Fair Vendors

Having never been to anything similar to the Mother Earth News Fair, I thought the vendors were quite varied and interesting — something for everyone! There are the ones I remember, with what I bought in bold:

• Several with homemade lotions, creams, concoctions
• The VitaMix folks were there, offering quick little “infomercial” type talks and giving out samples of soup and sorbet made in the Vitamix. I bought a new plunger/tamper thing for mine because I stuck the long plunger in the short container and . . the end got blended.
• A booth selling “goat socks”. It was socks made from goat fiber and those folks were from right down the road. I talked to them for a good while and yes, I ended up with some fiber from them.
• Several booths were selling essential oils and products made with essential oils. I bought a few bottles of EO and a book.
• Maybe three booths selling composting toilets, some that are completely dry, and some that require small amounts of water. Those were interesting . . and expensive.
• Quite a few solar companies had booths. We had talked to three companies before making our decision and the one we initially liked best was Native Solar but they were quite a bit less than Longhorn Solar. Native had a booth there. BTW, almost two years after our solar installation, we still love Longhorn and would probably have been just as happy with Native. Those folks are always so nice.
• There were probably half a dozen seed companies/vendors there. Some I had ordered products from and some I had never heard of. One company supposedly specializes in seeds that grow in our hot climate. I bought a package of artichoke seeds from them, as well as a couple of packages of purple hull peas.
• Hoss Tools was there. Last summer I got my wheel hoe from them and we did not get the seeder attachment. They had those in the booth so I got that.
• Southern Exposure was there and they had multiplier onions and perennial leeks so I bought some of those. I wanted to plant those in a raised bed and I need another raised bed so I’m going to stick them in pots today just to keep them alive til I can figure out what to do with them. I have an idea percolating in my head for a kitchen garden closer to the house . . with some herbs and things deer and rabbit won’t eat. I need to run that by Vince in the next few days and see what kind of reaction I get.
• There were baby chicks and I’m happy that none came home with me.
• Someone was selling elderberry juice and elderberry cuttings and I bought both juice and 4 cuttings.
• There were several booths selling “new and improved” chicken feed. I got a sample from one of those. Mostly it’s organic, expensive and if my chickens ate more chicken feed, I’d be concerned more about what they eat but for the most part, they eat bugs . . whatever they want to eat while out playing in the orchard.
• There were various water purification systems.
• There was at least one company selling freeze dried food – 25 year shelf life. I was kinda wishing Harvest Right would have been there but I don’t think they were.

There were lots more vendors – that’s just the ones I remember. 

Overall, the fair was extremely well organized and we were so happy with it all . . and we came home fired up and ready to do some fun projects.

I know some of you are reading through that list of vendors and thinking . . something for everyone?? Ok . . something for those of us who like homesteading and this kind of stuff. Thirty years ago, there’s not a single thing in the Mother Earth News Fair that would have interested me!  I’ve come a long way . . in a good way, don’t you think?  🙂