Harvest Fest 2004

The summer has gone so fast. Harmony Park, near Geneva Minnesota had its annual Harvest Fest this past weekend. Twenty-three bands performed during the Fest’s three-day duration. I went out on Saturday night. It was tent city with three thousand campers on the grounds. The Southern Minnesota Drug Task Force was out in numbers on Friday night in and around the small haven of Geneva. I heard that around fifty vehicles with young adults that were heading to the park were stopped and had their vehicles searched before they even entered the park. I don’t know if anything was confiscated, but I know that when the Claim to Fame Biker Rally is held every June at Harmony Park that the authorities never harass the bikers. My husband, Tom said that the merchants in Ellendale, Geneva and Clarks Grove welcome the revelers that come to gather at these music fests as they bring in much needed revenue. I don’t know why the cops are bothering to harass these music lovers as I saw no violence. The young people were very well mannered and polite. All had money to spend and while the grounds are very primitive, everyone did their best to keep order in the park. There were people openly smoking pot during the music fest and some people’s eyes looked like little slits and their faces were flushed from something that they ingested, but these people did no one any harm. I found that the people who abused alcohol were louder and were more difficult to be around. I don’t care for drugs or overindulgence of any kind, but clearly the war on drugs is not working.

My husband, Tom runs the bar at Harmony Park. He is affectionately called the Mayor. I don’t spend much time at Harmony Park as I stay home to spend time with Timmy and tend to things on the farm. Tom didn’t come home for four days during Harvest Fest. A woman, who is a nurse, let him use her RV. He was staying out there in comfort and style. Often he sleeps in his truck when he spends the night at the park, and when he returns home after a couple nights of those nights in his truck, he looks pretty rough and worn out. He still looked worn out after four nights of tending the bar, but at least he had slept well. My oldest four children, Dan, Mary, Bridget and Molly came to help Tom at the bar. All four of them said that they didn’t care for the grungie hippie attire that many of the revelers wore. That is the big thing for the Harvest Fest, the attire of the people that show up.

Many of the young women wear fairy wings over their tops, along with flowing skirts. The guys dress like pirates. I don’t know if they intend to look like pirates, but that is what they looked like to me. There were many people sporting dreadlocks and different colored hair. My daughter Bridget said that she would rather dress hip-hop style. My daughter, Mary’s friend came to work at the bar with her on Friday night and she commented that most of the people looked like he or she had just crawled out of bed because of the baggy, patchwork clothes and sack dresses that they were wearing.

Anyway, that is the best part of being out at Harmony Park, watching the people walk by in the grunge hippie wear that each has worked so hard putting together. In their own circles of where they reside, I am sure that they are considered odd for the way that he or she dresses. At Harmony Park they are finally considered normal looking at this tribal gathering that has a feeling of ancient times past

See you at the farmer’s market

My homemade lotions and salves are selling very well at the three farmers’markets I have been vending at. I made a dream salve before the full moon that helps a person to have nice dreams and sleep well. That sold out fast. I am making this salve by the moon cycles. I made the first batch by the full moon and will make the next batch on the new moon. I should have made more of it, but I didn’t know how well it would go over. It sold out bam. I also was experimenting making a heating lotion. It does work, only it looks like green baby poop. I’m using it myself as I think it is too ugly to sell.

This is such a busy time of year. My eleven-year-old son Timmy and I are going to pick pears and plums today. It is not easy getting to the pear tree. It is across the road from our house and on a hill and we have to walk through prickly trees to get to the pear tree. If we don’t get the pears today, I am afraid the cows will get through the fence and eat all of them. It is humid and I know that the pears are all ripe. The plums are beautiful this year. I flavored apple cider vinegar with the wild plums and added basil, fennel and rosemary to enhance it. I will strain off the plums and herbs in two weeks and then it will be ready to bottle and sell.

I am getting ready to go to the Farmers’ Market in Owatonna tomorrow. I missed it last week as it was raining. I can’t let the labels get wet that I have on my products as the ink runs and they get ruined. I was at the market there two weeks ago and set my table up by a woman that was soliciting people to sign a petition so she can open an animal shelter in Bixby, Minnesota. She was also selling sweet corn, tomatoes and watermelon. The people in charge of the Owatonna Farmers’ Market don’t like this woman, as her produce is clearly not from her farm. No one else is selling watermelon, as the summer has been so cold and overcast, that the melons are not
ripening. This woman also buys produce from other vendors who have questioned where her produce comes from and then she resells the produce from these vendors. This woman speaks nonstop about her cause to save the animals in Steele County. She also talks constantly about the many people who have done her wrong and the grudges she holds and how she is going payback this or that person. She has a gravelly voice from smoking, is small and wiry and has a constant companion of little Pomeranian dog. The dog is very well behaved and cute as can be. He is the best part about her but I am going to make sure that I don’t have my table near her this coming weekend.

This woman is an exception, as most of the vendors at the Farmer’s Markets are some of the most innovative and creative people around. At the Austin Farmers’ Market one of the vendors who has worked at Hormel Foods for thirty years sells beautiful potatoes, onions and cabbages. He is so proud of his large white baking potatoes. Every week he walks over to my table to show me how beautiful they are. They really are the most beautiful potatoes that I have seen at any market. He holds them carefully and is in awe that he actually grew such beautiful white potatoes.

I grew potatoes this year, but I am not selling them at the markets. If I had started selling my produce ten years ago at the markets, then I could sell my potatoes, but people seek out the same vendors every time that they come to the market and won’t buy from someone who is new. I have to build up my clientele and then they might purchase potatoes from me. I really don’t care, as I will eat my potatoes myself or give them to my children. The summer is ending quickly and I have only a few more weeks of selling at the farmers’ markets. It has been a lot of fun and I am learning so much.