2005 Fair Entertainment and Special Presentations

2005 Schedule of Events
2005 Entertainment Lineup
2005 Children's Entertainment

2005 Public Policy Teach-in
2005 Fiddler's Showcase

FRIDAY

Roving Performances by the Garden Parade, Trickster Fox, Sistermoon and Downeast Brass

9:15/Downeast Country Dance Assoc. - Dancing & Singing/SPA
10:00-ongoing /Judging entries in the Exhibition Hall
10:00/Amy Therrien/SS
10:00/Step in Time Cloggers/Amphitheater
10:00/Judging Vegetable Entries/Exhibition Hall
10:45/Hipchick Macrobiotic Cooking/Jessica Porter/CKD
11:00/Keynote Address-Spencer Aitel, Two Loons Farm: "Let them eat Cake," Changes in Politics & Policy of Agriculture/The Common
11:30/Cormack McCarthy/SS
12:00/Late for Work/Amphitheater
12:15/Potatoes for Tots from Field to Feast/Cathy Reynolds/CKD
12:30-12:45/Humble Farmer/SS
1:00/Paddy Mills/SS
1:30/Pat Colwell & the Soul Sensations/Amphitheater
1:45/Pressure Cooking Rice and Hands-on Sushi Rolling/Leslie Cummins/CKD
2:00/Vanessa Torres & Touching Ground/SS
3:00/RE Bell & Caberet Cowgirls/Amphitheater
3:00/Homemade Seitan/Wendy Karush/CKD
3:00/Sistermoon/SS
4:00/Mike Bennett & the Volvos/SS
4:30/Jason Spooner Band/Amphitheater
5:30/Food Awards/Results of Judging Food Vendors/SS
6:00/Mike Abbott Band/Amphitheater
7:30/Dave Wooley Band/Amphitheater

SATURDAY

Roving Performances by the Garden Parade, Bogstompers, Highland Mary Morris Dancers and the Cover Crops (without amplification).

9:30/Half Sour Pickles/Adam Tomash /CKD
10:00/King Pirogi/Amphitheater
10:00/Doug Morgan/SS
10:00/Harry S. Truman Manure Pitch for Distance--3 classes-limit 12 per class/Mike Tansey/HST
10:30/Wild Mushrooms/Greg Marley/CKD
11:00 ongoing/The Cover Crops (without amplification)/Amphitheater
11:00/Keynote Address/"Peak Oil - The End of Fossil Energy"/John Howe/ The Common
11:30/Anni Clark/SS
12:00/Inkawasi/Amphitheater
12:00/From Fruity Foccacia to Hearty Sourdough Bread/Glenn Smith/CKD
12:30-12:45/Humble Farmer/SS
1:00/Travis Cyr/SS
1:00/Public Policy Teach-In: Greening Maine Homes/Mike Belliveau, Evelyn deFrees, Richard Graves, Jon Hinck, /YEZ
1:00/Judging of Children's Apple Pie Contest/Exhib. Hall
1:30/Hip Chick Macrobiotic Cooking/Jessica Porter/CKD
1:30/Inanna/Amphitheater
2:00/Harry S. Truman Manure Pitch for Accuracy; 3 classes, 12 per class/Mike Tansey/HST
2:00/Juliane Gardiner/SS
2:30/Sugar-free Jams & Jellies/Roberta Bailey/CKD
3:00/Bill Shimarmura/SS
3:00/Tree by Leaf/Amphitheater
3:45/Dandelion Greens Galore/Wendy Karush/CKD
4:30/Kate Wegner & Chuck Donnelly/Amphitheater
4:30/Steve Bacon/SS
6:00/Tribe Describe/Amphitheater
6:00/Open Mike Starts/SS
8:30/Bonnie Edwards & the Practical Cats/Amphitheater

SUNDAY

Roving Performances by the Garden Parade, Bog Stompers, Martin Swinger, & The Maine Squeeze

