Entering your canned goods in the county fair can be lots of fun and a pat on the back for a job well done. You can win red, blue and white ribbons to decorate your kitchen, money, ball canning books, coupons good towards canning jars, canning equipment and more. Not to mention the great feeling of having your hard work appreciated.

-- Trendle Ellwood (trendlespin@msn.com), December 29, 2000

Answers

My mom enters items in our county fair every year. She does beautiful needle work & crochet and has won lots of ribbons. She has even had people see her items there and hire her to make baby blankets and the like. And the manager of our local Hobby Lobby store has been asking her to give crochet lessons there. Last year she entered a food item for the first time (her incredable pinapple upside down cake) and won reserve champion with it. She belongs to a craft club and the ladies have lots of fun doing this.

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), December 29, 2000.

It is exciting, I've won a couple Grand Champions-purple, and some blue-first, red-second and white-third. I've won a dollar for an honored blue. With the grand champion came a coupon for $20 from various businesses. They don't give hoborable mentions. And change their ways year to year. The Grand Champions were for hot peppers both times. They are colorful and around here they look for different/unusual stuff. I wish more people would enter. I made the comment that I felt like a "real country woman" after being recognized for my hard work:~}

This year I'd like to enter crocheting. I did once, didn't win. It's hard to understand how anyone could judge some of the the entries, there's so many beautiful things, especially quilts. I think they should at least give honorable mentions and more third, they don't quite have it together here.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), December 30, 2000.

I entered three jars of canned goods in our fair this year. I did it mainly because there were so few entries the year before. I had done some pickled carrots that came out really pretty, so I took them and grabbed a jar of peaches and of pears just to make the trip worthwhile. Funny thing, the carrots were disqualified, not long enough processing time - I followed a recipe- but both the peaches and pears won blue ribbons and the peaches best in show canned fruit! It was fun and rewarding and earned $13.00 in prizes. I can't wait til next year!

-- Darcy in NW WA (gatecity@tenforward.com), December 30, 2000.

I had never entered anything in a fair before, till this year. I entered 5 items and came home with 8 ribbons! 1 red , 4 blue, 2 honors, and reserve grand champion! I also won $17.00 . I had a permanant BIG smile for a month! The money didn't mean anything, but the ribbons made me feal so special. I've just started trying to figure out what to do for next year. Hopefully this year will be GRAND CHAMPION!! sherry in south central IN

-- sherry (Calfarm@msn.com), December 30, 2000.

Yes, it is great fun. I encourage countrysider’s to go to your fair office and get a fair book. going through

the categories and figuring what you want to enter can be as much fun as going through your seed catalogs. My husband and I enter a lot of categories and help earn our families yearly excursion to the county fair. I

hear a lot of countrysider’s sharing their sense of being alone in their world. If one sticks around the horticultural and agricultural departments during the judging it’s a wonderful way to meet other canner’s and producer’s . I have

exchanged many an idea and gained inspiration and new friends there. Plus , I learned just what the judge was looking for.

Last year while attending the canned good’s judging I learned that the way that I thought was a pretty way of pickling

cucumbers ( with them all jumbled up, bits of color here and there) was not what the Judge was looking for. The pickle’s that

were lined up, and tightly squeezed together , won the ribbons. So this year my jar of pickles, all lined up and squeezed in

(I still added the bits of color, (cayenne pepper’s) ) set’s on my shelf with it’s own blue ribbon.

It’s so exciting to watch the judge . The jar’s of produce that she like’s she will pull out and go over. How thrilling when

she repeatedly pulls your jar forward until it remains with the last few. Alas! Sometimes it gets left behind ! And sometimes it

doesn’t .

There were many entries in our fair for Salsa this year as there was a special best of show award from Anchor Hocking.

How my heart raced when my fiesta salsa remained with the last three chosen from 65 entries. My husband teases me because

I was disappointed when I placed 2nd. But I was sooo close to that grand prize !!! Well, there is always next year.

Yes Sherry the premiums are not much for your bill fold with the canning awards , and with kids at the fair, money is

needed! But Hey, wait, leaf through that fair book a little more. The cash awards on garden displays can help you out. My blue

ribbon scarecrow won us 8.75 . My display of garden vegetable’s won us 15.75 Display’s of gourd’s reap in high premiums

also.

It’s always a treat when your product wins out in an area with heavy competition such as canned tomatoes Grape Jelly or

pickles . But , hey sometimes you can win by being the only one to enter a category, for instance last year mine were the only

entries for canned Raspberry's, blackberry’s and Grape juice. Thus I placed a blue ribbon on each of these. We can a large

variety of goods and I take one of each to the fair.

So have fun and reap awards. Happy entering everyone !

-- Trendle Ellwood (trendlespin@msn.com), December 31, 2000.

On entering your things at the county fair:

Get a fair book EARLY (as soon as they are out). Some fairs (like ours) require that you go sign up about a week before the fair for every class you are going to enter. Not a big deal or difficult, but if you miss the two days that they take fair entries, you can't take your things to the fair. (If you sign up for more than you actually take, no big deal. Nobody cares. Better to enter more than you can get done, than less.)

