Today’s biggest Spring Clean event was in White Center, with hundreds of volunteers – many of whom gathered at the plaza in Greenbridge to celebrate afterward. We have more photos on our partner site White Center Now. Just a few miles north, in Highland Park, this was Spring Clean day too, with multiple locations – we photographed volunteer Craig at the SW Kenyon street end slope near 14th SW:

And north from there, on Puget Ridge, Tasha Mosher shares a photo, explaining, “Puget Ridge volunteers rocked the clean up today! Here is a picture from the clean up at the Myrtle Stairs. Ilah Mosher joined approximately 15 other volunteers to pick up garbage, clear storm drains, and prune back weeds and shrubs. Fun was had by all!”

Congratulations to everybody who joined forces today – and so many other days – to brighten up their neighborhoods.

Residents of Puget Ridge will be cleaning up the neighborhood as part of the City’s annual Spring Clean campaign tomorrow from 10 am to noon. Neighbors will meet at 5644 17th Ave SW to pick up supplies and form work teams at 9:30 am.

Other neighbors will be meeting at 10 am at Sanislo Elementary, including the team that will be cleaning and restoring the natural area at the school. There will also be a team cleaning the Myrtle steps as a combined effort with volunteers from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council.

If you can help tomorrow, just show up in one of those spots! As for the other two = White Center Spring Clean has ended registration for participants, but Highland Park is welcoming help, and you can get details here. Anybody else spring cleaning tomorrow?

1:53 PM UPDATE: Just heard back from Scott Thomsen at City Light. He says the outage is affecting 2,061 homes/businesses. They’re not sure about the cause but he says dispatchers got a report of “balloons in the wires” somewhere in the area – and if that’s the problem, he says, it should be a quick fix (p.s., Scott adds, please DON’T release balloons, especially the mylar ones, they’re bad news for power lines); if that’s not the cause, it may not be so quick. The boundaries SCL lists – which are never precise, so this does NOT mean everyone in this area is powerless, nor does it mean no one is without power outside the “boundaries” – are Brandon SW on the north, SW 106th on the south, 21st SW in the west, 10th SW in the east. In comments here, and via the WSB Facebook page, we’re also hearing that part of West Marginal Way South – which is part of South Park – is affected too.

2:18 PM UPDATE: Thanks for all the updates. Some in Highland Park report their power’s back on. Haven’t heard from other areas yet.

4:21 PM UPDATE: No formal followup info from SCL yet but more people have reported getting their power back. The “system status” map is back too and indicates one lingering trouble spot, in Puget Ridge.

(Click image for larger view)
Tonight, another look at an old Puget Ridge farmhouse that apparently sparked a fair amount of curiosity and imagination last weekend, after we published a photo Mike Gerber took during the St. Patrick’s Day snow showers. He sent three more photos this weekend and explained:

A surprising number of people asked for some additional information on the old house in the photo you ran last Saturday. Here’s a better angle of it. As for it being the oldest orchard house in Seattle, there’s very little in the historical record about this particular section of West Seattle and so it’s difficult to date it.

The area was covered in enormous old growth forest prior to the 1870’s, and the very valuable and spectacular trees were cut and turned into a hodgepodge of small farms and orchards and over the next 20 years. The construction is consistent with that era and it would seem logical that the trees growing closest to Elliott Bay would be the first to go.

I also met a wonderful and very credible old guy a number of years ago who had lived next to the orchard at one time. He said the house had been built in the 1880s, but that it had been vacant since the Depression.

During the construction of our home we came across four piles of very old lumber that turned out to be the collapsed remnants of small shacks, probably where orchard workers once lived. Under one of them we found two perfectly persevered ‘skat’ playing cards that were made in Germany in the early 1900s, where many of the workers came from.

Skat is considered the national game there and is played everywhere.

It would be interesting to know if any other readers have anything to add to the history of this relatively little-known area.

The location is described in the comment section following last weekend’s story.

One more photo from this morning’s snow – Mike Gerber shares what he describes as “a photo of snow falling on the last remains of the oldest fruit orchard in Seattle. The building in the foreground is the original farmhouse, built in the 1880s, and stands as a reminder of the thousands of Eastern European immigrants that tended these vast orchards that once stretched from Pigeon Point all the way past Burien.

The site is on Puget Ridge, as described on a website Mike has for a house he’s selling nearby.

The Community Orchard of West Seattle continues to grow – in more ways than one – on the northeast side of the South Seattle Community College campus (6000 16th SW). And SSCC’s horticulture zone is where you’ll find the COWS seed sale till 3 pm today – with more than seeds:

Strawberry and chive plants were on sale too, just $1 each. Look for the canopy and the signs leading you into one of the Landscaping/Horticulture buildings, where you’ll find the sale, just north of the north parking lot. For a closer look at the orchard site itself, they’re offering Health and Harvest Tours every Tuesday afternoon, 2-4 pm.

