Aviva from Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle shares that photo of Walking on Logs, decorated in anticipation of this Saturday’s Edible Garden Fair. She also sent along the latest news about what’s in store for fairgoers:

The West Seattle Edible Garden Fair is coming up next weekend – Saturday, May 23rd, 9:30-4:00 at South Seattle Community College. This day of classes and panels is a great place for food gardeners to learn something new and get inspired. The lineup of talks includes: (see below – choose some which would appeal to your readers) The full printable schedule with descriptions: www.gleanit.org/Sched.pdf.

Ahead – more on what’s at the EG Fair – including a chance for you to bring in and “recycle” old garden items – and highlights from the list of local experts you can meet and hear from:

This is also a wonderful opportunity to recycle garden equipment. Bring in your garden books, pots, buckets, trays/flats, tools, tomato cages, gloves, potting soil, birdhouses and feeders, extra seeds or plant starts, sprinkling cans, garden hoses, wheelbarrows, rain barrels, composters, rototillers and more. Looking for usable, FREE garden stuff? Stop by and see what you can find! The goal is to keep things out of landfills and to help facilitate healthy gardens. We do reserve the right to refuse any items (i.e. that aren’t in good condition or because of space constraints).

The event is free and sponsored by Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle, South Seattle Community College, and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

Some of the topics and speakers:

Gourmet Vegetables: Tips and Techniques for Growing Your Best Tasting Vegetables Ever
Willi Galloway from KUOW
One of the best reasons to grow vegetables at home is they taste better than store bought. Learn how to maximize the flavor and quality of your vegetables by choosing the right varieties, preparing healthy soil, and giving plants the best possible growing conditions. This workshop will feature specific growing plans for tomatoes, squash, peas, beans, and beets.

Safe and Healthy Edible Gardening
Laura Matter, Lead Environmental Educator on the Seattle Tilth Garden Hotline
Edible gardening is increasing in popularity and it is important to know how to determine if the site, soil and containers you have chosen for growing food are safe to use. In this workshop you will learn how to choose safe materials for building raised beds, determine how healthy your soil is and when it is important to test for toxins in the soils and gauge which sites in your garden will be most suitable for edible plants. Includes resource lists for safe building materials and soil testing and free printed brochures from the Naturals Guides.

Let’s Get Growing!
Join Sue McGann of Marra Farms as we go over the basics for growing your own veggies. We will cover soil, water, seed varieties, pests, harvests and more in this introduction to vegetable gardening. So, what are you waiting for, let’s get growing!

Building a Garden Community
Want to promote vegetable gardening on your block? Beautify your street with more parking strip gardens? Or maybe you are a gardener with a big idea but not sure how to get it off the ground? Jayne Simmons from Sister Sage Herbs, Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby from the Lazy Locavores, Helen Shampain, and Sandy Pederson from Urban Land Army will talk about how to organize your neighbors and start building a gardening community in your neighborhood.

Tasty Ways to Prepare Northwest Greens
Join nutritionist and chef Jennifer Adler to learn how to make peace with dark green leafy vegetables that are so abundant in the Pacific Northwest. We will unlock the magic of such nutritious and robust varieties as kale and chard. Don’t be fooled by kale. The massaged kale salad that we will make will change the mind of even the most staunch kale hater. You will also learn the skills to make quick and delicious braised greens.

More on the Edible Garden Fair, at the Community Harvest website.