Everybody knows that September means fall is coming. But here in Texas, when we begin reading and hearing about the State Fair of Texas—affectionately called “The Fair”—that’s when we really know fall is on its way. We can feel it in the air. Starting the last week of this month, we’ll have our annual opportunity to indulge in all things Texan, with something for everyone’s tastes.

I’m already planning my schedule, hoping to get in everything I want to see and do, whether it’s trying the decadent and innovative fair foods (this year’s finalists for the Big Tex Choice Awards include Cotton Candy Tacos, Deep Fried Shepherd’s Pie,  State Fair Fun-L Cake Ice Cream and Texas Fried Hill Country); the amazing livestock exhibits; creative arts competitions that include everything from quilting to sculpture to jewelry making;  the automobile exhibits (featuring the old and the new, including electric vehicles); or one of my favorites, the retail halls, which are a veritable QVC of new, different, innovative products—many of which I didn’t even know existed—that promise to make life better or easier.

However, what many of us love most is all the football during the Fair’s four-week run. The three major college rivalry games will give me plenty of chances to meet up with friends from around the state, especially for the battle between my alma mater, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Suffice it to say I love the Fair, even as a newly minted vegan. Yep, I’m planning to save up the calories, splurge on one or two (or three) fried-food concoctions and then do a detox. I hope my body will forgive me in advance for all the eating I’ll do, and love me again for all the walking I’ll do over the 200 acres of Fair Park.

While I’m there, I plan to check out the Fair’s sustainability practices. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this is something they take seriously, placing public recycling bins beside trash cans, requiring vendors to recycle cardboard and asking them to donate their leftover products to local nonprofits. There is also the Fair’s year-round Big Tex Urban Farm program, whose testing ground is on the Midway. It’s expected to generate about a million servings of produce this year to feed the community around Fair Park, and Mitchell Glieber, president of the State Fair of Texas , tells me they’re looking to do much more.

I think that they and the rest of us, can learn from lot from Avery Mack‘s article about zero-waste lifestyles in this issue. Locally, we can learn from and provide hands-on help to the DFW regional office of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, one of the most effective grassroots nonprofits I’ve ever seen. Its zero-waste initiative is having significant effects every day on Texans’ quality of life. Read more about what it is doing on page 33. Both these articles can help us be better stewards of the perfectly made ecosystem in which God has placed us.

Please check out our Yoga Guide and our articles on the many benefits of yoga, which can help ease the symptoms of a number of health conditions.

As always, we hope you will be encouraged and inspired to action by something you read in these pages. We want to make it easy for you to see that green living is healthy and healthy living is green.

Blessings until next month,

Bernice