The Green Home Coach

BY MARLA ESSER CLOOS

MARLA ESSER CLOOS, NAHB Master Certified Green Professional, Wellness Within Your Walls Certified Professional and LEED AP, is the principal of Green Home Coach where she uses her "superpowers" to help home professionals and inhabitants to discover and create better homes for healthier, more comfortable lives. Making simple swaps to green and sustainable choices helps create better homes – a bit at a time in existing homes or all at once for new and remodeled homes. Find more at GreenHomeCoach.com and @greenhomecoach on FB and IG

What do a Missouri Winery and Your Backyard Have in Common?

LEARNING FROM MISSOURI WINERIES – APPLYING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TO OUR OWN YARDS AND GARDENS

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Whas advanced over the millennia, yet good wine still comes Many of the sustainable and good-ecology practices that wine growers use are easily adopted by homeowners in yards and gardens. Consider how your garden grows – with sun and rain and wind and rich soil. Using many of the same techniques as wine from good grapes and good wine-making practices. While practices have changed to accommodate mass wine consumption, as has big agriculture, many wine growers and wineries are turning to sustainable wine growing practices for better wine and better stewardship of the land. Missouri wine country, just west of St. Louis, is America’s first wine region. In the mid-19th century, immigrants from Germany’s Rhine River valley planted vineyards and created a wine culture that continues to blossom today. Many wine growers in Missouri and other regions practice a variety of sustainable efforts. The Wine Institute says sustainable vineyard and winery practices conserve water and energy, maintain healthy soil, protect air and water quality, preserve local ecosystems and wildlife, as well as benefit people and the community. Drip irrigation systems are a favorite for conserving water. This precise method of watering provides water right where it is needed. The use of energy efficient machinery and renewable energy for harvesting and production facilities helps reduce energy usage. For soil health and integrated pest management, animals like sheep and chickens wander the rows of grapevines to help control weeds and pests. Growing grass, cover crops or pollinator habitats in the vineyards help add nutrients to the soil and prevent soil erosion. growers will help your garden grow even better. CONSERVE WATER. Drip irrigation is a go-to for many vineyards and is a great solution in home gardens. We installed a drip system in our garden and put it on a timer for easy, set it and forget it watering. CONSERVE ENERGY. Reduce mowing, mow with electric or better yet, don’t mow. Many homeowners are choosing to have more garden area, including edible gardens and native plants, and less lawn. If you have a lawn, irrigate wisely, and consider drought resistant grasses that require no chemicals and mowing only once or twice a month. Beautiful and easy! MAINTAIN HEALTHY SOIL. Growing cover crops and augmenting soil with compost are just two ways of maintaining and improving healthy soil. Hearty plants grow from healthy soil. When mowing, use a mulching lawn mower and leave the lawn clippings. Removing the grass clippings actually depletes the soil of nutrition and organic matter. Less work for better soil and lawn. PROTECT AIR QUALITY. More and more vineyards are harvesting by hand, which reduces the emissions of large equipment. Switching to human powered yard and garden mowing and tools protects our air quality and provides exercise to boot. PROTECT WATER QUALITY. Many wineries have ditched the chemical fertilizers and pest control. Eliminating (or even reducing) the chemical additives prevents runoff getting into our watershed. Many organic fertilizer options are available, as well as natural practices for better plants without compromising water quality. Companion plant veggies and herbs with flowers for some soul-warming beauty while keeping away unwanted pests without pesticides.

PRESERVE LOCAL SYSTEMS AND

WILDLIFE. Vineyards often choose plants that work in harmony with nature. Plants that thrive in your climate require little maintenance or water, attract wildlife, and help control invasive species. Native plants are even better. They don’t need chemicals, fertilizer, or water. They save you water, time, and money while providing a habitat for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Most of all, native plants don’t need you to spend a lot of time working in the garden. You don’t have to rip up your yard to start a native plant project – you can do one section at a time. Your local nursery likely carries beautiful and hardy native plants and can provide guidance as well.

Mount Pleasant Winery mountpleasant.com, in Augusta, Missouri practices sustainable viticulture and employs several of these practices. Let me know when you want to go – I’d be delighted to meet you there, especially if it includes a ride on the Katy Trail.

P.S. Get more ideas in my Landscape for

Energy Efficiency Quick Guide greenhomecoach.com/yard-and-garden.