Read through all the classes available. You'd be surprised what all you do that you can compete with. (Photographs, drawings, paintings, woodworking, baking, canning,fresh vegetables and fruit-each with a money prize.)

Think "fair" this winter. When you are canning beef, pork, chicken, stuffed sausage, ribs - take extra time to do your "competing" jars. In the catagory of canned, stuffed, smoked sausage, - someone has been giving me a run for my money the past few years. When we butcher this week and stuff our sausage, I will take the time and effort to twist the casing as we stuff the sausage and make "little pig" sausages to can. Gotta, or I'm gonna get beat.

Think ahead and be creative to have special things to compete with.

If I had started sooner and really tried, I saw catagories in the fair book that, if I had entered them all, - would have won over $150.00 in premium money. (That's enough $ to buy a years canning flats.)

Remember, it's your stuff. You get to bring it back home after the fair. Get in there and make your entries in time. Fair week, load it up, take it in - go for it.

-- homestead2 (homestead@localnetplus.com), December 31, 2000.

This fall was the first time I'd ever entered anything at the county fair. And I won ribbons on both things I entered! I won a second place ribbon and $3 for my apple jelly and a third place ribbon and $2 cash for my grape jelly....and there was a bunch of entries that didn't win anything so it wasn't like I just won because nobody else entered!!!

I was so thrilled!!!! I definately will enter more this year!!!

(P.S. I am an investigative newspaper reporter/photographer and 48 years old so this was a BIG first in my homesteading efforts!!! I was so tickled I was like a little kid!!!)

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.

I want to tell you the other side of the story. Years ago, I worked as a home economist for a gas utility and was invited to judge a county fair's food entries, cakes to be exact. Had to taste everything. Never been so sick or sick of sweets in my life. AND it was an open judging. When I commented that one sheet cake wasn't done--there was still liquid batter in the middle, for cryin' out loud and there was a great crater in the center--the baker chewed me up one side and down the other right in front of God and the world. I was polite to her, which only made her the madder. It wasn't my most pleasant experience but except for the one woman, everyone was really fun and I counted it a success. I did make sure I had a prior engagement the next year during that fair's run!

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), January 02, 2001.

I too have entered canned items in the County Fair and won ribbons. I have not entered but that one time. As far as the jellies and jams, and vegetables..they were never opened or tasted..judged on sight only. I did not feel this was fair as they all looked alike in the jars to me. Is this the norm for judging those items?

-- Lynn (mscratch1@semo.net), January 03, 2001.

Lynn Yes most people are shocked and so was I when I found out that they dont open and taste the canned goods. But I know that our fair has about 100 differant canned goods catagories, and each one is entered an average of about 50 times. Can you imagine tasting 50 differant jars of grape jelly,50 jars of strawberry jam and so on.I was surprised to learn what all they look for when they look over those jars. The produce has to be the right distance from the lid, jelly's must be clear, the colors must be fresh and bright. The jars that win the ribbons were put up with care to detail. All and all I have come to the conclusion that it's pretty fair and that the judges know what they are looking for. And just think if they opened every jar that you entered then it would be wasted and you wouldnt get to take it home and enjoy it.This way we can open up a blue ribbon jar of produce and eat it ourselves, or what a nice gift it makes.

-- trendle Ellwood (trendlespin@msn.com), January 03, 2001.

At our fair, it is very small though, the judges do open and taste every canned good item . Except for green beans, they do open them to smell , but not taste. The judge last year wrote on my coment card that my beets had the best flavor of them all ( which I looked at everyone elses cards and theirs didn't say that!) I'm so petty!!!! Also because this fair is so small the money you can win is VERY minimal! I'm on the open class fair board this year , so I have the statistics form over the past 5 years. Every catagory has lost enterants every year! Also , most of the people entering were older, 50ish and up. Not that the older folks are bad, but you need the younger ones to continue . just my thoughts.

-- sherry (Calfarm@msn.com), January 05, 2001.

We have just finished our fair for this year. Last year I required the kids to enter 2 items each, mainly for a thought process and then for the know-how of it all. They both won ribbons and premiums. Of course, mom had to enter just because it 'wasn't fair'. This year I entered 28 items--I had fun last year! I did this year too! Came home with enough in premiums (8 blues, 12 reds)that it covered our cost of entry fees for myself and the children plus as an extra, bonus $ for armband-day at the fair. As you can tell the money added up, the kids learn respect for their work, and enjoyed fun from the work afterwards. I enjoy the looks on their faces when they see what won versus what didn't, and how determined they are now for next year to do better. My question was how can you improve on a blue? They said 'to do it again or champion!' Usually hte items we do are canned goods, baked goods and textiles. The textiles are usually for gifts for Christmas. We are looking through this years book preparing for next year already! Just have fun and reap the rewards from something you would do anyways!

-- (stephanie.wilkerson@experian.com), July 18, 2001.