Sustainable Backyard Tour
SWGNA
Area-wide Sustainable Backyard Tour Returns June 24th
Join us for a homesteading, landscaping, outdoor living experience like no other
WHAT: Second Annual Sustainable Backyard Tour
WHEN: Sunday, June 24 from 11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Yards and gardens throughout St. Louis City and County.
COST: Free
SPONSORS: Home Eco, Gateway Gardener Magazine, Slow Food, Transition Missouri
INFO: Te...@home-eco.com; (314) 351-2000; www.sustainablebackyardtour.com
(ST. LOUIS): Join the food revolution! Learn what you need to know to implement food production in your yard and garden, from vegetables and fruit trees to bees and chickens. See firsthand how homeowners in St. Louis City and County are transforming their yards from energy intensive, unsustainable lawns to heavenly havens of green!
The second-annual Sustainable Backyard Tour is set for Sunday, June 24th from 11 to 4 p.m.
“This self-guided tour will open the gates to private yards and gardens so that attendees can ask and learn, pick up new ideas, and share inspiration,” says Terry Winkelmann, owner of Home Eco and tour founder. “It’s about converting unproductive, high-maintenance lawn and pavement into something more useful and restorative—both to the earth itself and the human spirit.”
The Sustainable Backyard Tour began as a simple 6-yard tour of chicken coops in the neighborhood surrounding Home Eco in 2010. In 2011, the owners of Home Eco and Isabee’s beekeeping equipment worked together to create the First Annual Sustainable Backyard Tour, featuring 30 yards throughout the city and county showcasing a variety of elements, from organic vegetable gardening to goats. This year, with the help of some amazing volunteers, the tour promises to be better laid out and more educational than ever!
A sustainable backyard offers the opportunity to provide food for our families, wildlife habitat, relaxation and beauty, all while minimizing impacts on the environment and the communities in which we live. Tour sites showcase a range of green living practices, including low-impact lawn care, composting and using recycled materials creatively, organic gardening, chicken and beekeeping, gardening with native plants, mushrooms, fruit & nut trees, as well as rainwater conservation, pesticide and herbicide reduction, renewable energy production and backyard habitat creation.
We are looking for interesting residential spaces, from single family backyards to apartment complex common grounds, to open their gates to the public for five hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Your yard and garden doesn't have to be perfect—we like them real! You just need to have something to share with your fellow St. Louisans about living sustainably, gardening, homesteading, permaculture or just living lightly on the earth. If you practice any of the following and like to talk about it, consider being on the tour:
- Green Gardening
- Water Catchment & Conservation
- Chickens
- Beekeeping
- Organic Vegetables
- Perennial and Native Plantings
- Renewable Energy & Permeable Paving
- Recycled Art and Salvaged Materials
We also need friendly, knowledgeable folks to help out on the day of the tour. Docents will be assigned a backyard where they can help spell the homeowners for bathroom and lunch breaks, help answer questions from the public and generally help make 5 hours in the sun more fun for everyone!
To register to be a volunteer on the day of the tour, please click here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dERaTDdTcVZrVkZaRTBWUWNxZi01cEE6MQ
To go on the tour, please click here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dE1VeTJ5QTdTTEplTDhreUl6WkhGaEE6MA
To volunteer your yard as a backyard site, please click here:
http://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/MJ1VfqEdGZO9vDf9rsoLdw6
For more information, visit our website: www.sustainablebackyardtour.com, email Te...@home-eco.com or call 314-351-2000.
Dana Gray
Southwest Garden Neighborhood Assoc.
4950 Southwest Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110, 314-772-6082
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead