Come 6 a.m. next Saturday, Trena Eyestone will be rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and heading for the kitchen.

No, not just for breakfast.

She'll be mixing up and rolling out homemade noodles, simmering her own ravioli sauce and slicing spuds for some scalloped potatoes. Or maybe she'll opt for the savory aroma of baking bread.

Then Eyestone, 17, and maybe 40 other 4-H Foods Fair entrants will bundle their hot foods into insulated cartons and their cold foods into coolers, and head for Whitefish Mountain Mall.

There, they will lay out their spreads, both visual and victual, to stand for judging by a panel of food professionals.

It's nearing the end of the first decade of Flathead County Foods Fair competition, a wintertime chance for 4-H boys and girls to learn the finer arts of culinary preparation and presentation.

There's a big emphasis on the latter, Eyestone said.

"Presentation is really important," the Mountain Echo 4-H Club member said. "The judges want you to serve the food as if you are serving it to your family," not just plop the crock pot on the table and hand them a ladle.

Eyestone, also the county's senior ambassador who represents her fellow Flathead 4-H'ers at State 4-H Congress in the summer, has been involved with the foods fair for four of her five years as a 4-H member.

"You meet a lot of people there," she said. "You get to know just about everyone in your county. That's especially good for me as an ambassador."

Her first year, she took the main dish grand prize with her enchiladas, made for the theme "Christmas Around the World." The next year she won another grand prize in the "other" category, when her Mexican hot chocolate capitalized on her own Mexican heritage. Last year she took two reserve grand prizes, with chili as a main dish and crepes as a side dish.

This year, under a "Deck the Halls" theme, she's hoping to go out with her final grand prize. The competitive side of her spirit surfaces, she said, but she also likes the fun of setting and achieving goals.

All club members work cooperatively to decorate a table to the current year's theme — in December 2001, many of the kids brought U.S.-originated inventions and decorated in red, white and blue to the "American Made" theme.

Once the decorations are finished and place settings are perfectly lined up, judges visit each club's table to give it the once-over. (If it makes the grade, club members are invited to participate later in theme judging.)

Then for the next 20 minutes, the 4-H'ers get to work dishing up their foods and begin the procession to the judges' table at the front of the hall.

With gloved hands, 4-H'ers slice off or spoon out a proper portion of their dish for the judges to taste. They answer questions, including cost per serving or whether it is appropriate for a family meal. Can it be prepared in a microwave? Have they tasted it, and do they like it themselves?

"Exotic food with strange ingredients can cost too much, but it's fun," Eyestone said. "But they want something everyone can make."

Most 4-H'ers are prepared with nutrition information, and each one provides a printed copy of his or her recipes for inclusion in an annual cookbook.

Of the 40 or 50 contestants last year, Eyestone said, about eight or nine of them were boys.

"The usual ratio of boys to girls in these 4-H activities is one to four or five," she said. "They always make cakes. But one year, a boy made truffles and he won. They were so good."

Foods Fair offers a long list of categories for entries, from cookies (the oldest children aren't allowed here), to yeast breads, appetizers and side dishes. There's a special Cloverbud Division for the youngest ones, the 5- to 7-year-olds who are too young to be a 4-H member but still want to get in the mix.

Judges look for presentation factors — initial appearance, creativity, originality — flavor and texture, how it is displayed, the recipe's degree of difficulty and whether it truly represents what the item is (is the French bread shaped like a loaf of French bread?).

As the oldest of three children, Eyestone has been cooking for several years. And she has a specialty.

"I like making brownies," she said, "and eating them. I've been making the same brownies since I was 13."

But she does more than cook.

Homeschooled for her entire education, the daughter of Carla and Edward Eyestone of Bigfork is planning to head for Pacific Lutheran University next year.

She sings alto in three choirs: Allyson Kuechmann's Valley Voices and the Homeschool Select Ensemble, and Kimberly Hammond's Homeschool Senior Choir. She's been playing piano for 10 years and now teaches others.

In five years of 4-H, she's held just about every office under Mountain Echo club leader Linda Harapat. She's the oldest member and accepts the implied leadership role.

"It's up to us older kids in the club to keep things going," she said.

This summer she went to State Congress not only as the county ambassador, but as the winner in fashion revue for the dress she sewed and modeled. Next spring, she'll design her own pattern and try for state again.

She's active in church at Bigfork Baptist, where she plays the piano. In February 2001, through her membership in the Little Brown Church, she went on a 10-day mission trip to Mexico. In the village of Baja de Kino, 250 miles from the Mexican border across from the California Baja, she helped with Bible school and distributed clothing and other necessities.

That summer, she was a counselor at Dickey Lake Bible Camp, then headed back into the round of 4-H county fair projects.

So what does Eyestone get out of the 4-H Foods Fair?

"A lot of fun," she said. "And a lot of food. It takes us about a half hour after everything is finished to pack up. While we're doing that, my Dad likes to go from table to table, sampling the food afterwards. It's a really big family thing."

The public is welcome to watch the Foods Fair. The set-up begins by about 8 or 9 a.m. Dec. 13, with judging starting around 10 a.m.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com