1st Annual Free Republic County Fair; Post Your Entries Here

9/19/04 | Hispanarepublicana

[hispanarepublicana]

Since most FReepers are personally responsible, hard-working, well-prepared, self-sufficient individuals, I thought it would be nice for us to get to brag about the fruits of our labor--whether it be traditional county-fair fare (canning, crochet, quilting, crops, cheeses) or FReeper-oriented fare (political slogans, FReep posters, FReep ideas, breaking news, opus posts, FR handles, FR profiles, posts-of-the-day, etc.) I'm not sure who the judges will be, but you all are welcome to post your entries here.

[hispanarepublicana]

As for Mr. HR and I, we have grown more than 50 pounds of tomatoes, 20 pounds of okra, 40 pounds of squash, 10 pounds of melons (experimental) and assorted peppers in our 20X50 ft garden. I have put up tomatoes (raw canned and sun-dried), pickled okra, put up freezer Bread-n-Butter Pickles and Bread-n-Butter Jalapenos, and baked many a squash-casserole. Photos will be forthcoming as soon as I get rested and sober-up this week.

[hispanarepublicana]

county fair ping

[little jeremiah]

How about 38 pints of wild blackberry jam and 8 pints of peach jam? (Actually there were a couple quarts of the blackberry, we ran out of pint jars.)

[hispanarepublicana]

wanna trade some okra?

[hispanarepublicana]

canning ping

[little jeremiah]

Mmmmm - I LOVE okra, it's one of my favorite vegetables. But I never had it canned.

Mrs. LJ did the jam boiling, I picked most of the berries.

[Libertina]

I go wading in the creek in our front yard, pick gallons of sun drenched blackberries wfrom the banks, which I make into pies, cobbler and freeze for the winter. (One of my favorite summer activites :)

[hispanarepublicana]

we PICKLE the okra.....try it some time.

[hispanarepublicana]

What time shall I be there for dessert (I'll bring the okra for the crudites), and when exactly can I come over next summer?

[little jeremiah]

Is it crunchy?

I usually slice it up and stir fry it. Good with rice that way.

[Squantos]

BTTT

Stay Safe.......Y

[hispanarepublicana]

It's whole, and if pickled correctly, it retains some crunch (like a good pickle).

[Libertina]

You just let me know whne you'll be in town and the the Puget Sound Chapter will do the rest. As The shrew can tell you, (and also DougfromUpland) we LOVE company :)

[hispanarepublicana]

[YankeeinOkieville]

In the "home landscape arts" category, here's my entry:

This part took a l-o-n-g time to design and paint:

The beauty is in the details:

I'm pretty proud of my efforts. And in other categories, I can't compete with the amounts of tomatoes grown by others, but if I could, I'd put up my Cherokee Purple & Homestead varieties against anyone's for taste! Oh, and in the 'novelty produce' category, I grew "zucchinetta" - very strange summer squash indeed! Also grew both birdhouse & basket gourds - now I just have to wait all winter for them to harden for next year's "home landscape arts" entry.

[hispanarepublicana]

That is BEAUTIFUL!!! It's like looking in a kaleidescope! What was the inspiration?

[hispanarepublicana]

Had to break my link to photo above because I forgot to resize before hitting "post", but here's some pics:

[trashcanbred]

Yowza that really is neat!

[YankeeinOkieville]

I'll volunteer to judge the jams!!! You'll both have to send some to me....

[Libertina]

OK! :) Beautiful gazebo, btw! What a lovely project to work on, you did a beautiful job.

[hispanarepublicana]

[martin_fierro]

I got cows a cow cows.

[Iowa Granny]

Photos will be forthcoming as soon as I get rested and sober-up this week.

Did you make wine, too? The harvest from my tomato crop (8 plants in a flower bed) was less than abundant. It probably has something to do with the fact that I didn't water them between rains.

I guess I will be entering the in the Flower divisions. Unfortunately, I failed to get pics of the saucer sized Henryi Clematis this spring. It surely would have won a blue ribbon.

Let's talk field crops. Early yield checks are coming in. Iowa's corn will be a bin buster.

[hispanarepublicana]

[hispanarepublicana]

"38 pints of wild blackberry jam"

[MarMema]

About 15-20 large containers of these.

[MarMema]

And too many of these.

[A CA Guy]

Part of the Kerry cattle, being on both sides of the issue at the same time in livestock as well.

[hispanarepublicana]

Are those Kerry voters? I always heard they were sheep!

[YankeeinOkieville]

Oh my a blue ribbon, thank you so much! And thanks to everyone for the kind words.

[girlscout]

Here's my entries, I hope I'm not too late. Anyone hungry?

[farmfriend]

County fairs started out of the Grange contests.

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[hispanarepublicana]

Hey, ff! Thanks for the ping.

[farmfriend]

You are most welcome.

[farmfriend]

I'd post pictures of my quilts but don't have anyplace to host them. I will set up a web site some day.

[Iscool]

Funny looking puppies...

[Iscool]

The only things I've made this year are a set of wind chimes and a 6 gallon carboy of plum wine...

Y'all are some talented people...

[hispanarepublicana]

a 6 gallon carboy of plum wine...

Well Duh, no WONDER you didn't get anything else done!!! :-)

[MarMema]

Yum, and how do I get to your house?

[MarMema]

Goats. You want a few?

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!!

[Delphinium]

I feel so bad that I missed out this year. I usually have a huge vegetable, and flower garden. All that stuff you posted looks so wonderful. I want some peppers, and squash most of all.

I worked so hard in our primary that was in May,put up a pro-life billboard and had my 4 grandchildren most of the summer. Now its campaign season again and I am responsible for at least 2 campaigns and helping another 4 get signs up.

The deer have demolished all by 5 of my 20 rose bushes, and many other of my favorite perennials.

I did supply from my garden at least 3 full truck beds of perennials to friends gardens. That always makes me happy to share because I have so much from years of growing many different perennials from seed in my greenhouse.

We are building a log house 1/4 mile from our house. I am planning to move many of my plants up there soon, but first I have to make the soil really good, put up a good deer fence, and put in a watering system.

I am planning on spending more time camping, fishing, swimming, with my grandchildren so I want everything to be easy to take care of.

I really would love to post photos of my new house, riverview, garden, grandchildren, billboard, and campaign signs but I can’t figure out how.

[stainlessbanner]

add me farmfriend

[stainlessbanner]

Corn Dogs! Must have at the fair!