West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
Some kids have lemonade stands. Here’s one who had a worm-compost stand (the sign reads, “Meet the Worms”). Dorothy shared the photo from the sale her nephew Zachary (that’s his hair, to the left of Dorothy’s visiting friend, Officer Krista) had today in the Admiral area. The proud aunt explains that Zachary “got a worm farm for his birthday in April. He spent all summer composting to get his worm compost and worm tea.”
The folks working to create the Community Orchard of West Seattle are hoping that stack of cardboard along the southwestern fence of the South Seattle Community College campus will grow a lot bigger with donations – got some? It’s on the south edge of the blackberry-covered acre that will soon be cleared to make way for the orchard – we chatted there this morning with orchard volunteer Bruce Falzarano and Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle‘s Aviva Furman:
They were at the site because of a different project reaching a milestone this morning – an experimental corn patch using biochar (we’ll have that as a separate story). In the meantime, if you have cardboard to donate to help mulch the orchard site, Aviva says, just take it there (it’s alongside the southernmost edge of the SSCC parking lot, 6000 16th SW – you have to walk past a small outbuilding and you’ll see it along the orchard-to-be site) and drop it off! (They’ve been getting coffee grounds donated by Starbucks, too, and hope to ring the site with it – coffee grounds can be a great soil amendment.)
There’s still room on the (free!) van for a guided (free!) tour of five West Seattle P-Patch gardens this Saturday (September 25) – meet up with the group at the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (map) at 1 pm, and spend two hours taking a fresh look at neighborhood treasures around the peninsula – including the site of the future Roxhill P-Patch (citywide map here). The city just needs you to RSVP – a quick online process here. (That same page has info on similar tours elsewhere in the city.)
From Woodland Park Zoo, to Genesee Hill! The zoo donated a truckload of “Zoo Doo” compost to the Genesee Schmitz Neighborhood Council – at left in the top photo is Dan Corum, the zoo’s “Dr. Doo,” with GSNC’s master composter/gardening committee co-chair Peter Church, after the truck was filled. From there, on to its destination – the community garden at Genesee Hill School – where you can help too, with another neighborhood work party coming up tomorrow (Saturday, September 18, 9 am-1 pm).
Volunteers started spreading the compost after it arrived, but there’s still lots of work to go around to prepare the garden plots (garden spaces are available) – join GSNC at Genesee Hill if you can; lots more info on their website.
(Photo by Sofia Zadra Goff)
Two celebrations of note: First – Parent Trust for Washington Children has given its 2010 Leadership Award to the five authors of the million-plus-copies-selling manual “Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn” – including West Seattle’s April Bolding (second from right, with, from left, Penny Simkin, Ann Keppler, Janet Whalley, and Janelle Durham). Thursday also was proclaimed “Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn” Day by King County Executive Dow Constantine, in honor of the book that’s guided countless expectant parents over the past 20 years. It’s been revised multiple times, with the fourth edition now out; Bolding joined the co-author team in 2007. (Read more about her on her website, here.)
More awards: At left, a photo from Tuesday night’s awards ceremony at the Duwamish Longhouse for the West Seattle Garden Tour (co-sponsored this year by WSB) and its 2010 beneficiaries – who received a total of $23,190 from the nonprofit tour’s proceeds. The 2010 beneficiaries were Highland Park Elementary School, Seattle Tilth, Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural Center Rain Garden, South Seattle Community College Arboretum and ArtsWest (WSB sponsor). WSGT provided the photo, identifying those left to right as: Jim Reid (WSGT 2010 VP and current President) and Kam Boulle (WSGT 2010 President) with representatives from HP Elementary, Duwamish Longhouse, Seattle Tilth and ArtsWest. Meantime, the West Seattle Garden Tour membership committee is seeking new volunteers – they meet for monthly potlucks “to review the steady, building progress of the tour.” Interested in helping? westseattlegt@gmail.com – next meeting is October 13th.
