We just returned home from a wonderful camping trip, which included a day at the Mother Earth News Fair.  The Fair is something I’ve been wanting to attend for a long time and we weren’t disappointed.  If you’re at all homestead-inclined and looking for some inspiration and mountains of education, try to make it to one of these Fairs!

It’s always fun to connect to people you “know” only through social media, so Andrew was thrilled when Meredith Leigh was one of the speakers at the Fair.  He attended three of her talks and walked aways with a wealth of new butchering knowledge.  How often do you get to attend a talk where the speaker is cutting up a whole hog?

We also added fancy new words to our vocabulary, like “charcuterie”.  And I only think we are pronouncing it correctly.  shar-koo-teri.

Joel Salatin was, of course, dynamic and inspiring.  I was only able to catch one talk, but it was excellent.  Although, when you talk about children, getting them out of doors, and inspiring creativity and ingenuity in them, it’s easy to grab me!  He emphasized that a homestead should spark the imagination of all the children who visit.  If they’d rather be in the house, then someone is doing something wrong!

The learning opportunities for kids on a homestead can be endless.  He talked a bit about the small businesses that his children and grandchildren have started at young ages.  The ages of 8-10 are the magic time to grab the child’s imagination and empower him to take ownership of whatever excites him.

Drone trapping, varroa mite prevention, cottage food laws, and using projector TV screens to melt pennies!  It was a weekend chock full of information.

We also camped and swam and generally hung out together.  It was fun to get away, cook over an open fire, and relax a bit.  Bella made some seriously amazing muffins on the campfire.  (Here she’s flipping pancakes)

(Also, stay tuned for a really great giveaway later this week!)