Sunday, June 20, 2010

Entering a county fair

It is fun to enter honey in the local county fair. They usually come early in the summer before the state fair. The entry can be a single jar. Read the entry criteria to make the proper entry. It is great to promote the honey industry by entering a fair. Your friends and neighbors will come and look at the entries to see who got a ribbon. It is nice to be recognized for turning out a quality product.
The thing to look out for when entering your honey, is putting the honey entry into the proper class. I have had beekeepers be disqualified for mistakenly putting the honey in the wrong class. Most of the honey we produce is white honey. Light amber honey is quite dark like rust color and amber honey is very dark to black like coffee or molasses.
Entering a fair makes you a better beekeeper by giving you habits of packing a quality filled bottle as an entry. This experience will help most of us produce a quality product in every bottle we fill.
Plus you can make a couple bucks for getting a ribbon and bragging rights that you have award winning honey.