Our Typical Last-Minute Dash {The Fair of 2017}

Some families put a lot of time and planning into their preparations for entering items in the fair.  Some, so I've heard, even prepare up to a year in advance; and some homeschool families combine their learning with making fair items all through the school year.  That's marvelous, isn't it?

Then, on the other extreme, there's us.

The kids and I have made such a habit out of entering something in the fair that we can't imagine NOT doing it; but yet, it always creeps up on us, and we suddenly find ourselves at the beginning of fair week, not knowing what we're entering, not having the ingredients, and certainly not having anything made.  And despite my best intentions, that's exactly what happened to us again this year.

In the end, however, decisions were made, ingredients were purchased, and items were prepared; and even though we didn't get much sleep since we stayed up late cooking, we still woke up excitedly on Monday morning, eager to take our baked goods to the fair to see how they would do in competition.  :)

But besides baked goods, Tobin and Shav entered a few other things--in Tobin's case, a colored-pencil drawing of a horse (of course), and in Shav's case, a LEGO structure and a fused bead star.  I had told the boys that this would be a learning experience for us; since we haven't been in the practice of entering in those categories, I wasn't quite sure of the details of it all.  For example, in the fused bead category, I had no idea that any materials other than beads could be used (or that more than one item made of beads could be entered as a set); but as it turned out, the winning entries in Shav's age group as well as the one above him used decorated cardboard to put the bead projects on, and that greatly enhanced how they looked (for example, one child made characters out of beads to represent each person in his or her family, then attached those to a board that said something like "My Family").  In comparison to those projects, Shav's beautiful star looked quite simple.  So we learned.  But back to baked goods...  :)

As it turned out, Moriah entered heart-shaped mint brownies (her first time ever entering something in the fair!).  :)  Shav entered cookies-n-cream fudge (seen below)...

 ...Tobin entered almond joy cookies, David entered smores fudge, Josiah entered salted caramel Oreo bark, and I entered peppermint Oreo bark (seen below).  Those last three recipes all came from an amazing website with gorgeous pictures of the food in the recipes.

 Our box of goodies to take, bright and early on Monday morning...

 ...and the cheerful crew who made the treats!  :)

We entered them with no trouble, and then...

...came...

...the...

...wait.

We were originally planning to go to the fair on Tuesday afternoon, which isn't such a long time since Monday morning; but because of a weather forecast of rain and even thunderstorms on Tuesday evening, we decided to delay our visit until Wednesday (which, to eager competitors, feels like A VERY LONG TIME since Monday morning!).  ;-)  A little birdie had told me the results for Moriah's mint brownies, but that was the only item I had heard about, and I didn't tell a soul.  :)

Finally, finally, we got to the fair on Wednesday afternoon and rushed to the exhibit hall to search through the shelves for our items.  It always takes a little bit, and the suspense is delightfully agonizing.  :)  And then we started spotting ribbons.  :)

 Tobin got first for his almond joy cookies!

 Moriah got second for her mint brownies!

 David got first for his smores fudge!

 Josiah got first for his salted caramel Oreo bark!

 The only one of the children who did not place in anything was Shav; and so, at our fair, kids who don't earn a higher ribbon in at least one of their items get a green participation ribbon.  We were a little disappointed to see this on Shav's LEGO project...

 ...(and I will admit to feeling a little extra guilt because Shav really makes some incredible LEGO structures, but because he was literally doing it at about 11:00 the night before, he ended up with something much more simple than he usually builds...besides that, the motorcycle which was supposed to be upright got knocked over, and the truck he built wasn't straight on the road like it should have been...anyway, it wasn't his best work, and I couldn't help but think that if I had been more organized and given him more time to do it, the outcome might have been different...but then today, we found out that one of his friends won the blue ribbon in this category, so we were very, very happy for him).  :)  But I will say that Shav did an incredible job of not letting his disappointment sour his attitude.  He rejoiced with those who placed in their categories, and he had a really fun time at the fair.  He's a winner in my book, let me tell ya!  :)  One other thing about his entries...the category that he entered his fudge was cooked candy, so that included a wide variety of items.  When he gets old enough to compete in the next age group, there are (I believe) three categories just for fudge!  If he had been competing in that age group, I'm sure he would have gotten a ribbon for his cookies-n-cream fudge; but that's just how it goes, and learning to deal with disappointment is an incredibly valuable lesson--even if it's not the most fun one to have to learn!

After we found all the kids' items, I scurried over to the cabinet with the adult entries and was delighted to see a blue ribbon on my item.  :)

Besides the ribbons (which are such a joy to receive!), we're also really glad we entered these items because we've been eating the leftovers of them all week--and maybe that's the best part of all!!  :)

Late Nights in the Kitchen

And so it begins, this season of harvesting and "puttin' up" food for the coming year.

I suppose, to be strictly accurate, tonight wasn't the first night of this for 2017, since I did have a strawberry-jam-making session a couple of weeks ago.  But this was the first night that I took produce, grown on our land, picked by Jeff and the kids under the hot sun, and shelled mostly by the kids this afternoon while listening to Adventures in Odyssey episodes, and prepared it for the freezer, staying up late to accomplish it.