6:45-7:45/Register for 5-K Foot Race/Race Tent/Rose Parking Lot 8:00/5-K Foot Race/Race Tent/Rose Parking Lot
9:30/Homemade Cheesemaking/Debbie Hahn/CKD
10:00/Horseshoe Toss/HST
10:00/Lynn Deeves/SS
10:00/Register for Fiddler's Showcase/Amphitheater
10:30/Fiddler's Showcase/Amphitheater
10:30/Sprouting Sprouts/Becca Smith/CKD
11:00/Keynote Address: Creating Sustainable Communities/Dennis Kucinich/The Common
11:30/Inkawasi/SS
12:00/Hip Chick Macrobiotic Cooking/Jessica Porter/CKD
12:00-1:30/Susan Balch, designer of 2005 Fair Artwork, will sign posters/CS
12:30-12:45/Humble Farmer/SS
1:00/A Conversation about Common Sense and the "real" Pursuit of Happiness./The Common
1:00/Bonnie & Pete Tucker/SS
1:00/Dave Mallet/Amphitheater
1:30/Homemade Wines/Jim Baranski/CKD
2:00/Tour the Tables with MOFGA's Vegetable Expert/CR Lawn/Exhib. Hall
2:00/Ellen Owre/SS
2:30/Celeriac and Its Uses/Roberta Bailey/CKD
2:30/Frigate/Amphitheater
3:30/Jessie Chazin/SS

2005 Children's Events

FRIDAY

ALL DAY/Demos for Children--See Sandwich Board Schedule; Arts & Crafts; Face Painting; and plenty of FUN/CA

10:00/Walt Whitman & Mrs. Moose/CA
10:15-10:30/Dress for Garden Parade/CA
10:30/Garden Parade/Roving Performance
11:00/Forestry for Kids/Barrie Brusila, Maine Forest Guild/LIF
12:00/Birds of Prey/Chris Coleman, Chewonki Foundation/ENV
12:00/Bob Nixon Magic Co/CA
12:15/Potatoes for Tots from Field to Feast/Cathy Reynolds/CKD
2:15-2:30/Dress for Garden Parade/CA
2:30/Garden Parade/Roving Performance
3:00/ Bob Nixon Magic Company/CA
4:00/Walt Whitman & Mrs. Moose/CA

SATURDAY

ALL DAY/Demos for Children--see Sandwich Board Schedule; Arts & Crafts; Face Painting; and plenty of FUN/CA

10:00/Papermaking/Richard Lee/CA
10:15-10:30/Dress for Garden Parade/CA
10:30/Garden Parade/Roving Performance
11:00/Maine Apple Adventure: Interactive Session/MAT
11:30/Reinaldo & Raven/CA
1:00/Judging of Children's Apple Pie Contest/Exhib. Hall
1:00/Sammie Haynes/CA
1:00/Maine Apple Adventure: Interactive Session/MAT
1:30/ Papermaking/Richard Lee/CA
2:15-2:30/Dress for Garden Parade/CA
2:30/Garden Parade/Roving Performance
2:30/Family Barn Dance/CA
4:00/Reinaldo & Raven/CA

SUNDAY

ALL DAY/Demos for Children -- see Sandwich Board Schedule; Arts & Crafts; Face Painting; and plenty of FUN/CA

10:00/Papermaking/Richard Lee/CA
10:15-10:30/Dress for Garden Parade/CA
10:30/Garden Parade/Roving Performance
11:00/Maine Apple Adventure: Interactive Session/MAT
11:30/Tricky Rick Magic/CA
1:00/ Papermaking/Richard Lee/CA
1:00/Maine Apple Adventure: Interactive Session/MAT
1:30/Inkawasi/CA
2:15-2:30/Dress for Garden Parade/CA
2:30/Garden Parade/Roving Performance
3:30/Mary Ukelady/CA

A Conversation about Common Sense and the "real" Pursuit of Happiness.

Maine humor and American vision at their best.

Henry Bascomb, a fair-minded humorist, portrayed by Chaitanya York, and Thomas Jefferson, a visionary futurist, portrayed by August Jaccaci. Henry is able to call Mr. Jefferson back from the year 2040 to tell us how it all turns out. Subjects include sustainability, Yankee frugality, government transparency...

Friday’s Keynote Speaker

Meet Your Local Farmer:
Spencer Aitel on Agricultural Policy and Politics

by Saima Sidik

Spencer Aitel, a dairy farmer, custom house builder and resident of China, Maine, will be Friday's keynote speaker at this year's Common Ground Country Fair.

The son of an aerospace engineer, Aitel's family spent his childhood moving from state to state. "I'm not really from anywhere," Aitel says. His introduction to Maine came in 1973, when he began his studies at Colby College in Waterville.

