Huge Tag Sale!

For this holiday weekend, I have planned a twofer of themed festivals and a farm camping experience that promises convenient, cheap accommodation with environmental value-added. Dubbed "Garlic and Gaelic," this minibreak is intended to provide me, Karin, and Ann some good food, fun times, many musical interludes, and maybe—just maybe—a bit of relaxation.

After more than our share of delays this morning (surprisingly, none due to the numerous self-professed HUGE TAG SALES that line Vermont's Route 9, which never were huge by our estimation), Karin expertly piloted us to the Garlic and Herb Festival in Bennington (c'mon, everybody say it: "Where Vermont begins!") midafternoon. We all agreed that "Garlic" was a bust—it totally didn't live up to its website description—but the garlic ice cream and garlic kettle corn were surprisingly good. We don't regret attending but wouldn't recommend it or go back.

To round out the anticlimactic Garlic Festival experience, I took uninspiring pictures of the Battle Monument (at 302 feet, the tallest structure in Vermont, sez the AAA guide, but I was too far away), then we piled back into the car. We traveled about 2 hours northeast to South Royalton (about as central in Vermont as you can get), which would be our home away from home for 2 nights.

Four Springs Farm is a working organic farm and CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture—a way for customers to purchase a share of the farmer's harvest before the growing season begins and receive harvested produce through summer and fall) where owner-farmer Jinny Cleland grows vegetables, berries, herbs, and bedding and ornamental plants; raises pasture-raised laying chickens, meat chickens, and turkeys (Bourbon Reds and another); offers educational programs; runs an off-season bakery; and rents space to tenters or even offers "farm vacations" to families or groups. The farm was a nice alternative to the usual campground, and Jinny is a wealth of information!