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.
We were exhausted at the end of the day, but inspired and filled with anticipation for planning our retirement dreams.
Oh, how I wish I could have been there with you! My husband has built a wood fired brick oven outdoors, in which he bakes bread and pizza. I occasionally bake a pie, casserole, or roast veggies. Yum!
Love your photos!
Wouldn’t that have been fun, Gayle?! I’ll bet the bread (and everything else) baked in your brick oven is amazing. What a great thing to have!
Hi Linda, This sounds like a lot of fun. I’m a big Bob’s Red Mill too.
What beautiful animals!
Aren’t they, Kathy!
Linda, I’m so glad you got to hear Bob speak and meet him. They are neighbors — well, Bob’s Red Mill is 5 minutes from our home — and we’ve met them at several high school events around our area as they are great supporters of arts in the schools. Their business is so well organized and operated, and I can tell you firsthand their employees are very satisfied and happy workers. The fair sounds like lots of fun and educational too. Puyallup, huh? Do you live close by?
Don’t know what happened but somehow I “lost” touch with you on Google Reader but now we’re reconnected! 🙂
Hi Sherrey!
So good to see you here again! I was so inspired by Bob and how he values his employees–I imagine they are very happy employees! Yes, we live very near to Puyallup so I was thrilled when I found out the fair was going to be there!
LInda