The 2009 Solar Fest in Tinmouth VT was the first trip we took as a family specifically to learn about “green living”. Ron had stumbled across their site while doing research on solar energy for home use. He was immediately interested in going, but he had to work a little to get me on board. This was a camping event, after all. Something that I had not done since my parents took us out as teenagers. With a pop up camper that Dad rented from Rec Services on base. The five of us and our dog, Susie crammed into the car and headed out for a KOA campground. Good times. Though I remember lots of rain.
But I looked over the workshop program and with subjects like green funerals catching my attention, I was in. Now we just had to get ready. We already had 3 sleeping bags and Jo had her own tent. Ron was able to borrow a larger tent from a friend at work. A leaky one, but it was free so no complaints. Then we bought air mattresses, a pump that we could use from car, a metal coffee pot, a solar shower bag, lots of tarps (Ron’s go to item), and assorted other fun things to take with us. Oh, my poor budget.
Being me, I decided that we could not waste this drive to VT by just going to the Solar Fest. We were going to stop at the Vermont Country Store too. That is only 25 minutes away from our final destination and in the wrong direction, but that was so not the point. One of my favorite places to visit. If you haven’t already been there, you need to make plans to do so. You will love it.
The first workshops started at noon on Friday and Tinmouth is just over 3 hours from Sherrill. Would need to get there a few hours early so we could get set up. We always plan for bathroom breaks and other stops so wake up time was 5 am. Not a hardship for any of us. We are morning people. The only hardship was felt by our cats, Misty and Murphy. We had to drive them to Ron’s brother John’s house the night before. They both hate riding in the car and by the time we got to Rome, they hated Ron and me too.

The Forget Me Not Farm was beautiful, but they had not gotten the pasture mowed. That made for a wet start to each morning. Ron chose a spot on the top of the hill, not too close to the long line of porta potties and with a great view.

This was Ron’s idea for some privacy. We could sit on the chair and take a shower using our solar shower bags. Our clothes line was inside too. Later we would discover that this setup was not much protection against the rain and even less from the wind.

All set up and we headed out for the first day’s workshops.   We would meet back at the tents for dinner.   Mom’s cast iron frying pan was used to finish cooking the burgers we had precooked at home.   After we ate, we sat and listened to the ongoing concert and the conversations around us.   All that noise made it harder for me to get to sleep, but Ron and Jo had no trouble.   Such a good thing that I flipped my mattress around so the built in pillow was at my feet.  Otherwise, I think I would have slid right off it and down the hill.

Again early morning wake up. Ron got the stove going to heat water for my tea and their coffee.  Folgers coffee bags apparently don’t make the best cup of joe but are easy enough to brew.   We all hit the porta potty and the Jo and I headed out to morning yoga.  Another good laugh as this was our first attempt.  Sorry, no photos available.   Back to the camp site where Ron has taken his morning chair shower.  Jo and I went to try the official solar shower set up.  Not too shabby.

Another day of workshops.  Ron’s favorites were Scott Kellogg who wrote “Toolbox for Sustainable City Living”, the guys talking about biochar and seed starting.   I did enjoy the one about green funerals.  Went to others about green decorating, recycling, raising chickens and weeds.   Not sure what Jo did, but she was delighted to find her favorite food for sale there – pizza.  And it was special wood fired pizza.

Late that afternoon the weather made itself known.  A massive rain and wind storm. The umbrella I had was no match so we ran for the vendor tent.  We spent the next hour or so watching the rain pour down and the kids play in the puddles.  Once it eased off, we made a dash for our campsite.  Everything was drenched.   We put our clothes line to use and hoped for the best. Cooked dinner and got settled for bed. Again the music but this night it ended quickly. When the thunder and lightening started up. So loud and the sky just lit up. Went on for hours with Ron laughing the whole time. It must have stopped sometime as we finally fell asleep.

Waterlogged morning. Ron’s friend was right, the tent did leak. We had about 2 inches at the downhill side of the tent. Did the morning yoga again but skipped the shower. We pulled everything out of the tents and laid it out in lame hope that they would dry a bit before we had to pack everything up. The day ended about 3 pm with a final ceremony. And we all started tossing stuff into our vehicles. We had to leave enough room for the two cat carriers as we would be stopping to get them on our way home. But it would be days before everything dried out enough to put away.
We had a great time at Solar Fest, with Ron labeling it “hippy dippy”. Lots of tie dyed clothes and bare feet brought back memories of the 60’s. I am one of those “been there, done that” people so I had no real interest in going back. Ron and Jo went back twice over the years but enjoyed the music more than the workshops. Still, it was sad to read that Solar Fest 2015 has been cancelled. Money issues, lower attendance and losing the farm site all played a part. It will be nice if they manage to get themselves together next year and get it started again.