Mother Earth News Fair 2016 – Belton, Texas

by Texas Homesteader ~

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A couple of months ago I was scanning my newsfeed and suddenly I stopped cold.  What do I see before my eyes? Could it be?  YES – the Mother Earth News Fair was coming to Texas!  I’d never been able to attend the MEN Fair before since I was under the mistaken impression that it was always held in the same location, far away from our homestead.

Imagine my utter glee at seeing that they hold fairs all around the US and now it was coming to central Texas, certainly within driving distance for RancherMan and me!  So we excitedly made plans to attend the two-day event.

With much anticipation I waited & waited, then finally the big day came.  RancherMan and I left on a Friday morning and headed south. We checked into a hotel and settled in for a good nights sleep before the two-day fair.

The next morning we got up early and headed downstairs for a hearty breakfast before driving on to Belton to attend the fair. When we got there I was astonished, DANG there were a lot of people here!

We waited in line to pick up the wristbands that would grant us entrance and then finally stepped inside the large Bell County Expo Center.  Wow, I stood there to take it all in… Oh man, this is going to be so much fun for me!

 

Mother Earth News Fair in Belton, Texas

We were here to enjoy two whole days packed with exhibits, demonstrations and over 150 informational workshops. Although with so many workshops I knew I would have to pick & choose which workshops I could attend I was excited that I was going to hear the experts speak about gardening, beekeeping chicken raising and more.

But since the first workshop doesn’t start for a while, let’s check out those vendors!  There were heirloom seed vendors and prepper-supply vendors. There were solar energy vendors and self sufficiency vendors.  There were so many vendors there with information on anything and everything a person on a self-sufficiency journey could ever want to know!  (Oh, by the way – RancherMan and I visited them all during the two-day fair and between all of the seminars we attended!  LOL)  This is a shot of the smaller building of vendors very early in the morning.  The crowd got larger & larger as the day wore on, and the second building was huge and packed with vendors & fair-goers!

Many Preparedness and Self Sufficiency Vendors

RancherMan bought this cool *Hybrid Solar LED Flashlight at one of the vendor booths.  The flashlight is compact yet super bright using LED lights to reach up to 160 lumens and it also has a screw-off cap covering ports that you can use to charge your cell phone.  The run time on low beam for a single charge is advertised to be 12 hours and it’s touted to hold an unused charge for 7 years!  Since it includes a safety mechanism to keep it from overcharging, Rancherman’s going to store it on a table by a sunny windowsill so it will be ready when needed.

I bought a gorgeous hand carved wooden spatula and I absolutely love it! I cook almost exclusively with either stainless steel or wood utensils but I prefer wood, and hand-carved artful talent speaks to my heart.

The Mother Earth news bookstore was very popular and it was difficult at any time throughout either day to get in that area but I managed to squeeze in long enough to buy some Mother-Earth News and GRIT publications focusing on organic gardening, raising chickens and preserving food – my three main loves.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR - Belton, Texas. Imagine my glee at seeing the fair was coming to central Texas! 2 full days of workshops & vendors! #TexasHomesteader

Purina Bloggers Brunch Invitation

We attended a couple of seminars but soon it was time to go upstairs to a bloggers luncheon sponsored by Purina that we were invited to. RancherMan and I entered the room & all the luncheon tables were already occupied, although there were plenty of chairs left at the tables.  I walked to one and asked the couple seated at the table if we could join them and they graciously said yes.

As we sat down I extended my hand to introduce myself and all I got out of my mouth was “Hi, I’m Tammy…” And the woman, seeing my shirt had my logo said “Oh, you’re from Texas Homesteader.  I’m Cheryl!”

Now I’d never met Cheryl or her husband before but I certainly recognized her name since she interacts often with our Facebook page and this blog. (She writes her own fun blog over at Pasture Deficit Disorder, check ’em out)

OMGosh they were so much fun to talk to and it seemed like we were catching up with long-lost friends!  Then we ate some good food and learned about Purina’s organic chicken feed. Finally we said goodbye to Cheryl & her hubby and RancherMan & I hit the exhibits & seminars again.

More Workshops & Vendor Booths

This time while visiting the booths I bought some heirloom seeds to go with the ones I already have at home since I’ll be planting this week in my indoor greenhouse.  I use this indoor greenhouse setup to be able to plant heirloom seeds inside this time of the year so I can put those seedlings into the garden in the spring when the danger of killing frost has passed.  I.  Can’t.  Wait!

Several more workshops were attended by each of us and then we headed back to the hotel.  The following day we were hoping the fair wouldn’t be quite as crowded as the day before but there didn’t appear to be much reduction in the people crowding the exhibition hall.  This is a popular event, y’all!

