Beautiful + Possibility + Elixir + Social = A Really Great Day

If you have a taste for freshly-grown tonics that nourish the body, mind and heart, last Saturday's Beautiful Possibility Elixir Social at the West Side Market was a day-long adventure! Pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spacesgallery/sets/72157630297877590/

Inspired by visiting artist Alison Pebworth's research into the 19th century nervous condition, Americanitis, a group of farmers in Cleveland offered their own homegrown elixirs.

We started the day at 8 a.m. with Erie's Edge Farm's Sunrise Elixir, a roasted root coffee substitute made from beet and dandelion roots, and spelt, with some squash and fennel seeds. We accompanied it with some morning stretches, a gentle way to start the day!

Gather 'Round Farm offered an elixir for the "Inner Elder", a tonic starting with elderberry flowers. Passers-by drew pictures of their inner elders, using plants as drawing tools.

The Possibilitarian Puppet Troupe gave market-goers a Full Sensory Elixir Experience, starting with a taste of rose petals, nasturtiums and a very tasty kombucha-based elixir, which you took into a tunnel full of the smells of soil and herbs, where you could take a look at a series of illustrated doors and windows while a music box slowly played you the Beatles' love song "Michelle".

Then an energetic group of kids from City Rising Farm's summer camp came and served up their incredibly tasty sun teas. One was thyme tea, the other was mint, but I thought they were at their best when mixed together and topped with mulberries from the farm.

We capped off the day with a whole array of elixirs from Let It Bee Gardens, laid out in a gorgeous landscape of art from Let It Bee's Julie Patton. The elixirs were a feast for the eyes and the belly: made from currants, service berries and a whole variety of herbs from the garden.

The whole day was framed by Alison Pebworth's Beautiful Possibility banners hanging at the West Side Market, which generated a lot of fascinating conversation about the figures from American myths and history she depicts.

In all, a day to remember!