Filed under: Events
1. DMCD Garage Sale. Tomorrow, 10 am, Vineyard Church at 36th and University.
2. Des Moines Green Gifts Fair, November 7. Applications accepted through the end of this month. Please contact sarahtar1 at gmail dot com if you’d like an application.
It’s coming up Tuesday, Sept 7, 10:00, Vineyard Community Church at 36th and University. Bring your old diapers for sale, bring your money to buy some new-to-you diapers! Rules here: http://wallypop.net/DMCDgaragesalerules.html
It’s Fair time! (This is an update/edit of an article I wrote in 2008)
I’m not going to pretend to know everything about this subject. I spend very little time at the Fair. Usually one day each year.
I’ll be honest…part of it is that the State Fair kind of disgusts me these days. The freakishly giant animals. Those poor pregnant and laboring mamas locked up for noisy onlookers to stare at in the Animal Learning Center. The fried food. I the year I turned 30 was the turning point on that one. Suddenly, the idea of eating hot fried food when it’s hot and I’m walking around in the heat just didn’t seem to make any sense. I just wanted something HEALTHY!!
Food
There are healthy food choices at the fair, but they are of course still the more mainstream ideas of healthy. (In other words, not organic, possibly not local.)
- Salad on a Stick. However, I have heard more people criticizing how difficult this is to eat than commenting on its taste.
- Regular salad in a bowl is available various places. The Iowa State Fair website has a list.
- The Salad Bowl, which is in the agricultural building and also the cultural center, has salads, wraps, and other non-fried foods.
- Many places have fresh fruit. Again, the Iowa State Fair website has a list. Applelicious is one of our family’s favorites. They have several stands, including one outside the Varied Industries building. They have cut up apples with caramel, and they’ll omit the caramel if you wish.
- Vegan fairgoers likely already know about the veggie corn dogs from the Veggie Table, north of the varied industries building, close to the KIOA beer tent. (Unless it’s moved in the 10 years since I brought out of state vegan friends to the fair…)
- Omnivores can find healthy meat choices at the various Producer tents. (Pork, beef, lamb etc.)
Non Food
But the fair isn’t just about food. What else can you do to make your State Fair a little more natural-minded? Here are some ideas. Our family doesn’t follow all of these, just so you know.
- Park at one of the handy Park and Ride locations and take the shuttle in to the fair. (personally, we still drive in and park in the parking lot, as we need ready access to the car. we always perform at the fair, and then need to change our clothes and stash our performance-related things in the car so we don’t have to haul three heavy bags around with us while we stroll the fair.)
- Bring your own reusable water bottles, filled with water. Depending on how many people you have with you, think about bringing a hydration pack (one of those nifty backpacks with a giant water bladder inside).
- (not related to natural living, but a good tip nonetheless: pack a cooler with ice and bottles of water. Leave it in your car. When you’re all hot and exhausted, you’ll have nice cold drinks waiting for you for the drive home.)
- Be mindful of the amount of waste you create, and for goodness’ sake, put your garbage in the plentiful garbage cans.
Please feel free to post your favorite natural living at the fair tips in the comments!
Filed under: Events
Drake University and the City of Des Moines are planning the Drake Sustainability Fair, a free event to raise awareness about ecological living, from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28 in the Drake Olmstead Center.
Environmental non-profits, government agencies, private companies and others will come together to share information, answer questions and teach those attending how to live sustainably.
More info here: http://www.drake.edu/news/db/official/archive.php?article=5347
Fair attendees will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from organizations such as the Center for Sustainable Communities, Barker Lamar Engineering Consultants, DART, Green Goods for the Home and many more. Energy auditors and other green-industry professionals also will share their expertise and information.
It was completely awesome. It was busy from 10:00 until about 3, when it became markedly slower, but still with a steady stream of people. Some vendors sold nearly out of what they brought!
These photos are from when everyone was getting set up, after our heart-attack inducing discovery that they had NOT emptied the room as they were supposed to, and we had to do quite a bit of very fast carrying of things into the back room. BUT! It all worked out!
Filed under: Events
I’m so excited about this! Natural Living Des Moines will be hosting the first annual Des Moines Green Gifts Fair in November!
The fair will be November 15, 10-4, at the Des Moines Social Club downtown. It should be an excellent opportunity to purchase eco-friendly gifts for the holidays – or for any event – or just for yourself!
We are currently accepting vendors for this awesome, unique event.
We are looking for vendors to sell items that are eco-friendly and that would make good gifts. We will be choosing vendors based on the items they plan to sell at the fair. Obviously, items should be eco-friendly in some way. Additionally, we will have a bias towards localism – items made from locally-sourced materials, items made locally, etc – but are not excluding non-local items/materials. Items do NOT need to be handmade, as this is not necessarily a craft fair. Additionally, food and wine vendors are welcome, as long as no alcohol is sold to be consumed onsite. Green service providers would also be a welcome addition, if there is some sort of “gift” component to what you do (even if it’s just gift certificates – who wouldn’t love a gift certificate for a massage for Christmas?).
Each booth will be 10’ x 10’ and will cost just $20. Please just let me know if you’d like an application! (sarahtar1@gmail.com)
It’s State Fair time again, and I thought I’d trot out last year’s post on healthy eats at the fair.
At Gray’s Lake: Saturdays 9-10, led by various Yogis.
At the Downtown Community Garden: Sundays at 5, led by Maggie from Firehouse Yoga. (E 6th and Scott)
It’s Farmer’s Market season! Here are the markets in the Des Moines metro:
- Downtown, Saturday mornings (7-12)
- West Glen, also Saturday mornings, starting at 10.
- Urbandale, at Living History Farms, Thursday evenings
- Drake, by the Drake Diner, Wednesday evenings (4-7)
- East Village, Friday Evenings, 4:30-7:30
- Valley Junction, Tuesday evenings.
Other Polk County Farmer’s Markets are listed here.
I have no good way to update the calendar just now (laptop in the shop), but wanted to be sure to share this exciting event:
Des Moines Really Really Free Market
May 2, 11-3, Drake Park (24th and Cottage)
Everyone is welcome at this free event, where all are encouraged to give, receive, and create on their own terms. This free and open market will be a celebration of the cooperation and gift-giving that make life possible beyond the constraints of capitalist markets. The event is self-organized by everyone who participates. No authority rules over the RRFM. As at previous events, we trust that people sharing rather than competing will be able to find their own ways to cooperate with each other and function smoothly.
Everyone is invited to arrive from 11am ’till late afternoon with goods, services, skills, performances, stories, crafts, food, games, music, clothing, furniture, plants, and resources to give and share with others in the community. There is no buying, selling or exchanging involved—in this market, everything is strictly free. Better than a yard sale, the Really Really Free Market has no price tags!
As at other Really Really Free Markets across the U.S. and around the world, we create and participate in an alternative world, a world in which resources are held in common, the community meets the needs of the community, and “free” means just that: really, really free. The Really Really Free Market is an afternoon when social status can be earned by giving things rather than owning things, and when giving and receiving happens directly rather than being administered through an institution or organization.
Nothing is required for participation, but if you would like to give something at the event, please think creatively about the skills you have and could teach, the useful or beautiful things you have and don’t need, or the resources you might be able to bring and share with people to create something during the event. This event is not a ‘dumping ground’ for people to get rid of things they don’t want; rather it is a space where people come together to provide for each other, inspire each other, and share together in the abundance of goods, skills, and creativity of our community. People are encouraged to take responsibility for any goods they bring that are not taken by the end of the event.
