Lettuce Link

Lettuce Link Blog moving to Wordpress

2014-10-03T18:25:00.002-07:00

Hello Lettuce Link Community!

In the past ten months, you might have noticed that you haven't been receiving many updates from the Lettuce Link blog. We have been experiencing some technical challenges with our current format. In an effort to make sure we're reaching all of you, and you're able to reach us, we will be moving blog platforms in the coming months.

We will be joining our organization, Solid Ground, at Wordpress! Same content, same folks posting, but we will now be posting alongside the rest of our coworkers under the main Solid Ground blog! You can easily subscribe to receive notifications of new posts on the main page of the Solid Ground blog.

If you're mainly interested in hunger, food justice, gardening, etc., you will find categories on the sidebar of the Solid Ground blog to direct you to your interest areas quickly. You will also find some additional great content on the Solid Ground blog around areas of advocacy, housing, education, and more.

We'll keep this blog up for the next few months, and let you know before it comes down permanently.

You can now find us here: solidgroundblog.wordpress.com and also find us on Facebook as Lettuce Link (a program of Solid Ground).

Thank you for your patience as we switch platforms,

Lettuce Link Staff

Thanks to Johnny's!

2014-09-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Huge thank you to Johnny's Selected Seeds for their generous donation of seeds! These seeds will be put to good use toward the Lettuce Link mission of facilitating access to fresh, nutritious, and organic produce for everyone.

A small portions of seeds will be used directly to grow produce for donation on our two urban farms – the Giving Garden at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm. The majority of the seeds will be distributed to community gardeners throughout Seattle who grow organic produce for Seattle area food banks and to limited income individuals and their families who use food bank services to increase both food accessibility and self-sufficiency. Last year together with these individual gardeners, 56,452 pounds of organic produce were grown and donated to Seattle food banks, meal programs, and shelters.

We can't wait to watch these seeds grow!

A Visit to Twin Ponds Community Garden

2014-09-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Lettuce Link Intern Rhona visited the Twin Ponds Community Garden this summer.

Nestled within Twin Ponds Park, a $30,000 initiative by the City of Shoreline City Council to create a community garden resulted in today’s Twin Ponds Community Garden. Since 2010, the once-fallow area previously mined for peat consists of 38 garden plots, water hydrants, shed, gathering area, and most notably, a “giving garden” staffed by volunteers for food donation. Along with being an effective use of land and promoting views of a “healthy city,” Twin Ponds Community Garden strives to stimulate community interaction and improve economic development within the area.

A walk past the Honey, Mason, and Spelling beds, all food donation beds commemorated after different types of bees, spans 17 plots and growing – and not a minute is spared. Beds are turned over as soon as the harvest is in, crops are rotated to keep the soil nutrient-rich, and volunteers are year-round to ensure maximal yield of the land, no time wasted nor inch spared.

Upon arriving to Twin Ponds, Nancy, a 4^th year garden coordinator, led me on a tour of the community garden, proudly pointing out the zucchinis, squash, and tomatoes that were starting to come out. She led me past some well-maintained P-Patch gardens with quirky garden art hugging the vegetation, past the giving gardens, and to the garden gathering area, where garlic sprouts were sun-bathing on the picnic table. She and three others, Shellie, Randy, and Mical, were appointed by the city to head each work day, to oversee farm operations, and to communicate with their local food banks – a year-round effort.

Twin Ponds Community Garden is not only an example of sustainable gardening, but it is one of many symbols of community engagement. Here, we have neighborhood interaction and community cooperation – a badge of sustainability and service that the city of Shoreline can proudly wear.

There are four garden coordinators at Twin Ponds. They monitor the P-Patch rented plots - 36 10ft×10ft raised beds and 2 4ft×10ft accessible beds – but their real job lies within the center of the garden, a “giving garden” run by volunteers that has yielded upwards of 3000 pounds of fresh produce to date for the Hopelink Shoreline Food Bank.

To learn more about Twin Ponds Community Garden and how you can volunteer, click here.

Training and Teaching, Gardening and Giving

2014-09-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

Lettuce Link Intern Rhona got a chance to meet with Dorothy and Lar, two community giving gardeners.

Meet Dorothy and Lar, both are lovers of all things outdoors, nature, and gardening. Growing up in Gilroy, California on an apricot prune farm with two hundred chickens and a cow, Dorothy was able to find an outlet for gardening in her current house, a quarter-acre plot of land she and Lar have worked and lived on for the past eight to nine years.

Having bought the land knowing they could fix the house, Dorothy and Lar worked intensively to make their quarter acre into the lush and plentiful garden it is today – one that yields over 130 pounds of produce a year, most of which is harvested to feed the family, to offer to the neighborhood, and to donate to Picardo Food Bank. Together, Dorothy and Lar have become strongly involved in their local community, getting people involved with growing their own food, and forming a seed-trading and garden-teaching program with friends and neighbors. In addition to providing a source of seeds and planting advice to the public, they have initiated a neighborhood Blockwatch, a neighborhood alert system connecting residents within a safety network, and been the head organizer of events such as Tuesday Night Out, the first Tuesday of every August when Lar and Dorothy roll rye, trade seeds, and invite policemen and firemen to come and talk about neighborhood safety.

As we walk through beds of potatoes, tomatoes, radishes, and zucchini, Dorothy points out each vegetable, making a checklist of things she has to do and things she already has done. Through her explanation the work seems to never end, and one can see the long and tedious process of turning residential land into farmland, the amount of effort put into breathing life into the soil and having sustainable food come out. Their job isn't easy, but their work is paying off year by year, leaving a deeper and deeper impact on the landscape of the neighborhood and the people of the community.

What follows is a piece by Dorothy herself on why she gardens:

“Why Do I Garden?”

By Dorothy Spencer

A friend came by and said, "Your always out in the garden." As I thought about this, I thought, "Not always." My life is full of activities shared with friends family and neighbors.

Why do I garden? Hmmmm...

I like the company of crows, intelligent critters who seem to sense I'm a friend. The dirt turns black and friable with care, welcoming seeds and plants. Dogs roll in my pesticide free grass, what little we have, and they eat it too. They rest happily in the shade as their owners trade seeds and plants with me, or we just graze on ripe fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Children are my small way to change the world, one person, one family at a time. Once they taste food warm from the sun, and sweet with the rich deep fresh picked flavor, they remember, get the growing bug, and get their families to garden too. One little boy came by with his family, gravely accepted sugar snap peas, then stood there holding them in his hand. When his Mom asked him why he wasn't eating them, he said, "Because I want to plant them." He said what was true for him. This

left me wondering how many more people garden because we do. A lovely synergistic thought.

