Common Ground Fair virtual schedule released

UNITY — The schedule for the Common Ground Country Fair, which will be held online this year, has been release. The fair will take place Sept. 25 to 27. April Boucher, MOFGA’s fair director, said, “While we can’t gather together in person this year, many aspects of the Fair will be available online, including iconic and educational content that folks look forward to year after year.”
An online marketplace of fair vendors will also run from Sept. 25 through Jan. 8, and offers shoppers the opportunity to support local businesses that would typically participate at the fair, including farmers, crafters, nonprofit educational organizations and more.
The schedule of live presentations offers three full days of content related to gardening, farming and sustainable living. The schedule is available at fair.mofga.org and video will be streamed there and on MOFGA’s Facebook and YouTube pages. In addition to keynote addresses, each day at 11 a.m. there is a mix of educational and entertaining content lined up.
Learn how to plant garlic, make a sweet annie crown, bake bread, ferment vegetables and so much more! Plus, the ever-popular sheep dog demonstrations will take place each day.
This year’s keynote speakers highlight a mix of national perspectives on farming and gardening in diverse communities. Friday’s keynote speaker, Leah Penniman, is a Black Kreyol farmer/peyizan, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, N.Y., and is the author of “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.” Saturday’s speaker is Barbara Damrosch, farmer and co-owner of Four Season Farm in Harborside, author of “The Garden Primer” and “Theme Gardens” and co-author of “The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook.” She has also served as MOFGA’s Board president. Sunday’s speaker, Winona LaDuke, is a rural development economist and author working on issues of Indigenous economics, food, and energy policy. LaDuke lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota and is executive director of Honor the Earth.
Members of the MOFGA community are also developing content that will be available via an online library on the Fair website. All are encouraged to grow and submit items for the online exhibition hall, submit photos for the online garden parade, share poetry and fair stories and more.