After college, Aitel and his partner, Paige Tyson, moved to China, Maine, and set out to grow as much of their own food as possible. Aitel did carpentry on the side while they both worked to grow vegetables, raise livestock and log their woods with their one draft horse, Amos.

"We got our first cow in 1980," says Aitel. "One of the last food groups we were trying to supply ourselves with was dairy products." However, one cow doesn't give a constant supply of milk. Aitel and Tyson got two more cows and graduated to a milking machine so that they could have milk all year. Three cows, however, often provided an excess of milk, which they started giving to neighbors and selling locally on a very small scale.

Aitel and Tyson continued to sell vegetables as they had been doing, but this was labor-intensive work with few rewards. They were getting only a couple of dollars for each crate of tomatoes that they shipped to the Boston market, when the crate itself cost them 50 cents. When Peter and Bunny Flint, owners of The Organic Cow of Vermont, came to Maine looking for organic milk to buy, Aitel was quite happy to make the transition to organic dairy farming.

Aitel and Tyson ran their farm organically from the beginning, although they didn't bother to become certified until they began supplying the Flints. "We had no interest in chemical farming," Aitel says. "We grew food the way we'd want our own food to be grown."

When he's not farming, Aitel constructs custom-designed, energy-efficient houses. Extra insulation gives his houses the capacity to store extra heat, and good ventilation helps keep the air clean. Energy-efficient living fits well with Aitel and Tyson's lifestyle, and Aitel says he likes to think of his construction projects as an extension of his philosophy toward farming.

Aitel and Tyson's Two Loons Farm now has a herd of 150 registered Jerseys, about 70 of which are milkers, and helps supply CROPP Coop, which supplies Stonyfield Farms Organic Yogurt and Organic Valley milk. They work 250 acres of cropland, which feeds the herd and supplies FEDCO Seeds with some grain seed. Amos, their first draft horse, still lives on the farm but is "very much retired."

Aitel says that Tyson has been integral to the farm since it began. "When I say 'I', I mean 'we,'" he says, making it clear that Tyson deserves as much credit as he does.

The title of Aitel's keynote speech is, "Let Them Eat Cake--Changes in Politics and Policy of Agriculture."

Saturday’s Keynote Speaker

John Howe:
The End of Fossil Energy and a Plan for Sustainability

John Howe has a plan to get us through "the most important problem ever to face civilization"--the period after "peak oil." Peak oil is the point at which we've used half the earth's oil, after which less oil is available, extraction is more difficult, and prices escalate. Howe will present his "Five Percent Plan" plan in his keynote speech on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 11 a.m. at the Common Ground Country Fair. It is also in his book, The End of Fossil Energy: The Last Chance for Sustainability, and at www.doctorsandpopulation.org/html/howe_plan.html.

Howe notes, "We use 1 billion barrels of oil every 11 days in the world. One-fourth of that goes to the United States, with one-twentieth of the population. Half of the oil used in the United States goes for gasoline alone. In fact, the U.S. uses half of the world's gasoline, about 400 million gallons per day in the U.S."--a little under 1.5 gallons per U.S. person per day.

Howe grew up on a farm, was vice president of engineering in a Fortune 500 company division, then moved with his wife, Debbie, to a 175-acre farm in Maine in 1980, "to investigate self-sufficiency during the peak of the Cold War." Since then his Howe Engineering Company has made bicycle-powered generators and other products. He's built a 13 hp, solar-powered Farmall Cub tractor that plows and harrows, doesn't need gasoline, doesn't need 2000 pounds of hay and grain each year like a team of horses or oxen, doesn't pollute the air, loves sunshine, and goes up to 12 miles per hour. (See www.mcintirepublishing.com/publishingservices/energybook/ch8video.)

Howe says that Common Ground Fairgoers generally understand that "the party based on prehistoric fossil energy is peaking now" and that conservation and simpler lifestyles are necessary, so he'll only briefly update "the dire situation." Then he'll discuss misguided panaceas, such as biofuels and hydrogen, which delude the public into believing all will be okay, he says.

Finally he'll address personal action--"the things many of you already know about, such as living off the grid, driving a hybrid or smaller fuel-efficient vehicle, planting a garden … but these won't have much effect even if all fairgoers participated. Our best and only hope is for the masses to understand fossil energy depletion as a worldwide crisis and spread the word. We need many voices to reach our politicians. Our government (right and left) has been avoiding the subject of fossil fuel depletion for the last 50 years," except briefly during the Carter administration. "Now we desperately need leadership. We're all in this lifeboat together, and we're about to sink."