I remember when I was a child in a family low on money. I was not able to have a second apple when I was hungry. This experience left me feeling empathy for families in need, so we now share our bounty with the food bank. Stories from people getting our food warm me and keep me growing.

It's the wonder of it. My husband, Lar laughs at my childish glee. Every spring, anticipation follows me around the yard as I look for favorite perennials to poke tender heads through the soil. "Look, look, it came up, there it is!" I get to be this delighted every year in the spring and through much of the growing season.

Alone, I lean on my hoe to rest and think about the next steps. I spent time early this year developing my own companion planting chart, including a rotation schedule. We compost food waste and greens, and make weed tea to fertilize our plants. This year, as each planting finishes its growing cycle, we mulch with cardboard, chips, fall leaves, and grass clippings. This slows down weeds and helps the ground hold moisture. In a few weeks, we can pull back the mulch, plant winter crops, and gardening gets easier for me for next year.

I like gardening. It feeds me in many ways. And I really like it being easier and more fun!

Linda's Loves Lettuce Link

2014-09-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

A huge thanks to Linda Derschang and the staff at a few of her iconic eateries and watering holes, Tallulah's, Oddfellows Cafe+Bar, and Smith! Linda and a group of twenty employees came out to Marra Farm last month to work the fields and for a farm tour. Not only did Linda's group work the farm but they donated a portion of proceeds to Lettuce Link from the meatless Mondays at Tallulah's, Oddfellows, and Smith in July and August! .

Partnerships with local businesses that share our values are part of a recipe for success and sustainability. We look forward to continued collaboration with Linda and her staff.

Lettuce Link Staff

Amelia, Kathleen, Kyong, Nate and Scott

Save the date for Fall Fest!

2014-08-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Please join us for the 13^thAnnual

Marra Farm Fall Fest

Celebrate the harvest,
South Park style!

Saturday, September 20, 12:00–3:00PM
Marra Farm: 9026 4^th Ave S
(between South Henderson and South Barton)

* farm-fresh food * apple cider pressing *
* live music * children’s activities * farm tours *

Free and family friendly!

Volunteers needed: assist with kids’ activities; prep, grill, and serve food;
wash dishes; help setup and cleanup, etc.
Contact Kyong: kyongs@solid-ground.org or 206.713.3247

We hope to see you there!

~ The Lettuce Link team:
Amelia, Kathleen, Kyong, Nate and Scott

Lettuce Link’s Giving Garden at Marra Farm is a program of Solid Ground

Unfortunately, Marra Farm is not wheelchair accessible

Lettuce Link Transitions

2014-08-13T13:33:00.001-07:00

Lettuce Link Community Members,

I am excited to announce the arrival of Kathleen Penna to the Lettuce Link team! Kathleen came on board last week as the new Program Coordinator, replacing Robin DeCook after six great years. Kathleen comes to us with a wealth of experience in volunteer coordination, data management and youth development, having worked with former Solid Ground programs Penny Harvest, Washington Reading Corps, and the City of Edmonds over the past ten years.

The entire Lettuce Link team is excited that Kathleen is our new program coordinator and looks forward to the great work ahead.

Nate Moxley

Lettuce Link Program Manager

A note from Kathleen:

I would like to thank the Lettuce Link community for the warm welcome! Both personally and through my work with young people and families in the region, I have seen first-hand the importance of access to good food. I am excited to be a part of a program that upholds those values, and that works in collaboration with communities to make incredible things happen. I look forward to meeting many more of you in the weeks ahead!

From the Valley to the Banks

2014-07-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

One day a week our summer intern, Rhona, volunteers at the Rainier Valley Food Bank, which receives produce from the Seattle Community Farm. Here are some of her reflections.

As community gardeners, we often wonder at the market value of our produce. How much money is today’s harvest worth? How many meals can it make or mouths can it feed?

At the Seattle Community Farm, Tuesdays are harvesting days. That is when the beets come up and the raspberries fall down, when the crates for delivery stack up for washing and weighing before its final destination: the food bank. And that’s where we are headed today, to see how many mouths we can feed with the produce nurtured with community hands.

It is 8 in the morning. At the Rainier Valley Food Bank, a crowd of people already wait at the front door, many with large bags and containers. The food bank doors are shut but within there is a rush of activity. Crates are unloaded and stacked in a pick-up line system, the garage is prepped for quick restocking, and volunteers are standing at each station, ready to distribute the food: a package of chicken, a few vegetables, some canned goods. The hungry are many, and the resources always go quickly.

Looking into the storage garage, where the shelves are fully stocked for the week, you realize the meaning of “group effort.” Those ten crates over there are from Lettuce Link's Seattle Community Farm, those other ten at the entrance are from local P-Patch Giving Gardens and Seattle Tilth’s Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, and those being unloaded just now are from local grocery stores, as well as Northwest Harvest, and Food Lifeline. In the other corner being unboxed are packages of gnocchi, instant mashed potatoes, mushroom quinoa, and various snack products.

In that one food bank on that one day, there must have been over a dozen separate nonprofits, stores, and organizations that contributed to the food distributed that morning. But is it enough? The shelves are empty at the end of the day, yet familiar faces come back every week, and we ask ourselves just how many mouths can we feed?

Because at the end of the day, when the empty crates are stacked outside awaiting restocking from the next deliveries, and when the numbers of food bank clients checked-in are calculated, I am seeing first-hand that perhaps helping stop hunger and providing food means not just providing a safety net that gives people food for a day. It’s so much more complicated than that. One piece of food justice means creating opportunities and resources for people of all backgrounds and income levels to learn how to grow their own food – skills they can use to feed their families for a lifetime.

A Garlic Feast

2014-07-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

This summer at Lettuce Link we're lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we're featuring the writing of April, a Seattle native, Duke University student, and garlic-harvester extraordinaire.

Hello! My name is April and I am a new intern here at Lettuce Link. I have lived in Seattle my entire life, but I had never seen or heard of Solid Ground, Lettuce Link, Marra Farm or the Seattle Community Farm until this year. I have very little knowledge of farm work but am ready and eager to learn!

At the beginning of my internship, I drove right past both the Seattle Community Farm and Marra Farm, a not realizing that these were the farms that I was looking for. Both are tucked away in residential neighborhoods, and many people pass by not realizing the great work done by staff, volunteers, and community members at these farms.

