I promised to share my experience at the Mother Earth News Fair in NC. Its been a rather hectic week and I've gotten a little behind but I finally found some spare time to share some highlights of what was a great opportunity to learn some things, see a variety of products for sale and get away for a weekend of fun.
First of all traffic was a bear. We left our campground with plenty of time to get to the fair BUT we had a little bit of a problem with directions ( I'm a tad challenged in that area:). Even so we would have arrived in a reasonable time but who knew that traffic would be backed up for miles on the interstate? When we finally got to the fair it was super crowded and they said they PREsold more then 5000 tickets which didn't include vendors or people who paid at the gate. We got to the fair with just minutes to spare before the second seminar speaker of the day having missed the first speaker in the traffic delay.
I guess I should explain that there were many different "stages" with different speakers on various subjects being offered all at once. It was up to the individual to select which speaker and which stage they were interested in. For our first speaker we chose one called the "virtual medicine Walk". The presenter had two television monitors which she used to show slides of various wild herbs which she described and explained highlights of their purpose. I was familiar with most of them but there were a few I either don't have, never used or that don't grow well in my area. I made very brief notes on what was discussed but did not include notes on every herb she talked about. Here is the list of all the different herbs she discussed and a few notes that I wrote down from what she shared:
1. Catnip
2. Comfrey has the second highest protein of any plant. The plant with the highest is soy. Comfrey is also high in calcium.
3. Thistle
4. Wild Carrot aka Queen Anne's lace. DO NOT mistake it with poison hemlock which is deadly BUT does have NOTICIBLE differences.
5. Cottonwood (poplar)is akin to propolis
6. Mallow
7. Wild Lettuce (medicine in sap) opiate but not addictive. Great pain reliever.
8. Wild Ginger root
9. Wild Oats can use all parts for nervous system.
10. Yarrow
11. Poke is a controversial root used for medicine best used by someone VERY knowledgeable and trained. It moves lymphatic congestion (cancer). The seeds in the fruit are deadly.
12. Wild cherry inner bark, cyanide.
13. Sassafras contains cancer causing safrol BUT it is NOT water soluble so making sassafras tea doesn't remove the safro from the plant material. Also safrol is NOT metabolized by the human body so even though the research (in lab rats) showed it causes cancer it is safe.
14. Hops
15. Blackberry
(Please note that I didn't take notes on all the plants but I included them so that if you're interested you can research them personally. Some have already been discussed in previous posts on the blog. Also, the Info I DID include is what was shared by the speaker not my own research or use. I am merely sharing information. Use the information but be safe and DO YOUR OWN research!)
After the first speaker, we spent some time looking at some of the different vendors booths. There was a second speaker scheduled though and we just did a quick glance at many of the booths. Personally, It seemed that there wasn't enough free time scheduled between speakers.
The second speaker I chose was at the other end of the fair and was taking about his farm and the permaculture that he has used to make it more sustainable. I took very brief notes and actually did not stay for the whole presentation. Here are the notes that I did take:
He spoke about the "three sisters" planting method and how he incorporated it. He also discussed his bio shelter which is heated by solar and wood. He said sustainability equals regeneration and includes repairing and restoring the landscape. He discussed using biological resources like compost, solar and companion plants. He described laying out the landscape using the contour of the land and raised beds using natural plants for the area to keep Invasives down. He is currently working on establishing integrated systems like a bio shelter with a chicken coop, kitchen, gardens, greenhouse all on one. The chickens would provide additional body heat for the bio shelter as well as compost, manure, weed control and bug control.
We ducked out of the end of the presentation and went in search of food since it was getting a little past lunchtime. All the lines were long with waits of at least 45 minutes. Some of the vendors didn't show up and the ones who did were working hard. For the most part everyone seemed to be cheerful and gracious about the situation. We actually got in three different lines and almost got to the window before being told that the vendor was out of food. One continued selling water but no food. We finally got in the line of a great vendor who served up food until the last customer got fed. It took us almost three hours in the sun before we got lunch. We made the best of our wait and talked to the people in line around us making alliances as we split up to see if we could increase the odds of foraging for food at the booths. We met a vendor selling compost bins and a fellow South Carolinian. We also met some people who came all the way from Ohio to come to the fair.
After the long lunch excursion we were drained, sunburned and tired. We tried our best to be enthusiastic but our tiredness got the better of us. We decided to head back to the campground to relax, prepare supper, shower and revive ourselves for day two.
Overall I would have to say that the first day felt rushed and tiring but even so we had a good time. We were looking forward to the second day and knew that we would plan things a little better.
Southern Wood Elf