A Day at the Common Ground Country Fair

On September 23^rd Lauren and I took a bus trip with our friends from the Western Mountains Senior College http://www.maineseniorcollege.org and went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine.  The fair is put on by The Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association www.mofga.org  and they have been doing it now for 35 years.  There were twenty one of us on the bus that day and once we entered the fairgrounds I only saw one of them until it was time to return.  It seemed all of us had a different interest and with so many things to choose from we went our separate ways to enjoy. 

Quack

My favorite event of the day was to watch the Border Collie Demonstration which was put on by David Kennard of Wellcroft Farm in New Hampshire http://www.wellscroft.com/farm/farmHome.html  These Border Collies were truly amazing to watch as they directed the sheep to go exactly where David told them to.  The sheep were mixed in with a bunch of goats and the collies could separate them into different groups with apparent ease.  David said the sheep graze on the grass of a number of different fields around the town where his farm is located in Chesham and instead of trying to load and unload all of these sheep on a truck it just makes a whole lot of economic sense to have the dogs direct them to their next field. It must be an interesting sight if you are driving through town when this is happening.  

I found my way through the poultry barn, the goat/sheep barn, the rabbits, the horses and donkeys, oxen, and draft horse areas.  Because I’m thinking about getting chickens sometime I spent more time there admiring all the breeds that are available.  After that I walked across The Common to the exhibition hall where they were judging the fruits, vegetables, and wheat. The variety and beauty was very cool.  Later I caught up with Lauren and we had some food to eat while we listened to some fiddle and folk music played by Sassafras Stomp.  We saw a few more of the sights before it was time to head back home.  It seems we left the fair with one more body on the bus than we had arrived with. That’s because senior college member Scott Hynek bought a buck rabbit to bring back to assist in breeding his rabbits.  If you like organic gardening and farming you will love this fair.  

Fall Perfection

How do you spell perfection for New England in October?  How about five days in a row of sunshine, blue skies, and high 70 to 80 degree weather?  This all came on a holiday weekend no less.  I hope all the leaf peepers who came to the area enjoyed themselves and spent tons of money on food, wine, lodging, gifts, and fun.  And if you did let me say thank you. This area depends on tourism and I hope your stay and experience was enjoyable.

Lauren and I went up to Sunday River on Saturday to watch the 12^th Annual North American Wife Carrying Championship at Sunday River Resort http://www.sundayriver.com/Events/Main/Summer/Wife_Carrying_Championship.html  What can I say? It was a blast.  Later that afternoon we went over to Gibson’s Apple Orchards to pick some apples.  This year we refrained from picking enough to feed everyone in Vermont and instead picked enough just for us.  We also bought two homemade apple pies for $2.00 each.  My first thought was….at $2.00 each maybe something is wrong with them….but No…this is just another one of the perks of living here. You can actually get really good stuff…for very little money.  I might just have to go back and stock up on a few more of those pies. 

On Sunday Lauren and I went swimming at Songo Pond.  Well Lauren actually went swimming while I just went up to my knees.  Swimming on October 9^th in Maine… yes the water was cold, but Lauren is related to a family of seals from many generations ago so cold water is no problem for her.  She’ll just climb up on that iceberg to warm herself when the sun is shining. 

The Fall foliage is peaking right now around here and it is a time of beauty and trepidation because after all those beautiful colored leaves fall off….we all know what we get… Stark and Cold.  It is that in between time where the earth and air just works at getting colder and colder and colder until it is always cold enough to snow.  For then the condition is right for white snowflakes to fall upon the earth which will encourage skiers to flock to the resorts and to strap on wood or Kryptonite upon their feet and glide down the mountainside and love it to the point where they then spend many dollars upon food and beer which makes them and us feel that all is right within the world.  Thanks for stopping by.

Maggie’s Nature Park

A few weekends ago Lauren and I took our first hike at Maggie’s Nature Park which is located in Greenwood, Maine on the west side of South Pond. It was peaceful, beautiful and the trails were well marked. What struck both of us was the abundance and variety of mushrooms and fungus growing on the forest floor. At first I said “wow look at all these mushrooms” but then we were both calling to each other “look at this red one”, “look at this weird one.” I have never seen so much variety in such a short walk. Here is a small sample of some of the fungus we saw.