The Biscuits That Won Twice

My granddaughter has recently started peppering me for stories from when I was a young girl. It’s been fun to look back and share some of my foibles, lessons, and laughter with her.

One afternoon, we were sitting at her dining table while she munched on a few of my homemade biscuits. Watching her enjoy them reminded me of another story—a biscuit story from long ago.

I was about ten, and I belonged to a 4-H club that focused on cooking and sewing. For the county fair, I decided to bake biscuits. I loved making them and carefully followed the recipe each time.

When it came time for judging, I carried my three biscuits on the required white paper plate and left them for the fair officials to taste.

A few days later, I returned to find a blue ribbon beside my biscuits! My 4-H leader told me I could enter my biscuits in State Fair if I wanted to—and I really did.

My parents drove me to the fairgrounds, where I placed my plate among hundreds of other baking entries.

When I came back to check the results, I found my biscuits again—this time with a white ribbon and a note that said they were “too salty.”

I was crestfallen. My special homemade biscuits weren’t so special after all.

But, as I told my granddaughter, I didn’t stop making them. My dad told me as I collected my white ribbon, “Don’t let this stop you from doing something you love.”

My granddaughter listened quietly, then said, “I’ll be right back.”

She dashed upstairs and returned a few minutes later with something in her hand—a ribbon she’d made just for me.

I brought her ribbon home, and it reminds me that encouragement comes in many ways—at any age—even decades after those state fair biscuits were judged.