We attended our first ever Sustainable Living Fair sponsored by Mother Earth News. Mother Earth News has held these fairs before but this is the first one to come to Texas. What took them so long?
It was jammed packed with speakers and events on topics from beekeeping to preserving food. Although it was a two-day event it hardly scratched the surface. I could’ve gone all week on one topic alone.
There were some well-known speakers like master organic gardener, Eliot Coleman, Howard Garrett (the dirt doctor), and the amazing Joel Salatin.
There were over 150 workshops and lectures over two days so it was impossible for us to catch them all. Greg and I ended up splitting up so we could go to as many presentations as possible.
It was standing room only for every workshop I atte
nded. Unlike writer conferences, this expo spanned three humongous buildings plus the outdoors. We got a workout sprinting from one end to the other.
I had several favorite speakers, but I was really impressed with butcher, Meredith Leigh. She was a tiny little thing with the physical prowess of a linebacker. She demonstrated cutting up a whole hog while making it look easy. I’ve butchered whole hogs in the past, but I learned a lot about where best to put my knife so I didn’t work so hard at it. I think I’m going to get her book, The Ethical Meat Handbook.
Another lively speaker was Marjory Wildcraft. She was a hoot and a half. Her time on stage went by in a blink of an eye. That’s when you know you have a great speaker. I was only able to attend one of her lectures about growing food efficiently. I liked how she put things in perspective by showing hard numbers about the calories we need to take in and what kind of livestock and crops to grow to achieve that magic number.
Tiny house, 500 sq ft
The exhibits were equally awesome. We got to talk to a lot of experts on beekeeping, chickens, and even wind turbines. One of the coolest things I saw was a 500 square foot house. From the outside it was barely more than a cabin. Heck, my master bathroom has more square footage. But what this guy did to the inside was nothing short of amazing.
The bedroom was in the loft. There was a full bathroom, kitchen, and a sitting area with office–all in 500 square feet. It didn’t even feel the slightest bit cramped. I don’t know if the picture does it justice, but anyone who says you can’t live in a tiny house, never saw this one. It was a marvel of efficiency and clean design. And the best part? The entire house was powered by a solar panel and two car batteries.
The one thing I regret not photographing was the exhibit for Claborn Farms. They had the most beautiful chickens I had ever seen. We plan to buy some of their fertile eggs and hatch some chicks. They claim the size and health of their flocks is due to years of selective breeding and not to feed or supplements. If that’s true, I’d be willing to spend the extra money for some of these birds. We’ve reached a point in our homesteading efforts that we’d like to take our livestock lines to the next level. Quality over quantity.
Here are a few more pictures from our whirlwind trip.
We had a great time. I hope Mother Earth News holds this expo again. There were so many more lectures I wanted to attend.
Have you ever met a longhorn? Would you attend a homestead fair if you got the chance?
Sign up for blog updates and special notices, and BOOM, we're connected! See the link at the top of the right sidebar.
All original content copyrighted by Maria Zannini 2016.
I love those Tny Houses! I’m not sure I could lve n one though – where would I put my books? The tortoses? My husband?
Sounds lke t was a lot of fun and a great learnng experence!
Madelne Mora-Summonte recently posted…Motvatonal Monday
Madelne: It was more than I expected. My bran was full afterward.
re: tny house
I could see lvng n one twce that sze, but 500 sq ft s a lttle tght for me. Greg s loud. LOL!
Before I forget, the emal thngy worked great snce I got ths notce you had posted n my emal
Sounded lke a fun event! I thnk I would enjoy gong just to see what was featured there. I would be defntely curous about that 500 square foot house. I know I could lve n t, not sure where hubby would put all hs muscal equpment though:)
betty
Betty: Thanks for lettng me know about the emal. I’m not sure about that natve WordPress subscrber though. Lots of people I never knew are subscrbng. That wll be great as long as they’re not spammers.
re: tny house
It’s great for those who lve mnmally. The rest of us, not so much.
Oh, I so wsh I could go to one of those fars! The ads taunt me.
Marjory Wldcraft s a hoot, though. I frst encountered her last year when I stumbled across the Home Grown Food Summt (whch s happenng agan next month) and she’s just so… vvacous. And her sense of humor cracks me up.
When I take the ‘back roads’ to my grandparent’s house, nstead of hoppng on the hghway, we pass a small ranch that has longhorn cattle (and a couple peces of property that rase emus and goats, as well), but the long horns are always awesome. I can’t magne how heavy they must be to lug around on your head all the tme!
