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Amy Desjardins decorates her canned good for display at the Oregon State Fair in September.
Becky Teater
Achance visit to grandma’s house a few years ago has developed into accolades leading to the Oregon State Fair this year.
Amy Desjardins, who is almost 15 years old, will be taking several items to the state fair this year, including canned peaches and a few jams.
A few years ago, Desjardins was at her grandmother’s, Mary Demaris, house while her grandmother was canning.
“She asked me if I wanted to help. It was kind of fun,” said Desjardins.
Since that year she has helped Demaris with her canning and has begun to enter some of her own jars of goods in the Crook County fair in the 4-H department. With the careful supervision of her grandmother, Desjardins has learned the whole process of water bath canning. Demaris also helped her learn how to follow the recipes and canning guidelines presented in the standard blue books put out by Ball and/or Kerr.
“Since she was going to be entering items in the fair, I made sure she did the whole process from start to finish,” said Demaris.
Previous years have resulted in a few ribbons, but this year she did very well. Her canned peaches received a blue ribbon, which led to winning the Champion ribbon for her age group. Getting the Champion ribbon for her age group meant that those canned peaches went on to compete against all other 4-H entries for canned goods, in which she took the prize, Reserved Grand Champion.
Winning Reserved Grand Champion means that her peaches will have the chance to compete at the state fair level against canned goods produced by other 4-H contestants across the state. Her peaches were not the only canned goods that will be making their appearance at the state fair, Desjardins also had her canned good basket selected for state fair.
"I did a food preservation basket. It has pear and strawberry jams in it," said Desjardins.
Along with the jams she also included a loaf of whole wheat bread that was made from wheat grown on a farm in Montana that is owned by family members. After making a fresh loaf of bread she will be sending that food preservation basket, her canned peaches, and other items to the Oregon State Fair.
Being a part of the Crook County 4-H program has been a positive experience for Desjardins.
She says, "it is a lot of work, but it really pays off. I am more of an individual person (because of it)."
Desjardins also said that she knows that she will take the life skills she is learning through her participation in several 4-H groups and use them for the rest of her life and carry on a tradition started generations before her.
Regarding the canning, Demaris said, "It comes from my mother; (she) taught me, I taught my girls, and I wanted Amy to learn it too."
Going to the state fair is not a new event for Desjardins. She has taken items from her 4-H clothing group just about every year that she has been a part of 4-H. She has also taken knitting and crocheting as well. This year is no different. As well as taking her peaches and jam, she is also taking a wool suit, knitted leg warmers, a crocheted cardigan, and cinnamon rolls.
Young people have to be a member of a 4-H club in order to enter their work in the local and state fair. However, their entries do not have to be from only that one club. That is how Desjardins was able to enter so many items in the fair. She is a member of a clothing club, lead by her mother, Lori Desjardins, as well as a horse club. She decided to go beyond those clubs and enter as many areas as she could.
The younger Desjardins encourages other young people to become involved in 4-H groups because of the life skills that are learned as well as providing other benefits.
"It's really fun to meet new people and get ideas for next year," commented Desjardins about being a part of 4-H.
When Amy and her family go to the Oregon State Fair at the end of this month to see how she fared, she will be also gathering even more ideas for what she will be doing next year's competition.
