Common Ground

I'm really glad I went up to the Common Ground fair yesterday as today started out rainy.  That means mud.

The fair is focused on natural farming and sustainable living in every sense of the word.  There are tons of educational session on farming, forestry and living life as close to nature as possible.  There are demos on low impact logging using horses and cattle, as well as using farm animals vs. tractors for plowing, haying, etc.

If you ride a bike to the fairgrounds, you get in free.  I did not do that.

Being the city girl I am, I drove in.  The line was pretty reasonable and the views were gorgeous

There were a number of vendors, demos, speakers and a musical tent. 

There are no trash cans around the grounds but rather composting stations placed strategically where you could recycle your left over food to compost and paper and plastic were separated out for recycling.  The port-a-potties were also composting.  There are people who walk the grounds with signs instructing you to follow them to the composting.

There was a section where you could see how the Maine guides/woodsmen cut logs, cooked over open fires, etc.  This was a replica of a dog sled they would have used.

There were also Passamaquoddy Indians demonstrating basket weaving which was really beautiful.

On the way out of the parking lot, I passed the campgrounds, complete with it's own set of Common Thrones.

I felt for those campers as it was raining this morning.  Not how I would have wanted to spend the night or wake up.  City girl remember?

Many people in Maine choose to live alternative ways and stay off the grid and this is a forum to showcase how that can happen.  It's not something I would choose but it was neat to see that a lot of young people are opting to look back at the ways things worked before and live closer to nature.

If you are ever in Maine for the 3rd weekend in September, make the trip!