In my past two weeks at both of these farms I have been astounded at the sheer quantity of fresh vegetables, and occasional fruits, that these small plots of land are able to produce. At Marra Farm, I am in charge of weighing and recording each bin of harvested vegetables each week.

Two Fridays ago, we harvested garlic, and at first I didn’t believe it was garlic. I am used to the white garlic pieces my dad gets from the grocery store, however, this was a deep beautiful purple plant with a long stalk attached. After a further explanation, I figured out it was fresh garlic that needed to be cleaned, weighed and then dried for two weeks.

There must have been at least ten baskets full of garlic bulbs. This garlic could last a long time for families who receive it at the food banks Marra Farm delivers produce to. A little garlic goes a long way, and adds a lot of zing and flavor to any dish. Given the large amount of garlic we harvested, I anticipate there will be wide variety of flavorful, garlicky dishes prepared with Marra Farm garlic.

I was able to bring some of the extra garlic home with me and truly enjoy the “farm to fork” experience. I am looking forward to learning about, growing, and eating new and exciting vegetables this summer!

Hamm Creek Restoration: Would you believe this is Seattle?

2014-07-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Harmony. Lots can come to mind when you really think about it. But I’m talking environmental harmony. I visited, photographed, chatted at and volunteered on the Marra Farm Giving Garden for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was one of those rare Seattle spring days where the sun lingers all day and the temperature is just right. While I poked around the farm (before getting down and dirty planting tomatoes), I kept the idea of Hamm Creek in the back of my mind.

About three days before my visit, I talked to Nate Moxley, Lettuce Link Program Manager at Solid Ground, about where I might find the creek once I arrived at the farm. He explained to me exactly where I could find it. I mean, the exact placement of the creek from any standing position, whether you’re facing north, south, east or west; are 300 feet from 4th Avenue South; next to the tallest scarecrow, etc. Let me tell you: I stillmissed it. After slowly exploring the farm, I finally circled back to where I’d started.

[Read about the rest of Nicole's visit to Hamm Creek on the Solid Ground blog.]

A Crowd of Kids and Their Plot of Land

2014-06-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

This summer at Lettuce Link we're lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we're featuring the writing of Rhona, who left her home in Atlanta to spend the summer in Seattle with Lettuce Link as a DukeEngage intern.

This week we saw the first class of students from the ReWA youth program, a middle school summer program targeting refugee and immigrant youths, visit Lettuce Link’s Seattle Community Farm for the first of a five-week gardening and nutrition curriculum based at the farm. The farm team consisting of Scott, Amelia, Kelly, and a few other interns split the kids up into three small groups rotating around stations centered on cooking/nutrition, gardening, and touring the farm.

In the garden, Scott showed off the farm highlights of the week: crops of lettuce, bok choy, snap peas, and beets among others. The kids were invited to harvest and sample the plumpest snap peas hanging off the vines, and gained interesting tidbits about each vegetable on the farm.

In Amelia’s group, the children busily staked the ground, claiming their own small plot for planting in hopes of harvesting their own line of crop at the end of five weeks. Interns scurried to and fro from the hose refilling watering buckets as the kids enthusiastically watered theirs, and also their friends’ seeds.

Finally, with seeds in the soil and the taste of fresh snap peas on their tongues, the last group filled out a short questionnaire and received a short nutrition lesson from Kelly. With raspberries making up the main ingredient balanced with ice, salt, honey, and lemons, everyone had the opportunity to have a glass of the natural electrolyte refreshment.

At the conclusion of the program, all the ReWA kids and the farm staff gathered for the closing circle to recap the day’s activities. “Today I learned that gardening is fun,” said one middle schooler. “Today I learned that you can make juice out of fresh fruit,” chimed in another. But as for me, the most important thing I learned was that no matter where you’re from or what your personal background, whether you’re from North Dakota or from Atlanta, from Central America or Asia, gardening is an act that brings communities together in a group effort that oversteps plots and boundaries.

Raspberry Electric

Recipe by Leika Suzumura of Community Kitchens Northwest

This is a natural homemade electrolyte drink, minus the cost or artificial colors. Get creative with different combinations that you enjoy.

Ingredients

1 quart filtered water
1 cup fresh berries [we used raspberries]
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

Fill ½ gallon pitcher with filtered water.
Place raspberries in a bowl and gently smash them with a fork to break the skin and release juices. Pour into water.
Add honey, salt, and lemon juice and stir.
Taste and adjust to desired flavor and strength.
Add ice and enjoy!

Other additions:

You can use other berries for this drink, including strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.
Cucumbers in place of raspberries works well.
Add in fresh mint, lemon balm, or other refreshing herb to your taste.

Makes 16 ounces

June 2014 Groundviews: Growing Healthy Partnerships

2014-06-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

Groundviews is Solid Ground’s quarterly newsletter for our friends and supporters. Below is the June 2014 Groundviews lead story; please visit Solid Ground's website to read the entire issue online.

If you visit Lettuce Link’s Giving Garden at Marra Farm in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood on any given day from March to October, you’re likely to find a beehive of activity — often involving groups of students from Concord International School (pre-K through 5th grade), located just a few blocks away. Via collaboration with Solid Ground’s Lettuce Link and Apple Corps programs and Concord teachers, students learn about nutrition, the environment, and sustainable gardening and food systems.

At the center of the buzzing, you might find Amelia Swinton, Lettuce Link Education Coordinator, who describes her job as “the meeting ground of two different education programs.” There’s gardening education through Lettuce Link, combined with nutrition education through Apple Corps. In the fall and winter, she partners with an Apple Corps AmeriCorps member to teach weekly indoor nutrition-education lessons at Concord. Then during the growing season, classes move outdoors for hands-on gardening at Marra Farm, where kids get to “Adopt-a-Plot” that they plant, nurture and harvest themselves. Best of all, they get to bring the veggies home for their families to enjoy.

Nate Moxley, Lettuce Link Program Manager, says it’s “a collective approach. We’re working together to achieve common goals around food justice, access and education. Almost everything that we do comes back to that.”

Engaging families

Since 1998, Solid Ground’s involvement as one of several stewarding organizations at Marra Farm has greatly increased access to healthy nutritious food in South Park, and one of the most effective conduits for this has been Concord students themselves. When Solid Ground launched the Apple Corps program in 2007 to do nutrition and fitness education in schools and nonprofits, Concord became a natural partner.

