Radishes!

Thanks to Sophia for this photo of our newly sprouted radishes, and for watering all of the garden beds!

 

Perennial Plate Episode 67: Kids at a Farm

Daniel Klein’s The Perennial Plate is an incredible project, and the most recent episode is especially moving. Daniel and his crew head to the Food Works farm in Oregon, a true model for the future of food education and sustainability in which youth aged 14-21 not only receive food education and farming skills, but are paid for their work as well.

Watch the video here.

Every time I see projects like this – and they’re cropping up left and right around the country – I feel connected to the growing food movement, and I’m proud to be a part of one such project through Miller Community Center Garden.

Successful Work Party and Planted Beds

Tuesday’s work party was a huge success. We were able to fill the last of the beds with the last of the dirt, thanks to a significant assist earlier in the day by John and Art Jr. from the Parks Department:

We made light work of the rest of the pile of dirt and then got down to the fun stuff.

First, Sophia gave everyone a lesson in how to connect the key to the water supply (which she is graciously keeping at her house and using to water every other day until we have on-site storage).

Then we transplanted many of the lettuces from Bed 10 to Beds 1 and 9 so that they can all grow to be full plants. Salad party, anyone?

Only one lettuce was lost, so Elizabeth ate the first official “harvest” from the garden:

After all the lettuces were moved to their new homes, it was time to plant the other beds with seeds.

By the end of the day we had planted 6 out of the 10 beds, meeting our goal of having a winter garden planted by the end of August. Here’s a chart showing what was planted where (click to enlarge):

The remaining four beds are up for ideas, seeds, and starts: so far we’re thinking kale and garlic, plus some herbs. Other ideas for veggies that will overwinter well?

Thanks to (from left to right): Sophia, Becca, Allison, Amber, Chris and Elizabeth (not pictured) for coming out!

Work Party: Tuesday August 23, 5:30 pm

It’s time for another work party!

If you’re free, head on over to Miller Community Center Garden this upcoming Tuesday, August 23, from 5:30-7:30 pm. The Garden is behind the center next to the parking lot on 20th just off Republican.

We’ll be hauling dirt into the beds and strategizing what to plant. If you have any starts or seeds you’d like to share that would be appropriate in a winter garden, please bring them along! I stopped by yesterday and the bed planted by Sophia looks incredible. Is there anything as sweet as seedlings in a row?

As always, snacks and drinks provided.

FoodCorps Launches National Service Program

Yesterday, FoodCorps launched its national service program. Here’s a little about the organization from its website:

“FoodCorps places motivated young leaders in limited-resource communities for a year of public service. Working under the direction of local partner organizations, we implement a three-ingredient recipe for healthy kids. Our Service Members:

• Deliver hands-on nutrition education
• Build and tend school gardens
• Bring high-quality local food into public school cafeterias”

Wow — first of all, this is a fantastic program. Second, it completely aligns with our own goals at Miller Community Center Garden.

This is a large and exciting drop in the food movement bucket. I encourage anyone interested to check out their website and possibly even fill out an application for a year of service, or, if you aren’t ready or able to commit that much, to being a part-time volunteer. Who knows – maybe we can get FoodCorp involved with the MCCG!

First Bed Planted!

With many thanks to Sophia and her husband, the first bed has been planted with chard and three types of lettuce starts generously donated by Oxbow Farm:

Soon the starts will need to be thinned, and they’re much happier in the soil than they were in their starter beds. This is a great start to the garden, thanks to the dedicated efforts of a star volunteer. Grow on.

Work Party Highlights

Thanks to Becca, Elizabeth, Debrah, Lauren, Sophia, Shawna, and Amber for coming out last night – it was a girls rock kind of evening with some serious chain gang action resulting in the partial filling of 4 of the beds, using up a majority of the massive dirt pile. It’s amazing how many buckets it takes to get these beds even half full, but we’ve made a definite dent and the ball is officially rolling.

Chain-chain-chain of shoveling, bucket-passing fools:

Progress:

Group shot:

(Unfortunately not pictured are Debrah and Lauren… they had to leave before I remembered to bust out my camera.)

Work parties will likely occur every other Tuesday. We’ll let you know ASAP when the next official party is scheduled, and also when there will be tools available on-site for people to drop by and do work themselves. Until then, swing by the garden if you get a chance just to take a gander!

Reminder: Miller CC Garden work party tonight 5:30-7:30

Come help us fill these beds up tonight if you can! The Miller Community Center is on 330 19th Avenue East (cross E Thomas) and the beds are behind the center near the parking lot.

Special thanks to bed builders Jesse and Phil

Without the handiwork of these two, the beds wouldn’t have been built:

Don’t forget to come out for our first work party tomorrow, Tuesday August 9, from 5:30-7:30 pm to get these beds filled up!

The garden takes shape

Thanks to the Seattle Parks Department and especially the fabulous efforts of Senior Gardener Jesse Bonn and CE Maintenance District, the Miller Community Center is now home to 10 freshly built garden beds!

Here is the before shot:

Mid-construction:

Some of the 10 beds that were built:

Now that we have the actual structures, the next step toward our goal of getting a winter garden planted by the end of August is to fill these babies up.

First Official Work Party

Anyone available on Tuesday, August 9 from 5:30-7:30 pm is invited to a work party to start filling the beds. Soil, shovels, and buckets will be provided in ample supply. Come and get your hands dirty with us in this inaugural work party on the Miller CC garden!