Seattle Celebrates Local Food and Urban Farming at 25th Annual Harvest Fair

Where else can you press apples into cider and learn to make cheese while listening to live music outdoors? Seattle Tilth’s Harvest Fair invites you to do all that and more at Seattle’s local food and urban farming festival! The 25th annual Harvest Fair is on Saturday, September 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Meridian Park.

The Harvest Fair is a lively event with workshops, demonstrations, family activities and tasty food. See urban goats and chickens, talk to beekeepers and cheese makers, swap seeds and barter home made goods! Local organic farm stands will be abundant and overflowing with fresh produce at the height of harvest season. Stock-up on native and edible plants, local books, garden supplies, farm crafts and sustainable goods.

Workshops and demos include yoga for gardeners, fermenting foods, natural dyes, seed saving, making mozzarella cheese, edible mushrooms and cooking demonstrations. Food donations are being collected for the food bank at the BEET Hunger booth.

Activities include:

• Raffle to win a chicken coop, beekeeping starter kit or year’s supply of Organic Valley milk
• Seed swap
• Cider pressing
• Urban livestock area
• DIY herb crowns
• Barter hosted by Backyard Barter (11 a.m.-1 p.m.)
• Kids crafts in the children’s garden
• Organic farmer’s market
• Sustainable vendors
• Kids' parade
• Live music from Slap and Tickle, Mostly Water, Creepin' Critters, Holy Crows, Bucharest Drinking Team and Nyamuziwa Marimba

Readers to Eaters will present regional authors discussing their books in our speaker’s tent. Authors include:

• Colin McCrate, Food Grown Right in Your Backyard
• Jill Lightener, Edible Seattle Cookbook
• Larry Korn, English editor of Masanobu Fukuoka's Sowing Seeds in the Desert
• Pat Tanumihardja, Asian Grandmother's Cookbook

Known for teaching people to grow food organically and conserve natural resources, Seattle Tilth brings together over 50 participating organizations and businesses for this annual community event. Key sponsors include Organic Valley, PCC Natural Markets, New Roots Organics, Bastyr Center for Natural Health and Seattle Seed Company. Media sponsors include KUOW and Chinook Book. The Harvest Fair is a kick-off for Washington Organic Week.

Volunteers are needed to help make it all happen and volunteering is a fun way to get involved and meet people. Admission is FREE but donations are accepted at the entrance to help cover event costs. See you at the Harvest Fair!