Greenspace » food & urban ag

Our City, Our Food, Our Future: Listening sessions on food in our community

WysockS — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:41:33 +0000

This year, OSE is tasked with creating a food action agenda that will improve people’s ability to eat, grow and sell healthy food in Seattle. To that end, OSE – along with the Mayor and City Council – is hosting 3 listening sessions in March to hear from the community how we should prioritize our food related work going forward. The meetings are free and open to the public, however RSVP is required.

Public Meeting dates:
•Tuesday March 13, 5:30-8:30 p.m. – Ravenna Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Avenue NE)
•Friday March 16, 1:00-4:00 p.m. – City Hall – Bertha Knight Landes Room (600 4th Avenue)
•Monday March 19, 5:30-8:30 p.m. – Southside Commons (3518 S Edmunds Street)

RSVP here.

Mayor McGinn recently posted about OSE’s food policy work on his blog. Read the entire post here.

City’s First Rooftop P-Patch Community Garden

BoawnJ — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:03:26 +0000

Community members are invited to participate in designing a P-Patch community garden on the roof of the Mercer Garage at Seattle Center. In partnership with neighborhood volunteers and Seattle Center, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is developing a new P-Patch community garden on top of the Mercer Garage at 3^rd Avenue N and Mercer Street. The project is funded through the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy which dedicated $2 million to P-Patch community garden development.

Landscape Architects Kistler/Higbee Cahoot will facilitate three public workshops to design the new rooftop garden. Each session will build on the last, so attendance to all three meetings is encouraged.

Meeting #1: Saturday, Dec. 10; 10:30 – 11:45 a.m.
Project overview, P-Patch site visit, and brainstorming

Meeting #2: Wednesday, Jan. 11; 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Compare, rank and refine alternative design plans

Meeting #3: Tuesday, Jan. 31; 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Presentation of final schematic plan

WHERE:

All workshops will be at Seattle Center in The Next 50 Headquarters located at the east end of the 3rd floor of Center House. Seattle Center House is located at 305 Harrison St., Seattle, WA, 98109.

For more information contact Phi Huynh at 206.684.4531 or phi.huynh@seattle.gov.

Local food movement benefits Seattle

BoawnJ — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:26:37 +0000

Many great things are going on in Seattle and our region to create a sustainable and healthy food system that works for everyone. Innovative programs, such as training homeless youth to grow food or providing fresh food options in “food deserts,” benefit our community in a variety of ways – job and economic development, equitable access to healthy food, and reducing hunger.

Here are just a few of the latest things going on – Seattle is fortunate to have a thriving and growing local food movement leading the way.

Seattle Youth Garden Works helps homeless young people learn new skills

New Seattle start-up Stockbox providing fresh foods in Seattle food deserts

The local food movement can provide a model for ending food inequities in Seattle and beyond (opinion piece)

Seattle Public Library hosts ‘Urban Self-Reliance” workshops

WysockS — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:38:56 +0000

The Seattle Public Library will host 17 workshops as part of the “Urban Self-Reliance” series in September and October at several Library locations. Learn how to live a more practical, sustainable life by growing and preserving your own food, using a bike as a healthy and economical means of transportation and more. More info can be found here.

Grow food downtown this summer with Parks & Seattle Tilth

BoawnJ — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Downtown Seattle garden

If you live near downtown Seattle and want to learn about growing food, this summer is your chance. Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation has teamed up with Seattle Tilth to help apartment and condo residents learn how to grow food in containers and even compost! Classes started in May but continue into July and August at various parks in the heart of the city.

All classes are FREE; participants need to register ahead of time. Find out how to register at www.seattletilth.org/learn/classes-and-workshops/parks or call 206-633-5045, ext. 115. Don’t miss this great opportunity!

Seattle Farm Bill Principles resolution

BoawnJ — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:39:50 +0000

On Monday, the Seattle City Council adopted resolution 31296, supporting the Seattle Farm Bill Principles as policy guidance to the Federal Government in the renewal of the 2012 Farm Bill.

The policies, programs and funding included in the 2012 Farm Bill will affect how successful Seattle can be in achieving its goal of strengthening the local and regional food system, improving the economy, and emergency preparedness.

For more information on Seattle’s Farm Bill Principles, including the regional partners and specific principles, please visit http://seattlefarmbillprinciples.org/.

May 14 “Spring Into Bed!”

BoawnJ — Mon, 09 May 2011 20:34:49 +0000

King County residents will gather as volunteers at farms and gardens throughout the county as part of the Just Garden Project’s second annual Spring into Bed! celebration. Volunteers will build gardens, work on farms and help to build a more robust and secure local food system. The idea behind this day of action and celebration is to activate our food space and celebrate ourselves toward a truly sustainable local food system.

Volunteer from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and attend the celebration at Pratt Park from 3 – 6 p.m. Register by May 10 to participate.