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Curious about investing locally? Want to know how to do it with friends and neighbors? Come explore how local investment clubs and networks can benefit our local economy and help accredited & unaccredited investors alike make money while making a difference.

This month, the Seattle Good Business Network’s Community Capital: Seattle series is taking up the topic of local investment clubs.  Join us on Wednesday, November 20th, to hear a panel discussion with local experts who are directly involved in local investing.  The evening session will include networking and a locally-sourced happy hour!

Moderated by Tim Crosby of Slow Money Northwest, the panel will include:

• Michelle Sandoval, Pt Townsend LION (Local Investing Opportunities Network
• Crystie Kisler, Finnriver Farm & Cidery (business recipient of LION investment)
• Renata Kowalczyk, Whatcom Investing Network, and
• Ammen Jordan, Seattle Impact Investing Group

The event is held at Bainbridge Graduate Institute Downtown (220 2nd Ave S, 4th floor) otherwise knows as Impact Hub Seattle.  For tickets to the November events click here.

This ongoing series will also explore cooperatives; creative community loan models; crowdfunding, CSAs, and pre-sales; community banks, credit unions, and CDFIs; and Direct Public Stock Offerings as ways to move money into our local economy. More info about the entire series available at www.seattlenetwork.org/commcap.

Thursday, November 7, 2013, 7 – 8pm
UW Botanic Gardens
Center for Urban Horticulture,
3501 NE 41st St, Seattle, WA 98105
Cost: $10

Have you ever been interested in composting with worms but found the idea a little
daunting? Do you live in an apartment and don’t have much space but you do have an
interest in compost dabbling? Let Crescent Calimpong lead you through the steps to
build, start and keep your own vermicomposting bin, aka “worm bin”.
> Whether you live in an apartment or have a large yard, vermicomposting is for you.
Come learn all that you need to know to get started making your own “black gold.”
This is an introductory class and is geared towards those that are unfamiliar with
vermicomposting.
> Register online! Questions? 206-685-8033 or urbhort@uw.edu

Did our 10th Annual Festival whet your appetite for more sustainable living, learning and activism?  Stop by our Open House on Sat 10/26 to meet our project leaders and get involved!

Sustainable Ballard is welcoming all members of the Ballard community to another fun and informative Open House at the Ballard Library. These free snack-and-chat sessions give neighbors the chance to say hello and learn about the wide array of Sustainable Ballard projects and events on the boards.

Coffee and breakfast goodies will be served. Whether you’re an active Sustainable Ballard member or a neighbor who just wants to learn about getting involved, don’t miss this opportunity to plug into our wonderfully vibrant community of sustainability minded Ballardites.

Featured projects include Little Free Libraries, Ballard Tool Library, Ballard Sprouts, Ballard Knitters for the Homeless, Ballard RainWise, Ballard Urban Gardeners, and the Ballard Green Building Talks.   See you there!

Think Summer of Solidarity, Fearless Summer, Occupy.  More and more over the last 10 years, individuals, not organizations, are standing up to demand better, to drive change and to influence policy-makers. 

CREDO launched a pledge drive asking Americans for a promise to commit civil disobedience if the Keystone XL pipeline is approved; more than 75,900 people said yes.   Tar Sands Action protests at the White House were described as the “largest and most sustained civil disobedience in 30 years” and a “gateway” for new activists.  Tens of thousands got “a crash course in grassroots organizing and direct action” during Occupy movements which strengthened the networks, and confidence, of activists.

We are becoming fearless, realizing that the consequences of action are great, but the effects of inaction are even more dire.

YES! Magazine has created a unique resource that lets you explore the trajectory of the climate movement over the last 10 years via photos, videos, quotes and tweets from some of the most visible climate actions, and an article that highlights the impact of direct action during this time.

When people see each other confronting power, their fear goes away. People are willing to take risks when they know their community has their back.”

To use the tool, click on the < > arrows on either side of the image or click and drag the timeline.

Green Seattle Day is a meaningful way to connect with nature and create a healthy and vibrant community by planting native trees and shrubs in a park near you. The event takes place in 17 parks city-wide.

Join EarthCorps and the Green Seattle Partnership as we celebrate Seattle’s forests by restoring this amazing park. Today we will be performing maintenance on past restoration sites and removing invasive plant species such as English ivy & Himalayan blackberry. We may also be planting native trees & shrubs today! A park with a view, Golden Gardens sits on the shore of Shilshole Bay and over looks the Olympic Mountains. Who would think that such a tranquil scene would be the sight of a struggle of epic proportions? Within the forests of Golden Gardens, the invasive plant English ivy is crowding out native trees and shrubs and making the survival of native seedlings extremely difficult.

Saturday, November 2, 2013, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Sign up HERE.

In only its second season, Ballard Sprouts has already provided thousands of pounds of fresh produce for needy families in Ballard.  The idea is simple – start seeds and tend the sprouts in the Ballard Sprouts greenhouse, then deliver them to local P-Patches, where the plants are tended to maturity in the Ballard and Interbay P-Patch Giving Gardens, then harvested and delivered to Lettuce Link and the Ballard Food Bank.

Ballard Sprouts transferred more than 5,000 sprouts to the P-Patches this year, DOUBLE last year’s amount!  Their hard work resulted in thousands of pounds of produce donated to food banks, meal programs and shelters, helping hundreds of people supplement their diets with fresh, organic and local produce.

Volunteers of all ages help with every part of the process:   planting seeds, tending sprouts, transferring starts to a P-Patch, helping harvest in the P-Patches, weighing and delivering produce.