Rebekah: I spoke to Marjory after her presentaton. She nvted me to submt artcles to her Grow Network blog. I’m a lttle too busy wth ths blog at the moment but once everythng s n place, I mght do just that.
Sounds wonderful, Mara, and well beyond my bounds of knowledge. I never before realsed The Waltons came from Texas
Mchael Keyton recently posted…West Wng
Mke: Mother Earth News has hosted these events all around the country, all of them north of us. Ths s the frst tme they ventured down our way. Fortunately, t was wthn drvng dstance.
I have to admt, I would feel very gnorant, overly excted by all of t, and would need to go wth someone lke you wth some focus to keep me from beng overwhelmed by all of t.
Angela: It was overwhelmng even for us. I’ll bet Chpmunk would’ve loved t though.
Sounds nterestng! I’d lke to learn more about gardenng.
Sandra: There was somethng for everyone. Lots of exhbtors sellng and gvng away seed. I don’t thnk they antcpated the turnout they got because several of them were sold out the frst day.
A Mother Earth expo s defntely on my bucket lst! Sadly, t’s not the sort of thng Hmself s at all nterested n, so I’d need to go wth a frend sometme. I’d be just lke a gawkng tourst!
Marlene Dotterer recently posted…Mother Jones: An End to Parkng?
Marlene: I knd of felt lke a tourst too. There was so much to see and we ddn’t know what to ht frst. I was glad they had 30 mnutes between speakers so we could vst some of the booths.
Mara as of now both your emal lnks to get new posts have worked as got both versons ths mornng.
Karl and my Dad butchered a wld hog years back, nether one found the process easy for sure. I watched Karl do t on the talgate of our pckup usng a hand saw and my small electrc knfe, thought he was gong to throw the hog away before he fnshed as t was not cooperatve to the process at all. (Even dead t had t’s own mnd.)
The homesteadng event sounds both worthwhle and nformatve, so glad you and Greg got to attend and learn some new thngs to use on your own behalf.
Jacke: I’ll tell you our secret for cuttng up a hog. Greg uses an electrc recprocatng saw to cut down the back and quarters. After they were n manageable peces we could cut the peces nto freezable packages.
The frst hog we dd Greg dd the cuttng by hand, whch was hard work. The saw saved us an extra hour at least.
We used to keep cows, so I’ve met a few.
Glad you had a good tme. If the apocalypse comes, I know where I’m headed.
Barbara: The longhorns were so gentle. I magne they could do a lot of damage f they had a mnd to do so.
We have a neghbor who has 30 of them. I’m just glad they never wandered nto our pasture. It was bad enough when another neghbor’s two Jerseys came waltzng through. They were enormous–way bgger than I magned once I got rght up to them.
Puzzled. I made a comment earler. Must have done somethng wrong.
You were n the tme out box agan. I wsh WordPress would tell me. It’s supposed to.
I need to emal you. Obvously, you got n the second tme wthout me dong anythng. I need to know what you dd dfferently.
hmm … my brother used to lve n Belton. It ddn’t sustan hm. He’s back n Lubbock. I mean San Antono. Oh I blnked. Austn.
Mac: Well, you can’t ht a movng target.
I had never heard of Belton before, but when I realzed t was wthn a day’s drvng dstance, we jumped at t.
Butcherng s defntely an art. I learned a lot from my dad the chef on how to properly cut up poultry, but I don’t thnk I’d dare try a whole hog. Tny houses are fascnatng, but not really practcal when you lve n hurrcane country. Then agan, f you have one on a traler, you could evacuate and take your home wth you.
I lved n Texas for a few years and travelled around the state qute a bt so I’ve seen qute a few longhorns. Never got too close, though.
Lynn: Cuttng up a bg anmal s a lot of work even when you know what you’re dong. Glad I don’t do t for a lvng.
re: chef dad
Lucky! The stores he must’ve told you–not to menton the cookng tps.
The expo looked awesome! but practcal as well as aspratonal. Someone must have put a heck of a lot of work nto organsng such a great lne up.
Jenny: Mother Earth News has been n publcaton snce the early 70s. They modernzed the magazne durng the late 80s becomng slcker and more urban. I stopped takng the magazne by then because I felt they spoke more to yuppes than people who really wanted to be stewards of the land.
But busness s busness and they’ve managed to ncorporate themselves nto everythng. I was glad the expo was more about tradtonal country lvng and not geared to the cty dweller. It was a huge success. The only thng I’d change f they dd t agan s to get a bgger venue. Despte takng up three huge buldngs t stll wasn’t enough for all the crowds.