Back before it was fashionable to grow your own food, mill your own flour, and make your own cheese, my husband was doing all of that. His garden in Ballard was the envy of the neighborhood, his pigeon loft full of well-fed, happy birds who kept finding their way home. And he was an avid reader of Mother Earth News.
Of course, when Mother Earth News announced that they would be coming to the Puyallup Fair Grounds this past weekend, he wanted to go.
So we spent Saturday at the fair, sitting in on seminars and demonstrations, chatting with exhibitors, sampling goodies, and waiting in a very long line to buy our lunch! We talked to the creator of FarmStayU.S., who has created a directory of farms around the country where travelers can spend the night and even work on the farm; we purchased a mushroom growing kit; we chatted with representatives from Solar Cookers International, who encourage and assist people around the world to harness the power of the sun through the use of solar cookers. All of these are topics for future blogs.
Tom spent a couple of hours in a seminar about grafting fruit trees. He loved it and feels confident that with all his previous reading and this demonstration, he's now ready to graft some dwarf trees for himself.
From the moment we pulled out of our driveway till we got home again, we had a delightful day. The weather was perfect, Mt Rainier was on its best behavior, and we laughed, dreamed, and explored together. It was a glorious day!
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| Morning in our front yard |
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My chauffeur
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| Bring the whole family! |
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| A couple of solar cookers |
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| Trying out a "portable chair" that supports your back! |
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| Wood carving demonstration |
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| Newly shorn alpaca |
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| Spinning |
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| Grafting an apple tree |
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| Mt Rainier from the Puyallup Valley |
6 comments:
I wondered if this was where you guys had wondered off to on Saturday! What Fun!! I wish I had known you were going!! I heard that Joel Salatin was going to be speaking and would have loved to tag along!! I've loved Mother Earth News, and although I don't subscribe, often grab a copy in the grocery store... Good stuff!
I read about that fair and thought it sounded tempting. My mother and I went to something similar in Maine while on an inn-to-inn bike trip (way back in time). It was much fun, educational, eye opening. I'd love to see the mushroom growing kit--maybe I'll try that too!
Sorry I was sleeping at the wheel, Adam and Karen and anyone else who would like to have gone to the fair and would have gone along with us if you'd known we were going! It was really fun. Next time let's make a party of it!
That sounds like a blast! I love to read Mother Earth News, as well as Countryside. I also love that the library carries them and I don't have to buy them. :) If they do another fair next year, I'd surely hitch a ride!
Who makes that interesting portable chair made from webbing?
The Nada-Chair I was wearing in the photo is from Love at First Sit, (http://www.loveatfirstsit.com/).
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