The new Sprouts year has been a success! In April and May we were able to give away over 800 vegetable starts which will eventually result in more produce in Food Bank bellies. In 3 deliveries, we gave 584 plants to the Ballard Food Bank itself for patrons to take and grow. At our Plant Giveaway we distributed another 250 plants to giving gardeners around the neighborhood. We’ve been working hard on creating some beautiful raised beds for our Sustainable Ballard Giving Gardens and planted another 150 or so starts in our 2 Giving Garden locations. We can’t wait to show off the beautiful gardens in the 2028 Edible Garden Tour! If you’d like to see our progress before that, contact Jenny to be a Sprouts/Giving Garden volunteer.
Do you donate some of the produce you grow in your garden to the Food Bank? Would you like to? If so, you are eligible for free vegetable starts from our Ballard Sprouts project. Don’t have the space or time to do a giving garden? You can still support the project by picking up some plants for a donation.
Join us this weekend for our Plant Giveaway!
Saturday, May 16, 2026 1-3 pm Free Veggie Starts for Giving Gardeners 3-5 pm All Gardeners invited to pick up plants for a donation
The Ballard Tool Library is hosting a virtual volunteer orientation from 12 pm to 1 pm on Saturday, June 6th. Come learn the basics about how our affordable rentals are helping Ballard DIY’ers complete their projects more sustainably. Current volunteers are welcome to attend to get a refresher on our applications and policies.
The Tool Library is located at 7549B 15th Ave NW. Volunteers are expected to complete at least one two-hour librarian shift each month, or join our team of tool fixers to keep our inventory working.
Join us for our 17th Annual Edible Garden Tour! This year’s tour will highlight many of the most gorgeous edible gardens in Southeast Ballard/West Woodland. The tour includes 20+ gardens to explore within walking distance of each other. Tickets are $15 for the public, free for kids and sustaining members. The tour start point will be at Creative Chemistry between Stoup Brewery and Gilman Playfield.
For those who have never been, plan to spend a day walking or biking through Ballard to discover how your neighbors raise urban fruits and vegetables. Chat with the home gardeners themselves to learn the magic behind their masterpieces. If you’re new to gardening, we hope that you can join us at the Edible Garden Tour to see what other gardeners in the neighborhood are doing and get some useful tips! Already an expert gardener? There are plenty of inspiring ideas for you to incorporate into your own growing spaces. Enjoy a day of celebrating gardens, sustainability, pollinators and much more!
Meaningful Movies Ballard *RSVP appreciated, not required Thurs June 18, 6 pm – 8:45 pm at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard Every 3rd Thursday we will be screening a documentary related to sustainability at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard. In June, to honor Juneteenth, we will be showing The Big Payback, a film examining the history, challenges and small successes in procuring reparations for Black Americans.
For the first time in American history, a tax funded reparations bill targeted for Black Americans is passed in Evanston, IL. The film follows the fight of rookie alderman Robin Rue Simmons as she leads the community in an uphill battle to obtain this ‘big payback’.
Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the formidable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee continues the fight to pass HR 40: a national bill to examine the merits of introducing reparations for slavery to African Americans.
Together, they pressure the government to deliver monetary justice and appropriate remedies for Black Americans harmed by centuries of chattel slavery, state-sponsored terrorism, systemic injustice, and corporate exploitation. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally get the big payback?
Meaningful Movies Ballard *RSVP appreciated, not required Thurs May 21, 6 pm – 8:45 pm at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard Every 3rd Thursday we will be screening a documentary related to sustainability at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard. In May we will be showing Join or Die, a film about why you should join a club—and why the fate of America depends on it.
In this Emmy-nominated feature documentary, follow the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam, whose groundbreaking “Bowling Alone” research into America’s decades-long decline in community connections could hold the answers to our democracy’s present crisis.
A discussion follows the film. Speakers: Krystal & Debbie, organizers of Ballard Solidarity, our neighborhood union.
Intermission is sponsored by Mighty-O Donuts, Seattle’s First & Only all natural donut shop.
Sustainable Ballard and Center for Spiritual Living Ballard partner with the Meaningful Movies Project to present documentaries in our neighborhood.
