PNW: Mother Earth News Fair June 1-2 Puyallup, WA

I just found out that Mother Earth News has a fair, and it will be in Puyallup, WA June 1st and 2nd! Now through May 28th get a Washington Weekend Pass for just $15 - that's less than the price of the one day entrance tickets ($18). Kids 17 and under are free!

The list of speakers and workshops is pages and pages long - too many to list here - but just to give you an idea, here is a list of the categories that you can search:

• Animal Husbandry
  
• Green Building
  
• Kids’ Programming
  
• Modern Homesteading
  
• Natural Health
  
• Nature and Community
  
• Organic Gardening
  
• Real Food
  
• Renewable Energy
  

Questions? Follow this link: Mother Earth News Fair

I hope some of you can go and will post pictures and share your experiences!

Wow! - Thanks so much for making us aware. This here kiddo called MotherEarthNews already, & will Volunteer 4 hrs, for a FREE pass , & FREE snacks too. - Yes, I can report back. (but no pictures. don't know how to do all that yet) - I also already Volunteered at the Puyallup Spring, & Autumn fairs. Wow! exciting Thanks again.

LittleGardener wrote:...This here kiddo called MotherEarthNews already, & will Volunteer 4 hrs, for a FREE pass , & FREE snacks too...

Brilliant! It's nice to see someone actually followed one of my links.

I'm astounded at the list of workshops and things to see/do. I actually found out about it because I'm on King Arthur Flour's e-mail list and they will have a booth there demonstrating how to make a Perfect Pie Crust, and Yeast Bread Basics. I've done one of their free workshops before and it was fantastic.

If I went I'd want to go to a beekeeping class, free range chicken gardens (I have her book!), food forest design, any of the composting classes, mozzarella cheese making, some of the sustainable living classes... I didn't see an SFG class. That might be something for a local certified teacher to look into offering.

gwennifer wrote:

LittleGardener wrote:...This here kiddo called MotherEarthNews already, & will Volunteer 4 hrs, for a FREE pass , & free snacks too...

Brilliant! It's nice to see someone actually followed one of my links.

Well be pleasantly surprised for silently I've followed you around this forum plus many others.
And when you encourage me (like when I shared on page 3 in this thread: https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t15496p45-pnw-may-2013, I am just as pleased Thanks!

gwennifer wrote:
I'm astounded at the list of workshops and things to see/do. I actually found out about it because I'm on King Arthur Flour's e-mail list and they will have a booth there demonstrating how to make a Perfect Pie Crust, and Yeast Bread Basics. I've done one of their free workshops before and it was fantastic.

One in our family is 'gluten-FREE'. What do they offer for this?

gwennifer wrote:
If I went, I'd want to go to a beekeeping class, free range chicken gardens (I have her book!), food forest design, any of the composting classes, mozzarella cheese making, some of the sustainable living classes... I didn't see an SFG class. That might be something for a local certified teacher to look into offering.

Of the main categories, I'm here:
Animal Husbandry -> chickens for us
Green Building
Kids’ Programming -> Excellent choice!
Modern Homesteading -> sounds inviting
Natural Health -> am well qualified to teach this.
Nature and Community
Organic Gardening wanna buy seeds, & plants
Real Food -> having taught (non-gmo) nutrition for years I know I can teach this too.
At HD on Sat, I taught a family right in the parking lot. Guess what! they left the plants there, to buy "Non-gmo starts" elsewhere
Renewable Energy

To know your further specifics, did you already go thru the entire list of classes? here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/fair/workshops-washington.aspx#axzz2UTFJaInY -
(have a final in one class this week, plus made huge! progress in one of my YMCA-classes last Friday). So haven't had the time to go thru all these classes yet.

LittleGardener wrote:One in our family is 'gluten-FREE'. What do they offer for this?

At the fair, King Arthur Flour won't be teaching gluten-free. On their website they offer many choices for gluten-free baking, including flours made from grains that don't have gluten, pre-made mixes for cookies, pizza crust, pancakes, etc., and a couple of gluten free cookbooks.

Can you imagine being a company that is based on selling wheat, and how everyone going gluten-free has affected their bottom line? They've had to adapt to stay in business. Same with Bob's Red Mill, who told me on a recent tour that gluten free now makes up more than 50% of their business. They started out just milling wheat. Here's a link to King Arthur's website after typing "gluten free" into the search box: KAF Gluten Free

this sound neat....wish we could go...keep us posted on how much fun you all have

happy gardening
rose

Just giving this a bump since it starts tomorrow. Lots of classes on composting methods that should be very useful for square foot gardeners!

FamilyGardening wrote:this sound neat....wish we could go...keep us posted on how much fun you all have

