Cummington Fair, 2012

My children and I always look forward to the Cummington Fair. Of all the agricultural fairs around here, it's my favorite. It's big enough to be fun and exciting, and small enough to be manageable and not intimidating. We were introduced to the Fair in 2008 by a friend, who invited us to enter Peanut Butter, our first Cinnamon buck, in the rabbit competition. He won a blue ribbon - that he was the only one of his breed entered didn't really matter to us. Since then, we've expanded our entries. Here are photos of (most of) my ribbons. (The baked goods' photos came out poorly, because they were all inside glass cases. You'll just have to take my word for them.)

I entered eggs in five categories - medium and large, white and brown, and "any other" eggs. I won a red ribbon (2nd place), two white ribbons (3rd place), and a yellow ribbon (4th place).

Apparently the brown eggs were supposed to be all the same shade of brown - but where's the fun in that?

I entered three tomato categories - heirloom, paste, and yellow cherry. My heirloom "Brandywine" tomatoes won a red ribbon - yes, I know they're cracked, but the first-place plate were only slightly less cracked. My paste tomatoes did much better - a blue ribbon! The yellow cherry tomatoes also won a blue ribbon, but honesty compels me to acknowledge that they were the only entry in the category.

For "exotic vegetable" I entered an artichoke, which also won a blue ribbon. There were other entries in the category, but I don't remember now what they were. And my green Concord-type "Niagara" grapes also won a blue ribbon! There were some purple grapes entered in that class, as I recall.

 In the upstairs hall, I entered baked goods, canned goods, and knitted items. My white bread won a white ribbon, the 'marble square' bar cookies likewise won a white ribbon, the brownies won a red ribbon, and the banana chocolate-chip muffins won a white ribbon. My multi-grain bread didn't place, though.

I entered a bunch of canned goods - grape jelly, diced tomatoes, green beans, bread-and-butter pickles, all of which failed to place. What did win a blue ribbon, though, was the grape jam, made from the Niagara grapes... and it's the MOST DISGUSTING shade of olive I've ever seen. I was quite bewildered!


The fingerless gloves I entered as 'knitted novelties' didn't place.

However, the baby blanket won a white ribbon. The bed blanket won a red ribbon.

And - finally! - after three years of entering sweaters made from the same Icelandic pattern, I won a blue ribbon!!!

I'll show the children's accomplishments in a separate post.