West Seattle Blog…

Gardening at Genesee Hill School: Lend a hand this Saturday

(Photo courtesy Genesee Hill School Garden)
On this back-to-school week, neighbors of a closed West Seattle school are getting ready for the second-to-last garden-cleanup day of the year – and inviting you to join in. The Genesee Hill School Garden volunteers and Genesee Schmitz Neighborhood Council have been working hard along the northwest section of the shuttered school’s grounds. By late August, toward the end of their first growing season, the garden was alive with plants including sunflowers, corn, and tomatoes – and the Genesee Hill gardeners donated close to 100 pounds of produce to the food bank in August alone! As reported here previously, their project got off the ground – and into the ground! – with the help of a city Neighborhood Matching Fund grant, but volunteer labor makes all the difference, and they’re hoping for help this Saturday (September 10th) and two weeks later (September 24th). Both of those days, they’re asking for volunteers to meet them at the front of the school along SW Genesee (map) at 9 am – the tasks will include tending and weeding the beds, and taking steps to discourage invasives.

West Seattle Garden Tour support grows, in giving & receiving

(WSB photo from West Seattle Garden Tour 2011)
The drippy doldrums of June and July seem a distant memory now – but even the 2011 West Seattle Garden Tour fell on a rainy day. Its popularity, however, was waterproof. 800 people toured this year’s ten showcased gardens, according to WSGT’s Jane Watson, and the total take from ticket sales, sponsorships (with co-sponsors including WSB), and miscellaneous day-of-tour sales was up almost 10 percent over a year earlier. That meant a commensurate increase in the proceeds awarded to the beneficiaries, almost $24,000.

To celebrate that success and generosity, WSGT organizers and supporters gathered last night at the Duwamish Longhouse to officially make those awards to the beneficiaries – eight local nonprofits (including a garden project at the Longhouse itself – note Duwamish Tribe chair Cecile Hansen on the left side of the ceremonial check):

Representatives of each project/organization got a moment during the actual ceremony to explain their work – we got it all on video:

As a volunteer-powered nonprofit, the Garden Tour needs lots of helping hands – so if you’re ready to dig in, you can find the contact information here.

Pets & people, right now: Furry Faces @ WS Nursery; Lien’s 60th

At West Seattle Nursery, the Dog Days of Summer started with Furry Faces Foundation‘s Teri Ensley and King County’s Rebecca Cleveland-Diel tapping a donated keg of Manny’s. Till 4 pm, it’s a beerfest, with hot dogs, but it’s also a pet-adoption-fest:

That’s volunteer Kory with two dogs hoping their new forever homes might be found today – the little white one he’s holding is a “special needs” pet, with eye trouble. Or if you’re looking to add a kitty to the family, here’s one in classic nonchalant cat mode:

West Seattle Nursery is having a sale, too. Meantime, your dog (leashed) and/or cat (carrier) are welcome to join you at Lien Animal Clinic till 2 pm, for the 60th anniversary open house – we found a few visitors there this morning:

And of course, there’s anniversary cake!

Lien is on SW Alaska between 37th and 38th, in The Triangle.

West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 reports, including P-Patch hit again

Two notes this noontime. First, police have investigated reports of possible gunfire heard NEAR South Seattle Community College, leading to what one WSB’er said via Facebook was a precautionary campus alert message. We checked with Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith, and he says that officers did NOT find any evidence of actual gunfire. “Shots fired” reports are common enough – and often turn out to be fireworks – that we don’t usually write about them unless we get multiple inquiries; this time we did. So again, NO evidence of gunfire found. … Second, vandals hit the West Genesee P-Patch again:

A dog-walker who went by this morning spotted plants torn out and tossed in the street, and called us (206-293-6302 any time). We contacted Tiffany, who had reported the damage done 4 weeks ago, and West Seattle Christian Church, whose property the P-Patch is on – they called police. Tiffany checked out the damage and says it’s not as bad as last time: “Mostly just supportive stakes pulled up, but not much damage to the plants, thankfully. They pulled up a few plants from the border garden this time as well. Most of the damage was in the top four plots, however. That’s where they ripped up plants, stakes, stomped on things, and smashed plants. They also tossed one of the picnic benches on the roof of our garden shed and one in a plot, smashing her tomatoes. Although we aren’t allowed to lock the area up, we’re going to have a
meeting to discuss what we can do to help prevent future incidents.” Security cameras might not be out of the question. She says the food-bank plot was spared, and the only community help they’d like right now is to continue keeping an eye out: “I, for one, am frustrated and don’t see the point in spending time, effort, and money on this if it’s just going to be repeatedly destroyed, so I hope this stops!”

