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!

Water sampling and cool plants

A giant forest fern.
Anni & Alex preparing to take water samples.
Skunk cabbage
Alex retrieving a sample from Denny Creek.
Fiddle Heads.

Alex and Anni participated in collecting water samples for Sound Citizen, a research project at UW. They collected samples at Juanita Beach and Denny Creek, analyzed pH, alkalinity, chlorine, hardness, nitrate, and ammonia levels. Then they had to use Google Earth to look up the exact GPS coordinates for each site. Finally, they packaged the samples to return to the lab. They had fun participating in this eco-activity.

And just for fun we used Google earth to look at our home, nana and Sharon's home in Victorville, Grandma's house in Hesperia, Auntie's home in Wivenhoe. (What's that big set of buildings behind your home Auntie?) We also looked up the University of Essex by following the road past the pub. By the way did I tell you (Uncle Mel) that Seattle now has a Division 1 Soccer/football team, and they're good! They're entire season is sold out!

Green, green, GREEN

Here's that happy little photo of my flower again.

It seem appropriate for the weekend of Green Fest.

Ari, Alex, and I spent the weekend listening to the leaders in the green movement.

We heard Bryan Welch, the publisher of Utne and Mother Earth New speak about the importance of population control, David Korton speak on the agenda for a new economy, and Victoria Kreha speak about the consumption conundrum on Saturday. We also saw a world premire movie by John De Graaf (of Affluenza fame) called What's the Economy for, Anyway? It was terrific.

Today, we listened to award winning journalist Amy Goodman speak on Standing Up to the Madness, John Perkins on Transforming Turmoil into a New Economy, John de Graaf on Time and Sustainability, and Vicki Robin on the importance of communities. We also had some great vegetarian food and bought a few useful green items (stainless water bottles, a lunch kit, and some dogfood for Barkley).

The weather temps decided to dive over last night and are predicted to again tonight. So, we're covering the garden veggies overnight, and bringing the potted lettuces inside. We need everyone to think spring for us. It's been a long, cold winter!