In addition to classroom lessons, there are afterschool events designed not only to engage families, but also to encourage self-determination where healthy food choices are concerned. Annual “Market Night” celebrations are one such event, combining health and nutrition information and activities with cultural sharing presentations, and an open-air market where each kid is empowered to choose from and “purchase” a variety of fresh produce.

Rained out from the outdoor classroom,
Joanne cooks up some fresh
produce grown at Marra Farm.

At Concord’s recent Market Night, Amelia introduced us to Joanne – a 4th grader and very enthusiastic budding gardener – who has brought her family to the Farm on several occasions. Joanne tells us, “I like Marra Farm because they garden, and also they let other kids do it.” Her favorite veggie to grow is “peas. They’re actually a little hard; you have to use sticks so they can climb, and you need to water them and weed them every single time.”

Joanne definitely thinks it’s better to grow your own food rather than buy it in a grocery store because, “It’s more nutritious, because you’re proud of yourself, and you think it’s very good!” She says someday, “I’m going to go and make my own garden in the back of my house.” For now, she and her parents are happy to live so close to Marra Farm.

Another way families get involved is through student-led Community Kitchens, known at Concord as “4th Grade Cooks.” Amelia says, “The logic behind 4th Grade Cooks is that the best way to learn something is to teach it – and kids should be the nutrition teachers for their families. Kids are a great ‘carrot’ to get their whole family involved, and then it becomes a night where kids are in the lead in cooking healthy food – the end result being a fun, positive space where everybody eats a healthy, free dinner. And what family doesn’t want to come cook with their cute kid?”

Amelia Swinton helps Concord International 5th graders tell the difference between weeds and edible plants. (Photo by Brad Fenstermacher)

Honoring community strengths
In South Park, 30% of residents speak Spanish, and Latino students make up the largest ethnic group (over 61%) at Concord. As an international school, the dual-language immersion program strives for all students to become bilingual/biliterate in English and Spanish. While Amelia is fluent in Spanish, she says she hopes that Solid Ground’s work in South Park will become “more community based and build leadership amongst folks from the neighborhoods where we’re working. As a white educator not from the community, this feels especially important to me.”

One way Amelia connects the community to gardening and nutrition education efforts is to invite parents and teachers to guest-teach classes in their areas of expertise. Recently, one student’s mom gave his class a tour of the Marra Farm Chicken Co-op that she helped to create. “To encourage families to share some of their knowledge is a really powerful way of switching out those roles of who has knowledge, and who’s the giver of knowledge, and who’s the receiver of knowledge.”

But she adds, “I think the most important kernels of my work at Marra Farm are getting kids to bond with nature and healthy eating – and doing so in a way that acknowledges how agriculture and farming have been felt really disproportionately by different communities. Particularly in the Latino community, there’s been a lot of suffering through agriculture. There is also a huge amount of knowledge and pride. I hope the program continues to grow in a way that acknowledges people’s different experiences, while leading with the really beautiful and important things that happen when people love on their environment, feed their bodies well, and treat animals with respect.”

Amelia says, “Part of what makes nutrition education and the Marra Farm Giving Garden such a natural fit is that nutrition is all about, ‘Eat your fruits and veggies!’ And the Giving Garden makes it possible in a community that would otherwise struggle to access produce. Where do you get fresh vegetables? Marra Farm! Actually being able to say, ‘This is important and this is how you can get it’ is really powerful.”

Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative

2014-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

Last summer we introduced 17 teenage chickens (pullets) to their new home at Marra Farm as part of the Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative (MFCC)!

This was a monumental step towards the dream of a community-led chicken cooperative at Marra Farm. Though Lettuce Link provided staffing and support for the initial phases of the project, the long-term vision, however, has always been to see the chicken co-op become self-sustaining and self-governed by South Park community members.

Over the past few months, the Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative has narrowed down to a core group of 13 members who share the responsibilities of morning and evening care for the brood of hens. With the help of Lettuce Link’s Marra Farm Coordinator, Kyong Soh, and AmeriCorps member Amanda Reeves, the cooperative has developed systems for accountability, communication, and collecting dues, ensuring that they properly care for the chickens and fairly share the work (and benefits).

Cooperative members have committed to daily care of the chickens, cleaning the coop on a regular basis, and regularly communicating with each other. We commend the ways that the members have worked together across linguistic, cultural, and relational differences!

To maximize the health of the chickens, the land, and the eggs, the group decided to feed the ladies organic feed, greens, and other plant scraps. With an abundance of fresh greens at Marra Farm—including scraps from Lettuce Link’s Giving Garden, the brood has a diverse array of healthy greens to munch on alongside the store-bought feed. The hens get quite excited when presented with some scrumptious chard or bites of winter squash.

Given the timing of the project, the hens approached egg-laying age as winter approached and egg production dramatically tapered off. However, in late October co-op members collected the first few eggs, allowing the group to see their commitment pay off! It’s a nice taste of what the springtime will bring.

We welcome you to visit the chickens at Marra Farm. Community neighbors and visitors alike have enjoyed watching the chickens and seeing urban farming on a whole different level. The chickens also provide an opportunity to educate visitors about the importance of ethical and healthy animal care, and the amazing possibilities that emerge with community collaboration. Next time you come to Marra Farm, please walk around and say “hello” to the Marra Farm chickens!

Winter at Marra farm

2014-01-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

With chilly temperatures and shortened hours of daylight, Northwest gardeners are taking a much-deserved winter’s rest. Cover crops have been sown, leaf mulch has been spread, and the gardeners are resting and remembering the year’s harvest.

While much of Lettuce Link's Giving Garden at Marra Farm has been “tucked to bed,” we are still hard at work tending 10 newly planted beds for winter growing! Garlic, spinach, chard, fava beans, bok choy, radishes, and carrots will grow slowly but surely throughout the winter months and help usher in the new season with an early spring harvest.

In November we set up hoop houses over the delicate crops to shield the small sprouts from bitter winter winds and freezing temperatures. We hope that the plants, snugly tucked in under these portable greenhouses, will make it until March.

Our preparations for our long winter's nap were no small task. The water to the whole farm is shut off to avoid freezing pipes, requiring resourceful and creative solutions to nourish the fledgling plants. Thanks to the help of South Park resident and grower, Irene, we set up a gravity-fed water barrel system to collect and distribute water. As a member of the Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative, Irene also helped set up a winterized water system for the coop.

