Page 64 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

Hants DA
Life is beginning to feel a bit more normal now that Hants DA activities are gradually resuming.
New Venue – hot off the press! Hants DA are now going to be meeting at Sherfield English Village Hall for our monthly meetings, however our 2022 Plant Sale and Annual Show will remain at Wellow Village Hall.
The change of venue will give our members more room to spread out and feel covid safe, as our previous meeting room under the present circumstances is now too small. At the time of writing, I am trying not
to panic; the keyholder has gone AWOL so we may yet be holding the November wine tasting in the car park. Apologies for any inconvenience if we had to cancel the event at short notice.
Back in September, we held the Hants DA annual show. A week
later than normal, it reverts to its normal slot of the second Sunday in September next year, so save the date; 11 September 2022.
Our sincere thanks to all our exhibitors and visitors who made our show such a success. We did not know what to expect after the challenging growing conditions this year and disruptions from Covid-19, however it may arguably have been
our best show yet.
18 point collection
NVS Silver Medal for the “Best dish of vegetables” for an impressive set of cauliflowers entered in “Any other veg”. Ron also won the onion collection.
David Miles won the “18 point veg collection”, Nigel Gould won the potato collection and Melvin Ward won the Master Gardeners collection.
Special prizes for most points, went to Clarence Thomas for vegetables, Nigel Gould for fruit, Chris Bond
20 point collection
history, how flavours have changed and textures too. Several centuries ago, with dental hygiene non-existent and teeth being poor, a soft apple
was favoured. Nowadays, a crisp apple is more popular. While we listened, Chris’s team served tasting samples to whet our appetite. Once we decided upon our favourites, there was the opportunity to purchase from the numerous varieties on display. Heritage apples would have been commonplace 100 years ago, but with the development of more commercial varieties and new farming techniques, small orchards were grubbed up and many varieties lost.
The event was a great success; around 50 people attended and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the event. Our catering team were kept very busy. Many thanks to Barbara
and Gaye for their hard work keeping us fed and watered and to those who donated cakes. Greta Thew’s ginger cake was especially admired and is likely to become the stuff of legend, as the recipe remains a closely guarded secret.
By the next issue, we will know
We had a slight hiccough early in the day, when two of our judges from the Isle of Wight found their ferry was cancelled. Luckily Hants DA is blessed with a
bevy of judges, so David Shergold and I were able to stand in for them.
for flowers and new exhibitor Graham Edwards swept the board in the novice classes winning most points in that section. Success is bittersweet however,
for having won more than three 1sts in the section, Graham is now “promoted” to the open classes for future shows.
Many thanks to everyone who helped
with setting up, clearing away, cleaning and catering. We cannot run our events without our regular gang of helpers.
In October, Chris Bird and his team from Sparsholt College came to run an Apple Day for us. The first challenge was getting the Sparsholt team into the car park. We have never had an issue previously with the height restriction, but their van was a smidge too high. Luckily, we located the key to open the barricade and after that it was plain sailing; the team brought in crate after crate of heritage apple varieties.
Chris gave a very interesting talk on the heritage varieties and their
It felt brilliant to be able to hold our show again and it looked wonderful
It felt brilliant to be
able to hold our show
again and it looked wonderful. The vast display of flowers made the hall look spectacular and the vegetable and fruit entries were top notch.
We attracted some new exhibitors, as well as our regulars and as usual the standard was high.
Melvin Ward won The Tim Hooper Plaque for “Best dish by a Hants DA member” with some very impressive Parsnips.
Clarence Thomas received The
NVS Plaque for winning the “20-point vegetable collection” with a fantastic collection of celery, long beetroot and parsnips.
Ron Benfield was awarded The
64 Simply Vegetables