I was hanging out at the Homer Farmers Market with a guest of mine when I happened to overhear one of the vendors talking with a customer about living off the grid. I have always admired Paul and Jen with WillGrow Farm for their off-the-grid lifestyle. Now I can add Dave & Delynn with Riverview Honey to that list.

Living off the grid is certainly possible, but it isn’t easy. You need to plan a methodology for creating your energy, your water, your heat, your light, your refrigeration, and everything else you want to have in your life.

You have to plan. You have to live consciously.

Planning and preparing for the future are skills that any farmer needs to have. Even if they don’t live off the grid, they will still have to plan methods for growing, varieties to grow, quantities to strive for.

And these are the kind of skills kids can put into practice this weekend, August 26th, at the Farmers Market Zucchini Festival.

Once you’ve picked your zucchini, you will then need to plan and calculate what methods to use so that your zucchini can roll down the racetrack. Do you strap it to a Hot Wheels car? Do you tie it to an old pair of toy horses? Give it skis?

I would suggest that something with wheels would probably get you the farthest, but I am always amazed by the ingenuity of the kids at the market. I have seen some that, if glitter was a petroleum product, would be able to fly to the moon.

I’m pretty sure you will see all of the options manifest this weekend.

The time for building zucchini race cars will be between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Zucchini Queenie Parade where all the kids show off their creations as they walk around the Market behind the Zucchini Queenie will start at 1:30 p.m. Then the races will start at 2 p.m.

So head on down to the Homer Farmers Market this weekend from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to witness the results of the planning, the engineering and, of course, the silliness.