Earth Day Festival at Hope Farms

The annual, free, family-friendly Recipe for Success Foundation Earth Day Festival at Hope Farms takes place on Sat., April 4. 

The annual Recipe for Success Foundation Earth Day Festival at Hope Farms offers a festive opportunity for all ages to connect the health of our planet with the natural cycle of growing food. Earth Day is the unofficial birthday of Hope Farms, which broke ground in 2016. Supporting Earth Day’s traditional ReUse, ReNew, ReCycle theme, the free family-friendly festival will take place on Saturday, April 4 on the Foundation’s seven-acre urban farm.

Hope Farms’ regular Saturday produce market will be enhanced by a curated collection of vendors filling the UnitedHealthcare Gathering Barn, offering small batch specialty foods, chef pop-ups, unique gifts and fine crafts. A full schedule of kid-friendly activities including cooking and gardening classes, story time, arts and crafts, live bee demonstrations, movement classes, and so much more are scheduled throughout the day. Snooze An A.M. Eatery will kick off the festivities with a pancake farm breakfast from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for a suggested donation of $5.00 per person. Luby’s will be serving a picnic lunch during the festival from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $8 per person.

Hands-on classes in the Sysco Culinary Learning Station will feature the Foundation’s team of Healthy Eating Ambassadors joined by guest chefs, including Amy Anton of aaCooks and Kitchen Underground, who is a popular social media influencer and long-time advocate for delicious home cooking, Amy is passionate about local food and is a founding board member of Recipe for Success Foundation. Up next are free cooking classes taking place on the half hour. Lastly, Bobby Matos of State of Grace is the featured chef for the 1 p.m. family cooking class ($40 for 1 parent/1 child under 12; $50 for 1 parent/2 children under 12). Advance registration is required for this cooking class and can be reserved here.

Magpies & Peacocks will take over the farm’s Robert and Janice McNair Foundation Children’s Garden and host a kid’s creation station with activities using recycled materials. There will be story time every half hour under the Lace Elm Tree where families are encouraged to picnic. Live demonstrations from HIVE Bee Farm will share the joys of farm-to-table living, and an instructor from DEFINE Body & Mind will be out in the field teaching free movement classes throughout the festival, as well as a free yoga class at 9:00 a.m., taught by Zeenath Selvakumar, one of the Foundation’s founding S.P.I.C.E. members. St. Arnold’s Brewery will host yard games while they pour samples of their beer and root beer, while Highway Vodka passes out samples of their spirits.

Additional vendors include Better Living for Texans / Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, who will be promoting all of their public engagement opportunities beginning at 10:15 a.m. with a gardening class. They will also be promoting six upcoming gardening classes at Hope Farms and three complimentary adult cooking series in the culinary classroom at Hope Farms. “Get the scoop on dirt” with the Foundation’s very own farmer, Nick DeBrock, who will be leading a gardening class at 12:15 p.m. for $10 per person. Children’s Museum Houston will host a planting activity, where families can plant a sunflower seed in biodegradable material to care for at home.