Just Garden Project: Growing Food in High Point and Redmond

Author: Kali Orkin

Have you heard of the Just Garden Project (JGP), an Americorp program run by Seattle Tilth? JGP builds subsidized raised bed gardens in the yards of low income families and seniors.  The goal of JGP is to alleviate hunger and provide social equity to families by teaching them how to grow their own healthy food and promote healthy, happy communities.

Spring is rapidly approaching, and JGP is looking for volunteers to participate in building raised bed gardens.

Green Plate Special - Fence Building!

IT’S TIME TO BUILD A FENCE!

Not a “keep out” unfriendly fence, but a fence that says: “this property will soon be home to a cooking and growing program, please respect our space. We always welcome you to look and visit too, when we are there to talk with you.”

MAIN EVENT
SATURDAY, MAY 7TH
10-5PM
the building of the fence

PREVIEW AND RECEIVING THE GOODS
FRIDAY MAY 6TH
9-4PM
this is the day we will receive materials and mark out the post locations –ANYONE WHO IS AVAILABLE AND INTERESTED ON FRIDAY, IS WELCOME TO COME OUT

THE CORNER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. & EAST UNION STREET

The fence in the picture is similar to what we are planning, but ours will not have the horizontal brace. Our fence WILL have lots of character as it is to be a template for the creativity and ingenuity of our youth. We will grow on the fence, add found and recycled objects and of course art. We are also working on a grant for a native plant project for the outside of the fence.

Our friend and neighbor, JEFF MCHEGG, is a design-build contractor and will be leading us in this project. We welcome any donations toward this project and we are still hoping for some of the materials to be donated, so your thoughts on this are welcome too!

WE WILL BE:
Digging post holes (we are renting a post hole digger)
Placing and securing posts with gravel
Attaching the hog wire
Doing a bit of tidy-up on the property
We are hoping for a load of compost (if we get a delivery at this time you can be sure we will be creating, with your help, a few raised beds).
WE WELCOME PEOPLE OF ALL AGES (AS ALWAYS). BUT STRONG ABLE BODIED ADULTS ARE A MUST FOR THIS OCCASION

PLEASE COME:
Introduce yourselves
Lend a hand
Share our snacks
Share your thoughts and ideas
Get more information or introduce us to a middle school youth interested in the program (we have the start of a great list already!)

Expect snacks, hot and cold beverages
(snack donations are always welcome)

RSVP
ldewell@gmail.com

Quick update post

Just a stream of thoughts today I'm afraid. I've been so busy lately and when you are working as basically your own boss, sorta, the time really does start to become the most valuable commodity you have. It reminds me of why my work with the Flow Campaign is so important. I have really taken the lessons I've been learning from this work to heart. Time is the premium.

Yesterday I did some initial shooting of a site visit for the Sustainable Rain project for Sustainable Seattle. The location was on the corner of MLK and Union in a formerly vacant lot that was overrun by blackberries, brambles and broken furniture. Across the street is a Grocery Outlet, a cafe espresso stand, and a series of houses with no fences, dogs and comic book readers who flip through superhero hijinks while taking drags off of early morning cigarettes.

The neighbors are all behind the new project that is being lead by a fiscal sponsoree of Sustainable Seattle, Green Plate Special. The project is all about teaching youth about healthy eating, cooking and urban agriculture. It takes youth who have not had the training and examples of a well rounded diet or even the baseline knowledge of where food comes from or what it takes to bring that food from farm to table.

(Sustainable Seattle offers this space for non profits or social entrepreneurs to advertise their projects, events or programs. For more information and to pitch us your ideas send an email to info(at)sustainableseattle.org.)

www.truck-farm.com

Truck Farm is a simple concept with a big impact. It’s a 1986 Dodge pickup with
a mini-farm planted in the truck bed. It’s a traveling, edible exhibit that brings
a rural experience to urban students.

It’s a Brooklyn based CSA that makes
weekly deliveries to 20 families. And it’s the focus of a new short documentary
coming out this winter.

Called “the coolest urban agriculture project around” by The Huffington Post,
the farm-on-wheels has already made a splash in schoolyards, Earth Day
celebrations, Japanese morning television, and even the National Botanic
Garden. What if every urban center had its own Truck Farm traveling from
school to school teaching kids about how fun farming and healthy food can
be, engaging them in thinking about where food comes from and getting them
excited about growing food themselves? This is our vision and we’re looking for
a few good urban farmers to help us bring it to fruition.

