Vegetable Rules & Regulations

[Paulottie]

Bonne chance mon chou....fingers firmly X'd for you here....and Trousers....put down the scotch, get of your fat one and help man!blokes hey...serious work a show and lots of it at the last minute.

Got a cabinet and some polish for all that incoming silverware?

....don't forget to take the camera.

[sewer rat]

C'mon Wellie!! We need to know how you got on in each and every class you entered.
Having been out at my place last night and picked my first big batch of strawbs and my first 4 cukes, I pretty much know what I will be entering into my show - Bored Beans, French Beans, Runner Beans, Peas, Globe Beetroot, Long Beetroot, Pointed Cabbage, Tomatoes, Cauliflower, Onions, Shallots, Potatoes,, Chillies, Sweet Peppers, Lettuce, Courgettes, Roses, Vase of annuals, Vase of Perrenials, Strawberries, Strawberry Jam, Rhubarb & Ginger Jam, Picallili and last but not least, Chilli Sauce.

[wellie]

Oh Paulottie, Paulottie, Paulottie....

Please don't be cross with Wellie? Trousers and I are 'not long home' since The Village Show ended this afternoon, and what with bringing all the produce home - YOU know how it goes!

Firstly, I'm incredibly proud of Trousers, because he won a SECOND for his beautiful Winter Photograph of the front of The Funny Farm, and it's the first thing he's EVER entered in a Village Show EVER!! (Round of Applause for Trousers please?)

Okay, now we HAVE promised to show you photos, but not tonight, because it'll take a while to upload/download/do the okey-kokey and turn around, obviously! but in a nutshell, I'm afraid Wellie committed The Cardinal Sin, ran out of time 'staging her entries' at The Hall, and therefore, what is known professionally as 'Cocked Up' on a few things?

Other than that, my BIGGEST mistake was that I'm not telepathic, and therefore, didn't know what The Judges were looking for in 'an entry'. So, for example, one of my herbs was 'in flower' (which doesn't alter the taste, when you grow to eat, as I very much do) but for Show purposes, I still have the imaginary 'tutting' from The Judges ringing in my ears as I type (because they wrote my faux-pas on my card? B@stards!)

No, really, I've learned SO much today - and I've had a GREAT time, so HEY! There's always next year....

Ooh! Did I forget to mention that I entered 54 classes overall?
DON'T DO IT CHILDREN!

I might also have forgotten to tell you that I won The Missouri Dragon, which is a rather peculiar framed 'off the wall' metal dragon Trophy-thingy for most points in the Cookery & Preserves Section.
(I'll get you 'up to speed' on areas where I got marked down/disqualified/ordered to leave the hall, etc. etc. at a later date, because I've learned a lot here too, and funny stories to tell, obviously!)

And just to whet your Show Appetite for the photos and banter in the coming couple of days, would it be helpful to tell you this?:

I won 2 'Highly Commended' (which I think basically means "Well Done For Trying Luv"

I won 8 First Prize Cards

I won 19 Second Prize Cards

and I won 10 Third Prize Cards

So, 39 'placings' out of 54, sees Trousers taking Wellie out for Dinner tonight, which is really, really lovely of you Trousers if I'm too 'Tired & Emotional' later to thank you properly (don't make your own story up children, I've told you before?!)

And do you know what really 'Blew My Frock Up' in amongst and during The Show today?
The present Show Organiser is retiring, and they've asked ME, little old ME, if I'd take over..... Just how proud of myself am I this evening?

Trousers: Thank you for putting up with me in the months leading up to this event, and I promise to consider doing a bit of housework for a change from now on.
(Nothing in life is a sure thing though, eh?!)

OMG! Ratty GOOD LUCK!!

[Suky]

Nah, don't worry about housework! You have a show to organise

Well done both of you, I managed a first and a second but I only entered 3 classes. I cannot imagine trying to stage 54 classes so I bow down in awe (there should be a smiley for that)

You have given me hope for the autumn show on August Bank holiday Monday, I shall study the shedule much more deeply now.

[wellie]

Suky, I think the EEK! Smiley about covers it, no?!

And as long as you're having fun with entering, it don't matter whether it's 4, or 54 classes that you enter. (Personally, I'd advise anything less than 54!)

But because I feel now that people recognise my name and my face, I feel much more a part of the community, and feel confident enough to take part in other village-led activities... I feel a new kind of 'personal purpose', which even just today, has led to a visit from a lovely lady and her brother, who we showed around the garden, which they thought was 'beautiful, and so so interesting'.

And then later, Trousers and I popped up to visit my very favourite egg lady, and there's all manner of brilliant ideas now sparking off between her and me, which is about to shake things up beautifully for the future, even well after The Show is a distant and fond memory.

So I'd highly recommend any of you just 'considering' entering a local show near to where you live, to actively take part, even in the smallest way, because it isn't just about The Show, and accolades (or not!), it's about SO much more, and what it can bring into your life, if you let it.


