Sticky situation...

I came to something over the last few days, and I want to talk through it here.

I've decided not to enter my pepper jelly in the State Fair this year.


This hurts me more than it hurts you.


No, I'm not dying, it's not a cry for help, either.

It's just gotten to be a huge pain in the ass, and I've decided life is too short to waste time on things that are so fundamentally irritating and unrewarding.

I have some ribbons.  One of each color, to be exact - and in some cases, more than one.  It would be great to have a final blue ribbon to close out my fair years in true OCD style, but to quote my sister, "The juice ain't worth the squeeze."

I still plan to make quite a bit of pepper jelly, because I enjoy the process, I like the output, and I have friends who enjoy receiving it.  And I have lots of peppers, mad skillz and a sense of pride in my accomplishment.

So why do I give a flying f*** what some frustrated old biddies in the Ag Extension office think about how it LOOKS?  Not tastes, mind you, but looks.

Because, let's be real - it tastes amazing.  People offer to buy it. They crave it - they ask for it by name.  I am known for my sense of humor, my massive vocabulary (and boobs) and my pepper jelly.  Not necessarily in that order.

So I refuse to pin my worth on what these judges think.  And now that you have to pay to enter, and to get in, and you have a four hour drop off window, and a four hour pick up window...

I'm tired of it.  Frankly, I'm just tired.  And I'm done. And it's not like I'll really miss the fair.  I have access to goats in other venues, and I don't need to win a large stuffed banana with dreadlocks because some dude incorrectly guessed my age.

Carnie Not Included


It was a good run.  I had a lot of fun and I had some success.  It was worth doing.

But it's not worth it any more.

I may come back and do it again next year, I may not.

But for right here, right now... this is the right thing.

Thanks!
ae


PS - N & O Chambers of Cumberland Furnace, TN.  This is not an admission of defeat.  Y'all can take your jelly and shove it ... in a display case in the exhibit hall.  Ultimately, I win, even if you have a ribbon.

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