We had an incredible time at the Homestead Festival. It was our first time attending and the whole weekend stands out as remarkable and so special. We ran the Gather & Grow Booth booth, Rory and Ivar both spoke, and mostly we met or reconnected with a lot of really fantastic people.
I didn’t know how I’d put it all into words, so I asked the family, “When you think of our time in Tennessee what stands out, what was your favorite part?”
For me, I knew my answer was staying in the Feek’s farmhouse. They graciously let us have their house for the festival, which was such a blessing for me as a mom to have a home base, a place to nap my two-year-old and a place to meet up for meals and snacks. Elsie said her favorite was the same because she loved that each night we got to listen to the music from the back porch and hang out with friends in the living room.
Rory’s favorite part was the feedback he received after he gave his talk on the family economy. There was a steady line at our booth the rest of the day and he had conversations with so many families that felt stirred and wanted to share their story. That is a real encouragement to us when we can tell the message resonated.
Another highlight of the weekend was meeting David and Kimberly, owners of Azure Standard, a food distributor that delivers bulk and organic foods. David has a book coming out this fall about the beginnings of this company and when I heard their story I asked if I could be their hype girl. It’s a rare multigenerational family economy! So it was fun to get to know each other. They’re the real deal.
Meanwhile, Ivar was having one of his favorite parts of the weekend. He met Greg Judy, a pioneer in rotational grazing and a real hero of his. Greg asked if he’d like to have dinner and every time I looked over these two looked like they had been old friends. Ivar even had his notebook out and was taking notes on raising sheep.
Ivar’s other highlight was speaking on the father-son panel with Joel and Daniel Salatin and Shawn and Luke Dougherty. These are amazing farmers and fathers, all of them, and it was an honor to be alongside them.
Alden said his favorite part was the corn pit and the bouncy barn. The kids were in that area most of the weekend.
Tremendous rain storms came both afternoons of the festival with booming thunder and heavy downpours. It meant that there were some great puddles, more like ponds, and mud pits. While many staff and volunteers were towing cars out of the parking field with tractors, there were many kids living their best life. Elias was the first to answer when I asked what everyone’s favorite part of the Homestead Festival was. He yelled, “playing in the muddy lake!”
It was a wonder to watch how even the “worst case scenario” of weather and storms turned into the greatest of memories.
Abel was the last to answer my question as I had to go track him down in the house. He thought about it for a moment and then answered with full enthusiasm, “The tow truck pulling Oceanus!”
Which was the perfect answer leading to another story for another day…