Howe says that Maine will have to feed much of New England as oil runs out. We now use at least 10 kilocalories of energy to produce 1 kilocalorie of food energy, and food travels thousands of miles to supermarkets, so "we're eating fossil energy." Because agriculture and remaining fossil fuels will be needed to produce food, Howe does not see bioenergy from corn or soy as viable for fueling cars.

To bridge the time between the end of peak oil and adoption of simpler lifestyles, Howe believes that the remaining fossil energy should be rationed, possibly for 150 years, in order to have enough energy to adjust to renewable sources of power. His visions include:

1. Reducing energy consumption about 5% a year, starting immediately.

2. Using existing centralized generating systems (power stations) and electricity grids, which can blend remaining fossil fuels with expanding renewable sources.

3. Building decentralized (distributed) solar energy systems (electrical and heating) into all new and existing homes, so that each home is an independent power plant supplying electricity for residential use, transportation and microfarming.

4. Drastically downscaling travel and movement of goods, ultimately having electric personal and mass transportation. Now, 95% of our transportation energy comes from oil.

5. Saving precious fossil fuel for agriculture, national defense, municipal fuel, important mass transportation, plastics, paint and other uses in order to buy enough time to develop new energy sources while still having the infrastructure of a functioning society. We should save the equivalent of 200 billion barrels of oil in the next 50 years to ration over the following 100 years, giving us time to adjust lifestyles and reduce population on a planned and orderly basis.

6. Our remaining finite supply of fossil fuels is needed to make the transition to sustainability. Fossil fuels make possible the infrastructure to make solar cells, windmill blades, and continued research and development of new energy sources.

The second printing of Howe's 125-page book, The End of Fossil Energy (McIntire Publishing, 2005), will be available at the Fair or for a $10 donation (shipping included) from Howe at 298 McIntire Rd., Waterford ME 04088; (207) 583-4800; howe@megalink.net.

Sunday’s Keynote Speaker

Rep. Dennis Kucinich:
Creating Sustainable Communities

The youngest elected mayor of Cleveland (and of any major U.S. city), a phenomenal comeback in politics, a presidential candidate, one of the first public figures to see through and lambaste the emperor's cloak of weapons of mass destruction, a tireless advocate for a federal Department of Peace, and a vegan: Fifth-term U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich is unique. His "Prayer for America" speech in Los Angeles in February 2002 inspired tens of thousands of emails. He toured the United States, warning about the dangers of attacking a nation that did not attack us and predicting hundreds of billions of dollars wasted, countless lives lost, and America's credibility in the world severely undermined by a war in Iraq. Today he insists on U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Kucinich advocates for a cabinet-level Department of Peace and for nonviolence as an organizing principle within our society, believing that peace is inevitable, if we work for it. His vision of the world as interconnected and interdependent fuels a search for commonalities, points where unity can form. The Unites States should rejoin the world, support principles of international law, sign international treaties, and thus help build the cause of human unity, he believes.

Kucinich supports Universal Health Care, a full employment economy, fully-paid tuition at public colleges and universities, repealing the Patriot Act, developing biofuels as alternative energy, restoring America's basic manufacturing infrastructure, and having NASA develop basic research for civil aeronautics.

Kucinich first came to national prominence in 1977, when the then 31-year-old was elected mayor of Cleveland. In 1978, Cleveland's banks demanded that he sell the city's municipally-owned electric system to its private competitor (in which the banks had a financial interest) before the banks would extend credit to city government. Kucinich refused, the banks plunged the city into default, and Kucinich lost his 1979 re-election bid-but 15 years later, he won election to the Ohio Senate after expanding Cleveland's light system to provide low-cost power to almost half the residents of the city. In 1998, the Cleveland City Council honored him for his "courage and foresight to refuse to sell the city's municipal electric system."

Born in Cleveland in 1946, Kucinich is the eldest of seven children. He and his family lived in 21 places, including a couple of cars, by the time he was 17 years old. "I live each day with a grateful heart and a desire to be of service to humanity," he says.

