Festival Areas
Scavenger Hunt:
As part of Earth Day's commitment to help each attendee learn how to "Strike a Chord. Go Green.", anyone and everyone who comes to the Festival will be able to participate in one of Nashville's largest scavenger hunts! This activity will have you traipsing all over Centennial Park, looking for those great ideas and ways to go green, save energy, and make a difference for the planet. Those who complete the task will be entered to win great prizes. Sponsored by Cool People Care.
Youth Area:
Children of all ages will enjoy our Youth Area. The Global Education Center will entertain with multi cultural music, dance, and interpretation. The Youth Area Stage will also have live music during the afternoon. Children can make reused and recycled eco art and crafts, and much more.
Food & Farming:
This year our Local Food and Farming Section will highlight the importance of eating locally and seasonally. Now more than ever we all see the importance both environmentally and economically of supporting and growing our local food system and this year the Local Food and Farming Section will not only celebrate how far we've come over the years, but also reach out to the public to share what our local farmers, markets and food organizations are doing to better our local food and farming community.
Sponsored again this year by the Friends of the Nashville Farmers' Market, the section will feature a host of exhibitors including local farmers, producers, CSA farms, markets, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies supporting the local food movement. Festival goers will have the opportunity to meet local farmers who are growing our food sustainably and find all of the places where they can support our local agricultural community.
Throughout the day visitors can listen in on one of the fascinating workshops ranging from foraging for wild edibles and growing your own food to preserving seasonal foods and composting kitchen scraps for a better garden. Earth Day attendees can gather at the Friends of the Nashville Farmers’ Market Workshop Tent in the center of the Local Food & Farming section. Speakers and workshops include:
Workshops are scheduled as follows:
12:30 - "Wild Edible Plants are Everywhere: Introduction to the Food in Your Yard" - Alan Powell, musician, CSA coordinator for Long Hungry Creek Farm, and primitive skills enthusiast will lead this session introducing the wild edible plants that are all around us all the time. Wild edible plants are free, abundant, and very nutritious. Participants will learn some of the most common, plus get tips on plant identification. Alan will discuss the role of wild edibles in human history and the story of how and why they disappeared from our diets. Learn to harvest ethically and how to determine what that means. See examples that grow in most yards, forests, and fields. Become aware of the dangers and the benefits of eating wild foods.
About Alan Powell – Alan Powell is a local musician, CSA coordinator for Long Hungry Creek Farm, and primitive skills enthusiast.
2:00 p.m. - "Yes, We Can Can!” An Overview of Preserving Local Seasonal Foods" - Join chef, food activist and writer Nancy Vienneau in as she demonstrates simply preserving techniques for strawberry preserves, refrigerator zucchini pickles and canning those summer tomatoes. Guests will have a chance to discuss seasonality of foods and how best to preserve them for enjoyment all year. Whether you are thinking of freezing, canning or drying, this session will explore the different local fruits and vegetables and the benefits of each.
About Nancy Vienneau - Nancy Vienneau is a chef, food activist and writer. She cooks and teaches at Second Harvest Food Bank's Culinary Arts Center and writes about her adventures in food in her blog, GoodFoodMatters
3:30 p.m. - "Edible Landscapes – Have Your Landscape and Eat It, Too!" - Join Peter Anderson, Personal Farmer from Gardens of Babylon for a discussion of growing your own food by the container, by the foot or by the yard with a focus on:
Soil Science
Vegetables and light
Fundamentals of Planting designs
Pests and fertilizers
Ask questions and get advice about the best ways to set up or grown your garden this year and plan for the future.
5:00 p.m. - "Composting 101" – Convert your yard, garden and kitchen waste into soil building compost. Personal Farmer Peter Anderson from Gardens of Babylon will walk you through the basics of how to get started as well as discuss the benefits of composting and how to improve your yields.
About Peter Anderson - As the resident Personal Farmer for Gardens of Babylon, Peter Anderson creates custom gardens for folks all over Davidson and Williamson counties fostering better environments, backyard produce, family-specific foods, fewer grocery store runs, ethnically focused plant pallets, edible landscapes, heirloom plants, and connectedness to the earth.
Food Vendors:
The Nashville Earth Day Festival aims to offer local food vendors ranging in a myriad of different options including vegetarian options, corn on the cob, lemonade, BBQ, chicken, pizza, kettle corn, ice cream, and much more! We ask that pricing be reasonable and packing minimizes waste. We also ask that each vendor try to decrease the amount of paper and plastic given out and encourage customers to compost their leftovers at the festival composting site located near the food vendors.
Recycling:
Once again, there will be many opportunities for recycling at the Nashville Earth Day Festival. Help us keep the event litter-free! Recycling containers will be located around the Festival for your plastic cups and bottles, aluminum cans, clean paper, and cardboard. Come visit the Curby Recycling truck! Options for composting food waste will also be available.
