pictures from visiting the state fair #2 vegetables

they had vegetable races. the kids could pick their vegetable, and shove in wheels, and then race it down the ramp. it was really cute to watch.




the giant pumpkin winner, 1473 pounds!


largest sunflower head. i wish we'd put a hand out for comparison, these were seriously huge, at least a foot and a half across, if not more.


for comparison, here are the tomatoes pictured near the sunflower heads, with moms hand for size. now look at the above photo again. huge! i've never grown a tomato anywhere near this big.


i had no idea kohlrabi could even GET that big! mine were only ever apple size at the biggest.


i did know cabbage could get this big. and it doesnt have tons of holes chewed in it like all of mine end up with.


i didnt know beans could get that long either. i've only ever grown standard varieties, never long beans.


someone decorated a squash like a minion. won first prize, hehehe. i think children did these.


someone made a minion candle out of bees wax.


nifty honey bee picture


baklava, mmmmm. all stuff having to do with bees or baked with honey is displayed in the bee wing rather than the arts and crafts building where the rest of the baked and canned goods are displayed.

pictures from visitng the state fair #1 fruits

our first stop was the agriculture horticulture building, the fruit wing


i like to look at what varieties of grapes people are growing successfully up here in minnesota.


and cherries. these are meteor cherries, a tart/sour cherry. sweet cherries dont do well up here. they bloom too early and are caught by frost.


never heard of these kind of grapes. someones own cross of AMB 4-7-B


or these, marguette grapes, sweet, used in wine, but also as table grape or jelly


or these, worden labrusca, table grape or jelly, also used in wine (oops i only took a picture of the tag)


more grapes! all grown up here in minnesota.


i dont know why these were in the ag/hort building, but they had this foliage display with 4 stuffed dogs in it. i think this is supposed to be a st bernard with his brandy cask.


this is a service dog with his vest, and a hat? plus brochures from can do canines, a local company that trains service dogs.


a dalmatian with fire fighter equipment, but no truck.


a police dog i guess, since its sitting in a police car

my award winning pears!

i entered my pears in the state fair this year and won two first place ribbons and a fourth place.

my summercrisp pears won first place


my patten pears won first place


my luscious pears won fourth place


i was unable to enter the parker pears this year. they had trouble with russetting, and i lost too many after i thinned them. there werent any left on the tree when it was time to enter them.

these are the pears on display at the minnesota state fair. i drew around the ones that were mine.

tomato sauce making round 1

i grew a horny tomato






this bucket was full of cherry tomatoes by the time i made sauce.


some of the tomatoes did not ripen on top. i dont know what was going on here.


the bottoms were fully ripe, even overripe in some cases.


but the tops were not ripe at all. i had to cut the tops off.


the rest of the tomatoes were fine




my brother and his wife gave me cherry tomato seeds for xmas (along with some others they saved). turned out there were 4 different varieties in there! pear shaped, oblong, tiny round, and larger round.


compared in size to a regular tomato


my norpro strainer. best thing ever! i just run the tomatoes thru and it separates out the skins and seeds. no blanching, no peeling, no scraping. just turn the hand crank.


out comes tomato goodness


cake pan filled the first time


cake pan filled the second time


the seeds and skins ejected from the strainer, and the bucket of tomato tops i had to chop off. all going into the compost bin.




stockpot full of tomato juice


plus another pan for the juice that didnt fit in the stockpot. i cooked both pans down by half.


i have an 'over the range' microwave that has a vent on its bottom side. i do not like it. its down too close to the stove top. the underside tends to bead up with water that then drips back down on the pan if i dont watch out for it. but i have no money to redo my kitchen. so i'm stuck with what i have.


the strainer part that doesnt let the seeds or skins thru. after washing and scrubbing clean it has to be lightly sprayed with cooking oil to keep from rusting.


after cooking down by half, i ended up with two ziplock baggies of juice. i cooled them in the fridge, then placed them on a cookie sheet and froze them in the freezer, to await further cooking.