Mother Earth News Fair

 This weekend Puyallup Hosted the 2nd Annual Mother Earth News Fair.   Last year we went to the very first one so I had a little idea of what to expect and I anticipated it would be much larger this year and it was! 
Probably my favorite thing was getting to see  a quick little talk with the founder of Bob's Red Mill - Bob Moore.  He was there obviously to promote his products but also talk about his book "People Before Profit" which talks about his life and how Bob's Red Mill got started but also about his company which is employee owned.  It was so important to him to have a company that cares about their employees that now they all own it.  I'd have to say that is pretty stinkin' awesome and rare.  I haven't ever heard of that concept before so it floored me to think about how employees own his company.  Just blew my mind really.   I guess I've worked for too many corporations in the past to see how hard people work and how much money the Corporate types take home. 
Anyway the best part was learning that Bob and his wife are clearly devote Christians.  The way he talked about being so blessed and how important it was for him to be a blessing.  He also spoke about how originally he was going to study at a Seminary school in Portland to study the bible in Greek and Hebrew before he got started milling.  Great story.  Here is a little pic of Bob I snapped from the back. Sorry about the bald guys head in the way! 

Anyway listening to him speak was inspiring and really made me think about companies and how their profits are spent and where the money goes.  It was clear that much of his profits goes back into his people. 
Thank you Bob for not only creating a wonderful company with many great products but also caring for your employees.  you really walk the talk.

After Bob spoke we got to hear from Ed Begley.  I had missed him last year and really wanted to see him this year. He mostly talked about the basics - how doing the simple things can add up to big things.  Such as changing light bulbs, checking your home for leaks, etc etc.  It was all stuff that he's discussed in his book as well as on his show when he did have it but it was  just fun to be near a celebrity.  And honestly I did watch his show when we had cable back in the day ..... Living with Ed was shown on the Green Channel which sadly Ed informed us that the Channel is going away.  Ah well I guess for some the "green movement" has moved on but for me I feel like its just ramping back up again!

I'm glad Ed got to come to our little Town. 
He even complimented on how the Puyallup Fair has a long standing history with so many things relating to agriculture and so on.  YAY for being recognized for all the Fair does each year.  Go puyallup!
Ed was quite humorous and light hearted the entire hour and took questions which he would run out into the audience so we all could hear the question with his mike.  I'm glad he's not one of the many out of touch celebrities and admire him blazing a trail for so many in his industry.  Gotta hand it to a guy who is willing to ride his bike literally all over town.  Love it.

All in all it was a good fair.
I wish there had been more food or food offerings.  Last year there was tons of food people offering samples and honestly because of the Fair last year I got hooked on Coconut milk because I got to taste it.  This year there was very little offerings for Food options.
Also Mother Earth News Fair if you ever read this - please try to keep the window people or roofing people to a very small bunch.  I personally cannot stand window people - they are pushy and ALWAYS at the Puyallup Fair.  Sure they probably have a great product but by golly they don't let up when you walk past.  Same for the roofing people.  no I do not want to enter to win windows just so you can get my name an blitz me with a phone calls.  No thank you.

Here were some of my favorite people who attended this year:

Pepperjack Home they sold reusable items from laundry sheets, lunch sacks, paper towels, bags, wet bags, and even made their own laundry soap.  Great smelling items and cute CUTE stuff.  Loved their patterns & prints.  I purchased their dryer sheets - reusable of course.  Basically I bought the scent to put on the laundry sheet.  Got the Orange smelling one.  Yum.

Bon Ami - always a favorite of mine. Love their cleaning products and love the logo. I'm highly attracted to great logos that have a retro twist. Plus they gave me a ton of samples and a free Powder Cleaner which is my ALL TIME favorite item. Thank you again for my gift! Glad you didn't have to pack it. ;) 

Happy Hen Treats - yep. Treats for chickens. Don't laugh! My chickens LOVED the treats which are basically freeze dried Meal worms.  Oh yes. they are gross but at least they are dried up. Great protein for chickens. 

And of course thanks for Mother Earth News for putting on another great Fair.  Really enjoyed going and the BEST part was getting in FREE all weekend because I recycled an old Cell Phone.  And I must mention that thanks to all who DID recycle those phones because they recycled 1412 cell phones!!!! WHOOHOO! Thanks T-Mobile!

Ok that's all I got.  Now my feet are a little tired.  TTFN.