Author Report-SolarFest, VT
Our trip to VT began with a visit to Chelsea Green Publishing. Chelsea Green is now distributing Gaia Girls. This means that any bookstore in the country is able to get the book…yeah! It was tons ‘o fun for me, as a reader, to be able to look at all the books they published. I left with a few titles to check out: Food Not Lawns, by H.C. Flores and Full Moon Harvest by Jessica Prentice.
Chelsea Green was one of the sponsors of SolarFest and I must say, the folks that organized SolarFest ordered up a stellar weekend! The sun was bright and the people all relaxed and happy!
I spent most of the day Saturday in the arena (normally used for horse events!) signing and selling books. I met so many cool people, I can’t begin to relay them all in this post, but I will definitely go back next year!
The whole festival was powered “off the grid”. The sun provided all the juice that was needed to heat water, run the sound system on the stage and for the vendors to cook great food. There were plays and performers and a wild variety of vendor items to peruse.
We camped on a hillside overlooking Forget-Me-Not Farm, the SolarFest host. Toward dusk a lot of the campers had a huge game of Frisbee going and on the stage a there was a hip-hop performance group. Late in the evening there was a group doing an interesting mix of Afro-Cuban and electronica. At 11pm a huge bonfire was lit and a drumming circle commenced. I fell asleep to one of the oldest sounds of humanity, pure drumming rhythm.
Our veggie-powered VW got a bit banged up getting in and out. A few miles down the road, we began to hear a strange noise; something was flapping and scrapping under the car! We pulled into the nearest driveway. Luckily for us, we had pulled up to the Smart Family’s house. Mr. Smart, was indeed, pretty smart. He helped us finish pulling off the plastic engine shield that the Forget-Me-Not camping field had tugged loose. We got to meet his wife (who, ironically, works in the parts department of a VW dealership!) daughter and cool black labs, Abby and Sophie.
Safety on our way, we were rolling down a winding backcountry Vermont road when I saw something that left me speechless, but only for a moment. I asked my hubby to turn around and go back. There, tucked in the woods was a table set for giants! It looked like something J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, would have made up. This is the kind of thing that reminds me to stop reading and stare out the window for a while.
The Green Mountains of Vermont were beautiful. I have friends that come up here to camp and kayak; now I know why!!
Do you look out the window when you travel? What kinds of things have you seen? Post up some of your travel stories!
The Gaia Girls Blog » SolarFest-VT says:
[...] had a BALL at this event last summer. Check out the photos here. If you are anywhere near Tinmouth, VT, SolarFest is well worth your time! [...]
The Gaia Girls Blog » SolarFest-VT says:
[...] really enjoyed SolarFest last year and this year did not dissapoint! The weather was stunning for a festival that is entirely solar [...]