What: A fleet of Truck Farms that will take to the road this spring popping up at schools, camps,
street fairs, outdoor concerts, little league ball fields and anywhere else large groups of youth
congregate. These micro-farms will be prepared and managed by nonprofits, food educators, graduate students, food co-ops, gardening groups, urban food activists and anyone else with the passion to teach kids about growing and eating healthy food.


For extra credit the Farms can serve as CSA’s and for extra extra credit the trucks can be run on bio-fuel.

Where: Communities in the US and Canada that do not have easy access to farms and/or farm fresh food.

When: Our Truck Farms will be planted in early April, in time for a “premiere” on Earth Day, which will double as our kick-off for our second annual Garden Contest, a challenge to see which student group can grow food in the most creative place.

Truck Farmers will need to register with us by January so they have three months to find their trucks, prepare their farms and begin booking their spring “tour.” Our squad of trucks will hit the road throughout May and June, visiting as many area schools as possible. Please note: While our goal is for each truck to visit a minimum of 25 groups throughout the growing season, we do not expect the Truck Farmers to work on this full-time.

How: We will provide you with step-by-step instructions for building, maintaining and showcasing your farm. If you can get a donated truck, the cost of materials will run you less than $300. We are hoping to secure funding in the next few months to help our Farmers cover the cost of these materials.

We will create a special Facebook page where all Truck Farmers can convene and swap ideas and
resources. We will be available for troubleshooting five days/week by phone or email. We will also provide Truck Farmers with educational materials, workshop ideas and copies of Truck Farm (the film) to use during school visits and workshops.

Who: Ian Cheney is the creator of Truck Farm. You might know him and his longtime collaborator Curt Ellis from their popular documentaries such as King Corn, Big River and The Greening of Southie.
www.truck-farm.com
Contact Us at info@truck-farm.com

Urban Agriculture, lessons and hard work

On Saturday March 20th I showed up with a friend in tow to the Yeslar Terrace community center to help out with the p-patch restoration and expansion project. The day was shining, the neighborhood was still sleeping and the bus got us there right on time.

I saw a few colleagues of mine already there, Owen our videographer, and Corey the Community Development Co Lead. I greeted them and then ducked out of the way of the camera trying to hide my face and likeness. I don't want another screen cap of my grill being the face of our next video like the staff video up on our website...scary.

There were about thirty people in attendance with most of them youth from various community groups like Ground Up Yeslar, Seattle Tilth, a few local High Schools like Franklin and of course the agriculture professionals, one of them a fifteen year veteran at this particular growing site.

The students were dressed sensibly and were excited about the prospect with roughly half of them female and the other half...male. I spoke with Karen from Ground Up as we had previously met at the Journalism that Matters conference and it was great catching up. She then convened the volunteers and we had a brief, but effective safety meeting.

The students were fired up and the atmosphere was friendly, dedicated, with banter that was surprisingly appropriate. I'm always surprised how much people expect teens to be rude, obnoxious, cursing troublemakers, when the majority of them that I've interacted with over my many years has been exactly the opposite.

I decided to go do some composting and after an hour of wheel barrow shifting, shoveling, sorting, digging and listening to an adult give the teens a true history of African American heritage, I was tired and feeling great.

The p-patch itself is very large and spread out amongst the apartments in Yeslar Terrace. The patches are mostly overrun with native plant weed, but they are fertile and with the right stewardship would be a reliable source of food for the community.

Corey was chosen to be a lead in one of the projects and he cheerfully responded. He is doing so much work in this community and his heart is definitely feeling the unique, diverse vibe that Yeslar Terrace exudes. I look forward to coming back and seeing where this partnership leads.

Did I fail to mention the home cooked lunch provided to us after we were done? It was an exploration of East African cuisine provided by neighbors and participants. I loved the greens and actually ate more than my fair share. I kept sneaking more fork fulls onto my plate after distracting other hungry volunteers with questions and conversation. Best lesson learned is to always give participants a way to participate. The neighbors who cooked the food did what they do best and everyone benefited.