To stay informed about future screenings, you can subscribe to our newsletter (sent out about once every three weeks). We’d love to hear what you want to see! What topics do you want to explore? Do you have a specific movie to recommend? To provide input, or if you are interested in volunteering with Meaningful Movies Ballard, please e-mail info@sustainableballard.org
The Meaningful Movies Project is a non-profit organization that assists neighborhoods, groups and individuals organize, educate and advocate using the power of documentary film and relevant conversation to build positive and meaningful community and a more just and peaceful world.
Film screenings are always followed by some form of discussion or audience engagement, where education and opportunities for involvement or advocacy are made available. In addition, we rely on, and benefit from one another’s knowledge and experience in an environment that fosters a strong undercurrent of community building.
Events are all-volunteer organized and run. They are always open to the public at no cost, and rely on donations from attendees to remain sustainable. The events are “owned” by the community.
Join us as we prepare the new Ballard Giving Garden for a productive growing season, one that will provide fresh, homegrown vegetables to the Ballard Food Bank.
Date: Saturday, April 25 Time: 1:00-5:00 PM Location: Walk north up the alley between 23rd & Jones NW from NW 65th and you will see us! Please don’t drive up the alley! You can park in the Trinity Church parking lot if needed. RSVP if you need more specific directions. • Drop in anytime! Stay for an hour or the whole afternoon!
During the work party, we’ll be filling our raised beds (some made out of dinghys!) with nutrient-rich soil and distributing wood chips between the beds to get everything ready for planting.
We’re especially grateful to Limback Lumber for generously donating the lumber, Tree Swallow Farm for garden advice, and Dirt Exchange for providing Veggie Mix garden soil. In fact, we’ll be receiving a delivery of 4 cubic yards of soil, so it’s truly an all-hands-on-deck kind of day. Many hands will make light work!
Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just want to help out, this is a wonderful opportunity to spend a few hours outdoors, connect with neighbors, and support a great cause.
We’d love to have you join us – every helping hand makes a difference!
Are you a vegetable gardener who has a little extra space to “grow a row” for hungry people? We at Ballard Sprouts will have free veggie starts for you to pick up in mid-May. Please email Jenny to get on our email list for updates on date and location for pick up. Once you’ve grown the vegetables, you will be responsible to deliver them to Ballard Food Bank. Once we have distributed plants to giving gardeners, the remaining plants will be available for a donation to help cover the cost of supplies and materials for the Sprouts program.
Here is the list of vegetables that may be available:
Clare loves sewing, mending and all things related to sustainable fashion. However as a plus size person, clothing swaps have never been accessible for her. She decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own event !
The teams first event will be 2-4pm, April 19th 2026 @ the Sunset Hill Community Hall (3003 NW 66th St.) Clare hopes to create accessible and body neutral space for people to swap clothing and connect.
Big news for Ballard Sprouts 2026 — we’re growing!
We now have two garden sites on the same block, separated by a large parking lot. In these spaces, we’ll be starting vegetable seeds and nurturing them for donation to the Ballard Food Bank and local giving gardens. We’re also building a couple more raised beds to give us about a dozen spaces to grow fresh produce specifically for the Food Bank — focusing on vegetables popular in Mexican and Asian cuisines, plus herbs and edible flowers to add icing to the cake.
There’s plenty to do, and we’d love your help!
Sunday, March 15 | 2–4 PM Volunteer Orientation & Work Party ~email for location~
We’ll introduce our Ballard Sprouts Handbook and walk through planting, transplanting, caring for young starts, and tracking your work. We’ll do a quick tour of the 2 gardens. Then we’ll roll up our sleeves — transplanting tomatoes starts, making some paper pots, and, if time allows, spreading some wood chips in the garden.
Ways to be involved in 2026:
Join a work party
Take some one hours shifts on your own
Donate extra seedlings from your own starts
Take home simple tasks you can do from the couch
Help deliver plants or produce
There’s a role for everyone! A sign-up will help you claim your perfect fit.
Please contact Jenny if you would like to join the team and let her know if you can make the orientation on March 15 or not.
We appreciate the donations of time and supplies from our local businesses!
