PLAN TO COME

            As we wind down 2019 and you're looking forward to 2020, please remember to carve out July 17-18 for a visit to Polyface.

             We're hosting the first ever on-farm Mother Earth News Fair and based on early interest, they're telling us to prepare for 10,000 people over the two days.  Many will come for both days, so it probably won't be more than 7 or 8,000 different individuals.  Why would you want to come to a crowd like that?

             Here are some reasons:

             1.  It's the biggest collection of homestead-oriented, do-it-yourself support materials and expertise you've ever seen gathered in one place.  Whatever your interest, from bread making to alternative energy to water pumping systems, you'll find it among the 300-400 vendors.  I've been to many of their fairs all over the country and have yet to come away without seeing something new, something innovatively helpful in our tribal space.  It's a one stop shop for anyone looking to be self-sufficient, to live cheaper, to hang onto their health.

             2.  It's a way for our tribe to establish our validity.  The mainstream orthodoxy, whether it's medicine or farming, still marginalizes us in theory and practice.  We're just a bunch of weirdos out on the fringes.  Help us put a stake in the ground, rather than Columbus claiming the Americas for Spain, claiming God's earth for stewardship and respect.  How about that claim for a change?

             3.  Sheer entertainment value.  Here are confirmed headliners:  Eliot Coleman, Sally Fallon Morrel, Dr. Sina McCullough, Diana Rodgers, Robb Wolf, Darren Doughterty.  Every one of these can and does carry entire multi-day seminars, by themselves.  They'll all be here at one time for you to enjoy.  And Friday evening, a concert by acclaimed singer-songwriter Rory Feek.  First time for an evening of entertainment at a MEN fair.  Lots of firsts.

             4.  See Polyface.  We'll have multiple opportunities throughout both days for you to see "points of interest."  I think we have 15 of them, all the standard fare:  Eggmobile, Millenium Feathernet, Gobbledygo, Raken House, Brooder, Band saw mill, pastured pigs, moving cows.   Believe me that although there will be a lot of people, it won't feel like that many because we'll be spread out all over the place.  There will be plenty of one-on-one attention.

             5.  Be on the front edge of some new informational material.  I plan to offer two brand new books; I'll tell you about that later.  Darren Dougherty will debut his Regrarians Handbook, which will be a rival to the original Permaculture Design Manual, still the Bible to permaculturalists around the world.

             So plan to come.  It'll be a time to remember and the best two days of your year.  We're already doing a lot of planning and organizing to make it the best time in the world.  You can go to Disney World anytime.  Caribbean Cruises?  Anytime.  But this is a first; how it goes will determine if it's also a last.  ha!

             Have you ever been to a MEN fair?