Winter is also a time for preparation. Even though Marra Farm doesn’t appear to be very active, we are using the respite from the busyness to organize the sheds, maintain and clean the tools, order seeds, and plan for the 2014 growing season. Beyond preparing farm operations, we are planning for community events in South Park in the upcoming year. We are excited for the possibilities in 2014 and hope you'll stay tuned for updates on opportunities to join us!

A Foxy Fellow Ornament

2013-12-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

At Lettuce Link, we’re so privileged to be supported by the wider community. Every year we receive donations of seeds for our farms and seed distributions at food banks, food for events, technical skills and labor for building and repairing structures, and a host of other in-kind donations and financial support (this year it even included a chicken coop).

This December, we’re delighted that City People’s Garden Store has chosen us as the recipient for 100% of the proceeds from their Foxy Fellows ornament.

As City People’s describes the ornament:

Each 4.5" tall Fox stands or hangs from a jute loop. Snappy sweaters, scarves and caps, little wire glasses, a miniature satchel, and a teensy pipe all add to the charm of these clever foxes. $9.99 each.

Support Lettuce Link and a great local business: stop by City People's Garden Store today to purchase a foxy fellow, and consider shopping there for your garden needs all year long!

What's Cooking at Concord?

2013-12-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

While the gardens snooze, our education programming sneaks indoors to Concord Elementary. We're two months deep into our school-based work, so we thought it was time for an update!

Monday through Wednesday, we teach cooking-based nutrition education to grades K-5. Recently, second graders met Pepita, the Purple Protein [hand-puppet] Squirrel and explored plant-based proteins through black bean and sweet potato chili. In fifth grade, we listened to a story about the Three Sisters - corn, beans, and squash - and learned about the traditional importance of these crops for Native agriculturists across the hemisphere. Kindergarten noses were tickled by the soft aroma of cabbage soup, which they seasoned and sampled.

At the end of October we held a Healthy Halloween raffle, where kids could turn in 5+ pieces of candy for a raffle ticket. This effort collected more than 45 pounds of candy (not quiiiiite as much as Emerson Elementary), which a kind dental office in Bellevue shipped to military personnel overseas.

Outside of the classroom, Apple Corps members have coached a Girls on the Run! team. Fifteen third, fourth, and fifth grade girls trained after school all fall for a 5K race, which took place last Saturday, December 7 at Seward Park. It was a chilly day, but the Concord Cougars had a great run!

We've begun a second year of 4th Grade Cooks, a night of community cooking led by students. Below are some pictures and a recipe from our first evening, which featured the return of some favorite menu items from last year. Want to join the fun? We could use 1-2 volunteers on Thursdays December 12 and January 16 from 5:30-8pm. E-mail Amelia at amelias@solid-ground.org if you're interested!

~Amelia Swinton, Lettuce Link Education Coordinator

Mahlet fine-tunes the griddle for pupusas

Salad fingers massage repollo

Souperstars making Squash and Lentil Soup!

Spicy Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

6 cups peeled, cubed winter squash
¾ cup red lentils
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
5 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped celery
2 tsp curry powder
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp coriander
Cayenne, to taste
Salt, to taste
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups milk (optional)

Directions:

Cook squash and lentils in 5 cups of water in a large soup pot until tender, 20-25 minutes.
Working in batches, puree the squash, lentils, and cooking water in a food processor or blender. Return puree to the pot and set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion, garlic, and celery until tender, about 5 min.
Add the sautéed vegetables to the soup pot. Stir in spices and lemon juice. Heat soup and bring to a simmer. Add tomato, milk if desired, and simmer 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serves 8

A Tapestry of Culture at the Rainier Valley Food Bank

2013-10-15T14:55:00.001-07:00

The produce grown at the Seattle Community Farm goes to work trade participants and the Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB). This summer, our intern Victoria went to the food bank each Wednesday to share information with clients about the work trade program and the Cooking Matters class at the Seattle Community Farm. Here are her thoughts on the experience:

No larger than a classroom, the distribution room of the Rainier Valley Food Bank vibrates with energy and movement every Wednesday morning. Food bank clients lug around suitcases and duffel bags of food, while volunteers shuttle crates from the warehouse to the distribution room. On the outdoor patio, clients mingle clustered by language group as they wait to enter the distribution room.

Serving one of the most diverse neighborhoods in America, the Rainier Valley Food Bank is a vibrant assembly of people. Hunger does not discriminate: people of all cultures come together at the food bank.

This combination of many cultures creates the culture of the Rainier Valley Food Bank community. Although communication is challenging since dozens of different languages are spoken, the community is unified by the goal of eliminating hunger.

Since the Rainier Valley Food Bank’s founding in May 1991, it has undergone changes in management, name, and funding. Today the food bank has three full-time employees and two AmeriCorps VISTA members. The staff does an amazing job stretching the budget, with the help of over 500 volunteers annually. A handful of these volunteers come every single week, and some have volunteered at the food bank for years.

The Rainier Valley Food Bank transformed my relationship with and awareness of food. Without the privilege of food security, food loses its glamour. Being at the food bank forced me to remove my rose-tinted glasses of privilege and view food from a more basic perspective. When people are hungry, their relationship with food is more intimate, poignant, and primal. I saw humanity in the context of food insecurity — there is a raw honesty in asking for help with something so fundamental.

When I started doing outreach at the Rainier Valley Food Bank, I was a stranger. But on my last day, an elderly woman wrapped me in a warm embrace and told me I was a good girl. In just six weeks the Rainier Valley Food Bank wove me into their tapestry of culture. Although my presence at the food bank will gently fade away with time, the community I found there is now imprinted in my being.

I am so thankful for the perspectives and acceptance I found this summer at the Rainier Valley Food Bank. I am honored that I was able to help them with their work and to strengthen the relationship between the food bank and the Seattle Community Farm.

~ Victoria, Lettuce Link DukeEngage summer intern

Thanks for your hard work and dedication, Victoria. We know that the Rainier Valley Food Bank loved having you volunteer with them this summer!

Faces of the Fruit Harvest: Phil in Ballard

2013-10-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

This summer and fall we've had a wonderful group of volunteers scouting, harvesting and delivering fruit for the Community Fruit Tree Harvest. We've also had a number of people step into leadership roles, including three folks who are Harvest Leads for specific neighborhoods.

These volunteers contact tree donors to schedule harvests, send out announcements to volunteers, plan the logistics for the harvests, and harvest fruit alongside other volunteers. Their commitment to the project and their communities is what makes the Community Fruit Tree Harvest possible.

