The Tavistock Fall Fair

And of course the giant squash plant growing out of my compost bin leads me to the 2009 Tavistock Fall Fair. Every year Katherine and I exhibit a number of items in the various categories at the Fall Fair, this year being no exception. Two of the squash from the plant in the post below garnered third place in their category. Katherine also took first place in the 'Scrapbook' category, as well as three second place prizes for her rabbithair fern ('interesting houseplant'), Fire King mug ('Fire King antique') and small pepper plant (mistakenly entered by me in the 'bean plant, whole' category). In addition to having a whole bunch of exhibits, including but not limited to handmade knitting, fruits and vegetables, home brewed beer and wine, toys by kids and adults, and a whole whack of other things, there is a midway for kids, a parade, and a livestock exhibition. If you have never been to a Fall Fair, you should find one close to you, and go! Here are some pictures of the Parade, some which I may enter in the Photography competition for the 2010 Fall Fair.

Something Giant This Way Grows

I can't quite say I woke up this morning, decided to mow the lawn, only to find a mammoth squash plant had grown up overnight out of one of my compost bins... No, the plant actually took a whole month to grow to these mammoth proportions! The black compost bin is about 3' tall and 2' diameter for reference, and note also that the entire squash plant is not all in the photograph! There are actually two different field squash plants here, one producing a cream and creamy green large fruit, the other an orange and green smaller striped fruit. This is quite fantastic, as I am hoping if I have enough squash for halloween, I would like to make a rather creepy display including severed 'squash heads' on stakes lining the walk up to the front door of the house!