Using a concept that originated in China, where people would gather in park corners or on street corners to practice their English, the Seattle Chinese Garden on the north side of the South Seattle Community College campus is hosting a series of “corner” gatherings to teach Chinese language and culture.

The first one is tomorrow.

According to Julia Freimund, program director of the Seattle Chinese Garden, this series is a collaboration between the garden, Chinese Language Teachers of Washington, The Confucius Institute of Washington and Chief Sealth International High School. Instructors from each organization (Freimund, Chunman Gissing, Donna Tang, in photo at right, and Pollyanna Wang, who took the photo) have been creating a curriculum meant to teach Chinese culture and language in a fun, hands-on way.

(Courtyard photo by Liz Hattemer)
Each session will include an instructor, Chinese speakers, and students from Sealth who are currently studying Chinese. The students will be earning community-service hours that are required for graduation.

“All these organizations collaborated to share their mission to promote and increase the understanding of Chinese language and culture,” says Freimund.

Sessions will start very basically, learning words such as “hello” and “goodbye” and as they progress, sessions will incorporate trivia games to learn food names, and Mahjong to learn directional names. Chinese calligraphy will also be introduced, showing students how to use the brushes to make strokes.

“Each session will start out with a half-hour overview of the cultural focus and the words before breaking into the small groups.” Freimund adds, “People are far more willing to try to speak a new language in small groups.”

The class is geared toward adults and teens, but tweens and kids who are interested in learning Chinese with others are also welcome.

Julia Freimund adds: “This will be fun and relaxed — no pressure. We’ll play Go Fish in Chinese. (Participants) will learn the words, but still have fun.”

The series is free, though donations are welcome. Enrollment is limited so pre-registration is required. Click here to see the flyer and register for classes.

Classes will be held every other Thursday from 4-6 pm, starting tomorrow (February 16) and ending May 24th. Because the classes build on each other, Freimund recommends taking all the classes rather than dropping in on just one or two.

The “Chinese Corner” will be held in the Chan Education Center at the Seattle Chinese Garden, located by the north parking lot at SSCC. There will be signage to direct participants to their “Corner.”

(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
Thanks to everybody who e-mailed us about what turned out to be another case of a watchful neighbor tipping police to a burglary. It happened in the Puget Ridge area; police at the scene near 18th and Brandon told us they had five people in custody. Here’s how SPD says it unfolded: A neighbor called around quarter till noon to say two people who had arrived in a car were kicking in a door, then while police were on the way, the neighbor called back to say both suspects were in the house. Police got there and wound up taking five people into custody, all apparently headed to the precinct for questioning. Too soon to know if there’s any chance they are connected to other break-ins, but we’ll follow up.

ADDED 3:10 PM: A little more info from Lt. Pierre Davis at the Southwest Precinct, who declares this, “Our West Seattle community and police partnership at work again” – He says, “Our officers, upon getting the info via 911, was able to locate and make the stop of the suspect vehicle. Upon the stop of the vehicle, two of the suspects fled on foot but were later apprehended by investigating officers. The witness was able to ID the subjects and their vehicle.”

In case you wondered about the big police response in the Puget Ridge area this past hour (21st/Holly) … turned out to be something of a false alarm. What looked like someone with a gun turned out to be someone with a pellet gun/airsoft-type gun, roleplaying a bit too realistically, apparently – according to scanner traffic, it looked to at least one witness like a holdup in progress, and that report is what sent police rushing to the scene.

First, the break-in, reported by Linda:

My house was robbed during the day yesterday. No one was home. I’m located on 16th by SSCC. Not too much damage to house, but things were rifled through and electronics were stolen. No leads from police yet.

Second, the dog attack. We were asked on Thursday about an incident near Highland Park Elementary to which both police and animal control responded. Couldn’t find out anything, but on Friday, Christie sent us her report, which turned out to be the same incident. We asked some followup questions, and now that those answers are in, here’s her story:

On October 6th my dog was attacked by a pit bull as my daughter and her friend were walking him – we live on 12th between Trenton and Henderson. The dog was a stray dog that my neighbors found and decided to keep (they kept the dog chained to a tree in the yard) and (Thursday) he was successful in breaking free from the tree and he came running at the girls and tried to kill our dog.

I was on my way home when it happened – but by time they called me to say what was happening they had already gotten away from the dog – thankfully our neighbor helped get the pit bull away from the girls and our dog by throwing something at the pit bull so he would drop our dog.

The girls made it inside our house and called the cops and animal control. When I came home (around 4:30) the police had our street blocked off and they had their guns out trying to help the animal control person to get the dog. Because he bit my daughter’s friend in the shoulder (she was trying to get our dog away from him) and hurt our dog, they will have to keep him quarantined for 10 days I do not know if he will be put down or not; they didn’t say.

The pit bull did hurt our dog and he was in the hospital with a bite mark to the neck but is fine after a night’s stay and stitches (to the tune of $1,000) – and needless to say we are all shook up and a little traumatized but physically we are all going to be OK.

