Deb, you amaze me. I would have to sleep for a week if I did all that. And, I'd still be tired!
I've been doing fair for about twenty years. I normally have around 100 entries in canned goods (200 jars to haul in, 2 each), but I had no kitchen during most of canning season this year because of the remodel. So I only have around 20 entries there.
I always enter most of the baked goods classes, around 50. There's a few I rarely bother with. I figure it's more fun to watch a class judged if you're entered and I'm going to be there all day anyway. I got a very slow start this year (because of the chickens and my hatching addiction
) so I really only started baking a few days ago. I usually have all my cookie doughs and quick breads made a couple of months in advance and my yeast breads done about two weeks in advance. It's taken a lot of experimentation to find out what is unaffected by the freezing process before judging. Candy is usually made 1-2 weeks in advance and will just sit for some stuff, like brittles.
But there are LOTS of things that have to be done at the last minute, they just aren't good unless made last minute, like pies. I have ten pies entered this year. The cream pies can be made on Sunday, fruit pies have to be Monday. Baking powder biscuits I'm usually taking out of the oven as I'm loading everything into the car. It gets turned in on a Monday night and judged on Tuesday.
One year I was unhappy with a candy entry and at the last minute I decided to make a redo with some homemade marshmallows. I threw them together while I was plating and loading everything into the car. I let them set up while I jumped into the shower (to wash off two days of dirt, sweat and flour, LOL). Cut them up, stuck them on a plate and headed for the fairgrounds. The next day they went Best in Show, LOL You just never know what is going to impress a judge.
I usually have a photograph or two or ten entered. And I've dabbled with lots of other things, sewing, tatting, ceramics, horticulture, etc. I grabbed a little plant off my window sill one year and entered it, got BIS succulent. Turned out it was a very rare plant, I had no idea, a friend (plant collector) had given me a start a couple of years earlier. They told me what it was, but I had no idea it was so special, LOL
I just love fairs, my friend that is in charge of livestock at the State fair says it just means we all have some carny worker blood in our veins. I used to do lots of work (and entries) at State fair, but I cut back. I've kept my hand in by doing some of the showmanship judging. This year I'm going back to run the youth poultry show and oversee the hatching nursery. So if you go to the Fur/Feathers building, the chicks/eggs will all be mine this year. I'm also supplying birds to run around the farm display. I have to find birds that will stand up to being chased around by kids.
Some will be penned, but they like to have a few running around with the public.
