A Visit to the County Fair

Remember when we made our list of things to do this summer? Two things on that list were to enter at least one canned good into the DuPage County Fair and to attend the fair. We accomplished both of those this week. (I actually put my entries into the competition at the end of June, but I saw the results of the competition Thursday.) I not only entered one canned good; I entered two canned goods and three photographs.


The results are in. And, I can now say I'm an award-winning canner! My bumbleberry jam came in second place in its class. I was most excited about this, since that jam seems to be the big favorite among my friends and family (yes, Kathy, I know the peach jam also is awesome - maybe I'll enter it next year).


My sweet beets came in first place! But, since they were the only entry in their class, I'm not sure that really counts as a true win. Frankly, I'm not even sure the judges opened the jar since it wasn't necessary to taste them. Better for me if they didn't open it, since I may get the sealed jar back to enjoy. Ron says a win is a win, no matter how it comes. Isn't he sweet?


The last nice surprise was that one of my photo entries - two or more individuals - took fourth place. A lot of photographs were entered in this class, so it was especially nice for my picture to be recognized. We spent a lot of time looking at all the pictures entered. Annalee was especially excited to look at all the pictures. Maybe next year, when she's 8 years old, she'll enter some of her own pictures.


I'm still partial to an individual portrait I submitted, of a Chinese woman in a park. I took it in Yunnan, China.


We hung out with the swines and the goats later. We even got to see judging for the female goats based on their mammaries. All the goats had full udders and looked plenty ready for milking. Interesting, to say the least.


I'll leave you with this happy photo of Annalee coming out of the fun house. Maybe you'll see it entered into next year's fair photo competition.

Canning Season

Canning season has opened again, at least as far as fresh produce is concerned. I was in canning heaven the other night canning beets for the first time. I just can't describe the peace that I feel when I'm canning. I often think of my grandma Fran. She was a canner, even though I had no idea what was going on at the time she was doing it, since I was probably five. But, now that I can myself, I have realized what the smell of dill in her kitchen was all about.

The cooking of the beets took longer than I anticipated. I was feeling generous, so I let Annalee stay up and help me. She was very curious to see what it looked like to take off the beet skin. Heck, I was curious since I'd never done it before. I kept reading 'slip the skin off' and 'cook the beets until the skin slips.' And, then, we figured it out. This outer layer on the beets gets soft, cracks and just falls off. It was pretty cool to see and feel. Annalee couldn't wait for me to finish cooking the beets, so I let her sample a beet dipped in the brine. She declared that canning them ourselves is 'so much better than store-bought beets. We should do this all the time!' I continued with my work long after she went to bed - I finally finished around midnight. Maybe I'll start earlier in the day next time.

We had to wait a few days to open our first jar, to let all the flavors gel. OMG, did they gel! Annalee, Zelda and I nearly polished off an entire pint jar within a few minutes tonight.


Too bad that five bunches of beets doesn't go very far. I only managed to get four pints from them. I'm thinking the next time I do beets - in the upcoming few weeks - I'll just do a bushel. And, I'll pack them in quart jars. Hmmmmm, maybe I should think about two bushels....

UPDATE: Annalee came in the office just as I was posting this. She smacked her lips at the picture of the beets and asked,'I can't wait for you to make more because I can't resist beets!'