Cheese Carving

Maybe this is one of those "only in Wisconsin" things...but, our fair hosted a cheese carving contest.  They have local celebrity carvers along with general fair public.  I was asked by one of the girls in the fair office to participate in the contest.  I've never carved cheese - or anything really - but, it sounded fun, so I said yes.

Each carver started out with a 5lb. block of cheddar cheese that was donated.  We were given tools for carving:  tooth brush, dental floss, plastic knife, child size scissors, screw driver, tooth picks and putty knife - not your standard carving tools.  We had 45 minutes to create our carvings.

While we all were staring at our cheese - the Daily Herald came over and interviewed me.  I was hesitant to mention that I was a folk artist - as I was not sure how this would turn out.  I was going to carve a mouse, but it started looking like a pig so I worked with it.

This really was fun.  We cheered each other on, the audience was eating our scraps and the time went really fast.  Some of my 4-H kids came through and cheered me on.  

We were the amateur group.  I won the blue ribbon.  

This is Tyler D. he is a 4-Hr that I met as part of the Leader's Federation and in the hog and sheep barn.  He is one of those "all American" type kids, that stand out in a crowd - I would add a super nice young man.  He carved the 4-H logo, a pig and a cow.  My caption in this photo was "who cut the cheese - apparently Tyler D."  

They displayed our finished carvings during the fair.  http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/news/local/2015/08/07/cheese-carving-wisconsin-valley-fair-wausau/31282803/  For the article.

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.