Mother Earth News Fair

 So it is Monday and I sit here in the car as we travel home from a great trip to Pennsylvania. Where do I start?????

We left home Thursday morning and had an uneventful yet beautiful trip.  The drive through West Virginia is breathtaking. We traveled through mountains, saw deer and bear, drove through tunnels, saw some beautiful rolling farmland and arrived at our quaint Victorian bed and breakfast just about dinner time.  The B and B is owned and operated by an elderly couple and they were full all weekend with people attending the conference like us.

The 3-day conference was held at a local ski resort and part of it was outside under tents and part was inside in the conference center. Friday was 1/2 day and the weather was beautiful.  We spend the afternoon getting oriented, seeing some vendors and attending a few workshops.  As with all conferences you can only attend so many workshops before your brain is on overload.  Glad we had three days.

We saw all sorts of stuff over the course of our three days there: how to save seeds, how to start seedlings, maximizing your gardens productivity, keeping your chickens healthy, using the right tools for your job, how to butcher chickens, how to cure bacon, gardening in the winter and improving your soil organically.

Saturday had rains of biblical proportions which prevented us from attending the keynote speakers talk, as our feet were so wet we needed to get inside for a while.  There were hundreds of vendors there, selling and promoting all sorts of cool stuff; some hokey, some legit. We bought some things and gathered some great info.  Approximately 15000 people were in attendance this year. One thing that struck us was the wide diversity of the people participating.  There were nuns, Hindus, Amish,preppers, hippies, cowboys and farmers as well as those of us who dream of having our own little homestead tucked into our little piece of land. Despite our differences, people were extremely cordial and had much to share and teach each other without rancor or disdain. We frequently saw people from really different backgrounds laughing and sharing their experiences while others listened respectfully, adding their own experiences and ideas. Sure seemed like if we could do that here around the topic of chickens, gardens, clean water and possible solutions to energy problems, we could expect our government to do the same. All I could think about was that this was a microcosm of America  when she is at her greatest.

One of the highlights was the fellowship with the other couples who stayed at the B and B with us.  We really connected with two other couples: one from Texas who was also there celebrating an anniversary and another young couple from WV.  Talking and sharing with them was really fun.  Even though we come from different background we found that we shared the same core values and stayed up late Saturday night visiting.  Too bad they live so far away as we could all be good friends.

All in all we came away tired but with a wealth of information, excited to try some new things and owners of a few new tools and of course what is a conference if you don't come home with some new books.

 Liz, the graduate student who stayed with us really spoiled us when she brought us maple syrup last year. With those memories and the empty bottles fresh in our minds we decided to get some while we could. While it's not from Vermont, it is the real deal and we'll take what we can get.  At least we won't have to make do with the fake stuff they sell at the grocery store.

 There were several vendors selling seeds so we took advantage of the opportunity to collect some without having to pay for shipping. Believe it or not, we'll get some in the ground soon for our winter garden.  Stay tuned for pictures of the garden as we prepare for colder weather.

Once we were home and had let the chickens out to stretch their legs, Lisa checked the garden and found that our carrots were doing well. of course, because they live under ground you have to pull one to see how they are doing. These particular carrots are red and tasted great in the stir fry we had for dinner.