Maine’s only organic-focused agricultural fair kicks off on Friday.
The Common Ground Country Fair in Unity is a chance to see demonstrations of farming skills, buy from local farmers and artists, enter vegetables in the exhibition hall, hear Maine music and eat farm-fresh meals.
But the fair’s full program of talks and events also offers deep dives into obscure agricultural and sustainability skills from experts across Maine, showing the dimensions of the state’s homesteading scene.
Here’s just a sampling of the more unique, topical and eccentric offerings you’ll be able to catch at this year’s fair.
Livestock
Skijoring, a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled behind a horse, has grown in Maine. It’s also possible with a miniature horse or donkey — and Megan Harmon and Rebecca Platz, experts from southern Maine, can teach you how, starting at 4 p.m. Friday in the show ring.
If your horse is sore from the exercise, multiple talks will cover Magnawave massage for it, which uses electromagnetic pulses.
Mainers seemingly can’t get enough of backyard chickens, and a Saturday talk by Crystal Sands will dive into how to make that relationship more sustainable — financially, and personally. Sands also founded the journal “Farmer-ish” on her Eddington homestead in 2020.
“They can help save you money and become good friends and partners,” the event description reads.
Or learn all about goat horns — from why the animals have them in the wild to debates around removing them from livestock — from Sherri Talbot at the same time in the livestock tent. Hawthorn and Thistle Farm in Washington will give talks about using goats as pack animals. Or, learn from Belfast researcher Shana Hanson about how to use dried tree branches as livestock feed, a historical method that Hanson has said can be more reliable than hay.
Forestry
Several talks throughout the fair will focus on traditional Maine woods activities in a sustainable way. There’s “Forestry for birds” and “Forestry for Maine fish” on Friday and Saturday, respectively, starting at 4 p.m.
The first talk by Maine Audubon staff will teach you how to assess a woodlot for bird habitat and learn how to manage it accordingly; the state is an internationally important breeding ground for forest birds, according to the organization. The fish talk explains how forestry practices can improve habitat for wild brook trout and Atlantic salmon, which need cold, clear water to survive. Maine is the “last stronghold” for these populations, the organization said.
Or, watch carpenter and teamster David Cox shape a custom yoke for draft animals at 10 a.m. on Friday in the round tent.
Adventurous carpenters can learn how to safely carve with a machete at 2 p.m. Friday in the do-it-yourself tent.
Gardening
Growing ginger in Maine isn’t easy, but it’s possible, and Villageside Farm in Freedom gives a talk on how at 10 a.m. Sunday in the hayloft tent.
Kids can learn to churn butter at 10:50 a.m. on Friday in the kids tent.
Chestnuts are also having a moment as groups in Maine and around the country try to bring back these nut trees from the blight that has wiped many of them out. Multiple times throughout the weekend, the state chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation demonstrates how to roast them in the agricultural demo area.
All that gardening means a need for fertilizer. The fair turns waste from its composting toilets into “humanure,” and volunteers will talk about how they manage it at 11 a.m. each day in the orchard’s tool shed.
The Common Ground Country Fair at the MOFGA fairgrounds in Unity runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. that Sunday. Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the gates.