MEN Fair, Day 2

We were only able to enjoy a couple more seminars before I (with a pouting sigh) reluctantly agreed that we couldn’t stay until the event concluded that evening and we needed to head back home.   We still had several hours worth of driving ahead of us before we’d reach home and there was much at the ranch we needed to take care of before the stormy weather that was predicted to hit our area, so we headed out.

All in all we both enjoyed two full information packed days and I’ll have my fingers crossed that the Mother Earth News Fair will be held in our great state of Texas again in the near future.  Have you ever been to the Mother Earth News Fair?  What did you love the most about it?

~TxH~

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16 thoughts on “Mother Earth News Fair 2016 – Belton, Texas

  1. Randy and Terri Brim

    Thanks for posting a photo of seeds from Brim Seed at last year’s Mother Earth News Fair. Hope to see you again this weekend at the 2017 Fair. Stop by our booth and say hello or come to our presentation at 12:30 – 1:30 on Saturday,
    Food Sustainability: Genetically modified versus heirloom seeds.
    Thanks,
    Randy and Terri Brim

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I did come by your booth and buy more seeds this weekend. Can’t wait to plant! Glad to see y’all were at the fair again this year. ~TxH~

      Reply
  2. LuAnn Braley

    Visiting from Thursday Favorite Things at Katherine’s Corner.

    We live in a rural area and have a green fair each year. It pales in comparison to the show you attended, but it’s pretty good size for the area.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      OMGoodness LuAnn, aren’t those fairs so much fun??! I think Mother Earth News Fair is one of the largest in the industry but there’s another albeit smaller green-living fair coming around Earth Day this year to the Dallas area, I’m hoping to check it out too. ~TxH~

      Reply
  3. Lady Locust

    One of these days, I’ll get to attend one of these fairs. I sooo love that spatula. I too use primarily wooden utensils:)

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      Gotta love wooden utensils, eh? They’re by far my favorite to use in my kitchen. ~TxH~

      Reply
  4. Judith C

    I would love to go to one of these. Just to see the cool exhibits.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      OMGosh Judith, there were so many exhibits. The seminars were almost all ‘standing room only’ and I did lots of standing! I hope to be able to attend again sometime. ~TxH~

      Reply
  5. Linda

    I have attended two MEN fairs at the Seven Springs Lodge in Pennsylvania. Loved every minute of them. I decided to just go every other year depending on budget, etc. as it is not an inexpensive weekend. But I learn SO much and just enjoy being with a group of like minded people. The first year was especially life changing. Or perhaps attitude changing. I was newly divorced after a decades long marriage and a bit unsure how I was going to manage the yard, garden, minor home repairs, etc. on my own. Let alone travel alone. The Fair was my first solo outing. Unbeknownst to the people I was interacting with, they were providing me the knowledge and strength to go forward to thrive in my very suburban “homestead” (rather restrictive HOA rules not withstanding) Perhaps not your typical post divorce therapy but it worked miracles for me. I eagerly look forward to attending the Fair this Sept.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I love your story Linda!! Self sufficiency is comforting to me as well. Sometimes things happen to us in our lives that we have no control of but learning to do for myself, I have control over that and to me that’s very empowering. Good for you for taking control of your life, there’s joy in it! (HUGS) ~TxH~

      Reply
  6. Cheryl @ Pasture Deficit Disorder

    We had a blast hanging out with you two at the blogger brunch! And weren’t all those booths awesome? I got some mung beans for sprouting (have some sprouting right now) and some new wool socks. It’s cool to have the opportunity to meet and deal with some local vendors/artisans. And I’ve got some really good ideas for future gifts for my hubby – especially from HOSS tools. 🙂

    P.S. Thanks for the shout out for my blog! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      We enjoyed it too Cheryl. And the MEN fair was so much fun for us – all those vendors! We’re about to take the leap into bee keeping – we’re so excited! ~TxH~

      Reply
  7. Patti

    Love that spatula! Do they have a web site that you know of? Would so love to purchase one of those. Happy that you had a great time, it looks like it would have been so much fun. I love anything that has to do with dirt, gardening…….

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I love the spatula too Patti! It came from Riverwood Trading Co and they have an etsy shop so you can go to etsy.com and do a search for Riverwood Trading and find their stuff. Tell ’em TMH sent ya! ~TxH~

      Reply
  8. Ken

    Sure brings back memories for me. In 1982 my wife, newborn, and myself went to the MEN eco-village in North Carolina. They had a deal to camp for 2 or 3 days, going to seminars, seeing experiments, etc., and one day they would carry you in a bus over the mountains to Knoxville for the world’s fair. Pretty cool. Tomorrow is that baby’s 34th birthday!

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      OMGoodness Ken how time flies, huh?? This is the first time we’ve ever gotten to attend, we’ll be watching for them to come close to us again and we’ll definitely want to go again! ~TxH~

      Reply

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