Some Prize Winning Produce At The Fair From Fairfax

[Henry]

Hi All,

Got the following note and photo from Deanne Morin - She is quite the gardener:

Hi Henry,
Thought I send you a photo of some ribbons I won at the Champain Valley Expo also shown are some of the veggies and flowers that allowed me to win.

I won 8 blue ribbons (first place), 3 red(second place) and 3 yellow (third place).

I won the ribbons for:
Heaviest cabbage, best everbearing raspberries, string beans, buttercup squash, cherry tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, assortment of hot peppers, white onions, table beets, best & largest variety of produce, dahlia(large), cone flower, & oriental lillies. I didn't enter my regular tomatoes as we had eaten them earlier in the week.  This was my first time entering and I decided to enter on the morning of the day the entries were due! I just wanted to see if I could win. I was pleasantly surprised.

I grew all the vegetables from seed, some started back in March.  I guess our soil here in Fairfax does grow some award winning produce!

Deanne Morin

Congratulations Deanne - Great Job and thanks for sending in the photos - Maryann and I went through the vegetable building, but didn't happen to check out the names on the winners.

If you would like to see a larger photo for a closer look, click on the following link:

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/photos/cvexpo2007/deannesribbons?full=1

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[David Shea]

Nice looking produce Deanne!  Your beets look very good!  I thought I would have a good crop of beets this year, however the deer decided that they liked them the best of all my garden plants.  Every time the leave grew back the deer would eat them.

Congradulations on your winning ribbons. 

D Shea

[dearon]

Thanks David,
I picked a bushel of beets Sunday which I'll be canning tonight.  I still have some left in the garden if you'd like a few?
Deanne

[Henry]

In looking at the beets, it reminded me of around this time a year, I would tell my mother that just about all I had left in the garden were beets.  She and dad loved beets.  She used to cook them and dice them in squares and Dad liked them with lots of butter.  Their other favorite fall vegetable was Buttercup Squash.  I used to get my seeds from York, PEI.  They had a bush buttercup squash that took much less room in the garden.  Long about this time of year, I used to be very busy peeling, cooking and freezing buttercup squash.  Had to catch them just at the right time, otherwise they were impossible to peel and would have to split them in half and bake them before I froze them in 1 quart freezer bags.

I also used to plant Zuchinni Squash and my mother-in-law, being very thrifty, would take all the Zuchinni squash I had, grind it up and place it in portions just the right size and freeze it for Zuchinni Bread all through the winter.  Looking at Deanne's vegetables brings back memories, but not desire for my own garden.  I scoot down to Marvin & Cathy's when their vegetables are ready or earlier in the year I go down to Paul Mazza's in Essex.  With just the two of us, plus a lack of energy, it just seems like the right thing to do.