By Crystal Stevens
Every year, the St. Louis Earth Day Festival brings together the wonderful organizations in the region whose values and missions are in alignment with earth stewardship. The festival draws a crowd of over 60,000. This year is expected to be the largest festival yet, as it will take place both Saturday and Sunday.
EarthDance is offering Organic Farm School Classes sponsored by the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The classes will be free and open to the public at the St. Louis Earth Day Festival on April 22nd and 23rd, 2017. The array of classes will be offered hourly between 11am and 4 pm during both days of the festival. The topics were chosen based on a poll conducted by EarthDance to gauge interest and determine a consensus on desired topics. The leading topics of audience interest included soil stewardship, resources for the beginning gardener/farmer as well as native plants and pollinators.
EarthDance expects a great turnout, as those who regularly attend the St. Louis Earth Day Festival have expressed interest in classes and hands on learning. The hope is that individuals who take part in these classes will get inspired to bring the ideas back to their own backyards and communities. Visit the information booth at St. Louis Earth Day in Forest Park on the day of the festival for more information.
The Saturday schedule includes Edible Landscaping, Resources for the Beginning Gardener, Building a Raised Garden, The Real Dirt on Soil with NRCS and Jason Gerhart, Native Plants and Pollinators, and Backyard Chickens.
The Sunday Schedule includes Introduction to Beekeeping, Composting 101 with EarthDance Co-Farm Manager Eric Stevens, How to Build and Plant a Raised Bed with Eric Stevens, Food Gardens in Containers, Introduction to Herbs and Food as Medicine with Crystal Stevens and Farm-Fresh Eating on a Budget with Nick Speed.
In addition to the adult classes, EarthDance will also host a variety of children’s activities at their booth including seed art, a planting activity and witnessing worms at work in their vermicompost bin. Each child will be able to take home a plant or a craft from the EarthDance booth. There will be fun for the entire family at the EarthDance Organic Farm School booth. As always, our family enjoys the live music, the parade, the children’s activities and delicious food vendors.
For the complete festival line-up, visit www.stlouisearthday.org