A Practical Backyard Tour - Celebrating 10 Years of Sustainability on June 21

The 10^th Annual 'A Practical Backyard Tour' of the Cedar Valley will be hosted on Saturday, June 21^st from 10 AM - 1 PM. An event finale and door prize drawing will take place at SingleSpeed Brewing Waterloo at 1:30 PM.

Organizations and homeowners will be opening up their spaces to share a variety of sustainable and Earth-friendly practices. Visit seven backyards and green spaces at your own pace and in any order. Topics will include backyard beekeeping, rain gardens, permeable paver driveways, community gardens, composting, rainwater harvesting, innovative gardening, backyard chickens, native prairie, urban forestry, irrigation options, bioretention cells, chemical-free lawncare, raised bed gardening, and more! This public educational event is FREE and will take place rain or shine.

Before the tour, participants can visit one of the event partners' offices to pick up an informational brochure, which will include event details, tour addresses, map of locations, and site descriptions. Tour information is also available online at the event page (https://www.blackhawkswcd.org/product/practical-backyard-tour/13).

On the day of the event, start at a location of your choice and sign your participation waiver for the day. Receive one free prize drawing ticket at EACH site that you visit. You'll have a chance to enter each ticket into a prize drawing of your choice at the event finale. Prizes include a rain barrel, gift certificates, native prairie seed kits, gift cards from SingleSpeed Brewing Company, and a compost bin. Participants must be present to win.

'A Practical Backyard Tour' is sponsored by a coalition of sustainability-focused local organizations including the Black Hawk Soil and Water Conservation District, Black Hawk Extension and Outreach, Cedar Falls Public Library, City of Cedar Falls, City of Waterloo, Dry Run Creek Watershed Improvement Project, Green Iowa AmeriCorps, and SingleSpeed Brewing.