Scenes from the Farm-to-Fork Festival

Yesterday we had a scary event with Skipper. When we rescued him over a year ago, we knew he was old, at least 12 years old, and probably abandoned which breaks my heart. And the long list of health problems the vet found was scary – diabetes, erratic heart beat, possibly tumors causing other blood sugar issues, blindness, weak leg muscles, etc. Poor guy! Don’t feel too bad for him, he’s been living the spoiled good life with us eating multiple meals a day and getting insulin to treat his diabetes, lots of walks, and he gets to spend all day with hubby working from home.

But last night as he was heading into the kitchen for his insulin shot, he stopped and his rear end slowly sank to the ground. Then his front half sank sideways down and he seemed to have no energy to get up. For the next 15 minutes while we sat with him, his breathing was very erratic and labored and he just couldn’t move and couldn’t lift his head. I carefully relocated him to his comfy bed and he seemed fine a few minutes later, alert, could stand and walk, and was fine on his walk later. Strange! Possibly a stroke? Heart attack? But he seems back to his normal self today.

And resting in his favorite hammock bed after getting a bath. I’m thankful he’s fine now, but it was a reminder that life can change so quick!

After hitting the gym and catching up on a little house work, I headed to the Sacramento Farm-to-Fork Festival today to take in the scenes and it was packed!

Tons of booths, food trucks, wine and beer tasting, live bands, food demos, etc.

First stop was the Chili Smith Heirloom Bean stand where I grabbed a few packages of new beans to try in our pressure cooker and slow cooker for the winter.

Next to their stand was their food booth serving vegan bean chili in a pretzel cone – fun!

There were tons of food trucks and many not vegan or health friendly at all, ugh.

I found one with a vegetarian option and LOL at calling it the Prius.

If they had a vegan option, it could be called the LEAF or, better yet, Model S. :-)

Whole Foods had a booth, of course.

With tomato, local soda, and local honey sampling and giving out free organic seed packs.

And pistachio samples, mmm!

I just thought this chihuahua was cute.

And this scene at a winery booth looked like fall heaven.

There was a lot of wine and beer tasting options. Tempting, but I had to drive home.

And this cool display of warehouse pallets converted into vertical gardens.

Water sustainability was a hot topic with our massive drought this year.

And UC Davis students were assembling cute little fresh herb bouquets for visitors.

Lots of educational booths that were fascinating and cool to see families engaged in.

More fall produce porn.

And a pretty display from the California Rice Commission.

Another dog, I just liked snapping pics of dogs today I guess.

And this cutie in the petting zoo area that I felt sorry for.

Solar cooking booth.

California Dates sampling, yum.

And ramen noodle dishes in a burrito – creative.

And vegan friendly too!

Had to go to the farmer’s market!

And would have bought a ton of squash if I didn’t have to lug it back to my car blocks away.

Mmmm, fresh pasta.

And kitchen gadgets.

It was a fun event that I powered through in about 2 hours. I could have easily spent more time and money tasting wine, eating, and listening to music. But I’m also glad to be back at home to have my own glass of wine while going through my loot!