Category: Uncategorized

UW Botanic Gardens, Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st St
Seattle, WA 98105

Saturday, April 19, 2014; 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
For Adults
Presenter – Holly Kennell, Master Gardener
For more information:  urbhort@uw.edu; 206.685.8033

Vegetable gardening may be a good fit with your healthy lifestyle. It provides moderate exercise and delicious, wholesome vegetables. In this class you will learn intensive gardening techniques to help you maximize your harvests, while minimizing your garden’s size and the time it requires in your busy schedule.

Cost: Free! But please RSVP online or call 206.685.8033.

In 2014, 7 of 10 neighborhoods reduced their waste compared to last year!

During the recently-concluded 2014 Think Green Recycling Challenge,

• 127 outreach activities were completed, educating Seattle residents about recycling, composting and waste reduction.
• Over 250 compost buckets were distributed from the City to encourage recycling.

~ The year before the TGRC began, the diversion rate from our Seattle neighborhoods was 64.76%. We are now up to 66.41%. For a community full of active and ‘relentless recyclers’, a few percentage points is significant.

~ Every year of the TGRC, diversion from our Seattle neighborhoods has increased.

~ By the end of 2014, Waste Management will have given $150,000 to bettering our Seattle communities through neighborhood-improvement projects and non-profit donations.

Here are the winners of this year’s competition, who will receive money to donate to non-profits in their community:
Collection Day         Neighborhood                       Amount Earned
Monday                    North Phinney Ridge                   $2,600
Tuesday                   North Ballard                              $2,600
Friday                       North Wallingford                      $13,600
Tuesday                    South West Seattle – Junction      $1,000
Wednesday              South South Park                          $2,600
Thursday                  South Columbia City                   $25,000
Friday                       South Rainier Beach                     $2,600

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 Wednesday, April 16th @ 7pm.  RSVP to Paula and 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, April 16th. Come join the fun!

Urban fruit trees are a valuable community resource. Often fruit goes unused because people are not sure when to harvest it, how to eat it, or they are put off by damage caused by preventable disease and pests. City Fruit is reclaiming the urban orchard, showing people how to harvest and use what they need, and to share the rest with others.

City Fruit promotes the cultivation of urban fruit in order to nourish people, build community and protect the climate. They help tree owners grow healthy fruit, provide assistance in harvesting and preserving fruit, promote the sharing of extra fruit, and work to protect urban fruit trees.

This year, City Fruit is adding the Wallingford and Ballard neighborhoods.  Last year they brought in 10,017 pounds of  unused fruit from residential properties in south Seattle/Beacon Hill, West Seattle and the Phinney-Greenwood neighborhoods. They donated most of  it to food banks and meals programs and sold a portion of it to restaurants and others.

Volunteers are needed to help glean fruit.  If you are interested, check out City Fruit’s Idealist page.

The Northwest Green Home Tour is happening Saturday, April 26, from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

This FREE annual event, co-produced by the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild and Built Green, showcases local, sustainable and green new homes, remodels and energy retrofits in the greater Seattle area.  There are about 8 sites in the Ballard area.

Stop by Site N9 for info on RainWise Rebates and a map of other RainWise sites in the area.

At this stop you’ll see a RainWise installation complete with a raingarden and five cisterns, learn about the program, and find out about your eligibility. (RainWise will be available to most Seattle property owners by 2018.)

Tours of the RainWise installation will be available throughout the day. Come by and get all your questions answered about the RainWise program, and learn how the rebates work. You can also pick up a map to other RainWise installations around NW Seattle that are open for viewing on tour day. You’ll be able to check out installations by many different RainWise contractors, see creative solutions to various site challenges, and get inspired with ideas for your own RainWise installation.

Visit nwgreenhometour.org for details on the NW Green Home Tour and a map of Seattle area green building sites on the tour.

Save the Date: Saturday, April 5^{th –} 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Seattle Center, Exhibition Hall

Give us Feedback: Fill out our online survey to let us know what you would like to get out of the Seattle Neighborhood Summit and what is important to your neighborhood.

To learn more about the Seattle Neighborhood Summit, check here regularly. You can also email or call 206.684.8069.

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Swanson’s Nursery
9701 15th Ave. NW, Seattle, 98117

Horticulturist Ingela Wanerstrand shares information about fruit plant pollination needs, bee biology and food preferences, and common pollination problems. Learn how to choose the best plants to produce more fruit, support struggling pollinators, and enjoy a fruitful 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 we recommend arriving 10 minutes early to be assured of a seat.

Join Groundswell NW and our partner organizations and members at our annual meeting, which will feature guest speaker Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. We’ll have a lively discussion about the future of the Parks Department, including the possibility of a Metropolitan Parks District, as well as other important topics like the Missing Link and Neighborhood Greenways.

We’ll also present our “Local Heroes” awards and talk about GNW activities like the update of the Ballard Open Space Plan.

In true Groundswell NW fashion, this is a dessert potluck, so feel free to bring a tasty treat to share!

See you there on Tuesday, 8 April, 7:00 p.m. at Ballard Landmark, 5433 Leary Avenue NW.

“FIELD WORK: A FAMILY FARM” a documentary film by John Helde, a Sunset Hill
resident.

April 4 @ 7pm; Sunset Hill Community Center Clubhouse; $5 suggested donation.

Iowa farmers Judy and Charlie Swanson just want to stay family-size; but all
around them farms grow to 5, 7, even a thousand acres. This personal and revealing
documentary follows the Swansons and their three grown children through the
recession roller coaster as they struggle to live their dream of faming together
as one extended family. Along the way, we meet a cast of determined and
individualistic characters–from hog farmers to local vegetable growers–all bent
on making a living from the land. FIELD WORK: A FAMILY FARM draws a poignant
portrait of a Midwest community as it explores where the American family farm is
headed in the 21st century.