Hoes Down Festival

The really nice thing about being "unemployed" is that you have to seek out free entertainment. Though I have wanted to go to Full Belly Farm [from whence my lovely organic box comes every other week] I have never made it to an event. But, when I was offered free admission to the Hoes Down Festival (yes, I endured a fair amount of ribbing for the title of the festival -- I swear, I had nothing to do with it, though I guess I do have to claim all my friends with their minds in the gutter) in exchange for a little volunteering, I signed up. I was privileged to have been assigned to work in the wreath room. The folks at Full Belly Farms and Good Humus Produce gather every Thursday to make wreaths, then they sell them to adoring fans. The wreaths are gorgeous ... some standard, some less conventional, all beautiful.

The wreath room also happens to be the place where the flowers from the farm are dried and stored also in beautiful fashion. We were selling the dried flowers and chiles, too.

When the sun hit just right, the flowers seemed to come alive. And they seemed to call in people who came in just to look up and admire the wares. Right outside the window, there were many people getting crafty. Here they were decorating gourds.

Making creations with clay.

It was kid heaven basically. Tons of activities, great food, entertainment and music. When I broke free to wander around, I couldn't figure out why there were so many kids walking around soaked through -- though it had been forecast to rain, we didn't see a drop.

Then I walked past this activity and it all became clear.

I don't think they were in it for the apples. I think it was like the water ride at Magic Mountain: in order to really enjoy the day, first you get on the water ride, then it's okay to stand in lines for other rides when it is super hot because you are carrying around your own AC.

As I continued my walk, I found kids making lanterns with balloons and paper mache.

This structure had a great name I can't remember, but you might find it in the list of activities. The coolest part was the tunnel at the bottom, I saw tons of kids going in one side and emerging triumphantly on the other side.

The first stop on the gourd decorating was to wash the gourds (aka more chances to get wet!). I also like this picture because it features prominently the flower crown. Right outside the wreath room (ALL DAY LONG) there were people earnestly making these flower crowns.

I was relieved of duty just in time to catch these folks dancing... the energy was so high... I forgot all about having been up since 5am.

I only managed to catch one of the workshops, but it was incredible [I will post more later.] I learned all about native plants (native to CA that is) and what to plant and what not to plant. This is a native plant that is ok to plant near water.

This is an invasive species NOT TO PLANT. It loves the water but erodes the banks of the creek, uses too much water and generally takes over.

This is one plant I intend to have once I have my own yard again! I did buy a few. Though there are many fruits I love, these are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE.

As I walked towards my car, I encountered this family. You can see Mom and Youngest Son here, but there was another Tween Brother. The little one wanted to carry his own damn pumpkin even though it was slowing down the march to the car. I asked him if he had picked out that pumpkin special - and he said he had -- so he had good reason to want to handle it himself, with care.

YIKES... just had a little earthquake as I was typing up this post.