Typically I wouldn't go for cilantro pesto on cucumbers before noon—or even nasturtium leaf pesto—for that matter. But that's just how my day started at the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair at the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins this past Saturday. The conditions were blustery, and the very frigid, unlike-September air had me craving hot chocolate rather than the heavenly selection of golden brews available in the beer garden.

But still I pressed on and arrived just in time to hear Michele Carl, personal chef, coach and "foodpoet", telling her audience that "the most important ingredient in the kitchen is the chef that has a calm and peaceful spirit." Right, I thought. Now, if she can just tell me how to find my Zen at Safeway—rather than the somewhat deranged, zigzagging patterns I typically make down the grocery aisles when I'm in a hurry, which I always am—then she might really be on to something. But after trying one each of her pesto demos (dill, cilantro, thyme, and nasturtium leaf), two that she prepared right before my eyes, I decided there might be something to Carl's "wholesome kitchen" philosophy after all.

Filled with enough foliage to tide me over until lunchtime, and topped off with some free steak samples (no added hormones, no added steroids, no animal by-products, pasture-raised, and finished with corn!), I headed over to the straw-bale construction area. Straw-bale building, I learned, is quite the hit in the Southwest and California, and it is apparently taking off in Australia as well. For this year's fair—the seventh annual—attendees could pay for additional hands-on workshops, from "homebrew wind power" to an under-the-hood demo on converting diesel engines to run on vegetable oil. I opted to check out the group that was building doghouses out of bales of straw. With the help of the participants, the crew from Ecobuilders, constructed two doghouses, which were auctioned away at the end of the fair, starting at around $200. If left up to me, rather than the financial counsel of my husband, my husky would now be indulging in straw-bale luxury.

Apparently, back on the homestead in the late 1800s/early 1900s, a few enterprising settlers in the Sandhill region of Nebraska couldn't find earth suitable to build a structure on. So they came up with the temporary solution of building the frames of their homes out of bales of prairie grass and covering them with a plaster made of cow manure. But with the advent of the railroad and the ubiquity of timber, straw-bale construction soon became a lost art. As it turns out, some of those homes still stand today.

Straw-bale construction provides both a frame and insulation, and it insulates about three times better than standard products, according to Curtis Scheib, who founded Ecobuilders twelve years ago. Scheib says that by incorporating straw and using passive solar design, homeowners can save between 50-75 percent of their heating costs and make the need for cooling nearly obsolete. And it's affordable: Sure, you can find the high-end spec home like the Breckenridge four-bedroom, four-bath, advertised by Ecobuilders for $783,000. But Derek Esposito, who works with the company, says he is building his own 1,500 square foot straw-bale home for around $180,000. And the cost for someone like you or me? Not more than the low 200s, says Esposito.

Inspired, I then wandered over to the area where Volkswagen Jettas and Mercedes were plastered with stickers reading "Running on Veggie" and "America Needs an Oil Change." If you have a diesel engine, for about $1,000 in parts and $1,200 in labor, you can convert it to a two-tank system that runs on straight vegetable oil, waste vegetable oil, biodiesel, or diesel. Then, just find yourself a friendly local restaurant that will pour you up some vegetable oil waste, and voila!

My Jetta doesn't have a diesel engine, so I decided it was time for a late lunch. Even this part of the fair was replete with tough decisions, first at the beer garden, and then the hamburger stand. How could I turn away from something as scrumptious-sounding as an all-natural sage New Belgium saison sausage bratwurst? But in the end, I took a seat on a straw bale, settling down with the 90 Shilling ale on tap (just the right shade of amber) and the all-natural choice USDA cheeseburger.

Photograph: A solar thermal house by Ecobuilders.