From our followup exchange with Christie: Her dog is a terrier mix. Since dog advocates are often concerned that aggressive dogs are misidentified, we asked her who described the attacking dog as a pit bull; she said police, animal-control authorities, and the person who was keeping it. She also says another dog of that same breed has lived at the same house and “is an OK dog and has lived there for six months or more.”

Classes start Monday at South Seattle Community College, and today was a day to celebrate the about-to-start school year. This afternoon, college leaders gathered to celebrate their community partnerships with the second annual “Salute to South” reception. SSCC president Gary Oertli is starting his second year on the job, and gave a short speech with shoutouts to some of the people and programs strengthening the West Seattle college known in short as “South”:

As Oertli explained, hundreds of college staffers and new students had gathered for an even-bigger look ahead to the new year, during the annual convocation. SSCC had more than 7,500 students last year, according to online stats.

(Photo courtesy Seattle Chinese Garden)
Been to the Seattle Chinese Garden yet? It’s on West Seattle’s Puget Ridge and ready to greet you at an open-house celebration one week from today. From the official announcement:

The Seattle Chinese Garden will host a free public open house to celebrate the completion of the garden’s first courtyard, named Knowing the Spring. Yueming Ling, vice mayor of Seattle’s sister city Chongqing , along with Seattle city officials, will attend the May 15 festivities. A lion dance will open the celebration, which includes martial arts and traditional Chinese dance performances, painting and calligraphy demonstrations. …

Knowing the Spring Courtyard was designed by architects in Chongqing, located in southwest China, and built in collaboration with Chinese artisans, local architects and contractors. The Seattle Chinese Garden, when complete, will be one of the largest Chinese gardens outside China, and the first in the United States to be designed in authentic Sichuan style. …

The Seattle Chinese Garden is located at the north end of the South Seattle Community College campus at 6000 16th Avenue SW, in West Seattle. The Open House is May 15, 2011, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.

(Photos courtesy Stu Hennessey)
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Thanks to a group of Puget Ridge neighbors, the historically agricultural parcel of land at 5265 18th Ave SW [map] will retain its agricultural status and become urban farmland in West Seattle.

Stu Hennessey, owner of Alki Bike and Board, is part of a community group that has been working toward the preservation of this site to turn it into a publicly owned permaculture farm, to be known as Puget Ridge Edible Park (PREP). They applied for, and were recommended to be granted, a $520,000 share of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund (here’s our coverage, with video, of project supporters making their case last October).

He says, “We thought it would be cool to have a P-Patch or garden” for fresh produce in their neighborhood.

Puget Ridge is part of an area of eastern West Seattle underserved by grocery stores and known as a “food desert” — any area in an urban setting where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain.

Stu describes the group of Puget Ridge neighbors as an informal community organization that started growing produce together and sharing the bounty. He says this is great exercise and calls it “The Permaculture Workout!” They participate in work parties for Puget Creek and greenbelt and have movie nights together.

They had been looking at this piece of property, which has been for sale for two years, to create an urban farm, but couldn’t come up with the funds to purchase it.

The approximately 50 neighbors asked the City of Seattle to use the levy Opportunity Fund to purchase the property and turn it into a public park to be used specifically for community farming.

The City Council just approved the purchase of the property this month, after the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee gave their blessing to PREP – and Stu says the neighbors are ready to start farming!

The existing home on the property will be demolished, and “we’ll hire a garden designer who is familiar with City requirements.” says Stu, but in the meantime, the neighbors are organizing work parties and are hoping to start planting in June. Plans for the garden include a fire pit for community gatherings and a raised-bed, wheelchair-accessible garden. Their long-term goal is to create a year-round farmers’ market to provide revenue for ongoing maintenance and development of the garden, and to provide a continual source of fresh produce to the community, including winter greens.

Stu says they decided against the P-Patch model of community gardening in favor of an all-volunteer, participatory, sharing and teaching garden. Annual fees for P-Patches, though low, still lock out some low-income families from joining and don’t follow permaculture practices. (Permaculture is a is the practice of gardening with the land’s natural resources and ecology to increase yields and minimize human intervention.)

He adds that their goals for this garden include having local produce that doesn’t need to be shipped in, reducing transportation emissions and cost, reducing the danger of cross-contamination with genetically modified strains of produce, and providing food security to those living in the “food desert.”

“We will make big differences with choices people have in our community,” he said.

Progress for Puget Ridge Edible Park can be followed by “liking” their Facebook page, where they will post information about upcoming permaculture classes and other opportunities for involvement.

That’s not fog or mist … that’s steam rising off hot compost at the site of the future Community Orchard of West Seattle. A group estimated at up to 50 volunteers has just wrapped up a truly groundbreaking work party, putting down cardboard (remember the donations last fall?) and compost mulch along the orchard site, which is now on the northeast side of the South Seattle Community College campus. They worked at the site – undaunted by the steady rain – after a morning permaculture workshop.
ADDED: Two photos shared by organizer Aviva Furman (best known for Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle):

She has some words of gratitude in the comment section – and info on how you can get involved with the orchard.