The Mother Earth News Fair doesn’t just pitch a tent anywhere. Considerations include: local readership of the Mother Earth News magazine and available vendors, exhibitors, and venue. Those planets aligned in Pierce County, Washington at the Puyallup Fairgrounds on June 2nd and 3rd,  2012.

Started the Saturday with a little fenestration discussion. I took in a solar education by South Sound Solar.

Attended a Pierce County presentations on neighborhood rain gardens. Another highlight included whimsy and color: Tiny Houses.

Lucky enough to run into the Editor of Mother Earth News, Cheryl Long! My pressing question? “What happened to the beer garden?” In 2011 I met Dave Buhler of Elysian Brewing at the garden. I bet some day they’ll have a solar-powered brewery – like their friends at New Belgium Brewing!

Update: Happy to report that 2013 HAD a beer garden. So at the very end of the 2013 Fair I was able to sit and talk to radio personalities, authors, beekeepers, and California Cob house constructors.

Always fun at the MEN Fair!