Before the competition started on Sunday, lots of CSFA members were putting in hard work on Friday and Saturday. Calif Flora 2011 was not just the Top Ten competition. There were also classes, certification exams, and design shows, all of which needed materials and preparation. Catherine and I were helping to set up the ‘surprise package’ portion of the Top Ten competition. For those who don’t know, I’ll put the surprise package challenge in very simple terms: Here’s a bag of surprise dry goods, here are some stems, here’s a theme, good luck. Contestants have no idea ahead of time what they’re going to get, just that each contestant is going to get the same supplies. More on that later. Here’s a picture of the surprise bags, all ready to go.