Honor the earth every day by protecting air quality, human health, and climate stability – volunteer for Idle Free Ballard! Unnecessary vehicle idling wastes four million gallons of fuel in the US every day.
Remember to turn off your engine –waiting for the bridge to open, outside school, or in the drive-through! Simple things can make a big difference: check your phone before you turn your car on.
We need you! Hand out cards and posters to your friends, neighbors, local shops, businesses, etc. We deliver! Table at upcoming events! Contact your local school to educate parents and students. We have a sample article for newsletters. And a link to signage! Sew or print an Idle Free banner! To get cards or posters, or learn more, visit https://www.sustainableballard.org/idle-free-ballard/
In late April we distributed another 8,000 cool weather crops to Seattle giving gardeners. We transplanted 1,000 tomato seedlings into pots and put them in the hoop houses. We will tend them until Memorial Day when they will be distributed to giving gardeners and that will complete the Sprouts Project for this year.
Next year will be our last year at our Ballard greenhouse location. We will cut our production in half. Ideally there would be another location in Ballard that would pick up this project and we would use the next growing season to transfer our knowledge and procedures. If you or your neighbors have a greenhouse and/or a sunny space in your backyard, approximately 30′ x 10′, then please contact us at info@SGGN.org. Would you be willing for volunteers to enter your yard to tend the plants from February thru April? We have over 20 Sprouts volunteers that are looking forward to continuing this project into the future but we need another location in Ballard.
For more information about the Seattle Giving Garden Network go to SGGN.org.
Please save the date and join us for the 2023 Edible Garden Tour on Saturday June 24, from 10 am – 3 pm. This year’s tour we will be in Northeast Ballard. Sustainable Ballard hopes that our annual Edible Garden Tour will inspire and inform all the budding gardeners out there! This tour features neighbors like you sharing their gardening tips and experience in edible gardening. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet your neighbors, enjoy a beautiful summer day exploring gardens, and supporting sustainability!
If you would like to volunteer to help with this event there are plenty of opportunities pre-event and day of event. For more information on how you can lend a hand please contact Alyssa by email.
Seattle Giving Gardeners from all over the city came to Ballard Sprouts on Friday, April 14 to pick up plants for their giving gardens. These gardeners will grow the plants and donate the harvest to Seattle food banks. Here are some photos of the gardeners who came by on Friday to pick up plants.
Ballard Sprouts planted over 20,000 seeds, starting in mid-February. Only half the plants are ready this weekend. There will be another distribution later in April. 1,200 tomato seeds are germinating in the greenhouse. These will be transplanted into pots and made available over Memorial Day weekend. Our intention is to give the giving gardeners a head start on the growing season.
We’re actively looking for another greenhouse since we will no longer have access to our current Ballard greenhouse after June 2024. Our current one will be available until June 2024 but we would like to use next year’s growing cycle to transfer our procedures. We do not expect the new location to grow as much as we do, maybe 2500 plants in 2024 then 5000 afterwards. Please spread the word with friends, family, and neighbors in Ballard who might have a greenhouse so that we can continue this project here. Send any leads to info@SGGN.org.
Our Free Letters home project that provides cards, postage, and writing assistance to Ballard Food Bank clients wanted to make a special request for Mothers Day cards. Over 6,000 people access our local food bank’s services each month and everyone of them has/had a mom. As always, the project could use postage stamps or donations to purchase postage. Currently they have plenty of blank cards. Please drop off donations or post to: Andrea’s house, 7713 11th Ave NW. For more info on donating or volunteering for this project please Email Andrea
Are you looking for some way to lend a hand this Earth Day? If so, please check out these opportunities to volunteer in or near Ballard.
Join Pudget SoundKeeper at Golden Gardens for a ETAP Beach Cleanup. This cleanup will take place in two, two-hour shifts between 10am–2pm on Saturday, April 22nd.
We will use the ETAP protocol (Escaped Trash Assessment Protocol) at this event. ETAP is a survey method created by the Environmental Protection Agency to standardize, characterize, and quantify debris. It compares trends in trash that escapes waste management systems and ends up on our beaches and in our waterways. It is a simple, but meticulous, collection of all human-created debris within a defined area, which are then categorized, counted and weighed. Soundkeeper uses ETAP to assist in developing policy and legislative tools to reduce marine debris in Puget Sound.
If you are under 18 years old and will be attending the event without an adult, please complete this form before the event: Liability Form.
