Author: Rain Gilman

This year’s Edible Garden Tour showcased 19 gardens in Southwest Ballard(Sunset Hill and Adams) and had over 179 attendees on June 25th. We pulled it off with a planning team of 7, our 19 gracious garden hosts, and the help of 6 more volunteers. This year’s tour began at Sunset Hill Community Center and the weather was perfect for our 13th annual self-guided event.

The event was a big success, with our largest attendance yet. We sold over 220 tickets and 106 raffle tickets for fantastic prizes from our generous sponsors: Swanson’s Nursery, Limback Lumber, Dirt Exchange, Mimi’s Zero Waste Market and New Roots Organics. It was a truly beautiful day in the neighborhood and a great opportunity for community members to connect and learn more about edible sustainable gardening practices.

We would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who came out to join us and look forward to seeing you again on this year’s tour which will feature gardens in Northeast Ballard. Get inspired, learn from your neighbors and grow your own food! Contact Alyssa for more information on the upcoming 14th Annual Edible Garden Tour.

In it’s first year our Idle Free project has distributed 800 idle free information cards and a dozen idle free posters. We maintain a list of 25 volunteers/interested parties who participate in this new project. All of their informative outreach efforts have helped reduce needless vehicle idling which protects our air quality and the climate.

Articles have run in the following publications: My Ballard, PCC’s August newsletter, Ballard High PTSA newsletter (2x), St. Andrews church newsletter, and the SHCA website. In addition, we delivered cards and posters to: Town and Country Market Ballard, Ballard PCC, Swerve’s drivers ed, PNA and at least 20 individuals at their request.

Idle Free volunteers tabled events/networked/handed out cards at: This year’s EcoSummit in April, Sunset Hill Community Association art walk in July (and presented to their board May), our Edible Garden Tour registration table in June and the Phinney Farmers Market in early September. To be a part of this awesome project in 2023 please contact project lead Polly

For a year now, we have been knitting at Pour Decisions, 8000 – 15^th Avenue NW on the second Tuesday of each month.  Our 2022 production went up in to an astonishing 542 hats, 145 scarves, and 1 lap robe – a good increase over the 272 hats, 151 scarves, and 14 lap robes in 2021.

We have knitters coming to our meetings as well as those who knit at home and anonymously pick up yarn and drop off the finished warmies. There are over 40 volunteers participating in this project during the year. As well as 82 people on our mailing list.  An estimate of 5 hours for each hat, 10 hours for a scarf and 20 hours for a lap robe which come out to over 4,000 volunteer hours!

Our SB Bakery Gleaning Team did amazing work in 2022!

Volunteers: We had an average of 10 volunteers participating in the project each month. 

Number of volunteer hours logged 348-516 (each pick-up/delivery takes between 1-1.5 hours). This is an average of 26-40 hours per month.

We are grateful for the generosity of our Participating donors: year round Tall Grass Bakery, and Mighty-O donuts. Also, Cafe Besalu (Jan-Sept).

Quantity:

Tall Grass Bakery averages about 4- 50# flour bags per pick up, and there are 4 pick ups per week. (Sun, Wed, Thurs, Fri). That’s a minimum of 832 bags of bread for 2022!

Mighty-O averages 5-10 boxes per pickup, and there are 2 pick ups per week. (Sun, Wed)  With at least 520 boxes of donuts for a total of over 6,240 delicious organic donuts.

Cafe Besalu gives left over pastries to Tall Grass for our Sustainable Ballard Bakery Gleaning volunteers to pick up when they have any.

Community members served:

St. Luke’s Edible Hope program serves a hot morning meal M-F. (Baked goods delivered M,Th,F) any additional baked goods are distributed 2-3 times per month to the following organizations: Interbay Tiny House Village, Ballard Senior Center, and Ballard Food Bank. In this manner we make sure this amazing amount of food is channeled by our neighbors to a program(s) that supports our neighbors! We look forward to gathering, distributing, and engaging even more in 2023. To join the effort please contact Chris.

Our friend’s at the PNA Village are hosting a volunteer recruiting pizza party! Is volunteering among one of your New Year’s resolutions? Are you looking to support folks in your community? Bring a friend and join us for pizza, beer, and refreshments while learning how you can help your elder neighbors! Village volunteers provide services like transportation, help with small projects in and around their homes, gardening, and social interaction. Volunteering is flexible and on your own schedule – no minimum expectations, just whatever you feel comfortable offering. Make a difference in how your neighbors choose to age!

Location: Phinney Center Blue Building Room 5. Your RSVP is appreciate but not required 206-789-1217

Help us build community and spread literacy!

Have you ever stumbled across a tiny home filled with books in someone’s front yard or parking strip? – it is probably a Little Free Library™! There are dozens throughout Ballard and more popping up all the time. Some even double as free food pantries. These little libraries are helping to spread literacy and fun throughout our community. Now we need your help – we are looking for a new Project Lead!

Over the past decade the Little Free Library Project has:

• Hosted building workshops
• Offered carpentry help
• Collected wood donations
• Held book drives
• Had book exchanges
• Published maps
• Recruited troops and groups to get involved
• Taken pictures to capture the creativity of many boxes in Ballard (from art installations, to supply source during Covid and more)
• Spent time searching out new Little Libraries and delivering new books to all

The national site has great newsletters and ideas, and the possibilities are endless, and fun is guaranteed! If this sounds like just the thing for you to take on in 2023 please let us know by contacting Jenny Heins. Thank you and Happy Reading!

Ballard Farmers Market gleaners collected over 18,000 pounds of produce for the Ballard Food Bank in 2022! Our single largest collection was a whopping 1,379 pounds. While we aren’t expecting to have hauls that are quite that big this winter, 2023 sign-ups are now open and we could definitely use some volunteers in January and February. As always, you can sign up to glean via the link below. Our Gleaning project 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.

Gleaning Ballard – Google Sheets

Sustainable Ballard Knitters for the Homeless knitters and crocheters are especially fond of winter!  And as always, you are very welcome to join us in providing scarves and hats to help keep our neighbors warm and dry. You can join us in person or knit on your own and then drop off completed items.

We meet at  Pour Decisions – 8000 – 15th Avenue NW – from 7 to 9pm on second Tuesdays for convivial company, inspiration, technical assistance, yarn and patterns, and to add to our 508 hats and 122 scarves so far this year! Yarn and drop off of finished warmies also available at 2428 NW 56th by 
contacting project leader Jody at jodytgrage@gmail.com.

The Bakery Gleaning team can always use new members. The team collects bread from Tall Grass Bakery and also from Mighty-O donuts on Sundays and Wednesdays and delivers to St. Luke’s Edible Hope program on Monday’s and Thursdays. A car is needed as Tall Grass usually has at least 3 big bags of bread, and Mighty-O usually has at least 3-4 (and maybe more) boxes of donuts to donate. Donuts are picked up in the mornings, and bread about 6:15-6:30 in the evening after Tall Grass closes. One will need someplace to store the baked goods until delivery the next day- between 7-10am. Some people sign up for a one time per month pick-up, others choose 3-4 convenient times. The sign up calendar is sent out 10-12 days before the end of the month for the next month. If you would like to learn more about this project, or sign up please contact Chris.