South Shoreganics Cherry Tomatoes - 1st Place
South Shoreganics had our first produce entries into the county fair this year. We harvested, weighed, bagged and labeled each entry and drove to town at the designated time to drop them off. On Friday night, we arrived at the fairgrounds and made a beeline for the produce section. Imagine our excitement when we saw the results:
cherry tomatoes - blue ribbon (1st place)
Red Russian kale - blue ribbon (1st place)
jalapeno peppers - blue ribbon (1st place)
macadamia nuts - blue ribbon (1st place)
heirloom Japanese tomatoes - red ribbon (2nd place)
(Everything we entered won a ribbon, except for our Lipstick peppers, which didn’t meet the weight requirement for an entry! )
We half expected to look up in a corner and see a web with the words “Some Tomatoes” written across it; it was just like a scene from Charlotte’s Web. Minus the spider and the pig.
To us, that entire food section in general is pretty amazing; table after table of fresh local produce proudly displayed. Nuts and apples, vegetables and herbs, tons of tropical fruit. A squash so large that, if hollowed out, could double as a bassinet. Jabong and noni and things that before Friday we hadn’t known God had created. It’s the utopian farmer’s market-all of the produce, none of the shoving.
Red Russian Kale - 1st Place
Although it’s very, very cool seeing four blue ribbons and one red ribbon with South Shoreganics written on the bottom, we can’t take the credit alone. Sure, we prepare the soil, plant, weed and harvest, but there is a lot more that goes into it. The sun and the rain. The bugs that break up the soil. The Kauai Farm Bureau folks that make the fair happen and the chefs that judge the entries. And, of course, the South Shoreganics members that commit to supporting the farm by buying what we grow. Like most things, raising produce isn’t a solitary venture; it takes an island.
As always, thank-you for eating local. Enjoy your blue ribbon food.