2000 Ribbons by Martina Moore As I am standing in my pantry and reaching for a can of green beans from the grocery store, I am thinking of all the canning I used to do. Now it seems to be impossible to squeeze a little bit more time in the day to do one more thing. I loved to can and to look at my labor of love during the gray winter months. Next to my cans from the grocery store is one golden jar of beautifully arranged yams. Every yam is the same color, size and thickness. I got this treasure from Katie Gilbert on Beaux Mountain Road. My friend Evelyn introduced me to Katie last summer. Katie is petite, soft spoken and beautiful. Her smiles make you feel good right away. But the most amazing thing about her is that she has collected over 2000 blue, pink and purple ribbons for the best canning, baking and cooking at the fairs. Yes, over 2000! She entered her first competition in 1941 with candy. She made divinity sea foam and chocolate fudge and won two blue ribbons right away. After this she was hooked and entered the Stokes County Fair in King, the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston-Salem and the State Fair in Raleigh every year. During the Second World War she was unable to compete because there were no fairs held at that time. In 1991 she won the championship in making apple pie and the grand prize two times, also in apple pie making. She won $50.00 and $300.00 worth of kitchen gadgets for the championship. She remembers, with a shy smile, that her husband kissed her in front of everybody, and then they went out to eat "something good." All of her ribbons are neatly stored in three boxes, filled up to the top with every ribbon she has won, along with the notations of the year, location and what is was for. In the top of the box are two sheets of paper with the tallied number of ribbons won at each fair and the year. Still today, even though she is way up in her eighties, this petite lady does all the canning, baking and cooking by herself. She enters the fairs with about thirty different canned goods. Then she comes back on the different days to enter the pie contests, meatloaf contests, cake contests and so on. Just the thought of this makes me exhausted. Every can must be labeled with contest, year, what kind of process was used, like pressure canning, hot bath, etc. The same with baked goods. I have gone to the fairs to look at the canned goods. When you talk to the people at the Dixie Classic Fair or at the King Fair, Katie Gilbert's goods stand out big time. One of the women at the Dixie Classic Fair could point to Katie's jars without reading the labels. She picked up the jars and proudly showed me Katie's work of art. Every bean, carrot or potato was the same size, color and form in an astonishing unity. I was in awe. Katie is one of my heroes. What will I be like in my eighties? ...and yes, maybe I will can something this summer. mzmouser@attbi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Time's fun when you're having flies." -Kermit the Frog