Not Trash! This is a Moon Snail Egg Collar
Join our Friends at the PNA Village for Spring Gardening Day Saturday, April 22nd from 8:30am to 12:30pm. Meet up at the Greenwood Senior Center then head out to Senior’s home in NW Seattle to help out elder neighbors with beautifying their gardens, pulling weeds, and planting seeds!
Volunteer groups of 5 will go to two different homes. Great for any and all ages. No experience necessary. Tools provided if needed. Get ready to get dirty!
Join Green Seattle at Discovery Park this Earth Day at Spruce Island for blackberry clearing from 9am-12p. They will be attacking a hibernating patch of blackberry, sneaking up on them just as they are waking up. It’s amazing how much easier it is to clear blackberries this time of year. Our task will be a combination of cutting back the canes with loppers and digging up the roots to completely wallop them. They won’t know what hit ’em! Wood chips will be spread over any bare ground to prevent weed seeds from sprouting.
Bring work gloves, water to stay hydrated and sturdy boots. Dress for the weather with layers. We will have loppers, tillers and shovels to accomplish our task. Meet downhill of the large black cistern 800′ west of the large white radar tower. The cistern is on the west end of the parade grounds. 47.657661, -122.416956 This is a 10 minute walk from the south parking lot (please allow enough time to walk to and from the meeting site). This is a small area of trees at the north end of the south meadow called Spruce Island.
Volunteers “Sneaking up on the Blackberries”
On-going volunteer opportunities include Sustainable Ballard’s Idle Free and Market Gleaning Projects. Both are looking for volunteers. Take the Idle Free pledge and help educate your friends and neighbors on the wastefulness of idling. Contact Polly for more information.
Or help out with our Sunday Farmers Market Gleaning team that gathers unsold food from farmers and distributes it to our friends at Ballard Food Bank. To learn more about this project or get involved, contact Olivia
Market gleaners collected over 18,000 pounds of produce for the Ballard Food Bank last year!
It’s going to be a fun afternoon in Ballard Saturday April 22nd! Join us for our very first Spring Beer Hop from 2-6p. $20 public/$15 supporting members. Advance tickets only! Buy Tickets Now You don’t want to miss this opportunity to walk, run, bike, or hop around the Ballard Brewing District with us. Enjoy a taster at each of the following local breweries: Stoup, Bickersons, Bad Jimmy’s, Rueben’s and Obec.
Taste the recently released Farm Team #3A Ballard Favorite for a DecadeCelebrate Bickersons 1st Year in BallardGet Spring Beer Hopping!
We’ll have project leads and volunteers at each brewery to share all the interesting things Sustainable Ballard has coming up this Spring, Summer and beyond. In addition to tasty beers there are a few prize baskets with some awesome prizes from our lovely sponsors: Scared Rain Healing Center, Stamp Act Coffee and New Roots Organics. So get together a few friends and come join us to celebrate Earth Day!
The Sustainable Ballard Knitters for Homeless continue to produce warm hats and scarves for our unhoused neighbors. Let’s hope by Earth Day Spring has finally arrived and we can all do a little basking! In the meantime we’ll continue to help mitigate the cool, damp weather.
Come and join us from 7 – 9 pm at Pour Decision, 8000 – 15th Avenue NW on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. New and experienced knitters and crocheters welcome. Yarn and instructions provided. Food and beverages available. If you want to pick up yarn and/or drop of warmies, contact Jody at 206-718-1529 or jodytgrage@gmail.com.)
Since the Ballard Market rewards program ended last year we wanted to share another easy way you can help us. By naming us as your Community Rewards beneficiary with your Fred Meyer card we will receive a precentage of what you spend at the store. Every little bit helps so please consider adding us today.
Sustainable Ballard would like to thank everyone who has already made us their Fred Meyer Community Rewards recipient! We have about 30 households who have connected their Fred Meyer rewards cards to our organization as their chosen community program reward beneficiary. This allows you to raise money to help your favorite local organization with every penny you spend at the store. That brings in about $40 each quarter, and we could not be more thankful for your support.
You can find more information on the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program here. If you have a Fred Meyer Rewards card, consider naming us as your Community Rewards beneficiary. It’s a nice, easy way to make a difference in your community. You can also find details on how to donate directly to Sustainable Ballard here.
Free Letters Home has been serving about 25 people every Tuesday from 11am to 1pm at Ballard Food bank. We really need donations of cards that feature animals, they are always popular. Now that it is finally Spring we also have Easter coming. Please drop-off or mail cards and postage donations to 7713 11th Ave NW. For more info on how you can help with this meaningful project contact Andrea
