Mormon Helping Hands Day!

We had an opportunity to volunteer at the Earth Day Arts and Family Festival today! It was a Stake wide service project. We put on some yellow vests and spent the morning walking around Old Town telling people about it and passing out flyers. They had tons of booths that focused on conservation, gardening, recycling and tons more. They had booths to teach people how to make your own compost, save rain water, use and buy recycled material, planting flowers that are native, the list goes on. They had tons of hybrid, smart cars and electric cars that you could sit in. The Armory Center for the Arts also opened its doors and offered crafts, movies and live music. There was live music outside with dancers and Japanese drummers. They had delicious food and other booths for kids, including a School Bus turned into a woodshop just for kids.

My favorite booth was the Gardening one. If you watched the Oprah Earth Day special, there was a family from Pasadena featured on the show. They were there! They took 1/10 of an acre(front and back yard) and grew over 6,000 pounds of food last year. Everything is either edible, medicinal or used to promote their own bees. All the food they don’t use is sold to local restaurants and neighbors. They have chickens, ducks, bees and goats. Their roofs are covered with solar panels, they use rain water for irrigation, and even have an outdoor solar shower. I was fascinated with their toilet sink, the water they use to wash their hands flushes the toilet. They also collect oil from restaurants and use it to fuel their bio-diesel car. It was very informative and lots of fun.