PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Saturday 18 August 2012

Preparing for the Village Show

Today is a special day, for a couple of reasons  - it is my older son's 33rd birthday.  Happy Birthday Tim!  

It is also the eagerly anticipated Annual Village Show.  
Click to enlarge - I warn you, it is very messy...
This is how my kitchen looked 24 hours ago - normally I am a very neat worker, yesterday I had so many baking projects on the go that I abandoned my neat and organised methods and descended into chaos.

A short time ago we called in at the Village Hall to stage our entries.

It is the greatest fun as everyone tries to get a glimpse of the 'oppositions' entries.

Baked goods are always hotly contested, everyone has their tried and tested recipes, their own way of doing things...a village show is an interesting exercise in discipline as we try to conform to a standard ready for an outsider to judge.


I can tell you right now, Dominic's cherry pie looked sublime.

At the end of the judging, and after everyone has had a chance to wander round looking at the awards, the produce will be auctioned.

Annie, who lives in the village, is an absolute star at this.  She manages to cajole every last penny out of us all as she persuades us to dig deep for even the most unappealing vegetables, or battered pies.  She works hard at it, and she does it amazingly well, raising lots of money for the Village Hall, in the process.
Our village is very small - the photograph on the wall is an aerial view, taken about 40 years ago.  This afternoon George will be going along with a screwdriver - like a vandal and a thief he will take the photograph down from the wall...he does have permission.

It is gradually getting sun-faded and we want to scan it and save it...our house is on there.   It is shown in all it's glory, before Owl Wood was planted and before some of the old hedgerows were uprooted, which makes it of great interest to us.  We have talked about doing this for the last goodness knows how long, today is the day.

Right now I am going to put my feet up and have a cup of tea, it will be two hours before we are allowed back in to see how our entries have done.

I have one final job to do, I must go and find my piggy box and a hammer...I am going to do my best to get that cherry pie at the auction.

22 comments:

  1. Best of luck at the show and bidding!
    Jane x

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    1. Hello Jane, Thank you, I'll do a post about it shortly... unfortunately the cherry pie was withdrawn from the auction...still, the good news is that I outbid the others on Dom's cheese scones, I am having them analysed right now. Watch out next year, Dom! ;)

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  2. Such annual shows are unheard of here. Maybe I should suggest it to someone. Good luck with your entries; or should I say 'break a cake'?

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    1. Hello Cro, That is a shame - mind you, they do take an awful lot of organising, so you would need a very determined committee to make it happen. They are wonderful events, long may our show continue!

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  3. Such a fun event . . . and encouragement for the Village. Great idea for our community but oh my, management must be a daunting task. Good luck to you, can't wait to hear about your prizes!

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    1. Hello Lynne, It is a mammoth task, but it really draws the village together. I'll do a post as soon as I can...it is no secret that I lost (again) in the scone class - but won a few others, thank goodness!

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  4. Hope your scones do well Elaine!

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    1. Hello Scarlet, No luck with the scones, but there is always next year! The good news is that my freezer is now packed with all the practice-run scones, cakes, etc - which means that next week when we have a weekend filled with visitors and merrymaking I will only have to defrost them and that is teatime sorted.

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  5. Oh, what a grand time!!!! Best of luck on the cherry pie :)

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    1. Hello Little hOme in the Country, It was all such good fun, the sun was shining and everyone was in good spirits. It is a wonderful occasion, a chance to catch up with friends old and new as we trawl around checking out the exhibits and certificates. Unfortunately the cherry pie was withdrawn before the auction - but Dom has promised to bake me a pie some time.

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  6. This is so much work. I think back to the community celebration our committee of five or six organized and executed for our 200th birthday, a year ago. We just said we wouldn't be doing the next centennial celebration. It looks lovely and may you get the cherry pie. They're the best.

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    1. Hello Joanne, That cherry pie looked amazing, I took some photographs so I'll show you what I missed out on (it was withdrawn before the auction) I believe it was chocolate pastry and cherry pie filling, which sounds like a marriage made in heaven. The show involves a huge amount of organisation, before, during, and for the clearing up afterwards.

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  7. Happy Birthday Tim! My kitchen looks like that right now. lol Well, not quite. We just finished breakfast and I'm enjoying my coffee before cleaning up. Those veggies look yummy. Good luck!

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    1. Hello Roan, We got back home a short time ago, kicked off our shoes, made some tea and I am about to start going through the photographs. It was a brilliant day and plenty of money was made for the village hall.

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  8. my scones beat your scones into the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! go belleau!!!

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    1. Hello Dom, Your cheese scones definitely beat my plain scones - but I am having them analysed right now, they passed the taste test, they are light and fluffy, the cheese is very tasty... You are King of the Scones, this year! xxx

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  9. It all looks so wonderful! The cherry pie and scones...and is that jars of lemon curd I see there? I'm wondering what kind of cheese does Dom put in cheese scones?
    Nevertheless, plain scones with lemon curd would be the best. Good luck on the judging, Elaine!

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    1. Hello Ms Sparrow, Thank you! I think Dom's cherry pie was probably sublime - it was a combination of chocolate and cherry, a marriage made in heaven!

      Lemon curd is tedious to make - but so delicious. I tried a scone with lemon curd (for the first time) and I am a convert, it was wonderful. I think Dom would have used a local cheese, he is a great champion of all foods local, so probably one of the Lincolnshire Poacher range. They are excellent.

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  10. So nice with the Village Show and congrats to your son. My eldest son is 32 *smile*.

    Hugs
    Elna

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    1. Hello Elna, It is difficult to believe that our 'babies' are now grown men! Where does the time go?

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  11. How delightful! A perfect Harvest Fair, but indoors, with the friendly competition of all the summer produce and cooking and flowers....love it!

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    1. Hello Marie, I wish you could have been there, the atmosphere and the mood were wonderful. It was a really lovely event - and the hall smelt wonderful with all those flowers.

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