I went last year and it was fabulous. It was in Lawrence last year and I attended both days. In the week prior to attending, I downloaded the schedule of workshops and highlighted the ones I wanted to attend, so when I arrived at the fair, I already had my weekend pretty much mapped out. What I found was that there was SOOOO much information being thrown at me that my brain got tired from taking it all in and I wound up skipping a couple of the workshops I had on my list because I was so tired and needed a veg breakThey had a really wide range of topics from animal husbandry to alternative energy to alternative health. I attended workshops most on things we are not already doing, as a form of research for what we might want to do in the future. For example, I didn't attend any of the chicken raising workshops because they were all geared towards getting started and I felt I had the basics down already. However I did attend Joel Salatin's processing demo. Although I'd also been processing for years, I'd learned it from YouTube and was interested to see someone doing it "live". He did provide a few tips that helped me tighten up my process so it was definitely worth it. Plus he was selling all the equipment you might possibly need and I got my turkey cone from him after the workshop.
I also attended some workshops on alternative energy as DH wanted me to look into what is possible for us. And I went to one on food preservation as well. They had a lot of vendors selling various wares and I got tons of heirloom seeds, mostly for $1/packet. They almost all did well in my garden this year.
The main thing lacking was availability of food. There were no food vendors except the sanctioned MEN cafeteria which was expensive. Also, there were no drink vendors except the cafeteria either and they only had bottled health drinks. All I wanted was water and there was NO water to be found anywhere at the fair - no drinking fountains, no-one selling bottled water. I didn't want their flavored health drinks so I wound up leaving the fair and walking into town to buy a bottle of water. Lesson learned. That night I stayed in a motel and next morning stopped at a convenience store on my way back to the fair, to arm myself with snacks and water for the second day.
I've looked at the list of speakers for this year and see several on there that I attended workshops from last year and can highly recommend. I also attended two workshops where the speakers may well have known their stuff but were not good speakers. I note that neither of them has been invited back this year so perhaps I'm not the only one who felt that way.
Oh - funny story. While waiting for one workshop to start, I got to chatting with the guy sitting next to me. He talked about how the MEN fairs have all been in locations he has previously lived so he has attended fairs all over the country. I really enjoyed conversing with him (which if anyone knows me, I am an introvert and usually don't appreciate people next to me striking up conversations). Anyway, the workshop got started and the speaker said he'd like to thank Bryan Welch, the editor of MEN for his tireless efforts to get the fair started in KS, and everyone applauded and I realized they were all looking at the guy sitting next to me!!! All that time I thought I was just chatting to another fair attendee and instead he was the one responsible for it happening!
Thought you all might enjoy pics of my new LGD puppy. He's a sweetie and doing well, staying out with the stock.
@HEChicken
Yes, I agree. The reviews seem pretty authentic. If you read them they paint an honest picture of what you can expect from the results (mixed) and the customer support from the seller (excellent and responsive).
I'm dying of curiosity about Red. He's a BIG dog. Of course with the chicken trauma yesterday, we are going to have to change the rules about yard access, but we will work it out. I'll just have to supervise him more closely, and he is such a slug-a-bed that he doesn't spend much time outside anyway.
Sharol, Red is still young. I am guessing he was bored because you weren't home and played too hard. I'd continue monitoring him with a shock collar. I think that is a mistake a lot of people do. They give up on first offense. Keep shocking him and give him exposure to the chickens while you can watch him and zap him good if he even looks cross eyed at them. I think you'll be able to tell in a short time if it was a mistake out of boredom or a one time whoops. I couldn't tolerate a dog that killed chickens but we make mistakes and so do they.
Thanks for the encouragement. That is the plan. I think you are right about being bored. I've been monitoring him this morning, and he doesn't seem interested in anything but their poo.
e winter in NOT my favorite season!! {{SHIVER}} We've had such massive temperature swings that I've noticed a number of my animals sneezing. 
