So I had this idea. The idea was about celebrating a simple kind of life, more basics, in this complicated world. And this celebrating would be done with community. It was called The Simple Life Fair originally, to keep things, well, simple.
We would come together at a venue to share what we know, our children would be involved, a seed swap, vendors for homesteading goodies, and a lot more. I had been working and partnering with people with the same vision to offer presentations: pressure/waterbath canning, gardening, firewood basics, chicken keeping, homemade soap, making your own laundry soap/cleaners, keeping a milk cow, and loads more. The excitement was building as we got closer to the date.
And cue the Pandemic.
I posted this to our Facebook page March 18, 2020:
“It probably comes as no surprise due to the rapidly spreading Covid-19 virus and the unknown ramifications, The Simple Life Fair will be postponed until Fall 2020.The very premise on which this fair was conceived is community and sharing basic skills in a complicated world. It is my wish we will all realize our strengths during these challenging times and share them with each other when it is safe for everyone. I wish each and every one of you strength, peace, compassion, and resilience over the coming months. Yours in community, Jennifer Spencer”
I meant every word. We would come back with a clearer vision of what living simply meant. Unfortunately, protocols were still in place during the fall, so Spring 2021 became the new target. We need this. Almost more than we needed those memes of Bernie Sanders and his mittens. (Just joking! We definitely need this more. )
Our world became so complicated and some of us just wanted things to go back to “normal” (I refuse to use the term “new normal”). Some of us were asking questions about things we have never thought to ask before about our consumption of goods, the production of our food, and how to become more self sufficient.
My farm page has experienced extremely high volume and traffic over the last year with questions on gardening and chicken keeping in particular. I have kept chickens, and grown a vegetable garden my whole life so I love talking about both. And I never pretend to know everything about these topics, so questions help me learn more as well. Learning should be a life long pursuit, I believe.
Here’s the vision:The Simple East Coast Living Fair will have us come together, learning from our community of homesteaders, farmers, crafters and artisians. We will learn from each other, hopefully face to face and in person, stronger and with more clarity, having valuable conversations to further our journey in learning more basic skills.
I just can’t wait to see you there, my friend.
Love Jenn xx
Saturday April 17th
9am-3pm, Barrington Lions Hall ,
Find us on FaceBook : Here
Tickets for the Simple East Coast Living Fair will go on sale February 15th. We will be offering a digital ticket as well that will allow you to watch all presentations virtually. The presentation line up will be released February 10th.
