Things I Love . . . Farm Aid & The South

Hello Friends!

Aaah Willie – well done! As expected Farm Aid ROCKED! I’m declaring it my new favorite festival – not only was the music great, but the people supporting the event were some of the most genuine down to earth folks I’ve met all tour. There were many farmers and their children making the day extra special – having my roots tied to a small farming town in South Dakota the purpose of the festival hit home. I think their website says it well when it states, “Farm Aid stands up for the most resourceful, heroic Americans–the family farmers who work the land.” To learn more about all that Farm Aid continues to do for family farmers check them out at http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.2723595/k.EE67/Family_Farmer....

We enjoyed an awesome day with perfect festival conditions, all of which definitely got us into the right mindset to move south . . . next stop Charlottesville, VA. What a NICE store . . . nice in so many respects, but mostly because of the people! I’m still talking about them and the warm welcome we received – Sandy, hope your daughter’s delivery went smoothly and you’re enjoying your new grandchild at this very moment! And speaking of nice people, we picked up a new crew member while we were at Farm Aid – Amber from Vermont! One of our recent additions, Megan, is taking leave for about a month to finish a variety of projects affiliated with the Masters she just received from NYU. We are fortunate enough to have Amber fill-in, who brings an attitude and wisdom to the bus that is inspiring to us all. Amber works fulltime at Way Out Wax, a hand-crafted candle company in Morrisville, VT. The company, which I knew little about before meeting her, is completely in line with the triple-bottom line businesses that are a part of the Conscious Goods Alliance – not to mention the candles are beautiful! To find out more about Way Out Wax check out their website at http://www.wayoutwax.com/index.html. GREAT to have you here Amber!!

We’ve been in the DC area for the past couple of weeks and will be staying here through Green Fest before cutting back across the country. We’ve already had a great time – met some super nice people in Bethesda that invited us to hangout for a night and enlightened us about Unitarianism, fascinating! Hopefully we’ll see them again . . . Blair! We were able to enjoy some of Virginia’s breathtaking beauty while camping in the Shenandoah Valley and touring some 7 million year old caverns! My highlights though have been kids!! In Vienna Ann, from Whole Foods marketing, arranged to have a group of children from the Lego Robotics Club at Louise Archer Elementary visit the bus – we had so much fun! Thanks for all the great questions and your enthusiasm about alternative energies – bet you’ll take first at your robotics competition! Lastly, we met some charming and beautiful Bolivian children whose family runs the laundry mat we were at in Falls Church two nights ago – we had each other laughing all night. Great to meet you Diana and Christian! Aaah, the things that make this job amazing!

Hope life is treating you all kind!
Much love,
Nikki