Today we welcome one of our newest WSB sponsors, Tierra Landscape, located in West Seattle. Walter Sepulveda, Tierra Landscape’s owner (left), brings more than 10 years of experience in landscape design and construction. Walter moved to Seattle from Argentina right after studying Forestry in Bariloche, at the University of Comahue. Tierra Landscape specializes in landscape design and construction. The mission of the organization is to design, build and maintain unique, modern, and creative landscapes that respond to individual needs. Tierra Landscape provides a complete array of residential and commercial landscaping services, including patios, walkways, fountains, and water features, outdoor kitchens and fireplaces, retaining walls, fences, arbors, and decks. While Walter was growing up, his family owned a brick warehouse where they built outdoor kitchens known in Argentina as Quinchos. His new line of outdoor kitchens and pizza ovens are based on this unique design. He encourages interested clients to visit his website at tierralandscape.net. Tierra Landscape also provides both commercial and residential maintenance services, including lawn care, irrigation, and seasonal planting. Residential landscape maintenance services range from one-time yard cleanups to weekly, monthly and seasonal maintenance programs. Tierra Landscape is offering 10% off patios to first-time customers, when you mention Tierra’s WSB ad.
We thank Tierra Landscape for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our sponsor team, and info on joining, all here.
Two items from Aviva at Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle: First, she says, “It really has been an off year for the fruit trees here in West Seattle. We have only harvested about 300 pounds of fruit and it seems that none of the Italian Plums have fruit. We could use … Asian pears, pears, and apples.” Contact info’s at gleanit.org if you have tree fruit to donate – you donate, they pick! Second – the new Community Orchard at South Seattle Community College, funded by a city grant, is getting off the ground with the Design Group’s first meeting ahead, and Aviva says, “We’d love to get (more of the) community involved in this cool new project.” Read on to see how you can be part of it!Read More
Things really got rolling about 45 minutes into this afternoon’s community welcome party for the visiting artisans at the Seattle Chinese Garden, when lion dancers paraded around the grounds – our video shows a small part of the procession. At one point along the route, the artisans stood side by side to watch:
They and visitors heard from two presidents – Jon Geiger of the Seattle Chinese Garden Society (purple shirt) and new South Seattle Community College president Gary Oertli, both of whom kept their speeches short, saying they wanted visitors to spend their time touring the site instead:
Pulling back from that scene – the artisans were to the presidents’ left:
Their work has been focused on the Knowing the Spring Courtyard, the first major feature of the Seattle Chinese Garden to be built – you can see into it, looking over the dancers’ shoulders – that’s not a photo or painting, but instead a view into the future courtyard:
The project itself (explained here), in fact, is for the future as well as the present – a dream becoming reality, and a building of understanding across the miles, between the cultures –
If you missed this afternoon’s party, watch the Seattle Chinese Garden website for word of tours and other opportunities to visit. Garden volunteers also are keeping a blog-format website with stories of what’s happening at the site, which is on the far north end of the SSCC campus atop Puget Ridge.
Those are some of the artisans who’ve been here for two weeks now, visiting from China to help make the Seattle Chinese Garden‘s first major feature as authentic as possible – and now it’s your chance to meet and welcome them. Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, 1-4 pm, you’re invited to the welcome party at the garden site – on West Seattle’s Puget Ridge, north end of South Seattle Community College – for a welcome party. We took these photos last Monday afternoon during a quick tour of their worksite, the Knowing the Spring Courtyard:
That’s a look at the expanse inside the courtyard walls – the work is going on inside and out:
Tomorrow’s not just a simple open house – special programs are planned as listed in the full party program here, from a flower-arranging demonstration to a lion dance to martial arts (and more).
On assignment for WSB, contributing photographer Evan Miglorie stopped by Roxhill Elementary this morning to check on the garden-building party mentioned here yesterday. Volunteers are building nine garden beds where they’ll grow vegetables (“and other edibles,” Evan tells us) to study and eventually eat! It’s under the direction of Maggie Anderson from the King County Food and Fitness Initiative:
She’s been working with schools in eastern West Seattle and White Center to get programs like this one off the ground – and, you could say, IN the ground. Still time to drop by and pitch in – supplies and tools provided, as well as refreshments; they’re scheduled to be there till 3 pm (30th/Roxbury).
