Finding Our Community at the 2022 Texas MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR

By Rianna Alvarado
Updated on April 13, 2022
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Rianna Alvarado

The MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR happens every year just down the road from us in Belton, Texas. My husband and I always look forward to it, knowing it will be a weekend away where the two of us can learn, dream and plan for our farmstead. So this year, right when it felt as if the end of winter may never come, we hooked the pop up camper to our Sequoia, packed our food and made sure not to forget the tea and electric frother!

I didn’t realize how intertwined my life has been with this event until I was asked to write about it, yet it’s undeniable and I feel more grateful each year for having such an incredible resource just down the road. We arrived that Saturday morning eager to dive in–but not before getting “camp” set up. We quickly popped up the camper, hooked up the solar panels, gathered our backpacks and skipped into the Expo center we had come to know each winter for the past 6 years.

Between morning sessions we ran into good friends from out of town while meandering amongst all of the vendors. The excitement was palpable. We happened to be chatting right in front of my favorite bee guru, Dr. Leo Sharashkin. I bought many of his books at a previous MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR and use his methods with my own hive. Our friends approach beekeeping employing his methods as well, so I felt justified as I eavesdropped on the conversations he was having with fairgoers. They were asking him question after question and he was graciously answering them. I felt like gold bee dust was swirling all around me.

a woman and a man smile at the camera

During the lunch break we each pored over our schedule, still needing to decide between the three sessions circled for 2:00 p.m. We finally settled on I Built My Cob House and So Can You! and Seed Saving 101: How to Save Your Garden Seeds, as I was planning on doing more education around seed saving in my community and have been in love with cob for close to decade.

Seed Saving 101 was not something I needed on the surface, but it was something I actively wanted to teach, so I went for it, open-minded as if a novice. Bevin Cohen could have spoken about the basics of toilet paper and I would have still been laughing and enthralled the entire time. He has a lovely kinesthetic way of teaching on stage and I certainly learned more than a thing or two! I took notes for myself and thoughtfully observed the way he illuminated this topic so I could hopefully do the same in my own community.

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