plotner family moved from Miami to Soddy-Daisy four years ago, it was a culture shock to their sons.
“When we came here, it was the first time Cooper and Gage had seen cows and chickens,” says mom Becky Plotner. “They could tell you anything about a manatee, but this was all new to them.”
Now the guys are raising chickens – 24 between them – and entering some in this weekend’s Hamilton County Fair. Because of the fair, they’ve learned to can, garden, bake, woodwork, build models and even some sewing fundamentals, says Becky. She homeschools her sons, and says she considers the new skills they’ve acquired making fair entries just as important to their education as the written curriculum.
“This will be their fourth year to enter the fair. We originally entered four things; last year Cooper entered so much it took two hours to fill out all the paperwork and two truckloads to bring it all home,” she says.
Husband Kevin doesn’t enter, “he just funds our projects,” she jokes.