The annual show has come around.
We decided to put a carton of our mini cos in the produce section. And a couple of punnets of our heirloom cherry tomatoes.
“I’ll be disappointed later if we don’t.” my never standing still, hard working husband said.
We carefully selected 12 of our lovely little cos, picked and packed them nicely, their leaves a sea of fresh, vibrant green in the brown box. We misted them with water to keep them fresh, loaded them in the back of the car and drove them into the local Show.
Entrant: Jolly Good Produce
Unfortunately there wasn’t an ‘organic’ section. So we put them in with the conventional produce.
We drove home and left our babies in there with the multitude of other pieces of fruit and veg to be judged.
The next day our daughter searched them out first and stood there pointing excitedly with a big smile on her face…..”They’ve got 1st“…she tried not to be too noticeable as other show goers milled around looking at all the produce.
We gathered around and peeked in at our babies, still green and fresh, in spite of the heat. We smiled at them, taking photo’s of them nestled in their box with their blue prize winning tag pinned above them. The steward came over and congratulated us – it was obvious who the parents were. 🙂
The continual heat lately has been unusual and quite horrendous for growing lettuce. All our large cos have bolted or gone a waxy look. Our fancy lettuce aren’t looking too fancy! Losing overnight what were lovely rows of green produce, almost ready to sell, is very disheartening after so much cost, care and work. It is frustrating and discouraging to have to contact customers and tell them that we can’t supply this week due to elements out of our control and even worse to have to plough them back in. The ground had been prepared, the little seedlings planted, then nurtured and watered as they flourished…until the heatwave.
We were thankful to have something lovely to display and it was encouraging to receive a 1st.