It was time once again for The Deerfield Fair, our area's largest agricultural exposition, now in its 146th year. And once again, I entered some vegetables in the exhibition, hoping for glory. This year I entered a modest 9, way down from last year's 14. I am very pleased with my results...8 first prizes and one second. Almost a sweep!
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| My Deerfield Fair entries |
Here's a listing of the categories, my variety in parentheses, and award.
- Potatoes, Late Variety (Kennebec) - Blue
- Onions, Yellow (Talon) - Blue
- Onions, Red (Barolo) - Blue
- Onions, Sweet Spanish (Alicia Craig) - Blue
- Garlic (Katterman) - Blue
- Eggplant, Globular (Black King) - Blue
- Eggplant, Elongated (Ping Tung) - Red
- Peppers, Hot Red (Cayenne) - Blue
- Peppers, Hot Orange (Helios habanero) - Blue
It is just so much fun seeing all the entries, and comparing my results with others. The judging is based only on how well the entry conforms with the standards, not competing with other folks. So it's possible for there to be several first prizes for a category. On the other hand, even if there is no other entry for the category, you might not get first prize.
Okay, enough with the showboating, what about harvests this week? Well, they are slowing down in many respects, but I still managed to eke out three "first harvests." These are "Hot Lemon" peppers. I was disappointed they didn't ripen in time to enter in the fair. We make an excellent, very hot varietal sauce with them.
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| Hot Lemon peppers |
I also got the first "Rocky Ford" melon. This variety typically has all-green flesh, so I think this one was a little overripe. But it tasted wonderful!
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| Rocky Ford melon |
The Kitchen Goddess grew sweet potatoes here this year. Her mother always snags all the ones they grow at the community garden plot, so this is all for TKG. Unfortunately I forget what the actual variety is, but I seem to remember it's not the usual Georgia Jet.
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| Sweet potato harvest |
As for general harvests, here is Monday's.
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| Monday general harvest |
Here's Friday's.
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| Friday general harvest |
On Saturday TKG picked nearly two pounds of raspberries.
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| Raspberries |
I had amassed a large number of cayenne and habanero peppers, and this was even before Friday's harvest. I made two different hot sauces in mid-week.
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| Habanero peppers for hot sauce |
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| Cayenne peppers for hot sauce |
I used the simple method for both: boil the cut peppers in white vinegar and salt until they are soft, them blend them. The habaneros release such a fruit-candy aroma! This masks their intense heat. I didn't have enough of the small 5oz bottles, so I just put the sauces in jars for the fridge until the bottles I ordered arrive. I realize now I forgot to strain them, but that can be done later.
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| Cayenne and habanero hot sauces. |
I also had four big ripe Guajillo peppers, enough to dehydrate, grind, and make a very fragrant, brick-red chile powder. It's supposed to have some heat, but they don't get that way in my climate I guess.
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| Guajillo chile powder |
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and indulging me in my fair showing-off. Thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.
Congrats on all those blue ribbons! The entries sure look great from the photo. I'm still waiting on my Lemon Drop peppers to ripen. It's been that kind of year here with spotty performance from usually dependable varieties.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave! You're right, this year is much different than last.
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