Recently I traveled back to my roots in rural Connecticut to celebrate an annual agricultural tradition – the Durham Fair. The Durham Fair is the largest agricultural fair in Connecticut, and growing up as a local, I’ve never missed a fair season! There’s something magical about fair season; a wonderful communal culmination of a year of agri-culture that connects us all back to our roots.
Photos courtesy of Caroline
The beauty of agricultural fairs is the celebration of a rich farming history and homegrown skills. Family farmers who have worked the land for hundreds of years come back annually near harvest time to show their animals, crafts, art, baked goods, preserves, and plants, share traditional skills and demonstrations, and to eat amazing food and enjoy the exhibits. Community groups and schools work behind booths to sell their products and their food – much of it local and in support of community-building initiatives. The spirit and culture of these fairs reminds me very much of the philosophy of HOMEGROWN.org – a space for folks to come together and share their knowledge and skills with one another and to enjoy a lively conversation about good food and good living.
Photos courtesy of Caroline
As we approach the end of the harvest season and prepare for winter (here in the Northeast, anyway!), we can all take a little time to look back on a year of progress in living HOMEGROWN. Share your successes, failures, thoughts and experiences with the HOMEGROWN community – fair-style. Anything new that you’ve done, built, created, explored, or learned, share with us!
- Submit photos of your backyard livestock, chickens and pets.
- Post recipes for your favorite dishes that use locally-grown ingredients.
- Share planting, growing, and food preservation tips.
- Upload instructions on creating homegrown art, crafts for the upcoming holiday season, or projects you’ve been working on all year.
- Create a virtual skillshare of new skills learned and share with others.
- Comment on other’s work, and foster the sense of community that we are proud to build on HOMEGROWN.org
While we can’t display your bountiful harvests, beautiful dishes, and crafty projects in a physical space, we want to share them with all in our community through the fall season. Upload your photos, videos, and blogs with “HOMEGROWN Fair” in the title so that they are recognizable submissions. Of course, we will award prizes for the best of the best – a HOMEGROWN.org prize pack, HOMEGROWN Mix-Tape, and a few surprise goodies. We want to showcase the work that you’ve done this year and how you’ve done it! So get those submissions ready and enjoy the first-annual, end-of-season HOMEGROWN Fair!
Photos courtesy of Caroline
