Join the Hamilton County Conservation District for a morning of fun and learning as we celebrate healthy soil!

Healthy soil supports growing healthy food, both in our backyard gardens and in our crop fields. Healthy soil also supports communities that are good places to live: nourishing shade trees and landscaping, absorbing rainwater, and supporting diverse wildlife. At the Healthy Soil Festival, you can learn ways to help improve and protect soil in your own yard or neighborhood.

The Open House style Festival will include interactive learning stations and exhibitor and vendor booths. The last hour of the Festival will be a program on soil testing with a speaker describing how to conduct a soil test, how to interpret results, and introducing methods to improve soil fertility to achieve your growing goals. Attendees are welcome to bring their soil test results (if they have tested in advance), or they can pick up soil test kits that day to bring home.

Registration is recommended but not required.

• Event Schedule

  9 - 11 a.m. | Open House-Style Festival

  11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Soil Test Workshop Presentation

• Event Exhibitors/Vendors

  Exhibitors and activity stations for people of all ages to include:

  • Soil type demonstration station - Touch, feel, and learn about the different types of soil that can be found in our area.

  • Cover crops - Meet a variety of different cover crops and learn how they can be used at any scale to build healthy soil, from a large corn field to a backyard garden.

  • Food waste and compost - Learn from Hamilton County ReSource how you can reduce food waste and best practices for composting to create a healthy soil. amendment

  • Meet the WORMS! - Wonderful, wiggly worms play an important role in building healthy soil. Meet and greet live worms, learn about their unique adaptations, and learn how you can build your own worm composter at home.

  • Soil painting station - Get creative and paint a soil masterpiece. Fun for any age.

  • Soil banner tent - Explore soil through interactive banners in this immersive experience.

  • Soil your undies - Wrap up report unveiling. Prep for next year

  Vendors:

  • Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) - Cover crop t-shirt sales

  • Seed/garden supply stores

  • Landscaping company - Soil amendments

  • Compai - Wi-Fi compost monitoring system

  Partner Exhibitors:

  • Civic Garden Center - Joining a community garden

  • Hamilton County Resource - Composting and preventing food waste

  • Common Orchard Project

• Contact the Organizer

  Nicole Gunderman: nicole.gunderman@hamilton-co.org | (513) 485-6820