Author: Rain Gilman

Our gleaning volunteers added over 1,100 pounds of fresh, local food to the Ballard Food Bank fridge this weekend! A big thank you to Alvarez Farms for donating over 200 pounds of summer squash and the Cottage Bakery for donating 100 pounds of bread! Summer produce is in full swing, and we could definitely use some more volunteers over the next few months.

This coming Sunday August 6th we could use 2-3 volunteers to help out. The following Sunday August 13th needs 3-4 volunteers. Sign up to Volunteer! Gleaning is a great way to make new friends (volunteers and farmers alike!), support our local food economy, and provide high quality produce to those in need. 

The Free Letters Home project at the Ballard Food Bank will take August off. After all, everyone deserves a chance to enjoy the beautiful PNW Summer at its prime! If you’re interested in volunteering with this amazing social connection project when it resumes in September please contact our volunteer coordinator.

On average 20-25 people are stopping by the Free Letters Home table and writing to friends/family. We welcome donations of greeting cards and stamps.  Thank you to all of those who have donated! We find that cards with animals are especially in demand. Donations can be dropped off at Andrea’s house, 7713 11th Ave NW or sent to 2442 NW Market Street PMB 286 Seattle, WA 98107. Additionally, Free Letters Home will be collecting at Sustainable Ballard’s Giving Sunday in Commons Park on Sunday August 13th from 10-1pm. So stop by and donate to sustain community connection through Snail Mail!

You are welcome to drive up and drop off (with help from our local Boy Scout troop) or park and learn more about each of these needed programs. Join us any time from 10:00am to 1:00pm for this donation drive supporting several of our on-going Projects as well as some of our community partners.

Organization	Most Needed Items
Ballard Food Bank	Food & Toiletries (see charts below) and paper grocery bags
Books to Prisoners	Fantasy or urban fiction hardbacks/paperbacks Also textbooks, particularly legal, language and vocational manuals, art & drawing books
T2P2 (Towers of Tampons and Pyramids of Pads)	Menstrual products, volunteers – to disrupt period poverty
Ballard Tool Library	Newer, clean and working tools with all associated parts (no gas-powered tools)
Free Letters Home	Animal-image cards, stamps & donations for stamps
Knitters for the Homeless	Knitting/crochet needles, heavy weight yarn
Sustainable Ballard	Volunteers

Volunteers needed! If you’re interested in helping us out please email our volunteer coordinator for details and to sign-up.

Our Summers are always full of so many great events and sometimes it can be hard to fit it all in. However, you will want to mark your calendars to join our friends at Ballard P-Patch for the 21st Annual Art in the Garden event on August 5th! This is always a super fun event. You won’t want to miss it! For more info or to volunteer visit

Our Summers are always full of so many great events and sometimes it can be hard to fit it all in. However, you will want to mark your calendars to join our friends at Ballard P-Patch for the 21st Annual Art in the Garden event on August 5th! This is always a super fun event. You won’t want to miss it! For more info or to volunteer visit Art in the Garden

The SB Knitters and Crocheters and friends contiinue to meet each second Tuesday from 7 – 9 pm

at Pour Decisions – 8000 – 15th Avenue NW.  We are a smaller group because not everyone keeps

knitting in the summer but we use the time to build up a supply of hats and scarves for those first

nippy fall days.  Come join us when you will.  Yarn, needles, instruction, and knitting buddies are 

always available at our meetings and by calling Jody at 206-718-1529. 

The Sunset Hill Community Association is organizing a walking art fair on Saturday July 29, 2023, from 11AM – 4PM. The fair will be a hybrid walking tour, similar to the last three years, combined with artists hosted in our Clubhouse, located at 3003 NW 66th St. Participating artists may either register their home address for the walking tour map, or choose to set-up on one of the two floors of our clubhouse.

Registration and Info here.

Ballard SeafoodFest is an annual festival held in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The festival’s origins can be traced back to 1971 when leaders from Ballard’s industrial and fishing community joined forces with the Ballard Elks to start SeafoodFest to promote the neighborhood’s fishing industry and draw attention to the area’s Scandinavian heritage. The event began as a two-hour barbecue and has since grown into a highly anticipated event that draws thousands of visitors yearly. The festival has become a beloved summer tradition for locals and visitors alike.

With thousands of visitors it is no small effort to put on this wonderful event. If you’re looking for a great way to make a difference, and meet other friendly, Ballard-loving people, join our crew as a Deck Hand (aka volunteer)! Every volunteer shift comes with a free salmon BBQ dinner, and your hours count towards community service requirements. Interested in volunteering at 2023 SeafoodFest? Click the button below to sign up for 2023 volunteer shifts! Have questions? Email our volunteer coordinator Wren Wilson.

We are SO excited for this year’s 14th Annual Ballard Edible Garden Tour on Saturday! Also, we want to thank our amazing community partners: Limback Lumber , New Roots Organics, Swanson’s Nursery, and Walt’s Organic Fertilizer Co. We greatly appreciate your efforts to support gardeners and your local community! Thanks also to Friends of Kirke Park, Seattle Parks and Rec and to all the volunteers and garden hosts who have made the Garden Tour come to life!

If you’re a community minded local business that cares about sustainability please consider sponsoring our 2023 Sustainability Festival on September 30th at Loyal Heights Community Center. For more info on how you can participate please check out our Sponsorship Page. This is a great way for your business to engage with the community in a meaningful way and share the ways in which your business supports, practices, & encourages sustainability!

Join the fun! Buy your Garden Tickets Here!

We have a little bit of everything this year with over 20 stops! There are plenty of home gardens with features ranging from annual greens to perennial berries and fruit trees, from container gardens to hoop houses, from mason bees to rabbits and plenty of chickens. The P Patch gardeners at Kirke Park, the start point of the tour, have a good time planned (Check it out) with music, a plant sale benefiting the Kirke Park gardens, games, and a pollinator garden. Have you always wondered what’s in the greenhouse at Ballard High School? Come check out their garden and learn about native pollinators from the horticulture students! Up at the Crown Hill Community Garden, you can build a birdhouse or stick around for the Crown Hill Community Festival from 4-8 pm.

Sustainable Ballard supporting members and Edible Garden Tour volunteers tour free! Check out any available day-of volunteer shifts open on our signup  Volunteer here!. 

This year focuses on Pollinators and Climate Change. Pollinators are dying in alarming numbers due to rising temperatures and loss of suitable habitat. The good news is YOU can be(e) helpful by creating healthy pollinator habitat in your garden, yard, rooftop deck, balcony, or parking strip! Even just a few pots on a window ledge or front stoop provides food, resting area, and increases necessary pollinator habitat. These small efforts will also help combat climate change by supporting healthy ecosystems, air, soil, water, and plants.

The great thing about Pollinator Week is that you can celebrate and get involved any way you like! Anything from planting for pollinators, hosting garden tours(Such as our 14th Annual Edible Garden Tour!) , participating in online bee and butterfly ID workshops, talking with neighbors about the importance of pollinators & pesticide-free gardening practices, and so much more.

For more resources and ideas on how to participate be(e) sure to check out Pollinator Partnership https://www.pollinator.org/