[halfpint]

I did great at our county fair, but was disappointed in the number of entries which seems to go down each year. I had several friends who said they were going to enter, but then didn't.

I ended up with 14 first place, 11 2nd place and 1 3rd place ribbon, as well as a best of show in produce for my Kiwi. My daughter also won about 21 1st place and 2 2nd place ribbons (not many children enter in canned & dried foods). There was not as much produce this year partially because we've had a drought and many gardens suffered, plus our fair was moved about 3 weeks later than usual as they changed the ride provider. Most of my entries were in canned and dried foods. I've never received a best in show before, but one of my Kiwi plants had fairly large Kiwi (I redirected a drain spout to it) this year.

I have noticed that they tend to judge on the following:

1. How the item appears in the package (ie darkened items, less full would not do as well)
2. Type of container -it seems that for items that looked similar, the type of container used had a big effect. For example, none of the bagged items in dried foods got 1st place, all of the 1st places were in glass jars, and the fancier jars seemed to get 1st place
3. Size of container - It seems that the larger containers always won if there was no difference in 1&2

Dawn

 

[Evons hubby]

Congrats on jobs well done!

 

[lemonthyme7]

Good job!

 

[sandsuncritters]

Fantastic! Good on you-and your daughter not only cans but won first place? WOOT to her

What kind of kiwis are those? How old is your vine(s)?
Ours are 2years old, male and female, and rampant growers but have been disappointing in the production department

In His Love
Mich

 

[unregistered358895]

Our fair has dropped about 75% of the open categories since I was a kid. Now there is just a small livestock competition, a small arts/crafts center & bakery competition.

25 years ago, we entered EVERYTHING and although we didn't always win, it was always fun.

 

[halfpint]

Fantastic! Good on you-and your daughter not only cans but won first place? WOOT to her

What kind of kiwis are those? How old is your vine(s)?
Ours are 2years old, male and female, and rampant growers but have been disappointing in the production department

In His Love
Mich

Our Kiwi are about 15 years old, and I don't remember the name, but were what the local nursery recommended for our area. We didn't get much production until they were about 4 years old, but now can't hardly give away all that we get as most people are too lazy to come pick. I have about 3 families that come pick all they can use, and still have leftovers.

Do you have a male vine? We have 3 females and a male plant as we were told to get good production we needed a male.

Dawn