Kucinich advocates for the social and economic interests of his Cleveland, Ohio, district. He is leading a civic crusade to save Cleveland's 90-year-old steel industry and its thousands of jobs and retiree benefits. He led a powerful citizens' movement that reopened two neighborhood hospitals. He helped improve railroad safety. He advocates for the homeless.

Congressman Kucinich has been honored by Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, and others for acting on his belief that protecting the global environment is fundamental to preserving all species. He has long criticized nuclear power and supported the Clean Air Act. A congressional representative to the global climate treaty talks, he encouraged America to lead the way toward a sustainable, shared stewardship of the planet through carbon reduction and investment in alternative energy technologies.

Kucinich is one of the few vegans in Congress, a diet he credits with improving his health and deepening his belief in the sacredness of all species. In the 106th Congress, his call for labeling and safety testing of all genetically engineered foods provoked a $50 million advertising campaign by the biotech industry. Kucinich hosted an international parliamentary session on the social, economic, political and health impacts of genetic food technologies. More recently, as a principal speaker at an international conference on water rights, he called for governments to reserve public ownership of water resources.

He has been recognized for advocating for human rights in Burma, Nigeria and East Timor. He and the late Rep. Joe Moakley led a concerted effort to close the School of the Americas, an incubator of human rights violations in Central America. On the eve of the World Trade Organization's Seattle conference, Rep. Kucinich organized 114 Democrats to help convince President Clinton to seek human rights, workers rights and environmental quality principles as preconditions in all U.S. trade agreements. Kucinich marched with workers through Seattle protesting WTO policies and with students through Washington, D.C., challenging policies of the International Monetary Fund.

Recipient of the 2003 Gandhi Peace Award, Kucinich will address Common Ground Fair attendees on Sunday, Sept. 25, at 11 a.m. in the Common-with his new fiancée, Elizabeth Harper, in attendance. His topic will be Creating Sustainable Communities

For more information about Rep. Kucinich, see www.kucinich.us.

Saturday Public Policy Teach-in:
Making Healthier Homes

1:00 to 2:30--Greening Maine Homes-- Mike Belliveau, Annie Bond, Evelyn deFrees, Richard Graves, Jon Hinck, and moderator Alice Torbert Percy.

In the YEZ tent across from the Children's Area

More than 80,000 synthetic chemicals pervade our air, water and soils, the building materials in our houses and the products our familes use every day. Most of these are untested, and many, including chemicals found in such diverse products as plastic baby bottles, cosmetics and the linings of food cans, have been associated with serious human diseases and disabilities, including genital malformation, infertility, hyperactivity and cancers. How can we better protect our homes and our families from playing toxic roulette? This is the focus of MOFGA's Public Policy Teach-in on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at the YEZ tent.

Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, and organizer of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, will introduce the discussion of recent national studies of "body burden"--chemicals routinely found in human tissue and blood--and the implications of these chemical loads for human health. A recent Environmental Working Group study found 297 chemicals in umbilical cord blood of 10 randomly selected newborns. These included mercury, brominated flame retardants, pesticides and perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs), which are key to such products as Scotchgard and Teflon. Of the 297, previous research indicates that 180 are likely carcinogens and that more than 200 can cause birth defects.

Evelyn deFrees, project director of the Learning Disabilities Association of Maine (LDAME), will discuss the connection between recent increases in learning disabilities and exposure to toxic chemicals during fetal and early childhood development. The LDAME has just completed an informative brochure entitled "Healthy Homes and Families" with tips for Maine families that ensure a healthier diet, tell what products to avoid, and tell how to find safer substitutes for commonly used toxic products. Copies of the brochure will be available at the Teach-in.

Finally, Jon Hinck, activist and toxics attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, will address the need for fundamentally rethinking our national and state policies regarding chemical development, testing and use in consumer products. He'll discuss the work of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine in furthering this agenda. "We hope and expect that fairgoers who attend our teach-in will leave it with a sense of empowerment and optimism," commented MOFGA's Public Policy Committee Chair Sharon Tisher, "knowing that they can take charge and defend their families, their homes and their communities from the invasion of poorly tested and hazardous chemicals from 'away.'"

Join in the 2005 Fiddlers' Showcase

Sunday -- Starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Amphitheater

Registration at 10:00 a.m.

Common Ground Country Fair
PO Box 170
Unity, ME 04988
Phone: 207-568-4142
Fax: 207-568-4141
Email: cgcf@mofga.org