I didn't actually have my camera at the fair this year, but we had some memorable moments. Eli got his first blue ribbon for a miniature flower arrangement. Eli ate the food from the baby food jar so I could use it as a container, so he did his part to get his name on the entry!
On Thursday I ran out to the garden after work and gathered as big a variety of produce as I could find. I ended up with:
Red and Yellow bell peppers
Serrano and jalapeno peppers
Roma, Brandywine, Better Boy, Cherry, Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
Okra, Kale, Sweet Potatoes, zucchini, and Corn
I had a few purple beans left in the fridge.
To help decorate the basket I used a sunflower and lots of herbs including:
oregano, rosemary, basil, purple basil, Thai basil, dill, chives, mint, lavender, and pineapple sage
I also ran next door and picked a few pears to include some fruit (that may be cheating??)
By Friday evening when I got off work to see the exhibits, the basket didn't look as pretty, with a few items wilting, but it ended up with a Best in Show :)
Our sunflowers didn't do as great this year but I had a few beautiful small ones that I put together with some pineapple sage and Sedum in Clay's name and he got a Best in Show also.
So we thought we were Rocking the Big Price's Fork Fair so why not put Eli in the baby contest. Well, he wasn't such a big fan of the loud, crowded, hot Grange hall. By the time the 6mos to 1yr age group for boys was called he was a flushed, drooly, gassy mess. He didn't take home a ribbon. So when he starts getting a big head when he's older, we'll remind him he took last place at the PF fair:)
We had fun and I'm always happy to see a lot of people enjoying the little community fair. We will see what happens in the next couple of years when the new PFES opens and the old school building is sold. It will certainly change the dynamics of pulling off the fair.
As always, I usually see the fair as time to let the garden go. We still have a crop of corn that didn't seem to fill out like the first planting. We have an abundance of tomatoes. Clay's mom and dad made some salsa, and his aunt Dee helped can some tomato juice. We are so fortunate to have some folks help out to prevent us from wasting some great food. I tried dehydrating some okra, which turned out pretty good for snacking. I may try to dehydrate some more Romas as they come in.
Eli getting ready for the baby contest. Looks like he is about ready for his second hair cut!