Seattle Chinese Garden’s Friendship Wall: How to be part of it

(Photo courtesy Seattle Chinese Garden)
Hundreds of polished green granite bricks will soon adorn that wall at the Seattle Chinese Garden on the north side of the South Seattle Community College campus atop Puget Ridge. Yours can be one of them, if you order it by August 25 (provided the remaining allotment doesn’t run out sooner). The bricks will decorate the Friendship Wall, with its first side to be dedicated on October 15th. Even the garden’s own neighbors have secured a spot; the garden says Puget Ridge resident Judy Cashman got 40 families to join in on a specially inscribed brick. A news release from the Chinese Garden quotes her as saying that “… my neighbors describe it as a refuge and a jewel they enjoy visiting, so of course they wanted to support it.” You can find the order form (and see a sample brick) by going here, or call the garden office at 206-934-5219.

Happening now: Barton Street P-Patch bake sale, work party

Barton Street P-Patch volunteers are on duty on two sides of SW Barton south of 35th SW (map) right now – Top photo, the group we found at the fundraising bake sale outside the Tony’s Market produce stand, where they’re selling treats till 2 pm (including vegan baked goods, a P-Patcher assured a commenter on the WSB Facebook page). Below, another Saturday work party at the P-Patch site on the south side of the street – 2 1/2 months after groundbreaking, still lots of hard work to get the site ready for planting this fall:

Volunteers are having work parties every Saturday and Sunday TFN, and welcome more help. Best way to connect with what they’re up to is to join their Facebook group – go here.

Happening now: ‘Sustainable Rain’ in West Seattle sunshine

Following up on our preview this week of the “Sustainable Rain” raingarden-building project on the south side of 5902 California SW (map) – the work party is on till 2 pm, and you’re still welcome to drop by. This is part of a regional Sustainable Seattle-organized project. Rain gardens are designed to soak up extra rainwater so it won’t have to go into storm drains and ultimately into bodies of water (picking up surface pollutants along the way) like Puget Sound or the Duwamish River.

Village Green Nursery owner’s foreclosure fight: Milestones ahead

In the two and a half weeks since we first told you about Village Green Perennial Nursery owner Vera Johnson‘s fight against potential foreclosure, she’s gathered thousands of electronic petition signatures, and rallied dozens of people in similar straits, so they can all learn about – and exercise – their legal rights. If you are facing default or foreclosure, the next support-group meeting is at 5 pm Sunday at Community School of West Seattle (9450 22nd SW). Vera says lawyer Edgar Hall will be in attendance to answer questions and offer “resources for pro-bono services,” among other things, and she invites attendees to “bring laptops, so we can look up our info and search for fraudulent docs – wi-fi available.” Then on Tuesday, she has an appointment with Bank of America; next Friday (one week from today), she’s planning to deliver to BofA the signatures from her petition on Change.org (not too late to sign – go here), which now total more than 8,300. A benefit is also in the works; you can follow the progress by “liking” this Facebook page.

Invitation for you: ‘Come dig a rain garden in West Seattle!’

(Photo courtesy Sustainable Seattle)
Back in February, the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council got first word (WSB coverage here) of the then-forthcoming “Sustainable Rain” project, which a Sustainable Seattle rep told council members would include rain-garden work in West Seattle. They didn’t have details then – but they do now, and a rain garden like the one pictured above (which is in Puyallup) is in the works for a spot along California SW, north of Morgan Junction. You’re invited to help:

*COME DIG A RAIN GARDEN IN WEST SEATTLE!*
*Saturday, July 30 *10 am – 2 pm*
*5902 SW California Avenue*
Join Sustainable Seattle and Alleycat Acres in digging the first rain garden in the Russell Foundation-funded Sustainable Rain project! Come help create this garden at a business/residence, protect Puget Sound, and support sustainable businesses. Come for as long as you can, meet great folks, and learn about rain gardens. Bring shovel (if you have), gloves, and water to drink. Bring kids if you can supervise them.

Not familiar with rain gardens? They’re explained here. This is the first of several sites around the region that are slated to be part of the Sustainable Rain project.

