… both of us!

But first, we need to back-track. For those of you who follow us on Facebook, you would have seen that, due to the horrendous weather on the NSW mid-north coast over the past two weeks, the Nabiac Show was cancelled, on the morning of the Show.

In the 24 hours leading up to the Show, we recorded 192mm here at our place. Falling onto a completely saturated landscape, the water just ran into the creeks and rivers. We were flooded in, and had the Show gone ahead, we wouldn’t have made it anyway.

It was so sad for so many people. There is an extraordinary amount of effort that goes into organising these community events, all unpaid. As soon as one show finishes, the work for next year’s starts. There were people who’d baked and prepared food, purchased litres and litres of milk for coffees, picked vegetables, roasted beef – all of which would have been sold to the hordes who would have turned up, had it been sunny. There were people who’d travelled to compete, dogs had been readied for their parades, schedules had been checked, and checked again. Rosters drawn up, and volunteers allocated. But the sun did not shine. Mother Nature can be cruel, but you can’t argue with Her.

So we had a very rainy day, stuck at home.

The spider costumes that I’d made for Jack (Bec C’s dog) and Jones, are still lying on the dining room table, looking somewhat forlorn. I guess I’ll pack them away in a cupboard for next year. Chances are though, the boys won’t fit into their Spiderman costumes by then. I pondered, that we possibly averted a mini disaster. When I tried Jones in his costume, on Friday night, he immediately turned his head and started chewing on one of his own spider legs. They were pretty tempting I have to admit, complete with bouncing pom pom at the end of each leg. Once in the judging ring, Jones would have wanted to play with all the other dogs, as well as with his own legs, and Jack’s legs, and goodness knows what else. He would have wanted to jump up to greet each dog, probably ruining their costumes, and his. He’s still only 10 months old after all. A puppy. It could well have been carnage in the Best Dressed Pet competition, with Jones disqualified before judging commenced, and The Kid in hysterical tears because it had all turned to pot. Haaahh, our day spent stranded at home was so calm by comparison.

To the good news. On Friday, Bec and I had both managed to get to the Hall before 11am to submit our ‘exhibits’. At that stage, of course, not knowing the Show would be cancelled. It was muddy and wet though and pouring as I arrived, so people were asking questions. I submitted my photo of Jones into Section 2 Photography, Class 2 Animals:

I entered my crocheted tea cosy in the tea cosy class, and my felted crochet basket into Section 8 Crochet, Class 26 Novice (any of above classes from entrant who has not won a prize at Nabiac Show before. That was me!).

In the Produce Hall, I entered my rosemary and a bunch of mixed herbs into Section 15 Vegetables. I also handed in my carefully picked, washed, polished and dried rhubarb stalks, 6 of them, as per the requirements.

The judging takes place on the Friday afternoon, before the Show opens, so despite the Show not going ahead, by Saturday morning, prizes had been awarded, and places determined.

Luckily Bec C was able to get out of her place, and she made it into the Showground on Saturday morning to collect our exhibits and check on their status. She rang from the main Hall, and then from the Produce Hall, a roaming live reporter, with the good news.

Bec C had won First Prize for her Chocolate Brownies. Hooray! (..and believe me, they are prize-worthy brownies, just superb). Her Spicy Pear Chutney unfortunately had not placed, confirming her suspicions that the judges do NOT like pears. I’m urging her to return to her award-winning Runny Mango Chutney next year. My photo of Jones had obviously not impressed the judges enough to get a prize. Nor had my tea cosy (understandably – seriously, the other entries were incredible). But my felted crochet basket, in the novice section had a 2nd Prize certificate pinned to it! How exciting!

Over in the Produce Hall, Bec C’s almost wild lemon balm had been awarded 1st prize, my rosemary came 2nd (two years in a row for the rosemary, a consistent performer!), and my rhubarb got 1st Prize! Some feedback from the judges though… I should have left 75mm of leaf on the stalks (I had trimmed the leaf off altogether, unaware there were ‘regulations’) and cut off the bud scales at the bottom (note to self: find out what bud scales are). Happily for Bec C’s young Thomas – his 6 stalks of spinach got him his first purple (yes, for some reason they are purple, not blue) ribbon ever – a highlight in his 4 years of life, no doubt.

All in all, a great success for Two Becs in a Paddock.

Whenever, if ever, you come across a small country town Show, go along, attend, get involved. Spend your spare cash and support the community. These events are so important to regional communities and so much effort goes into making them happen. And you’ll love it, I’m sure. We would have, had ours gone ahead.

Here’s to the Nabiac Show 2014.

For more photos of our entries in this, and previous year’s shows, go to the Gallery.

(My First Prize ribbon for the rhubarb is now proudly hanging on our fridge door)