County Fair 2014

[HotPepperQueen]

I will list what the two rosettes were for and then the next 3 I was most proud of and why!

Reserve Grand Champion- Unique flower arrangement
Grand Champion- Blue pole beans

Blue ribbon- Green chicken eggs
-I have been working hard to get my chicken's egg yolks as orange as possible and thickening up the shells of the older girls that are still laying consistently. My hen Blanche deserved this award!
Blue ribbon- Tomato juice
-The past three years I have only been able to get a white ribbon for tomato juice. No matter how full I fill the jars before processing, the head space is always more than the 1/4 inch that is required. Also the judges look for little to no separation in the juice itself. This was a rather thick batch and I finally got the 1/4 inch head space!
Blue ribbon- Red tomatoes
-In my area of MN, this summer hasn't been warm enough for red tomatoes in July or even early August. I started these Early Girls from seed in February and they were the only large red type at the fair this year!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

looks nice! i haven't bothered to enter stuff at our local in a few year. hasn't really been worth it since they changed the format of some of the ways to enter things. they no longer do a display of herbs, and individual entries you have to have a minimum of 10 and you only get 1 award when in the past you could get an award for each one attached to your board.

a friend and her family worked the grange hall where the agricultural stuff was kept so i had some instruction from them on what the judges would be looking for when i started entering stuff to our local fair back in 1996. the most i ever made from the fair was $155 but the ribbons are what i loved seeing! 2 years in a row i got the big ribbon for my display of herbs so it disappointed me about 5 years ago when i moved back to my home town to find they dropped that category from the list.

you now have me thinking i should jump on the Rochester Fair's website and see if there have been some changes, especially in premiums! it's now less than a month away. you also could enter items during the last week leading up to the fair but now they want it all done online.

does you fair go by Dutch rules when it comes to giving out ribbons/premiums in the same categories?

 

[so lucky]

HPQ, do you have a pic of your winning flower arrangement?
I can't see the individual things very well in your pic, but it all looks delicious and lovely!

 

[Smart Red]

That was my first question as well. Did we ever get to see the prize winning flower arrangement?

The money is nice, but the personal recognition is what the awards are all about. You did great work and fairly deserved to win those awards.

 

[ninnymary]

Any more, closer pictures? I'm having to squint.

Mary

 

[journey11]

Awesome!

Looks like you've been very busy! Glad to hear your hard work got the praise it deserves.

I'm signing up my DD7 for 4-H Cloverbuds next month. I am really looking forward to it myself too! (I never got the opportunity to do 4-H when I was little.) I think it will be right up her alley and I hope she'll get to ride my horse (or a horse of her own) at the fair someday soon. She's really excited about showing chickens too and wants to get some silkies this year.

 

[baymule]

HPQ, way to go!! That is so awesome to win all those awards! Do the judges judge on appearances alone or they open and taste any of those beautiful entries? .......probably a good way to get a bellyache from some improperly canned foods....just skip that last question.....

 

[HotPepperQueen]

Thank you everyone! Canned items are only judged on proper canning method and appearance. Eggs are judged on proper packaging, shell thickness, white consistency, height and color of yolk. Vegetables and flowers are judged on appearance and quality.

Here are the pictures you were after

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I love your FB page!

 

[baymule]

Looks beautiful!