Photos: West Seattle Garden Tour, ‘July showers bring August flowers’

1:22 PM: At least, that’s how we’re looking at it, as the West Seattle Garden Tour continues till 5 pm. We just dropped in on the “Whirligig Garden” tour stop near Schmitz Park, lots of visitors, some with umbrellas, more without. What’s perfect about this particular stop, on this particular (rainy) day, is that it’s a garden making good use of rainwater:

At the back of the shot is a 1,000-plus-gallon cistern that holds rainwater for reuse in the garden, which has many beautiful touches – note this perfect squash blossom, encircled by creative stepping-stones:

This is just one of ten stops. They’re all in the ticket book (check West Seattle Nursery and TrueValue to see if they have any left), which you show to the volunteers manning an information table outside each stop (under an umbrella, which MOST years is needed for sun – we’ve heard this is the first rainy July 17th in 34 years!). We’re proud to be a co-sponsor again this year; WSGT proceeds benefit eight local nonprofits.

ADDED 5:17 PM: Brad Lovejoy shared four photos from along the tour:

The other three, after the jump (and if you have a Garden Tour photo to share, we’d be honored to add it – editor@westseattleblog.com – 9:58 PM, added more – MON. AFTERNOON, added even more, thanks for sharing!): Click to read the rest of Photos: West Seattle Garden Tour, ‘July showers bring August flowers’…

Village Green Perennial Nursery bank battle in Seattle Times

With a nod to the original WSB story, Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur tells the tale of Village Green Perennial Nursery owner Vera Johnson‘s bank battle to fight off foreclosure. (Note that when Brodeur contacted Bank of America, she got the same kind of conflicting answers Vera reported.) Our story from Tuesday is here; you can sign Vera’s online petition here.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Vandals strike twice, including a P-Patch

Two reports of vandalism in West Seattle Crime Watch today, including one at a P-Patch that trashed not just gardeners’ hard work, but also crops destined to feed local food-bank clients. From Tiffany, who shared the photo:

I’m writing to let you know that the West Genesee P-Patch (SW Genesee & 42nd Ave SW) was vandalized last night. It happened sometime between 7pm last night and 9am this morning. The vandals overturned our picnic table, threw one of the benches in one of the plots, uprooted plants and tomato cages, and smashed plants. There wasn’t a single plot that escaped damage, though some suffered more than others. We all finally had nice gardens going after a slow start to summer, so needless to say, we’re pretty bummed out. Most disappointing though, is the damage they did to our food bank plot. The vandals completely destroyed all our squash plants, broccoli, and some of the kale and we won’t be able to save those. We will all be salvaging as much of the destroyed plants as we can however, from both our food bank plot and our own plots, and donating it to the food bank so it won’t go to waste.

The silver lining here is that the damage was confined to plants and we won’t have to replace any of the structures. Also, many of the uprooted plants will survive if we can all get them back into the ground soon. It just stinks because we all work hard on our gardens and are happy to be a part of a community garden that brightens up the neighborhood and helps provide fresh food for those in need (so many great comments from people walking by to the Summerfest this weekend!). It’s a blow to have someone come in and try to ruin that.

Anyway, I hope you can post this information on the blog and ask people in the area keep an eye out to help us prevent this from happening again. For now we’ll do our best to get our garden back in shape!

Another vandalism case not far away, after the jump: Click to read the rest of West Seattle Crime Watch: Vandals strike twice, including a P-Patch…

Happening now: 1st week for High Point Market Garden Farm Stand

Cheap, organic, fresh vegetables – as fresh as if you picked them yourself – are on sale right now at the summer’s first weekly High Point Market Garden Farm Stand shopping availability (32nd/Juneau, till 7 pm). The veggies are grown feet away:

Just park on Juneau – if you’re not walking, biking, busing – and look for the stand’s canopy:

Besides what you see in our top photo, they also have various greens including lettuce, plus peas, carrots, and potatoes. And if you miss it today, they’re open again every Wednesday TFN, 4-7 pm.

Foreclosure fight sprouts at Village Green Perennial Nursery

(March 2011 photo of Village Green’s Vera Johnson during West Seattle for Japan fundraiser)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Driving to Village Green Perennial Nursery from the south edge of West Seattle, there’s a yellow sign about a block before you get there, pointing to a property involved in a foreclosure auction.

Village Green owner Vera Johnson is fighting tooth and nail to keep a sign like that from appearing outside the 26th Avenue SW site where she has lived, worked, and organized community events for eight years.

Vera took her struggle public a few nights ago, by launching an online petition at change.org and asking for support. But this is not a tale of “woe is me, somebody save me.” This is a tale of an entrepreneur who is also a longtime community advocate, and with those instincts, trying to make sure her battle yields help and support for the many others she is learning are going through the same thing.

It is also a tale of fighting against a big bank that she says has frustrated and complicated her attempts to do the right thing and get her loan “modified” while she struggles to get on her feet after a life change that suddenly slashed her household income.