Hi there,
Yup, fun...
(so much that one can manage to ignore, up to a point one's feet screaming!, from walking...all day while carrying: a glass honey jar, 3 baby trees,
10 lbs. catalogs, etc. plus left-over lunch. Yes, all that!
Good Lord!
Some of us prefer not to sit in classes; rather we walk to exhibitors with resources to specific questions, & products. This was the third Sustainability Fair in Puyallup, & most everyone is pleasant & helpful:
1. wanna know the specific requirements to be organically certified? and which companies are? The OMRI=Organic Materials Review Institute offers 2 free books (over 100 pgs. each) to help with understanding.
+
2. HiLifterPumpService.com - no need for electricity to pump water, but using a hydraulic lever system. Yes I watched.
+
3. Worm-factores: during the demo he showed each type of worm, their preferences & habits, & how many he has in each section. Interesting...
+
4. Composting-toilets, but for $950 i think I'll pass.
+
5. soil-Nutrition is a huge interest, so there's blakelakeorganic.com, plus drearth.com, as well as Heather from Concentratesnw.com was soo nice, she actually wrote on my handout the origination of each soil amendment.
Simplydumpit.com makes handles for wheelbarrows, how clever is that.
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6. Don't want mason bees, rather Honey bees? mannlakeltd.com provides beekeeping equipment & supplies. Well, a hive not in my near future, so instead I settle for some yummy honey; did you know that "Pumpkin-honey" is really dark? it tasted soo good. And yes, the county Beekeeping association offers classes regularly, they did one 3 months ago.
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7. animal-barns: they displayed 100's chickens (from newly-hatched, to full-grown for sale), roosters, ducks, pigeons, turkeys, llamas, alpacas, sheep, herding-dogs, cows, pigs & every other Farm-critter you can think of, & every one again answered all questions cheerfully. For every question answered, I asked 3 more questions LOL
Also eggcart.com displayed their chicken-tractors; which I think one could build for less. - The 'BuffOrpington' they had in black, blue & white there, but not the gold color (www.backyardchickens.com/a/buff-orpingtons-chicken-breed-information-pictures) we are after. Exhibitors teach the general public that PASTURED-chickens are the healthiest, which folks here already know.
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8. got so excited over "non-gmo, Heirloom, organic seeds & plants":
started with a nice USDA-zone 8 Plant/Harvest chart, from the Wa.state Farmland Preservation group also giving away Free trees, 5 different kinds each day. I choose 3 Maples needing to be planted on Monday. - A suggestion for next year: offer more Veggie-starts. Currently it's mostly trees & bushes from Raintree & NWbloom; and island herbs. - BotanicalInterests.com is offering their usual ($2-4 each) SEEDpackets for only $1 each. wanna guess how many I bought? Well it's all good, & they promised to sell next year the long English cucumbers we like.
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9. okay now that you have a small taste of all the wonderful displays I enjoyed, & sat here for an hour to organize to share with you, do you have any specific questions?
In only 8 hours am returning to contribute my time, before checking back with 3 vendors for more goodies. Oh, & the icecream was out of this world!
Really, of the 3 kinds of fairs, THIS one is by far the best in quality & people's pleasantness. Go see for yourself!

LG - Such fun! I am checking my calendar to see if I can go to the one in Lawrence, KS in October!

GG

Goosegirl wrote:LG - Such fun! I am checking my calendar to see if I can go to the one in Lawrence, KS in October!
GG

Hi GG,
if yours is even half as good as this one was, you will not be disappointed. An attendee from last year said so few animals were present they fit them all under a big tent with less than 20 chickens. God Lord! this (3rd.) year they had to move to one of the regular animal barns, as they had multiple 100's of fowl (chickens, ducks, pigeons, turkeys, etc). So every year as the general public becomes more educated, hopefully more sustainable sanity will be restored a welcome sight. Do enjoy a Fair!

LittleGardener, what a thoughtful and thorough summary of your first day at the fair. Wow! I sure hope I manage to see the dates of it for next year (just coincidence I saw it this year on a KAF e-mail) so I can plan on making the drive next time.

I'm thinking the simpydumpit wheelbarrow handles would make a nice gift for my neighbor who is always lending me her wheelbarrow! And I will definitely be looking for a jar of pumpkin honey at the next farmers market. I do love all things pumpkin. Sounds wonderful!

LittleG thank you so much for sharing your fun day with us!

next year we would love to go

happy gardening
rose

gwennifer wrote:LittleGardener, what a thoughtful and thorough summary of your first day at the fair. Wow!

I'm thinking the simplydumpit wheelbarrow handles would make a nice gift for my neighbor who is always lending me her wheelbarrow!
And I will definitely be looking for a jar of pumpkin honey at the next farmers market. I do love all things pumpkin. Sounds wonderful!

Hi gwennifer,
Glad you liked my Report. (Soon I hope to have a camera too; course then I haz to learn how to use that thang), lol
The wheelbarrow handles at the Fair were $25 , but since you mentioned them, I found them for you at http://www.amazon.com/patio-lawn-garden/dp/B000YKFCV8 for only $20 and think that is worth it.
Also speaking of Farmer's markets, am always searching for biggest sizes, & found the nearest one sold 12 lbs./one gallon for $42-46 from Robbins Honey Farm
in case you think $4/lb. too expensive, actually single lb. jars are like $8/lb. from 7 other farms am aware of, including http://heavenlyhoneyfarm.com/ and his I know is the best quality I knew previously. Right on his site he says "Our honey is 100% raw and comes straight from the bees to you. It is not processed, treated, heated, filtered or altered in any way." You can tell right by looking at it. -
(I haven't found anyone else sell Pumpkin-honey); yet
these 2 latter Beekeepers are worth their honey in gold. May you find this added info helpful. Any other questions? I love helping others too.

FamilyGardening wrote:LittleG thank you so much for sharing your fun day with us!

next year we would love to go

happy gardening
rose

Hi Rose,
I wish it woulda been 3 days, like the other 2 M.E.N.-fairs in Sept/Oct.; so DO go. And there's yet more to share in case you're interested. Just ask me, lol