Category: Uncategorized

Saturday, May 31, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. 

Laura Matter of Seattle Tilth—and Program Director for the Garden Hotline—explains which plants thrive during dry weather without intensive supplemental watering. She shares techniques, planting plans, and tools that will help to minimize your watering work in the garden.

Seminars offered at Swansons are free, unless otherwise noted. Some may require sign-up in advance so materials can be prepared. Please be aware that seminars are often full, so it is recommended that you arrive ten minutes early to be assured of a seat. Due to limited space, please do not bring your pet to seminars.

4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 29 – Ballard Bike Party!

Summer Streets is partnering with Cascade Bicycle Club to cap off Bike to Work Month with a sweet street party that celebrates biking and walking. Come hang out in the street, mingle with neighbors, and support Ballard businesses.

Sustainable Ballard will be there with a model RainWise installation in a bike trailer!

Parts of 22nd Avenue NW and Ballard Avenue NW will be opened to people on foot and bike!  

If you’d like to participate in the event as a business or non-profit organization, email Stacey Nakagawa with Cascade Bicycle Club; (206) 778-6099.

Have a question? Email Summer Streets.

$10 weekend pass to the Fair at the Puyallup Fairgrounds May 31 & June 1.

The Mother Earth News Fair offers more than 200 hands-on workshops covering organic gardening, preparing and preserving food, homesteading, renewable energy, natural health and related topics.

Keynote speakers include Joel Salatin, Jo Robinson and Toby Hemenway.

Tickets normally range from $20-$25 for weekend passes.  Children 17 and under always get in free. There are two ways to claim the discounted ticket rate for Sustainable Ballard members:

* Call the toll-free customer service line at 800-234-3368 and provide promo code “MMEMFEZ4” to the customer care agent
* Order tickets online

Not a Sustainable Ballard member?  It’s easy to join — just go back to our home page, provide us your email address under “Get Connected!”, and now you’re a member!  Welcome!

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. @ Swanson’s Nursery

It’s time to plant wonderful warm weather veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and peppers. You’ll learn from Rolf Hokansson about transplanting techniques, fertilizing, watering, support options, and harvesting, followed by Q&A time.

Seminars offered at Swansons are free, unless otherwise noted. Please be aware that seminars are often full, so they recommend arriving 10 minutes early to be assured of a seat. Due to limited space, they ask that you do not bring your pet to seminars.

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways – Safer, Calm Residential Streets

Tell the Seattle Department of Transportation what you think about biking and walking in Seattle!

1. Complete a fast and easy online survey.
   
2. Stop by one of our Coffee Chats, in Ballard on May 31, 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. at Ballard Coffee Works: 2060 NW Market Street
3. Email your thoughts to: Dawn.Schellenberg@Seattle.gov

Share your thoughts with us between Friday, May 9 – Monday, June 2, 2014.
Accommodations are available upon advance request to Dawn Schellenberg, Community Engagement Liaison, at (206) 684-5189 or by email at:Dawn.Schellenberg@Seattle.gov

Seattle is building a network of neighborhood greenways. Neighborhood greenways are safer, calm residential streets for you, your family and neighbors. On streets with low car volumes and speeds a greenway can:

• Improve safety
• Help people cross busy streets
• Discourage cars from using neighborhood streets to avoid main streets
• Protect the residential character of our neighborhoods
• Keep speeds low
• Get people to where they want to go like parks, schools, shops and restaurants

Neighborhood greenways do not add bike lanes and there are minimal if any on-street parking impacts. They are mostly funded through the nine-year voter approved Bridging the Gap Levy. SDOT has received many requests for them. In fact, many residents are so enthused they’ve started Seattle Neighborhood Greenways to help bring them to their neighborhood.

Sustainable Ballard’s 6th Annual Edible Garden Tour is set for Saturday, June 28th, 10am-3pm.

Interested community members are invited to join us in planning the tour, which will be in the northwest Ballard area (from NW 70th Street to NW 85th Street and west from 24th Avenue NW to the ridge).  The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 27th @ 7pm.  RSVP to Paula to get location information.

We have plans to combine with Little Free Libraries and Rain Gardens, to really showcase all that is happening in the area.

Anyone who knows of a garden, bee hive, chicken house, planting strip, fruit tree , berry patch, or herb pot, in the area, please contact Paula, this year’s garden scout.  They can be in containers or shared spaces, in parking strips or in raised beds; the idea is to show, teach and inspire everyone to see the possibilities of what can be done in an urban landscape in terms of edibles.

Next meeting, May 27th. Come join the fun!

Swansons Nursery
9701 – 15th Ave NW
Sunday, May 25; 11:00am – Noon

Swansons’ own Gabriel Maki will thoroughly explain how much and how often to water your plants in our Maritime Northwest climate. Gabriel will also help you select tools to craft an appropriate watering system specific to the needs of your garden’s plants.

Seminars offered at Swansons are free, unless otherwise noted. Some may require sign-up in advance so materials can be prepared. Please be aware that seminars are often full, so it is recommended that you arrive 10 minutes early to be assured of a seat. Due to limited space, please do not bring your pet to seminars.

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, you can learn more about the RainWise rebate program and the expanded rebate area!  Register here.

Join Community Alliance for Global Justice for this FREE workshop on May 22nd, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. from CAGJ’s Food Justice Project Education for Action curriculum.

Location: Central Co-op Rochdale Room, 1900 E. Madison St. (3 blocks East of co-op).

Delve into understanding how oppression and privilege affect our food system.  Through popular education and reviewing the facts, we’ll unpack how racism, classism, and sexism create an unjust food system, are ingrained in the current way we grow and eat our food, and can manifest themselves in food system “alternatives” as well.

For more information, email or call (206) 405-4600.  CAGJ Website

After attending the Sustainable Ballard Open House, head on over to Crown Hill Park!

On Saturday, May 17, Just Garden will bring people together in Northwest Seattle for Spring Into Bed, an annual garden building event and food justice celebration for families with low incomes.

We will be building 10+ gardens and also an edible pathway at Labateyah Youth Home in the Crown Hill neighborhood. This is part of a larger effort to build 50 food gardens for families with low incomes in 2014.

Seventy-five volunteers are needed to make this event a success – lend a hand and support your community! Volunteers will be gathering at 9 a.m. at Crown Hill Park (9220 14th Ave NW, Seattle 98117) for a day of building gardens, followed by a celebration with food, music and activities. Visit the Seattle Tilth web page to sign-up to volunteer.

Spring Into Bed
Saturday, May 17; 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Crown Hill Park – 9220 14th Ave NW, Seattle 98117

Just Garden is a program of Seattle Tilth that works to build a just food system and culture of gardening for all people by building food gardens and providing garden education for families with low incomes. These gardens empower families to become self-sufficient, grow their own food and make healthier food choices.

We can already see the results. In 2013, 92% of Just Garden gardeners reported eating more vegetables than before they had a garden. But gardeners aren’t the only ones who benefit; 74% of Just Garden gardeners reported that they shared their garden yields with people outside of their immediate home/organization.

The Redmond food bank, Hopelink, a 2013 Spring Into Bed recipient, explains their transition into food production as well as distribution, “This past summer the food bank benefited from over 40 pounds of fresh produce grown right outside our doors! It was great.”

We look forward to seeing you on at Spring Into Bed to build ten more gardens on Saturday, May 17!

Contact: Joshua Cowgill
Just Garden Coordinator, AmeriCorps
Seattle Tilth
Sunnyside Ave N., Suite 100
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 633-0451 ext. 116

The mission of Seattle Tilth is to inspire and educate people to safeguard our natural resources while building an equitable and sustainable local food system.