Click to read the rest of Foreclosure fight sprouts at Village Green Perennial Nursery…

Fresh produce at High Point Farm Stand: Season starts tomorrow

(WSB photo from July 2010)
In case you haven’t already seen it in the WSB West Seattle Events calendar – the city just sent a reminder that the High Point Market Garden Farm Stand opens for the season tomorrow afternoon. Every Wednesday through September, you can buy fresh produce there – grown and picked just feet away – from 4 till 7 pm. According to the city Department of Neighborhoods‘ announcement, what’s fresh right now includes “spinach, carrots, leafy greens, new onions, peas, turnips, and radishes.” The High Point stand is at 32nd and Juneau (map) – be sure to peek through the fence at the beautiful mini-farm/garden while you’re there.

West Seattle’s green weekend: Orchard dedication, garden tours

Story and photos by Ellen Cedergreen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

This is a month to celebrate gardens and gardeners – with the West Seattle Garden Tour (co-sponsored by WSB) next Sunday, and two tours with West Seattle stops this past Saturday, including the grand-opening celebration for the Community Orchard of West Seattle on the north side of the South Seattle Community College campus on Puget Ridge.

First, we take you to a stop along the Seattle Tilth-sponsored Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour, which was citywide, but with some West Seattle stops, including author Lyanda Lynn Haupt‘s Gatewood home.

They use a byproduct from roasting coffee beans called “chaff.” It looks like hamster bedding and is nitrogen-rich, making it a good material for composting. As a bonus, it can be acquired free from local coffee roasters – just inquire with your favorites. Lyanda took visitors into the coop, where she picked up her chickens, allowing visitors to touch them.

From left to right: Adelade, Ethel, and Ophelia. Ethen is a Barred Rock; the other two are Buff Oringtons, a favorite breed of Lyanda’s. She says she’ll get an egg a day from each when they start laying, which should happen shortly. Also at her stop, visitors examined a coldframe in the yard.

Saturday’s other major tour was the Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle-presented Edible Garden Tour.

Click to read the rest of West Seattle’s green weekend: Orchard dedication, garden tours…

Barton Street P-Patch: ‘We are beginning to form the web’

(Photo courtesy Kate Farley)
From back when it was just an idea for what to do with a big empty city-owned lot, through Parks and Green Spaces Levy funding, community meetings, and now, volunteer-powered site work, the birth of the Barton Street P-Patch (34th/Barton) has charged forward. Of all the work parties they’ve had, this weekend is among the most pivotal – they’re starting to “form the web” that makes up the garden design, and they need labor help the next two weekends – including anyone with construction skills -as well as donated materials, and some tools (all the way up to a cement mixer – they have one, and need one more) – read on for details: Click to read the rest of Barton Street P-Patch: ‘We are beginning to form the web’…

West Seattle Garden Tour: Ten to see, two weeks from today

Suddenly, it’s July, and all the big summer events are in view. Two weeks from today, you can spend the day wandering the 10 gardens on this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour on your own schedule between 9 am-5 pm, and learning perennial-design secrets from this year’s guest speaker Sue Goetz (that’s the one event with a fixed time – noon at West Seattle Golf Course). Ticket books are $15 (kids 12/under = free), and they’re more than just your ticket to get into the gardens and lecture on July 17th – they contain maps and information, plus coupons from some of the sponsors (totaling savings, by our informal estimation, that could exceed the $15 price). The WS Garden Tour is a fundraiser with multiple beneficiaries (listed here). WSB is proud to be a WS Garden Tour sponsor again this year (with many others, including these businesses that are also WSB sponsors: Budget Blinds of West Seattle, Highline Medical Group/West Seattle Family Medicine, Jackson, Morgan & Hunt PLLC, Stonehedge Tree Experts, Tom’s Automotive Service, WEdesign, Ventana Construction). You can buy your ticket book today at the locations listed here, or online. (Photo of “Sculptural Greens Garden” by Clay Swidler, from WSGT website)

2 West Seattle parks get TLC from Windermere teams

For more than a quarter-century, Windermere Real Estate agents and other staffers have taken a day off work each year – independent of whatever volunteering they do in their private lives – to work on neighborhood-improvement projects during their Community Service Day. Today was the day for a project in West Seattle, and the sun graced the 40-plus people working at Greg Davis and Cottage Grove parks in North Delridge – mulching, weeding, and planting.

The two-park work party was a joint project of Windermere’s two West Seattle offices. They raised money to donate more than 50 new plants you’ll see next time you visit the parks (here’s a map).

