Happy Autumnal Equinox! Our favorite family celebration for years now has been the Common Ground Country Fair. Taking our little pea is always an adventure — we love taking her up to the MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) grounds for any kind of event (workshops, ME Apple Weekend, etc) but the Fair is our favorite. The energy is just so positive and uplifting and so many things to see. Now that she is no longer little, she can go off on her own to visit the spinners she’s been getting to know for years, eat popcorn from the popcorn truck, get handshaved ice with blueberry syrup, ogle the yarn and bunnies, admire the cows and horses, watch sheep-shearing, goat-milking and visit all kinds of folks we know. We ran into a bunch of lovely folks and previous vendors from our shop in our community.
This fair was particularly fun, too, as I (R) co-presented the work that The Good Life Center does and is planning to do — thank you so much to all the friends who came for the talk and stopped by to visit. We (as the GLC) always have a table in the Social & Political Action Tent to support the legacy of Scott & Helen Nearing. This year, our amazing volunteers and staff built a Story Booth to record anecdotes and inspirations from folks who knew or met or have been inspired by the work of The Nearings or The Good Life Center. The resident stewards humaned the table for most of the weekend, meeting and greeting so many interested homesteaders, social justice advocates, economists, compost renegades, and people interested in renewing their relationship with their personal response-ability in the world.
We got all kinds of lovely goodies and talked to so many creative people about how they are negotiating these troubled times — making and being a part of such a vibrant community is invigoratng! That’s what we get reminded of from the Common Ground Fair — how to be a part of regenerative life cycle.
And now we need a couple of days to recover, pick apples, and clean up the gardens.
Rock Bottom Homestead 