This is awesome news! The Mother Earth News Fair is coming to Lawrence, KS - just 30 minutes from Kansas City! The fair is going to be held over the weekend of October 12th and 13th in Watson Park in downtown Lawrence.
For those of you who aren't familiar with what this is: Mother Earth News is a print and online magazine devoted to all kind of self-sufficient topics like renewable and green energy, organic and sustainable gardening and farming, natural health, homesteading, etc. The website has lots of great content on these topics and available to anyone even if you don't subscribe to their magazine. (Go check it out!)
Mother Earth News hosts a series of fairs in Puyallup, WA and Seven Spring, PA every year that are designed to be "a family-oriented sustainable-lifestyle event that features dozens of practical, hands-on demonstrations and workshops from the leading authorities on real foor, renewable energy...etc.etc." Those locations aren't exactly close to me and I refuse to fly while the TSA has carte blanch to grope everyone. That means a pretty long road trip. But I can definitely swing 30 miles. :-)
I had wanted to attend last year's Fair in Puyallup and just couldn't swing the trip. From what I read, it was awesome. You can take a look at the 2012 Program Guide online. In addition to the poultry show and the heritage seed display, here's just a few of the sessions that I would have loved to sit in on:
- Folks, This Ain't Normal (Joe Salatin!)
- Poultry Breeds Roundup (Carol Ekarius)
- DIY Solar Panels
- Permaculture Gardens
- Gardening With and For Chickens
- Natural Beekeeping
- Home Cheesemaking
- Seed Saving for New Savers
- Seed Starting Simplified
- Moving Back to the Farm
- The Edible Front Yard
- Cultivating Wild Quality Medicine
- Spinning
If you're interested in learning more, there's a Fair blog as well as a newsletter you can sign up for. Tickets are already on sale for $15 for a weekend pass to the Lawrence Fair. You can also volunteer to get free access to the entire event, but there's not alot of information about that. I signed up to have them send me more info when it's available. Might be a great way to get involved.
Have you been to one of these? I'd love to hear what you thought about it -- please leave a comment!
Oh, and by the way: you chicken owners might want to take a look at Mother Earth's Community Chickens forum - another great online place where you can post questions and learn about all things chicken! I have learned a ton from it and the forums on Backyard Chicken.
You are one lucky person, to have The Fair so close! I feel they will NEVER visit the Southeast. Hope you get to be a Volunteer!
ReplyDeleteI got my newest magazine yesterday in the mail, and saw the same ad! Stopped and told Keith to not expect to see me at all the weekend of the 12th and 13th October, because I will be in Lawrence all day.
ReplyDeleteAm afraid to volunteer for fear of missing something, but also am interested in the VIP ticket, too. Hmmmmm. I can't believe they are coming here, but after all, they are published in Topeka. They have had some events at the Merc lately, too.