I’m finally getting a chance to pop over and share about the Mother Earth News Fair last weekend. We got home late Sunday night and the first part of the week was spent unpacking all the stuff we brought to the fair, running some errands and restocking our fridge with groceries, giving the garden some love (Jeff did that), and playing catch up around here while we settle back into home. (I’m still getting caught up on laundry.) Sometimes it seems funny to me all the catch up that needs to be done after only three days away from home, but there’s always so much to do in preparation for a fair or festival that when we return there’s catch up to do around here that had been put on the back burner prior to leaving.

But the fair… that’s what I came here to write about. Even though we have really loved our outdoor spot in years past, we were very grateful to have a booth indoors this year. The air conditioned building was a welcome relief from the heat over the weekend. I got to meet a sweet blog reader (hello Sherri!) and we met so many other great folks as well. There are many things our family loves about the Mother Earth News Fair. As we were driving home, Jeff and I were saying how much we love all the inspiration there is to soak up there. There’s inspiration to be found wherever you look- inspiring people, inspiring workshops, and inspiring businesses. I love that so many of the people and companies at the fair are focused on solutions and creating a better future. Imagine all we can accomplish when we work together to make the world a better place!

This year I thought Bracken would enjoy a lot of the hands-on workshops they were offering, rather than sitting through the long talks (which I enjoy.) We went to an aromatherapy workshop about blending basics and he made his very own aromatherapy spray he named “Refreshing Blend.” It smells wonderful and we’ve been using it all the time. He also made an herbal dream pillow with a group of kids, and later learned all about composting with worms. He even got to bring home pet worms for his very own compost pile. (He’s been starting his own worm farms in the garden for years, so that class was right up his alley.) Of course we went to visit the demo garden, like we did last year.

With all the fun things to see and do while we were there, there was one thing in particular that was the highlight of the whole weekend for Bracken- the petting zoo by Heart2Heart Farms. That was so fun! There were piglets, ducks, chickens, bunnies, a calf, baby goats (let me use correct terminology and say kids), and a big wooly sheep. The first time we went it was packed and a bit overwhelming with so many excited kids in a relatively small area, but when we went back there was hardly anyone there and the animals were more relaxed and came up to us more. The piglets were popular because they followed the children around in search of food and the tiniest one in particular was such a love bug and got lots of snuggles.

At one point I was sitting on a straw bale and was completely surrounded by six animals at one time. There was a sheep, two goats, a chicken, a piglet, and a bunny that snuggled up right by my feet. I won’t pretend they were all coming to be with me, the sheep and goats were interested in eating the straw bale I was sitting on and the bunny and chicken I’m sure were in search of shade in that particular spot, but it still felt amazing to have so many different animals around me at one time. I heard someone say something about those animals being good therapy animals, and I agreed that it was so therapeutic to be around all of them, we really enjoyed it.

Yep, days filled with fermentation, organic gardening, kids (of the human kind, that is) digging their hands in the earth, furry friends, and sustainability solutions everywhere… it’s a combination that is sure to make for an inspiring weekend!

{Link Love for some of the booths shown above: adorable little chicken coops by A Piece of the Farm, Sprout! Inspiration at the Scratch and Peck Feeds booth, Bee my hero bag by the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, Sauerkraut demo by NWFerments, & last but not least, the Biodynamic Association.} 

P.S. We found a great place to eat not too far from the Expo Center, called Frankie’s. In the background in the picture above was a rooster and a Farm To Table sign. I can’t tell you how happy it makes us when restaurants use farm fresh food from surrounding areas. The food tastes so good when they do!