I don't know what unwritten law of the universe demands that canning and freezing projects be finished in the wee hours of the morning, but for whatever reason, I never can seem to finish at a reasonable hour!  And so I stay up, not really a hardship for my night-owl nature, enjoying the cool air flowing in the open window, relishing the peace and quiet, listening to music on my Kindle (my choice of music this evening was my country station on Pandora which features songs by Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Sara Evans, the Dixie Chicks, and similar artists...it never fails to bring back a rush of memories--and make me feel a little old, too!), working busily with my hands to prepare food for the freezer or the cellar, while my mind whirls with thoughts, dreams, plans, and prayers.

The older I get, the more the year seems to revolve, not just around the official 12-month calendar system, but by other markers--the birthdays in our family, for example, or the special activities that pop up at the same time each year.  The measurement I'm most in tune with tonight is the food we grow, prepare, eat, and preserve.  The various foods arrive with regularity, and as we circle around the sun over the course of the year, we also circle through featured foods.

This may be the month of June, but it could also be known as the season of peas!

School, Grapes, and Other Things That Fill My Time

Although we've officially been doing school for a few weeks, today was our first day back in the full swing of things, including extracurriculars, and already one thing is clear: despite my tenacious optimism, this is still not the year in which I finally achieve that elusive goal of Doing It All, nor will I reach that splendiferous state of Having It All Together.

Already, to get done the things that I'm deeming most important, I'm having to let a lot of things slide.
Such is life.

While the laundry pile gets a little higher and the kitchen floor gets a little dirtier, I am reading to the kids about the Phoenicians, and administering a biology test to Josiah, and writing down David's math grades, and helping Tobin learn a way to remember the difference between vertical and horizontal lines.  I'm reading Mountain Born aloud to the children while they build all kinds of LEGO creations. (An aside: I cried today while reading Mountain Born. It was the part that describes young Peter being exposed for the first time to the reality of what it means to dock the lambs' tails; and when his mother protests, his dad says, "The boy will be a man one day.  Is it too early for him to begin to think as a man?" As I looked around the living room at my own tribe of boys turning into men, I choked up and had to pause to clear my tears before I could continue.)

Somehow during the summers, I convince myself that when we get back into the rhythm of our school routine, I'll be able to do it AND keep up with the house like I want.

It never seems to turn out quite like I've imagined!  ;-)

Well, besides school, the other big project that occupied a couple days last week was harvesting the grapes.  I was expecting it to be a one-day task, but it stretched into two.  To be completely honest, we were a little sluggish as we approached this duty, and our attitudes--mine included--were not always the best.  As a family, we tackle so many undertakings and usually work well together as a team; that's one of the things I appreciate so much about my children.  But we get about a C- for our efforts this time--definitely something to improve upon next year!

 We were trying to play some music, using my phone, to cheer ourselves up!  :)

 Benjamin was pretty cheerful, even when we couldn't get the music to work right.  ;-)

 Aha!  I caught Tobin eating up the harvest!  Well, we follow the principle of Deuteronomy 25:4 and let the workers eat while they're picking the fruit.  :)

 The younger children were eager to help; but unlike some years, there were not many clusters that were hanging low enough for them to reach.  Shav and Tobin took their turns on the ladder, and Moriah wanted to do the same, so I let her climb up it and I snapped a quick picture before she returned safely to the earth.  :)

 Our harvest wasn't overly abundant; but we were just grateful to have something, especially because throughout the summer, we had watched as a number of grapes prematurely darkened, then shriveled up and fell off the vine.  In the end, even though we didn't have a bumper crop, at least we had a crop!

 As I saw how many of the grapes in each cluster were still green, I began to have second thoughts about whether we should have picked the grapes or given them more time on the vine in hopes that more would have ripened.  But more time on the vine also meant more time for them to do that weird shrivel-and-die routine, so it was kind of a toss-up, and I wasn't sure I made the right decision, but what's done is done!

 Because we still had quite a bit of grape juice and grape jelly in the cellar, my main objective this year was to freeze the majority of the grapes for grape pies.

 The last time we did this with our grapes, my mother was still very much involved with the project, so this was the first year that I was in charge, and I discovered how tedious the process is.  Each grape has to be squeezed so that the pulp will pop out of the skin (they slip out easily so that's not hard, just time-consuming), then the skins are put in one bowl and saved, while the pulp is heated and then run through a strainer to get the seeds out.  Then the pulp without seeds and the skins are put back together, and that mixture is frozen to be used for pies.

 It sounds simple, and it IS simple, but it is also quite laborious; and I racked my brain trying to think of a better way to get the seeds out of the grapes without discarding the skins, too.

 I couldn't come up with anything.  Can you?  :)

 When Jeff got home that evening, he helped pick more grapes, and that perked us all up.  :)

 The pulp and skin combination doesn't look very appetizing...

 ...but made into pies, it is DELICIOUS!

 I was thrilled to get 20 pints of grapes ready for the freezer.

 Well, make that 18.  I already made two pies with the other two pints.  ;-)  I intended to take a picture of them but forgot to do so before we ate them.  Maybe next time...  :)

The second day of this grape project, I took the easy route and made juice with the remaining grapes we had picked.  It only made eight quarts, but that's better than nothing...and a whole lot quicker than preparing them for pies!  :)

With these big once-a-year harvest projects, I am undeniably grateful that we are blessed with delicious, healthy food; but I certainly do heave a big sigh of relief when the task is finished, and I can turn my attention to other things.

And one of the other things that is coming up is that a certain very little boy is having a certain very big birthday...TOMORROW!!  :)