One of the great aspects of the fruit harvest is the opportunity to get to know each other while we harvest. And here's your opportunity to get to know one of our Harvest Leads: Phil Hecht, of Ballard.

Phil is a general contractor by day, and as you can see from his picture, an avid fisherman. His organizational skills and enthusiasm for harvesting fruit have been great additions to the Community Fruit Tree Harvest this year.

What got you interested in volunteering with the Community Fruit Tree Harvest?

Phil: I read about it on the Sustainable Ballard newsletter. I volunteer to do habitat restoration for salmon and steelhead, but don't do anything for folks in need directly. I love trees, gardening and being outside...so it seemed like a great opportunity. Now that I'm involved, I am certain that I made the right decision.

What has been the most rewarding part of the program so far?

Phil: It is a tie...I love meeting the other harvesters, donors, and other people involved. However it impacts me deeply when we deliver the fruit. The excitement and gratitude is moving.

What is your favorite fruit to harvest and why?

Phil: Honestly anything in a big, tall tree. If I have to pick though, pears. They are hard and hurt if they bonk you. Exciting!

A big thank you to Phil, Eunice, and Rita for leading neighborhoods harvests this summer, and to all the volunteers who stepped up to lead individual harvests and scout trees. You all are the heart of this program, and it's been a pleasure to work with you this season!

~Mariah, Harvest Coordinator

Marra Farm Fall Fest 2013: A Sunny Celebration

2013-10-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

On the day before the autumnal equinox we hosted our 12th Annual Fall Fest at Marra Farm. All week we had been worriedly watching the weather forecast, which predicted a dismal cold and wet day. But to our delight, we woke up to sun and a fresh, fall day!

It was the perfect summer sendoff. People of all ages came out for the celebration – South Park neighbors, Mien and P-Patch gardeners, Lettuce Link volunteers, and students from Concord Elementary.

Over the course of the sunny afternoon, we feasted on a delicious potluck, with items ranging from neighbor Mike’s freshly caught salmon, to grilled summer squash harvested from Marra Farm, to a wide array of international dishes from members of the Mien Community Garden and the Marra Farm P-Patch.

And we drank fresh-pressed Marra Farm apple cider! We washed and quartered the apples, cranked the cider grinder, and then pressed the pulp through to make sweet, tangy cider. The press ran the entire afternoon and every drop was thoroughly enjoyed!

Kids of all ages (and the young at heart) enjoyed pumpkin painting, apple bowling (using the Marra Farm Putt Putt hole), gunny sack races, story time with librarians from the South Park branch of the Seattle Public Library, and exploring the sensory wonders of the farm—including a ginormous sunflower head.

And what would a party be if there wasn't any music? The Rooftop Dogs bluegrass band and the Seattle Fandango Project serenaded the crowd with fun, harvest-time tunes and fantastic, foot-tapping music from Mexico.

This year’s Fall Fest was also an opportunity to honor the amazing ten years of work of Farmer Sue McGann, who will retire from Lettuce Link in early October. We welcomed two new staff members - our new Marra Farm coordinator, Kyong Soh, who started training with Sue in September, and Lettuce Link’s new Program Manager, Nate Moxley, who started work in July. Fall Fest happened to be the day before both Sue’s and Nate’s birthday, so we serenaded them with a festive, chaotic rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Community, delicious food, games, music, sunshine - we had all the ingredients for a good party. Thanks to all of you who were a part of Fall Fest in 2013, and we hope to see everyone again next year!

~ Amanda, Apple Corps Member with Lettuce Link

Learning about Pollinators

2013-10-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

The beehives at Marra Farm emit a steady hum that fascinates children. We stop on our tours of the farm to watch the constant stream of bees on their way to and from the hive, some setting out to find nectar and pollen, others return to the hive laden with food they have collected.

When bees fly from flower to flower to collect their food, pollen sticks to their legs, allowing them to pollinate the plants they visit. Bees work nonstop during the summer to stockpile enough food to last them through the winter.

These beautiful cucumbers began as flowers cross-pollinated by bees.
Thanks, bees!

As we learn in our kids’ classes at Marra Farm, we humans should remember to thank the honeybees. We reap the benefits of their hard work, consuming not only their honey, but the literal fruits and vegetables of their labors.

Global Pollination

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 70% of the crops that produce 90% of the world’s food supply require pollination by bees.

A complex mix of factors has contributed to the catastrophic collapse of bee colonies around the world in recent years, including the widespread use of toxic agricultural chemicals, the decline of flowering plants, a rise in pollution, and even the globalization of food supplies – international shipping quickly spreads virulent fungal pathogens, which can wipe out entire hives.

Colony collapse disorder spells bad news for global food security. In the words of Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UNEP, “Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to 7 billion people.”

For a holistic look at the threats facing bees around the world as a result of current mainstream agricultural practices, consider watching the award-winning documentary More Than Honey.

A honeybee industriously collects pollen in the
Childrens’ Garden at the Seattle Community Farm.

Pollinator Lessons

Despite the grim future of our most vital pollinators, in our garden and nutrition education classes we focus on teaching children the important role bees play in the garden:

We examine the Velcro straps on a student’s shoes and learn how bees also have sticky “Velcro” on their legs that collects pollen when they buzz from flower to flower.

We learn how a bee returning from a successful foraging mission performs a “waggle dance” to tell the other bees in the hive about the direction and distance to flower patches with abundant nectar and pollen. And then we do our own waggle dances!

We visit flowers in the garden and observe bees collecting nectar. Then we watch as pollen from one flower brushes off a bee’s legs onto another flower.

We learn about the different roles within the bee colony by dividing the class into worker bees, drone bees, and the queen bee, and then we fly around going "buzz buzz buzz!"

By teaching the next generation about the importance of honeybees, we hope to instill appreciation for these buzzing friends and their habitats.

Bumblebees throng to the vibrant purple artichoke flowers.
The many artichokes at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm
are planted expressly to attract our bee friends.

-Cordelia, summer Children's Garden and Nutrition Education intern

Outdoor Cooking at the Seattle Community Farm

2013-09-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

This summer at the Seattle Community Farm we hosted a six-week Farm-to-Table cooking and nutrition class series through Solid Ground’s Cooking Matters program.

