And The Winner Is...

09/21/2011


Bees & Wasps    Beneficial Insects   

I finally made it over to the fair this past Sunday to see how my honey and photos I’d entered did in the judging. Well, my total winnings included a blue (1st), a red (2nd), a pink (4th) and a green (5th) place. I’m sorry to say my honey won fourth place in the light amber category. (There were ten entries total.) I noticed I was the only entry using a plastic jar this year. I asked the judge standing by the arena if it made a difference that I’d used plastic jars. He said, “Yes. If you had used glass jars, you would have gotten a 2nd or 3rd place!” “Really?” I asked. In the manual for entering the fair, it says you may use either, and I had only plastic 1 lb. flat front panel jars on hand at home.

The judge told me that when they hold a light and a refractometer up to the jar of honey, plastic jars score lower in general because of impurities in the plastic itself. Hmmmmm. This makes sense. No one had ever told me this before. Believe me, I learned something and will use glass jars next year!!! Competition will beat out economy! He also told me to heat the glass jar in the oven on a warm setting before introducing the honey to the jar that this can remove any particles present.

In addition, I noticed that my honey that I’d entered in the light amber category could have really qualified for the white category of color when I held it up to compare to the white entries. Some of the light amber entries were darker than my honey. There were only 2 entries in the white category this year; geeze, I’d have gotten at least a 3rd  place had I done this! (Note to self: Next year, I’m entering in the white category!)

But, even though I was slightly down about having gotten a 4th this year on my honey, guess what?! I got 10 out of 10 points for the fill line for the first time ever! Hooray! I finally found the fill line!

And, on top of this, in the photography area, I received a 1st and a 2nd place on photos I’d taken on an American Pest State Department trip to teach integrated pest management to facility managers of embassies back in December in Tunisia (The 5th place went to a photo of a beehive in my yard.)

I’ve never gotten ribbons on my photos! So, all in all, I really can’t complain, and besides, I learned a lot from this experience! As far as the info I’ve now gleaned on my entering honey successfully in the fair, all I can say to my fellow competitors is, “Wait till next year!!!”






 
 
 

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