Would you like to help next year?   Check out our project page to learn how!

Thank you!

Basking in the warm, drizzly afterglow of the 10th Annual Sustainable Ballard Festival, we are moved and supremely humbled by the monsoon of community spirit and support that poured forth at Ballard Commons Park last Sunday. The Festival is a huge group effort, and we couldn’t have done it without the 56 community-spirited exhibitors who hung in there and created cozy little clusters of tents and the 65 dedicated volunteers (ages 9-87!), who posted flyers, baked goodies, silk-screened t-shirts, put up tents, took down tents, and so much more—and did it all with a smile. Thanks a mil!  And thanks, too, to the estimated 2,000 attendees who braved the wet (even for Seattle) weather and made the festival what it was: a fab, fun, inspiring, heart-warming, and totally unsinkable community-building event! What a great celebration of Sustainable Ballard’s 10th birthday . . . and what a shining testament to the buoyant Ballard community YOU help build every day.

Congrats to our Raffle winners!

Congratulations to Paula Jenson who won the RE-Store built Little Free Library™ that was on display at the Festival. And to Jill Golden who will receive a Sustainable Ballard built library.

Top Ten Volunteers:

This year’s festival was blessed with an abundance of hard-working, devoted and good-natured volunteers.  We are so grateful for every one of the 65 folks who devoted an hour or 10, but we have to give special mention to a handful who went above and beyond:

Alina Neacy – Alina jumped in just a couple of weeks before the festival and totally took over our kids area and kids activities.  She sorted through tons of supplies, planned and organized creative activities, got the area set up and trained and supported other volunteers.   She also co-created a great display area for our Green Home exhibit.  Then she was at the Festival all day helping out in those 2 areas.

Alisa Moreno – Alisa did not stop working all day.  She was there bright and early to help check in exhibitors and help with set up; she then did a shift as a Green Team “mafioso” followed by a shift as a Greeter which was followed by a shift keeping the Taste of Ballard area orderly.  Somehow in between she found time to help set-up the Learning Station at the library, ferry things to and fro, and, you guessed it, Alissa stayed to help take down and pack everything up at the end.  What an amazing volunteer!

Amy Ravenholt – Amy described herself when she signed-up to volunteer as “a general laborer with a good back and a nice smile” and she was that and more!  Amy was there to help put up tents Saturday in the torrential rain, then again Sunday early AM for set up (in the rain again) and coordinated the building of two exhibitor tent clusters.   Throughout the day she made herself available for whatever was needed and was there to help take it all down at the end, still with a smile (and hopefully still a good back)!  

Derek Bigelow – Derek has been organizing for our new Ballard Tool Library. When asked to create a Green Home display for the festival, he jumped on in with gusto and created a gorgeous display with 4 fun and educational activities for the Green Home booth.  He then staffed the booth all day of the fest!

Howard Lamb – Howard initiated and made possible a great new addition to the Festival – the Taste of Ballard, featuring all Ballard brews and local food! There was a lot of outreach required and he managed it superbly.  He also hung posters and helped us spread the word, recruited volunteers, and was on hand for set-up on that very wet Saturday and as a helpful floater all day on Sunday!

Jake Meulink – Jake joined the planning committee back in August and must have been to all but one of the MANY planning meetings. He worked on a homebrew station for the festival which we will definitely bring in next year, supported us with all kinds of creative ideas, and tabled for the festival at events in the community. He started early with set-up on Saturday, again on Sunday, poured beer all day Sunday and didn’t quit until breakdown was finished on Sunday. Thanks Jake!

John Munroe – John describes himself as the extension cord king. He was our festival electrician and we gave him a workout on Sunday! But John also designed and led a crew that built and painted a sturdy, semi-permanent Main Stage for us, so that now we have a snap-together modular system that will come in handy for years to come.  John is an ongoing festival hero!

Rachelle Taylor – Rachelle is another new volunteer who jumped in feet first and offered to do anything that needed to be done. She coordinated a truckload of programming, hung a huge stack of posters, managed an exhibitor cluster on Sunday, did a stint facepainting in the kids tent and a stint patrolling in the beer garden. To top it all off she baked irresistibly tasty zucchini bread and coffee cakes for our Sunday set-up crew volunteers!  She’s an all-around talented organizer and we are lucky to have her!

Robert Guercio – Robert is a new arrival in town and decided there’s no better way to meet Ballard’s coolest people than to jump in whole hog into our festival!  With a go-get-em attitude and a smile, he participated in planning meetings, hung posters, and officially dedicated two weekends to us, in which he helped build the Main Stage, helped with set-up on that soggy Saturday, greeted visitors and stayed available for anything on Sunday and kept going until everything was put away on Sunday.

Susannah Hale – Susannah was our Merchandise Maven.  She joined us just about 2 weeks before the festival and took control of all things t-shirt.  Sorting all of our vintage and new shirts, making signs, getting us rolling with credit card transactions, decorating and then managing the Merch tent all day!

Our deep gratitude and appreciation to all of you!   

Check out some of the great press we got this year!

What’s on this weekend?
Sustainable Ballard Festival to take over Ballard Commons Park tomorrow
Seattle Times: Picture This!
Ballard Weekend
Ballard Event includes Brunch
Sustainable Ballard’s 10th Annual Festival
Sustainable Ballard holds 10th Annual Festival
Ballard’s Taste of Ballard
Mind over Matters Sustainability Segment