First donated harvest for Community Orchard of West Seattle

(Photo by Laura Sweany)
The Community Orchard of West Seattle continues taking shape on the north side of the South Seattle Community College campus, and just marked a milestone, according to this report from Patrick Dunn (who’s in the photo above with fellow orchard Steering Committee member Narcissa Nelson):

I’m pleased to report that The Community Orchard of West Seattle delivered its first small harvest of spinach and lettuce to The West Seattle Food Bank (Wednesday) for (that evening’s) distribution. As our newly planted orchard comes of age, this will be the first of many future produce donations to support local food security programs.

Since The Community Orchard broke ground in January at South Seattle Community College, hundreds of neighbors have joined in to sheet mulch the plot, build pathways and trellises, and plant a vast array of edibles. In the process, those neighbors have not only improved the future of our local food security but they’ve also formed a great Orchard community that’s growing right along with the plants.

And we hope to continue meeting more our neighbors through our monthly work parties, socials, and free classes. Next month’s free class on July 16th will be “Tracking Critters in the Urban Garden,” taught by local tracker Pete McGlenn. For more information, please visit: fruitinwestseattle.org

This weekend, and every weekend: Barton P-Patch parties

The land’s secured, the design’s finished, the ground’s broken – but there’s work to do to transform the Barton/34th parcel into a real P-Patch. Some stalwart volunteers have been out there every weekend – they can’t do it alone, so they’re asking for help:

Everyone is invited to participate in the building of this community garden. Work Parties are planned for Saturdays (9:30- 3 pm) and Sundays (11-3 pm) throughout the summer.

Upcoming work parties will focus on moving sod, spreading manure, gravel and wood chips, protecting the area around the tree, building a shed kit, retaining walls and curbs, providing refreshments and handing out informational materials regarding the P-Patch program. In addition to general labor, we are seeking volunteers with advanced building and masonry skills to help with specific projects.

Please contact Steering Committee Chair Randee Frost at RandeeF@comcast.net if you
would like to schedule a group to work on a specific day or project.

Or – you can just show up, this weekend and/or any weekend.

Sutherland Creative Landscape Design: Welcome, new WSB sponsor

Today we welcome a new sponsor, Douglas Sutherland, who owns Sutherland Creative Landscape Design. Here’s what he wants you to know about his business: Douglas brings his skills as a graphic designer to each landscape project he takes on, as he says, “Unlike many designers today — I can actually draw, and I will create a custom, hand-drawn landscape design for you. I prefer to work with the contours of your yard and its existing trees and shrubs. As much as possible, I like to use what already exists on the property. By designing in this manner, I can keep the installation costs down. I find it amazing how the aesthetics of your yard can be improved just by manipulating what you already have.”

He adds that Sutherland Creative Landscape Design clients trust him and the passion he brings to his work: “My last client told me ‘I just love what you did with my ‘Plain Jane’ yard, I like coming home and just looking at it!’ I have seen it happen many times — once people see their ‘yards’ turned into gardens, they take more pride in them. They want to be in their garden more and tend to spend more time outdoors enjoying it. It gives them a good feeling when they see it from their windows, when they walk through it or relax in it. That investment is something they can enjoy now and something more tangible when they decide to sell their home, because a nice yard is the first thing a potential buyer sees.”

Douglas is a West Seattle resident and a student at South Seattle Community College. He’s a member of Plant Amnesty and the APLD, Association of Professional Landscape Designers. You can reach him through sutherlandcreative.net or at 206-550-5501.

We thank Sutherland Creative Landscape Design for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

Ticket sales about to start for 2011 West Seattle Garden Tour!

The summer’s biggest events are approaching fast – among them, the West Seattle Garden Tour, 9 am-5 pm on Sunday, July 17th, with a milestone today: Tickets are now about to go on sale, now that ticket books have just arrived at West Seattle Nursery, and the rest to be available at all designated outlets by this weekend, according to Jane Watson from the WSGT:

The WS ticket outlets are: Junction True Value, West Seattle Nursery, ArtsWest, Metropolitan Market and Village Green Perennial Nursery.

We hope to sell a record number of tickets this year to support our 2011 beneficiaries (Seattle Chinese Garden, Walking on Logs Landscape Restoration Group, West Seattle Tool Library, Nantes Park, Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center, Nature Consortium, Lincoln Park P-Patch, and ArtsWest).

This year’s featured gardens are previewed here (minus addresses). Tickets are $15 and include Sue Goetz’s noon lecture on perennials, at the West Seattle Golf Course. (WSB is proud to be co-sponsoring the WS Garden Tour again this year!)