The Seattle Chinese Garden Society – working to complete the garden here in West Seattle, the only one like it that’s not in China itself – are thrilled about the arrival of master Chinese artisans who will be working on its Knowing the Spring Courtyard. But it can’t be all work and no play if you’ve traveled thousands of miles to West Seattle – so, Sandy Marvinney of the SCGS explains (while also sharing two photos) how the artisans’ visit began:
The eighteen master Chinese artisans who arrived in town this past weekend didn’t expect to chat with a fisherman in their native language on their first sightseeing adventure, but that encounter got their Sunday tour off to a great start. At Jack Block Park, West Seattle resident Kin Kau Cheung caught a dogfish just as the group arrived, and after an animated exchange about his fishing skill, let them pose with his catch [top photo]. On their later stroll of the Alki boardwalk, the group met a Chinese family who spoke their regional Chinese dialect. They feel right at home in West Seattle!
The artisans will be here till late November to complete construction of the Seattle Chinese Garden’s first major courtyard. A free community welcome party is scheduled for Sunday, August 22, 1–4 pm at the Garden, with lion dance, entertainment, family activities, and site tours. The public also can watch the artisans at work and keep tabs on construction progress on docent-led tours. The Seattle Chinese Garden is at the north end of the South Seattle Community College campus.
For more information on events and courtyard construction, visit: www.seattlechinesegarden.org and the Garden blog at: blog.seattlechinesegarden.org
The garden is on the South Seattle Community College campus on Puget Ridge.
9:04 AM UPDATE: One more photo from the artisans’ first West Seattle tour on Saturday – Patrick Dunn from the West Seattle Tool Library says they stopped there too (it’s also on the SSCC campus), and shares this photo:
He says they’ll be using tools from the Sustainable West Seattle-launched library as part of the project. (You can rent tools from the library too – check here for hours and details.)
Just announced by the city Department of Neighborhoods – another round of city grants, this time from what’s known as the city Large Projects Fund. Two West Seattle projects are on the list — the West Seattle Community Orchard ($43,000) and the Lafayette Elementary School playground ($100,000). Here are details, from the full citywide list published by DON.
Just got an announcement from the city Department of Neighborhoods that it’s “welcoming suggestions … for possible future P-Patch sites in the West Seattle area.” Click ahead for the criteria, and to see how to send in your suggestion(s):Read More
(WSB photos by Cliff DesPeaux)
During today’s West Seattle Garden Tour (co-sponsored by WSB), that sign outside the Morgan Junction garden dubbed “Treasures of Strange Origin” told visitors how the garden got started. We don’t know if 3-year-old Kieran Peterman of West Seattle could read it – somehow we suspect he didn’t need to:
Also in the Treasures of Strange Origin Garden, Jamie Murphy of West Seattle was surrounded by green:
Tourgoers admired the many attractions:
And owner Andrew Malcolm took a coffee break:
The garden was one of eight on this year’s WSGT. Visiting a sampling of them for WSB coverage, photojournalist Cliff DesPeaux discovered other small treasures, like these baby hummingbirds at the “Tree Lovers’ Garden” in Gatewood:
And a bird bath with toy boats at the “His and Hers, or Hers and His Garden” in Admiral:
And an irresistible rose in the “Master Composters’ Garden”:
From the personal experience, to the big group – standing-room-only for guest speaker Willi Galloway of DigginFood.com, at the South Seattle Community College Arboretum:
She is an expert on what some call urban farming – growing your own food – even raising chickens in your back yard:
Back out in the gardens – the Master Composter’s Garden offered everyone a hand (or two):
Splashes of color delighted in spots like this one in His Hers, Hers His:
And after all, in the end, of course, there’s simply the beauty of the plants:
The West Seattle Garden Tour is a nonprofit event that raises money for local beneficiaries – this year, the ArtsWest Theater Education Program, the Duwamish Longhouse Rain Garden Wetlands, Highland Park Elementary School, Seattle Tilth, South Seattle Community College Arboretum.
One last reminder – we’ll mention it again in the morning but that might be too late to make your plans for the day, so we’re giving another shoutout tonight – WSB is thrilled to be among this year’s sponsors for the West Seattle Garden Tour, and TOMORROW is the big day, 9 am-5 pm. Your $15 ticket (12/under kids are free) gets you a booklet for admission to the eight fabulous gardens on display this year (previewed here). Just got sneak preview shots from WSGT’s Clay Swidler!
