MOFGA's Common Ground Fair - 2013 (Unity, Penobscot: home, organic, live)

[IHeartMaine]

No doubt that there are a lot of great things at the Common Ground Fair..........but much of it has turned into a glorified yuppie fest and craft fair.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by IHeartMaine

No doubt that there are a lot of great things at the Common Ground Fair..........but much of it has turned into a glorified yuppie fest and craft fair.

There are a lot of vendors. Most of the vendors sell handcrafts that seem to draw wealthy people from out-of-state.

I go for the workshops. To me, the workshops focus more on the needs of the members of MOFGA.

If you need to brush up on fruit grafting, ... Or if you are planing to build an off-grid home, ... Or if you have a couple horses that you want to train as a team for twitching logs out of the forest, ... these are the kinds of skills that are shared at the fair.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by Newdaawn

Slyfox2 - have you ever actually attended?

Moderator cut: personal remarks

I said if you were a gardener or farmer or were into food like that it would be the best thing since sliced bread.

Moderator cut: personal, off topic And yes, I've been there at the behest of local friends. I was bored out of my skull. Luckily I took a good book. I'm also on a diet, though some of it I could eat, I cannot pig out since I have a calorie limit.

BTW, my wife loved it. Craft Fair heaven.

Originally Posted by Submariner

If you need to brush up on fruit grafting, ... Or if you are planing to build an off-grid home, ... Or if you have a couple horses that you want to train as a team for twitching logs out of the forest, ... these are the kinds of skills that are shared at the fair.

And yes.... if this is what you need, it IS the best thing since sliced bread.

[IHeartMaine]

Originally Posted by Submariner

There are a lot of vendors. Most of the vendors sell handcrafts that seem to draw wealthy people from out-of-state.

I go for the workshops. To me, the workshops focus more on the needs of the members of MOFGA.

If you need to brush up on fruit grafting, ... Or if you are planing to build an off-grid home, ... Or if you have a couple horses that you want to train as a team for twitching logs out of the forest, ... these are the kinds of skills that are shared at the fair.

Yup. The fair is awesome for those attending specific workshops or to find out how-to.

[birdinmigration]

Well, I can't wait (and I hope anyone who's grouchy and bored stays home!)!

I'm looking forward to --

grazing at the Johnny's seeds fields and buying new seeds at discount
enjoying bluegrass music
eating a grilled lamb chop served up by Bill Noon
checking out the beekeeping setups, the Hobbit Houses and the chicken chateaux
touching base with the Small House guy
feeling all the kinds of fiber (alpaca, lamb, cashmere, etc.) and watching it being spun
buying artemisia

and this year I hope to --

maybe get some quail from Dana the quail guy (have any of you done this?)
watch the bean-flour presentation
finally get my European scythe!!!

What else do you guys like to do at the fair?

[Coaster]

I missed last year's fair for the first time since 1979, for health reasons. Hope to attend this year. And yes, there is a certain element of same-o same-o to it, but I always learn something new and I always leave with a backpack full of interesting literature and new ideas.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by birdinmigration

Well, I can't wait (and I hope anyone who's grouchy and bored stays home!)!

I'm looking forward to --

grazing at the Johnny's seeds fields and buying new seeds at discount

Johnny's was great last year. What a fantastic idea. They grew a patch with a wide assortment of greens, and encouraged us to 'graze' to taste-test the varieties.

I have pages of catalog descriptions telling about this green and that green, but being able to freely taste test them was a much better method of deciding which ones we wanted.

We have six 8' sections of rain-gutter setup on our porch for growing greens. 2013 was our first chance to fully use them for producing greens. It was really nice to have green seeds that we knew were going to be good.

In the spring of 2012, I went to the annual Seed-Savers Swap and there I got a large helping of greens seeds. But it was an unlabeled mixture. A vendor had been custom mixing greens for a couple chefs that he had contracts with. When the 2011 season was over he dumped all remaining seed into a mixer and made it available at the Swap. It was great to get so many seeds for free, but the resulting mix was not pleasing to our palate.

Seeing Johnny's setup, I realized that we did not know what mix we wanted. It was well worth going, simply to be able to taste-test the greens and decide which ones we wanted. This year's production was much nicer.

... enjoying bluegrass music
eating a grilled lamb chop served up by Bill Noon
checking out the beekeeping setups, the Hobbit Houses and the chicken chateaux
touching base with the Small House guy
feeling all the kinds of fiber (alpaca, lamb, cashmere, etc.) and watching it being spun
buying artemisia

and this year I hope to --

maybe get some quail from Dana the quail guy (have any of you done this?)
watch the bean-flour presentation
finally get my European scythe!!!

What else do you guys like to do at the fair?

This summer the TSC in Bangor has began hosting a 'Chicken Swap' the second and fourth Saturdays of every month. I attended a few times, and I was able to sell our piglets. Among the regular vendors at the Chicken Swap are some poultry breeders. Now they are into breed competitions and ribbons, etc. Which is outside of my focus. However there are quail, turkey, pea fowl, etc being sold there.

We have been doing chickens, turkeys, ducks. No quail.



I enjoy the bean-flour demo. I hear rumor that this year she is going to shift focus away from drying / grinding beans to flour; over to cooking and mashing them to make stuff. It should be interesting to see how far she gets in making her usual line-up: pizza, breads, cookies, crackers, fudge and cake. People were complaining that they do not own grist-mills, so demoing how to grind beans to flour was not a useful skill. But that is just the rumor I am spreading.



I got my European scythe at the fair. I use it a lot.

[birdinmigration]

Sub, what's the TSC ?

I really thought those quail were great -- they only need a small rabbit cage (smaller is better, Dana told me), normal feed, they are quiet, and they each give you an egg a day (females do of course).

That European scythe has to happen. Like Maine Writer, the weed situation is severe here. I just can't keep on top of it.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by birdinmigration

Sub, what's the TSC ?

Answered via PM.

[Maine Writer]

Tractor Supply Company. Bangor Maine Swap April 6th!!