Come to the Fair

When I was growing up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan there was great excitement among my friends and my sister once a year when the fair came to town. What we called “the fair” was really more of a carnival with a Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, bumper cars, and, for the very young, little boats and cars that went round and round like a merry-go-round of sorts.

The fair never excited me much. I had a weak stomach and could never go on any of the rides and the cacophony of noise and crowds of people overwhelmed me. It’s been more years than I can remember since I’ve been to a fair of any kind.

This weekend Gerry and I attended the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, WA. This, I discovered, is the kind of fair I’ve been waiting for.

We attended workshops on DIY solar, seed saving, renewable energy, heritage goats, and living simply. We were inspired by a talk given by Bob Moore, founder of Bob’s Red Mill, and his biographer Ken Koopman. Ken has written a book called People Before Profit: The Inspiring Story of the Founder of Bob’s Red Mill. I’ve been a fan of Bob’s Red Mill products for a long time; now I’m a fan of the business in general and will make a point of supporting the brand as much as I can in the future. This is the type of business I can get behind.

We came away from the exhibitor booths with a plethora of information (and some supplies) for cheese making, heirloom gardening, seed saving, renewable energy, heritage goats, and many other things. My mind is still swirling and full of projects and things I want to do.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to check out the poultry, livestock, and fiber arts and I fell in love many times over.