C'mon Ratty! Let us know what's occurring, there's tidy! XX

[sewer rat]

Het Wellie (and Trousers too 'natch) CONGRATULATIONS - especially when you entered 54 classes - you need your head examined m'dear! As for taking over as Show Organiser - maybe we'll be trendsetters

[wellie]

Het (?!) Ratty! Thank you, and yes, Trousers is definitely thinking of getting my head examined

So... May we ask about your Show Entries yet?
I'm chomping at the bit to know about it all.
And, hopefully, we can share the good and bad together, shoulder to shoulder, eh!

And I am most definitely looking forward to sharing ideas and experiences with you along the way, if I may, pretty please, thank you.X

Trousers promises to put photos up in the next few days for those wanting A Nosey...

In the meantime, keep sowing, and have fun growing....

[Nicos]

Superb job ol'gal!

Cor- you must have been utterly exhausted after all that!
Really chuffed for you- well done!

...and good luck to everyone else entering shows this year...I'm more than impressed!


Piccies...piccies please!!!!!

[trousers]

as promised some of wellies piccies of our local village show,

[trousers]

and heres a few more , including one with a chap who took a shine to wellies onions.....

[trousers]

last few, the dragon was wellies trophy (down stairs loo is the place for it ..) for the most number of points scored in the jam ,preserve and cookery classes..the greenhouse is a new little one that i fetched the morning of the show(to keep out the way of low flying teddies from the pram...) on the trailer from a friend who no longer had the need for it, so it will now be wellies seed sowing house..

[wellie]

Prams?.... Low Flying Teddies?

How very DARE you Trousers!!
Actually, he's what is known as 'A Cute Cookie' children, because it wasn't until I got back to The Funny Farm front door, after madly trying to stage 54 classes on the show benches, that I realised just exactly WHY he had made plans not to be around me, from The Crack of Sparrow F@rt, to Twelve Noon.
Very VERY Clever Trousers indeed.....
and had it not been for the help of 'Next Door Neighbour' to set out the entries with me, well, I might as well of 'thrown in the proverbial towel'.....

And I know I'm making a joke of it, but I'm also trying to make a very serious point here, because whatever you have grown and nurtured for all of those weeks and months, however much you say to yourself 'I only grow to eat'...... when it comes to Show Day, if it isn't in the hall, good enough for the judges, and displayed correctly (AND on time) then you have completely wasted your time.
There's a huge difference between growing to eat and growing to show.
unless of course, it ISN'T a high-brow village show (which this one was, obviously Wellie Luv, the whole Show comprised of one hundred and nine classes - DOH!?!), and that's kind of where I've got a bit of difficulty with this now.

I passionately feel that a Village Show should be just that: A VILLAGE SHOW, whilst being Top Banana, also accessible to EVERYONE wanting to take part, and to give each individual or couple a creative stage to express themselves properly, introducing some FUN into it, rather than polishing some Anoraks' Ego year after year.
I stood there in the hall and witnessed, not only myself taking part here for the first time, but many, many others as well.
Truly, there's a revival of the local village show about to happen, and it's actually village folk themselves that want it, and will make it happen.
You mark my words....X

[sewer rat]

Well, Show week has finally arrived. I have my trophies and certificates sitting in the dining room, I have finally got all the judges in place, after losing another one just last night, have arranged for delivery of extra tables on Friday night, and have decided what I am entering myself, and also what 4 of my clients are entering. I am taking Friday off work to help them select, pick and prepare their exhibits. Then Friday evening I will be setting up the hall, then going to my work at the club, then at very first light I will be going out to my tunnel to pick my Runner Beans (longest one currently is only 13" ), French Beans, Broad Beans, Chillies (two types), Cucumbers, Capsicums (bloody good this year - I am hopeful),Beetroot (two types) Cherry Tomatoes, Shirley tomatoes (if they have ripened fully by then - doubtful), Strawberries, Zinnias and Chinese Asters. (Tatties, onions and shallots are already lifted) Then I'm going over to Dornoch to help a disqual driver get his exhibits to the show, back at the hall for 8 am, stage my exhibits, and those of two of my clients, then organise eveyone else for the rest of the day.
And they call this fun ??

[wellie]

And they call this fun? Ratty, I can still taste the beads of perspiration as they gently dripped off my brow, down my forehead, and into the corners of my mouth as I completely panicked, trying to get it all staged onto the benches on time My Friend (!)

I am RIGHT there with you in spirit. You will NOT need anyone to hold your hand because you'll be holding other people's hands, because your stuff is good enough to enter already.

No doubt about it, it's 'Knee-Knocking' time for the days leading up to the event, but you can't make anything better now, because there's no time.
You've grown everything to the best of your ability, given what Mother Nature has made of this year as well, and I'm here to wish you every success as well Sweetheart.

Trousers and I are crossing just everything for you for whatever success you wish for, and we know just how much you've put into the show, so we wish you especially well because of that too. X

[butter fingers]

wish i had a local show to enter !
local for me would be around 8 mikles away.not that local i thnk.? arond my local area it seems shows dont exist.