The Cooking Matters curriculum emphasizes preparing healthy and delicious meals on a budget. At each class we covered different nutrition topics, including the food groups on MyPlate, how to increase fiber in your diet, and the effects of different types sugars and fats on the body. On the fifth week, we went to a local grocery store and learned tips for selecting affordable, nutritious foods.

Since we held class outside at the farm, we chose recipes that emphasized using fresh, seasonal produce. We had a great variety of yummy vegetables to choose from! Class participants harvested greens, onions, beans, cucumbers, squash, and herbs straight out of the ground and then cooked them up right at the farm. Instead of a stove we used portable burners, and enjoyed our outdoor surroundings as we chopped, peeled, and sautéed.

At the end of each class, participants took home the recipes used that week and a grocery bag of ingredients to try preparing the dishes at home. Participants came back each week with stories of their culinary successes and impressing their family and friends.

Thanks to the Cooking Matters staff and volunteers who taught and coordinated the wonderful class, as well as all of the participants who came back each week to share and learn together. This is our second year hosting the series, and we hope to make it a yearly event.

The melon and cucumber salad was a favorite among class participants this summer, and we think you'll like it too!

Melon and Cucumber Salad with Pepper and Mint

adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy

1 ripe melon, such as a honeydew (about 1.5 lbs)
1 cucumber, unpeeled
1 or more tablespoons chopped mint
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Mint springs
Goat or feta cheese (optional)

Halve and seed the melon and slice into sections. Cut flesh away from skin, then cut into bite-size pieces. Chop cucumbers into bite-size pieces. Combine melon and cucumber into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together the chopped mint, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Whisk in oil. Taste and adjust as needed.

Pour dressing over melon and cucumber and toss to coat. Add cheese if desired. Chill for an hour if time allows. Grind pepper over top and finish with mint springs.

Rainbows and Bravery Bites: Lessons from the Children's Garden

2013-09-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

After 130 years of cultivation, the dirt at Marra Farm is like no other. 130 years is a long time. “It’s probably older than your grandma’s grandma”, I would tell the wonder-struck kids as they wandered through our sunflower forests this summer. “After 130 years, this dirt understands more about good health than we’re ever likely to know.”

Under the shade of these magnificent 10-foot tall sun-towers, we’ve been bonding with the dirt and cooking up its marvelous creations.

How do you grow magical sunflowers?
By using magical soil!

Here are seven lessons, tips, and grubby seeds left behind from our summer kids’ nutrition education classes at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm.

Rainbows Rock

We built our summer series with preschoolers around the theme of colors. We prepared a rainbow of recipes: purple kohlrabi and beet hummus, orange carrot and yam mish-mash, yellow squash and eggs -- you get the idea. The kids ate it all up! The theme of colors integrates beautifully with the MyPlate nutrition guidelines. Because really, who doesn’t want to eat a rainbow?

We’re also delighted by the rainbow of colorful signs created by summer interns and a new mosaic garden mural at the Seattle Community Farm installed by our amazing community partners at Coyote Central.

Mosaic at the Seattle Community Farm

Variations on the Familiar = Lesson Success

We strive to design culturally and socio-economically relevant lessons that resonate with kids we teach. During our classes with students from South Park Community Center, that meant making “farm-style” versions of foods from Mexico, Central America and East Africa.

We have also been preparing American fusion favorites, like macaroni and cheese (with kale!), spaghetti (sautéed with a little summer squash), nachos (topped with banana peppers and cilantro) and mashed potatoes (mixed with yams and carrots).

This summer, our students, led by Chef Sue Bell from Cooking Matters, elected to make quesadillas with chard and zucchini, complete with mango salsa.

If You Can Say It, You Can Sing It

We've been reading books and practicing garden literacy skills for many years. This summer, we expanded our repertoire of garden songs, thanks to some great tips from Seattle Tilth’s own ukulele virtuoso and garden educator, Lisa Taylor.

And if you can sing it, then you can dance it! I even studied up on my Sprinkler dance moves this summer.

Chickens are the New Carrots

On the last day class, we ask kids what they liked, and what advice they have for the teachers planning next year’s class. Throughout my three years at Marra Farm, the most popular activity has always been HARVESTING THE CARROTS!

Though we'll always keep growing and harvesting these glorious spears of Vitamin A, this summer we loudly heard the excitement from our students around our new feathery friends in the Community Chicken Co-op. If you have lesson ideas, amazing factoids, or other clucker lore, please send them my way!

Bravery Bites Matter

We have a couple rules at when we try new foods at Marra Farm:

Don’t Yuck My Yum. We respect that everyone has different tastes.
Take a Bravery Bite. You don’t have to love it; you do have to try it.

Sometimes a kid’s face will still scrunch into that universal expression of grossssss. But more often than not, while chewing a bravery bite, that fear softens into the surprising realization that cooked carrots are, actually, not so terrible.

Adults are Role Models (All the Time)

At both Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm, we are blessed with incredible interns and volunteer garden teachers. Without this team, we could not offer our garden-based nutrition classes in the way that we do: with low child to adult ratios, student-centered lessons, and positive, time-intensive discipline.

These adults support this work by behaving as role models: turning off their cell phones, grubbing around in the soil, listening to directions, and always trying new foods.

Garden-based Nutrition Education Works

Anyone who watches kids cooking and mucking around in the garden can tell that it usually makes them happy, but how do you actually demonstrate that the fun translates into improved health?

We currently measure success in several ways, including:

Measuring student preference for vegetables through surveys. During our spring classes, students increased their preference for every single one of the vegetables that we surveyed them on – including an impressive 16% increase in gusto for kale!
Using “tasting charts,” where kids rate the snack of the day. Anyone who thinks kids can't like vegetables needs to check out the results from summer our class of students ages 6–9 from the South Park Community Center.

We continue to look for additional creative methods that illustrate how this crucial work changes lives.

Lettuce Link began teaching garden-based nutrition education to one class from Concord Elementary in 2003. The teacher snuck her students down to Marra Farm because the school administration didn't support this type of learning.

Ten years later, it is amazing to see the program's growth. In 2013, we engaged more than 500 children in garden and nutrition education in the classroom at Concord Elementary and at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm. This doesn't even include the scores of children who visit Lettuce Link’s farms on field trips.

If we keep growing children who nourish their bodies, communities, and the earth -- like all the people who have tended the soil at Marra Farm -- I feel pretty optimistic about the next 130 years.

