Green Homes Festival Spotlights Plant-Based Options for Sustainable Living
Are you looking for green living ideas? Do you want to learn how to live more sustainably? Are you planning to build a new house? Have comfort issues and want to make improvements to where you live now?
Missouri Botanical Garden has resources for you, at the 16th annual Green Homes Festival on Saturday, June 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You’ll discover affordable, practical options for sustainable living combined with positive ways to help make your home healthier and more comfortable, protect the environment, and save you money.
The Green Homes Festival is included with regular Garden admission of $12 for adults and free for children ages 12 and under. St. Louis City and County residents enjoy free admission on Saturday before noon and are $6 thereafter. This event is hosted by the EarthWays Center of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
The festival takes place at the William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening and its surrounding gardens and grounds. Blending this popular event into the Garden’s blooming walkways will highlight the connections between plant-based green-living ideas and solutions to energy, water and waste issues. Festival attendees completing an event “passport” will get a free gift!
Presented by Ameren Missouri and sponsored by The Healthy Planet and many local partners, this year’s festival features more than 40 exhibits and demonstrations by the region’s leading sustainability focused businesses and organizations. Attendees can talk one-on-one with a wide range of experts about their specific interests and project ideas, and learn more about green living, home improvement and healthy homes. Our exhibitors will showcase many practical ways to protect and restore air, water, and soil so that plants and people can thrive.
Learn about solar, wind, and other renewable energy systems; energy efficient lighting and appliances; financing for energy efficiency projects; backyard chicken keeping; efficient windows, insulation and weatherization. Explore ways to protect your budget and the planet with experts in heating and cooling systems; green home building materials and methods; home energy auditing; reducing waste by recycling, composting and creatively “Upcycling.”
Visit the NatureScaping area to learn ways to grow a livelier, healthier environment in your own backyard using native plants. Exhibits in this area will feature water-saving RainScaping options; living wall systems and tree care services; backyard biodiversity resources to restore wildlife habitat, and more. At 11:30 and 1:30, take a guided tour of the Kemper Center demonstration gardens to learn about sustainability components such as the compost area, bee yard, and rain barrels.
A roster of fast-paced “Presentations to the People” from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. will cover useful topics from local experts such as keeping backyard chickens; solar electricity and solar technology; home energy efficiency; sustainability of natural gas; upcycling in your garden; NatureScaping resources, and composting at home. Returning this year, the Festival will showcase more in-depth interactive demonstrations featuring speakers with a DIY focus covering topics such as green cleaning; eco-friendly furniture finishes; and transforming invasive bush honeysuckle into tables.
The Green Homes Festival is a family event! Children and families can have fun building a sun-powered miniature roadster, sample treats cooked in solar ovens, snap photos with costumed characters, and join in the fun recycled art activities like decorating a tile. Enjoy a free, all-levels yoga class for adults and kids from 9 to 10 a.m., hosted by STL non-profit Yoga Buzz. Bring your own yoga mat or towel.
Enjoy local food vendors, featuring delicious bites and beverages from Urban Eats Café and more! Bring your reusable bottle and get free water refills. Recycling and composting will reduce the festival’s “waste-line.”
Volunteer help is welcome for festival preparation and operation. Email volunteer coordinator Simon Warren at simon.warren@mobot.org or find volunteering details online at www.mobot.org/greenhomesfest.
Visitors are encouraged to cycle to the Garden, using Bike St. Louis routes along Shaw and Tower Grove, which connect to routes through Tower Grove Park, along Grand, and on Macklind Avenue. Take advantage of convenient free bicycle parking.
For Green Homes Festival schedule details, visit www.mobot.org/greenhomesfest.