First let me say, thank goodness the planners of this event have obviously been in touch with the Mohawk Valley Garlic Fest planners.  Ron and I really enjoy coming to this every year and it would be very sad if they decided to hold this event on the same weekend in September.

Our trip down on Friday, the 14th was a good one.  Weather cooperated with just a few spots of raininess here and there.  The first workshops started at noon and we had a 7 hours drive ahead of us, so we were packed and out the door at 3:30 am.  The goal again was to get a good parking spot in the lower lot.   Yeah, I know.  We are a bit crazy.  But until you have walked up that hill to get your car after a day of walking around to all your workshops, don’t judge.

This is the second leg of your journey up the hill to the parking lot.  It starts with 3 flights of stairs.  Then up this “ramp” and across the road to the real walk.

And this is just the first part of the major effort to get to and from your vehicle.  The actual parking lot starts at the top of this hill and goes on for what seems like forever.   There are thousands of people attending and they all need a place to park.

Unfortunately we were late and the guy manning the gate directed us up the hill after all.  We were able to find a parking spot not too far up along the left side of road and opened up the cooler to grab a quick lunch and headed down to the main building.

Once again Ron was focused on any and all mushroom workshops, including a three hour one with Tradd Cotter.  He had to pay extra for this one.  This was part of their “hands on” workshop series.

Here he is getting some mushroom spawn from Tradd.  He looks more than a bit giddy to my eyes.  Not sure what the right description of him is; a fan, camp follower, or groupie?

Homesteading was again a major theme this year with over a dozen workshops dealing with that topic in one way or another.  The good thing is that even if you don’t have or plan to have a small, self sufficient family farm; the information they offered works for anyone who is looking to grow and preserve their own food, make and sell craft products or get themselves off the grid.

This year I was heading to classes on preparing for emergencies, paw paws and foraging, different food products you can make (cider syrup and string cheese) and of course, using herbs in skin care products and medicines.

We were at the very first MEN fair back in 2010 and one of the presenters then was Kathy Harrison.  She had written a book about preparing for emergencies – Just in Case.  She has a new book out this year – Preppng 101 and MEN asked her to come back and hold two workshops.  I went to both of them and she is just the kind of person you need to get advice from.  She is practical, frugal and has a great sense of humor.  Fair warning – if you read her books, she will convince you to make steps for being prepared.  We have an Excalibur dehydrator in our house in part because of her influence.   

Both Ron and I went to the paw paw workshop and it was great.  The presenter, Sara Bir is very enthusiastic about them.  As she is a recipe developer, she has ability to take one of her favorite ingredients and make something yummy with it.   She came prepared with paw paws for us to see and seeds that she was happy to share.  I also attended her foraging workshop and that was great fun too.  Good to know that chances of you dying from eating a foraged fruit are pretty slim.  Apparently you stand a better chance of falling into a hole. The basic rules seem to be if it smells awful and a quick lick says yuck, then don’t eat it.  And you need a good book on plant identification.

We were lucky with the weather at Seven Springs,  with typical fall days.  Cool mornings and some rain but when the sun was out, it was lovely.  As usual the people were great too.  It was so easy to strike up a conversation with the person standing or sitting next to you.  While waiting for Tradd’s 3 hour workshop to begin, Ron and I talked with a couple who are just getting started with mushroom farming.  Right now she works with a vet in her area, so she knows all about hard work.  I told her that the hardest part for Ron is accepting that it is quitting time for the season.   Not this year, as we are totally exhausted, but normally we have to fight him on that issue.  In this case, she told me that she is the one that will not want to stop. I advised her to start keeping notes on everything they do, especially the crazy, funny things that happen.  And that she might want to think about a blog of her own.  While I was waiting for the foraging workshop to begin, I overheard the two men behind me talking about shiitakes.  Before we knew it, we had 7 people talking about growing mushrooms.  I mentioned our efforts to grow those that are used in miso soup and discovered that the couple in front of me was a Navy family and had lived for years in Japan.   I asked if she had learned the language and she had.  Actually got to 4th grade level in their offered classes and is justifiably proud of that.  I struggled with both French and German in school.  Never did have the knack for other languages.

The last workshops ended at 4:30 pm on Sunday and there was no way we were going to head home after that.  It is so worth the cost of an extra night at the hotel.  Ron wanted me to plot a scenic route home and find us a few places to stop.  That really is not easy to do with a GPS or on your laptop.  That is why I still love paper maps.  You can lay them out and see where you are and what roads you can choose to take.  We decided to stick to the highway for the first couple of hours.  Not much would be open before 9 am anyway.  Once we branched off to a small road Ron was happier.  Driving through small towns is his idea of a good drive.  We came across a health food store and stop to check it out.  I discovered they had gallon sized jars for sale.  I paid 20 cents more for those 4 jars than the ones  I purchased them at another store.  But the jar lids were 50 cents cheaper.  All in all, not a bad deal.

We weren’t in any great hurry to get home.  Well, Ron wasn’t.  I am still more a fan of getting where you are headed sooner than later.  After sitting for most of the last 3 days, I wanted our 7 hour drive to be over with.  Besides I have apple cider to buy so I can try making cider syrup.  And I really want to try my hand at fermenting again.   I had success with the garlic and want to try carrots again.  This is what happens each time I go to this event.  I come home full of enthusiasm and plans to try new things.  Somehow I will do my best to squeeze a few more projects into the next few months.  After all Christmas is coming and almost everyone loves to get homemade things.