Booth at Homesteader Festival

Alacrates's picture

I've been away from the forum here for a little bit, was busy preparing for a booth at a local DIY Homesteader Festival that was held last weekend.

I don't know much about homesteading overall, but they had followed my instagram account that is pretty much the little projects I do, and asked me if I wanted to have a booth at the festival, and do demonstrations throughout the weekend.

It was a pretty great little festival, so many interesting & knowledgeable people, the closest thing to a green wizards gathering that I've ever been to.

I didn't get to any of the workshops they were offering, pretty much stayed at my booth and talked with people, but maybe next year. They had so many topics, just a few: cheese making, mushroom growing, hempcrete, cloth dying, permaculture, water harvesting, sheep shearing, hegelkultur, alpacas, blacksmithing, basket weaving, and other.

I'll post a few pictures of what I set up there, pretty much just the projects that I did for Transition Winnipeg for the last few years, a few of them I've posted on the forums here before: biochar stoves, geopolymer concrete, concrete with biochar, lye making, models of a composting toilet set-up and a compost heat recovery system, and a few energy-saving food prep devices, a solar dehydrator, solar oven, and haybox cooker.

I had a number of books by the projects they inspired, and of course a copy of Green Wizardry front and centre. A lot of people were writing down the titles to look up later.

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Alacrates's picture

Solar dehydrator, solar oven, and haybox cooker, and the "Fireless Cookery" book recommended in Green Wizardry.

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The two biochar producing wok stoves I've posted about, a few smaller ones, and a mortar & pestle idea I had for crushing biochar (that doesn't work that well yet, haha.)

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I kept busy between conversations by making a few buckets of char, while heating water for coffee and cooking supper over the heat.

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Booth. My mom painted the sign & made the green tablecloth for me. One of her crafts is to paint fall or winter scenes on old fence boards.

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Compost Water Heater Model

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I plumbed in a little outdoor shower, on the side of one of the composting toilet set-ups they had built. Thinking of adding a compost heater and a solar batch water heater on the inlet for next year possibly.

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Blueberry's picture

That is one impressive booth

Alacrates's picture

Thanks Blueberry!

David Trammel's picture

Well done indeed. Where did you get the play size recycling trash cans btw, love them.

Alacrates's picture

Thanks! Its been a few years since I made that, I can't quite remember, it was a toy company of some sort, I think I saw something like it at Toys R Us that gave me the idea to make up a model. It was basically of the system that was preferred by Dan Chiras in his book "The Scoop on Poop". He as a sustainable building school and has set up a bunch of systems for his students to learn from, and apparently a specialty toilet, dropping down into the wheeled garbage bins in the maintenance room was his favorite, I tried to capture all the little details in my model. People at the fest certainly like the miniature size of the cans etc.

Justin Patrick Moore's picture

you get the Green Wizard's Guild, Public Information Officer, Outreach Award! As others have said, well done, and thank you for your service in being of service to others, by bringing them a taste of appropriate tech & green wizardry.

Alacrates's picture

Thanks Justin! I will wear the medal with pride :P

That is a really amazing display.

Alacrates's picture

Thanks Sophie!