From the time she was 9, Karen Toth carefully watched her grandmother make jam. By the time she was a teenager, she was able to make it herself.

For the past 13 years, Toth has taken those family traditions of crafts and jam-making to the Ventura County Fair.

Toth, 59, was born in Newark, N.J. Her grandparents were farmers from Kansas. She picked up her grandmother's sewing and craft-making techniques when she visited.

"My grandma was very crafty," she said.

Learning these things, she said, has made her a "country girl at heart."

Toth's first time at the fair was when she and her husband moved to Simi Valley from the San Fernando Valley in 1993.

"I fell in love with the fair since then, been going ever since," she said.

During that first trip, she and her husband went through the home arts exhibit. Her husband suggested she make some of her homemade jams the following year and enter them for prizes. Toth liked the idea and competed the next year.

She has competed every year since, except 2004, when she and her husband went on a cruise to Alaska.

Categories of the home arts competition include arts and crafts, clothing and textiles, baked foods and confections, and preserved foods. Competition winners receive ribbons and cash prizes up to $5, "plus bragging rights," said Valerie Ulmer, superintendent of home arts for the Ventura County Fair.

In past years, Toth has entered the arts and crafts competition with candles, tole paintings, woodwork and cloth wreaths. Toth said last year her applesauce took first place in preserved foods. She also took first place in baked foods and confections for her lemon meringue pie.

Other years, Toth wasn't as successful. She said one year her jams didn't set properly and ended up being watery. She went home ribbon-less.

"I didn't take it personally. A lot of people do," Toth said. "What's nice is that they tell you what was wrong."

Ulmer said fair judging is done by home economists, canning teachers, master canners and other people who know how to can. Ulmer said the judges taste jams and jellies. The pressure of the jars is also tested.

"If anything's going to go wrong, it will go wrong with fruit and meats," Ulmer said.

Toth said last year she made peach, cherry, apricot and apple butters for the first time.

During the judging, the glass jars the butters were in all exploded and had to be thrown away.

"I think I used too much butter and not enough fruit," she said. "I'm glad nobody got hurt."

Toth said whenever she has these setbacks or doesn't win, she tries to learn from her mistakes.

"Next year, I think I'll try the butters again," she said.

Ulmer said this year, home arts had close to 800 entries. Toth entered seven jams and received an honorable mention for her apricot-cranberry jam.

Toth passed on her love for participating in contests to her grandchildren.

This year her 5-year-old grandson, Austin, entered for the first time in a youth category. He made a tiger-snake out of clay.

Her granddaughter Cadence, 9, like her grandma, has entered her jam and baked goods in the past.

This year, Cadence won first prize and best of class for a clay carousel she made.

Toth said she's going to the fair Saturday with her family. She plans to see their entries and eat the mini-doughnuts she loves.

"We spend the day there. We go to the shows and stuff. This time we're going for the rodeo," Toth said. "It's fun to see the kids' faces light up."