Also among the WSGT gardens tomorrow – the South Seattle Community College Arboretum, which is also where your ticket gets you in to see the presentation by featured speaker Willi Galloway at noon. Willi, a West Seattleite, writes and publishes DigginFood.com – which is about one of the hottest topics around, food gardening – with a dose of backyard chicken-raising. Right after her presentation, the amazing culinary team from SSCC has a spread of treats for West Seattle Garden Tour ticketholders – the chance to taste chocolate, cheese, pastries, and (21+ of course) wine, before you get back out to continue touring the gardens. Online ticket sales are closed BUT you can buy same-day tickets tomorrow at West Seattle Nursery and
One of next weekend’s big events: The West Seattle Garden Tour (with WSB among this year’s co-sponsors). Tonight, WSGT organizers shared the photo above, with this report:
We had a great Garden Tour Container party today at Clay Swidler’s house, preparing magnificent Succulent containers for next week’s 16th annual West Seattle Garden Tour!
Pictured from left to right are committee members Carolyn Graye, Michelle Drewien, 2010 WSGT Gardener extraordinaire Mari Malcom, and Kathleen Kemp. See you all at the July 18th WSGT next week!
You’ll see some of those containers on the tour too. Tickets are $15 and not only represent a donation to local nonprofits, they also get you admission to the lecture/workshop by edible gardening/backyard chicken guru Willi Galloway (a West Seattleite) and wine/chocolate/cheese/pastry tasting afterward. You can buy yours online, or in person at the locations listed here.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli)
Also under way now and continuing till 4 – still time to get your ticket and map and go see the gardens – the 3rd annual West Seattle Edible Garden Tour, raising money for Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle. The photo’s from a Gatewood garden that’s among the stops on the tour. More photos later.
ADDED: In hats, Shawn and Amy Carlson showed off their garden:
From Urban Land Army, Sandy Pederson‘s garden, where you’ll find 28 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.
And next, Lisa Hlavsa, with son Ben (right) in their garden during the tour:
Community Harvest has much more going on, pretty much year-round. Drop-in gardening on Thursday nights, and lots more. Keep in touch at gleanit.org. (And you can find out more about sustainability – including edible gardening – again today during West Seattle Summer Fest, at the GreenLife zone, on the west side of California SW just north of Edmunds.)
Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle – which helps coach locals in edible gardening, and grows/coordinates donations of fresh food for local food banks – has news for you: For starters, if you’re interested in gardening but don’t have the space, you’re invited to “drop-in gardening” nights at St. James Annex, 9421 18th SW, 6:30 pm – help weed or plant, “then go home with some of the harvest!” says Aviva from Community Harvest. If you’d like to see some of our area’s tastiest-looking food gardens, tomorrow (Saturday) is the day – the 3rd annual West Seattle Edible Garden Tour runs 11 am-4 pm Saturday – ticket/map info here. And during those same hours, Community Harvest is having a seed sale – get seeds to plant now for harvesting root veggies and greens this fall. The aforementioned St. James Annex is the place, during tour hours, 11 am-4 pm Saturday, with seeds offered in $1 packets – and if you go to the seed sale first, tickets/maps for the Edible Garden Tour will be available there. Last but not least, to get hands-on advice for your own garden, Seattle Tilth-trained Garden Helpers are available – here’s how to dig into that program. Questions about any of the above? info@gleanit.org
Sun or no sun, the gardens are blooming – and you’ve got an abundant chance to see the best of the best, in a variety of specialties, coming up within the next few weeks. Here’s the rundown:
GREENLIFE AT WEST SEATTLE SUMMER FEST, NEXT FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY: Lots of edible-gardening how-to’s will be part of this first-ever expo during West Seattle Summer Fest in The Junction next Friday through Sunday. It’s co-presented by West Seattle Nursery (which has more info here) and Sustainable West Seattle. You’ll find GreenLife in the lot at 44th/Edmunds (alongside the Chase drive-thru) all three days of Summer Fest, starting at noon Friday, 10 am Saturday-Sunday.
