Calvert County Fair

When Maggie's honey won 2nd place in our county, the folks at the fair offered to take her honey to the next county. Instead we decided to do it ourselves...along with the rest of our projects. Ruthie won first place again for her doll dress. She is very proud of her blue ribbons! Everyone in our family won first place except for Maggie, who again won 2nd place for her honey. Now that the money for the awards is rolling in, everyone is doubly excited!

We did a rare thing and did the rides at the Calvert County fair. No rock music and one dollar rides all day Friday: what a winning combination!

The scrambler remains a family favorite.

The difference between the two county fairs was huge. I was surprised at how much bigger our county's fair is. The way the Calvert County folks displayed the quilts was hysterical! We couldn't find the quilts. Finally someone said, "Look up." Fifteen feet up in the air were the quilts! It was so funny.

My children really enjoyed the rides. The weather was perfect. Just a good day to enjoy being together.

Even though the tradition of growing tobacco is dying out in our southern counties, it's still a big thing at the fairs.

We drank some tea while at the fair but the smells of the food was delicious. We really wanted to buy caramel apples but knew they would contain milk. So when we got home, Maggie whipped up these delicious nondairy caramel apples. Fast and easy...referring to both the cooking and the eating! I'm gonna post the recipe here so I can find it again:

Caramel Apples

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup goat milk (from Walmart)

3 T corn syrup

3 T butter

Mix together and bring to a boil. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Boil until 240 degrees for softball stage. Turn off heat and whisk in:

1/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)

1/2 tsp vanilla

This recipe is for 4 apples. You may want to boil your caramel a little longer if you don't like it chewy.

Maggie rolled our apples in chopped walnuts and drizzled with melted chocolate.

Yummy!!

America sure has the strangest bumper stickers!

Walmart has started carrying restaurant size cans of our favorite turnip greens!! The ingredients are simple: turnip greens, water, salt. Can't beat that...and each serving is less than 2/3 the price of the little cans.

One last picture...we bought a bushel of sweet potatoes from a farmer alongside the highway. These sweet potatoes are huge. I wasn't sure I would like that...but it's great...I put the two potatoes in the oven at 250 in the morning so that they are perfect when I get home for dinner!

Anna has 13 friends coming over at noon today for a tea party. She's been working hard planning, cooking and cleaning. She's been having fun digging out all my autumn themed dishes and stoneware. I'm having fun watching her!

I've been busy sewing. I made Ruthie 3 jumpers and cut out two dresses for me. We may be able to go out in public now!

Oops! I scrolled to the bottom and found this picture I had uploaded. Deep in our woods is a huge wetlands/marsh/pond area. This isn't a good picture but all the greenery you see are butterfly bushes!! This past week, Maggie and Lizzie hiked down with large backpacks and dug up a bunch. I wish I had taken a picture of the two muddy, happy hikers with bushes sticking out of their backpacks! They hope to sell the bushes in the spring along with their raspberry plants.

Well, I'm off to help Anna...and to finish sewing my dresses. Enjoy your weekend. We have perfect weather here. Too bad we aren't having the tea party out on the porch.

Many blessings ~ Kathie