Greenfesting!

Today was the first day of Seattle's 2010 Greenfest, a weekend full of learning about the environment, social justice, and living a greener life. Our whole family went. The future farmers got in for free. David and I were $10 each after a $5 discount for riding the bus. We listened to nationally known speakers such as Tom Hartman speaking on the personhood of corporations and Cecile Andrews chatting about the positive benefits of a slower more community based lifestyle. Anni got an undrivers license showing that she likes to ride her bike and take the bus. Ari sampled organic coffee, and Alex learned about ocean safe seafood.

We also toured the booths in the exhibition hall where many green vendors had booths. We purchased a solar flashlight, organic tea, organic dark chocolate, organic cotton t-shirts, beeswax and essential oil candles, and the first 40 years of Mother Earth News on DVD. We also signed up for a subscription to Herb magazine to help us use all those herbs growing in our garden, and I found a very cute, 1920's style, recycled fabric hat.
But one of the awesome things about the Greenfest exhibitors is all the great free goodies they give you to encourage you to try their good for you and the environment products. In the household department, we received 12 full size bars of goat milk body soap, a sample bar of lavender and rose castile soaps, a roll of 100% recycled toilet paper (the kids needed to make sure this was not recycled from actual toilet paper), a ruler made from recycled materials, a greenlite bulb, a bumper sticker reminding us to plant trees, a packet of marigold seeds, a button, a dozen compostable trash bags, a magnet with kitchen conversions (so useful!!!), a set of birchwood eating utensils.

In the edibles section; 5 minibags of organic cereal, 4 minibags of the only kind of dog food Barkley will eat (California Natural), 3 organic teabags, 3 packets of organic sugar, 2 packets of hemp seeds, 2 organic granola bars, 2 organic dark chocolates, a packet of organic crackers, a box of organic shell pasta, a sample of omega-3 fish oil, coupons worth $15.50 (on products we use), and a straw of organic honey.

And otherwise: an Alaskan poster and education placemats (for Anni), 8 Alaskan tattoos, a seafood eating guide, 6 seafood recipe cards, a Puget Sound Beach guide, a veggie restaurant guide, 7 metro tickets, 7 magazines, a farm guide, and a Natural Choice Directory.

We learned a bunch about green energy, green causes (Did you know People for the Puget sound is leading an effort to help prevent oil spills in our area?), and social justice. We laughed, we ate, and had a terrific time, and....

Tomorrow some of us are going back!