EDIBLE GARDEN TOUR NEXT SATURDAY – AND OPTIONAL ‘COOP TOUR’ ADD-ON: 11 am-4 pm Saturday (July 10th), more than a dozen gardens are showcased in this Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle-presented event. You can see them previewed here; tickets are on sale online here. (There’s also an add-on which will enable you to see the West Seattle stops on the Seattle Tilth Coop Tour the same day – more info here.)
WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS GARDEN WALK, JULY 11: The day after that, as part of White Center Jubilee Days, it’s the return of the WC Garden Walk, noon-5 pm. Free maps will be available in the parking lot of McLendon Hardware, which is sponsoring the event. More info here.
WEST SEATTLE GARDEN TOUR, JULY 18: WSB is a proud co-sponsor of this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour, coming up two weeks from tomorrow, and it’s no cliché to say it’s bigger and 
better than ever. The gardens themselves (previewed here) are just part of what you get for the ticket price (with proceeds going to these five beneficiaries). At noon at the South Seattle Community College Arboretum (one of the stops), you’ll get to see/hear West Seattle’s own Willi Galloway, edible-gardening expert. And right afterward, 1-2:30 pm, tour ticketholders get to sample wine, cheese, chocolate, and pastries courtesy of the renowned SSCC culinary-arts program. Tickets are on sale online now (kids under 12, free) and “in person” at these six locations (including WSB sponsor Metropolitan Market).
(WSB photo from July 2009)
Just circulated by the Seattle Housing Authority, word that the High Point Market Garden produce stand will open for the season a week from today – Wednesday, July 7th. It’s scheduled to be open 4-7 pm every Wednesday till September 29th, according to the announcement. The produce that’s sold at the stand is grown and harvested on site; the garden and stand are at 32nd/Juneau – here’s a map. (Hat tip: Delridge Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles‘s mailing list.)
The empty lot on the southwest corner of 34th and Barton is closer to becoming a P-Patch after city councilmembers voted unanimously today to declare it “surplus” for Seattle Public Utilities, meaning SPU can transfer it to the Department of Neighborhoods for community-garden use. That’s been in the works for more than a year (we got first word at a Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee meeting in May 2009); next step should be a community design meeting, according to what a city rep told the Westwood Neighborhood Council in April.
Take a close look – those aren’t mosaic stepping stones, but instead, decorated shovels – one example of “garden art,” which is what Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle is hoping to harvest for its upcoming Garden Art Auction. Aviva from CHoSS sent the photo and the request:
Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle is looking for interesting pieces for its Garden Art Auction, July 10th. Do you have ideas for turning a rusty old shovel into a work of art? Mosaic, welding, paint – only your imagination is the limit. We are looking for all sorts of garden art, not limited to shovels. Whether you are a professional or amateur, we would be happy to accept your donation for our auction. Last year Community Harvest provided more than 6,500 pounds of surplus local fruit to the food banks. This year we have started a Garden Helper program to mentor new vegetable growers. Contact Aviva at info@gleanit.org for information.
Will June showers mean July flowers? If so, it’ll be the best year yet for the West Seattle Garden Tour. Just might be, no matter what! WSB is pleased to be among the West Seattle Garden Tour sponsors this year for the first time; 
we just got word from organizers that the $15 tickets (kids under 12 are free) go on sale this week at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor), West Seattle Nursery, ArtsWest and Junction TrueValue – or you can buy yours online right now. The tour is on July 18th. Organizers hope to sell 1,000 tickets this year to match what they’ve received in sponsorships – the proceeds this year will benefit Highland Park Elementary, the Duwamish Longhouse‘s Rain Gardens, Seattle Tilth, the ArtsWest education program, and the South Seattle Community College Arboretum (WSGT photo at left), which this year is one of 8 WSGT stops. SSCC is also where ticketholders will see a noon edible-gardening lecture by West Seattle’s own Willi Galloway of DigginFood.com, followed by wine, cheese and confections tasting courtesy of SSCC. The July 18 tour is self-guided, 9 am-5 pm.
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