"The purposes of the Association are to help farmers and gardeners grow organic food, to protect the environment, to promote stewardship of natural resources, to increase local food production, to support sustainable rural communities, and to illuminate for consumers the connections among healthful food, environmentally sound farming practices, and vital local economies. "
The school tries to inculcate these to their students as early in their lives as possible, hence the yearly trip to the CGF, which is quite alright for me, because if one tries to see everything, it is quite impossible to do so in one day. There are so many things to see, not only produce from organic gardens, but also farm animals, crafts, and alternative sources of energy (i.e., non-fossil fuels).
During our first CGF visit I was only able to take photos mostly of the animals there. This time, I was able to take photos of most stalls, save for the Farmer's Market and the Food Stalls.
This is the map of the Common Ground Fair site. We entered through the gate situated at the left upper corner of this map.
This sign greeted us at the entrance to the site (left upper corner of the map). Then the students went on their way with their own groups consisting of an adult (either teacher or volunteer parent) with 3 or 4 children.
There was this stack of hay where children could do sommersaults or any stunt they cuold muster...
There was a table for children to make crafts using clay.
There were also a table for kids to have fun working with blocks and pegs of wood.
Boys went busy building. Here's Patrick's ship (???) and Matthew's gargoyle (facing him) and Ben's car (???).
Quite early for New Year, kids got a chance to violently bang these pots and pans as loud as they could.
Children posed in front of piñatas for sale, made out of papier mache by children working under the tent behind them.
We ate lunch while sitting on the grass. All the tables in the eating area (which surrounds the sundial in the center of the CGF grounds) were full-packed. There were lots of stalls of food made from the produce of organic farmers. But we brought our own lunch consisting of meatballs (made of ground beef mixed with finely chopped carrots, onions, garlic powder, summer squash and zucchini which I steamed the night before), dipped in pasta sauce which I made using my home-grown paste tomatoes, plus freshly-picked cucumbers (sliced that morning), and cantaloupe from Dad's garden. We brought our own bottles of water.
After lunch, on we went to hopping around.
Agricultural products such as squash and pumpkins, onions, tomatoes, etc., raised by the MOFGA members, were being sold inside this building.
"Think Blue" is the slogan of this stall which teaches children the importance of controlling waste disposal, using rubber duckies as symbols for such water pollutants as oils, gas, grease, encouraging them to dispose of these waste fluids at recycling centers, and to maintain vehicles properly.
Actually the kids just enjoyed letting go of the rubber duckies on the running water and seeing them slide down into the canal.
These are crafts from small animals' fur, as well as other crafts made by Native Americans.
Stone/cement crafts,
fiber (yarn, wool) crafts, and wood crafts,
More on woodcraft, a crafter draws a wing's feathers on a block of wood. Some finished products for sale.
Some stalls featured Basketry. Other displays featured crafts using several parts of the animals, like maracas using leather hide, horns to blow.
These were gourds which were painted for purposes of decorations.
Making stone crafts. Children are given the chance to have a taste at stone sculpture.
Ben passing through an arc of stones made by making a hole in the center of each piece then passing them through the wire. Then he was entranced by this big stone turned into a lamp.
This is Maureen, the parent of one of Patrick's closest friends in his class, in awe of the stone with laminated middle portion. Other stones were made into plant pots, or paperweights or candle-holders.
These are small "windmills" powered by small solar cells behind the blades. (We tried to stop their operation by shading the solar panels. Very direct demonstration of the power from the sun being converted into electrical then mechanical energy. There were large solar panels. Solar energy as source of power for homes cna be quite expensive, but cost-efficient and environmentally friendly in the long run.
One stall had this "oven" that baked these cookies with the sunlight. Ben was given a piece to taste.
Then there were stalls that featured composting materials. One such stall had this toilet on display, which turns human wastes into compost, which can then be used for fertilizing plants. (I still have to come to terms with that because if I use that kind of toilet, I will have to have a means to clean the toilet with chemicals that will not harm the plants.) Some featured biomass to fuel houses.
Then there was a stall that featured building houses and boats with wood...
Kids had fun playing in this area with different hammocks and this "horse-ride" made of old tires.
Then on our way back to the bus, we came across this woman on stilts.
We did not manage to visit the farm animal stalls anymore due to time constraints. For photos of such, see our first CGF visit here.