Highpoint YMCA Scholars on a field trip at Marra Farm

~Amelia Swinton, Lettuce Link Education Coordinator

Thanks to our nutrition education community partners at Concord International Elementary School, the South Park Community Center, the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club, and the Sea Mar Child Development Center for learning with us this year! These classes are made possible thanks to the USDA’s SNAP-ED funding.

Signs and Senses at the Seattle Community Farm

2013-09-10T12:30:00.001-07:00

At the Seattle Community Farm, we've been making some exciting improvements to the Children’s Garden!

With the help of our learners from the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club this summer, we rehabilitated the worm bins, and learned all about worms, composting, and the nutrients the soil needs to grow healthy vegetables.

Amelia painted a big sign welcoming visitors to the Children’s Garden, and we made signs identifying all the new and interesting plants growing in the garden. We planted cilantro, radishes, spinach, and beets with our students this summer, and now visitors to the garden will know exactly what’s growing where.

We've also planted marigolds and other cheerful flowers at the end of each bed to add beauty and invite our favorite helpers, the bees, to visit our garden.

Laminated signs decorated by the children let visitors know what’s growing where.

Sensory Garden

This year we've established a Sensory Exploration Garden filled with plants that invite you to look, smell, touch, and taste. (We haven’t yet found a plant that specifically invites listening, but then, plants are generally pretty silent!)

Look

In the bed with a large ‘eye’ sign, we have planted beautiful and colorful flowers to admire. We use this bed to learn about pollination and the ways plants have evolved to attract a flower’s best friend: the bee!

The flowers growing in our “see” bed are popular among bees and human visitors alike.

Smell

In the bed marked with a big ‘nose’, we invite our learners to sniff deeply and smell the aromatic herbs, sweet-smelling flowers…and one plant that’s a little more unusual.

The so-called “curry plant”, Helichrysam italicum, may smell exactly like curry powder, but it has nothing to do with the mixture of spices used to flavor curries. It’s actually a member of the daisy family! While it’s not used as a masala spice, the oil from its small yellow blossoms does have some interesting medicinal properties. It’s anti-inflammatory, fungicidal, and astringent and can be used to soothe chapped skin and burns. Kids love the surprising smell of the curry plant, and based on its popularity we also added one to the Children’s Garden at Marra Farm.

One of our baby curry plants.
Scrubby and small, it doesn't look like much, but the aroma is sure to impress.

We also have another unusual plant: the South African Glumicalyx goseloides. At first it impresses us with its pretty little orange flowers, but a closer sniff reveals why it’s more commonly known as “Nodding Chocolate Flower.”

The Nodding Chocolate Flower takes its name seriously,
obediently nodding and smelling like chocolate.

Taste

Behind, in the bed marked with a big ‘mouth’, we have two large specimens of that all-time kid favorite: common or garden sorrel.

Known as the “sour plant” among the kids, who love to munch on it as we explore the garden, sorrel is a perennial herb with a sharp, sour, taste. This taste comes from oxalic acid, which is actually a poison! It’s harmless in small quantities, however, and the plant has been cultivated all over the world for centuries. From Belgium to Nigeria to India to Romania to Vietnam, different food cultures prize the refreshing flavor of sorrel and include it in dishes ranging from mashed potatoes to cooked eel to sour soup.

While their garden teachers agree that the taste is somewhat overwhelming, the kids just can’t get enough of it!

Sorrel grows vigorously. Perhaps it realizes that because of its popularity,

half of its leaves will be eaten by students during the next class!

Mint Bed

Finally, we have an entire bed dedicated wholly to mint. But not just any old mint…we have half a dozen varieties!

From pineapple mint to ginger mint to “chewing gum mint” and even a very convincingly smelling chocolate mint, kids love to touch, smell, and taste the different varieties.

Chewing Gum Mint, one of the many varieties growing in the mint bed.

Plants with unusual appearances, aromas, and flavors appeal to the kids’ sense of wonder, encourage us to marvel at the sheer diversity of the natural world and engage us with (almost) all our senses.

The Sensory Exploration Garden is a popular addition to the Children’s Garden at the Seattle Community Farm, and will serve as a valuable hands-on teaching aid as it grows in the years to come.

-Cordelia, summer Children's Garden and Nutrition Education intern

Thank you so much, Cordelia, for all your work with Lettuce Link this summer on the sensory beds and signs, teaching children, taking photos, writing blog posts, and much more. We miss you already!

Sharing the Bounty of the Season

2013-09-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

It's September, which for many people means school is starting and summer is officially over. For the Community Fruit Tree Harvest, though, it means we're in full swing and looking forward to more pears and apples as the season goes on.

Our many volunteers have been hard at work harvesting and delivering fruit. We've donated over 2600 pounds of fruit so far - that's more than one ton!

We've received very positive feedback from organizations receiving the fruit. Immanuel Community Services Food Bank, for example, distributed donated apples not just at the food bank, but shared them with kids during an end-of-summer celebration at the Free Summer Meals program they sponsored at a local park.

Eating fresh fruit during the summer is a wonderful way to enjoy the season and be healthy at the same time. We're so happy to help provide this to kids and adults who might not otherwise be able to afford fresh fruit.

The Community Fruit Tree Harvest also brings volunteers together to harvest and learn from each other. Earlier this month I learned from Rita, a volunteer harvest leader for the Central District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods, that some trees, if not pruned properly, will only bear fruit every other year. That's a good incentive to keep trees properly pruned and cared for, so that you'll have fruit every year.

After our dry summer, many fruit trees are thirsty. With the arrival of the autumn rains, harvesting might be a little more of an adventure, but the change in weather brings the promise of healthy, nourished, trees and fruit for years to come.

There's still plenty of harvesting to do, and if you're interested in donating fruit or volunteering with us, please contact me: fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6751.

~Mariah, Harvest Coordinator

12th Annual Marra Farm Fall Fest

2013-09-04T16:23:00.001-07:00

Lettuce Link invites you to come celebrate the harvest, South Park style!

Saturday, September 21, 12–3pm

Marra Farm: 9026 4th Ave S, 98108

* farm-fresh food * apple cider pressing * live music * children’s activities * farm tours *

Free and family friendly!

We’ll appreciate the amazing work of Farmer Sue McGann, who is retiring after 10 years at Marra Farm, and we’ll welcome new Marra Farm Coordinator Farmer Kyong Soh!

Volunteers needed: assist with kids’ activities; prep, grill, and serve food; wash dishes; help setup and cleanup, etc. Contact Amelia: amelias@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6731 for details or to sign up.

We hope to see you there!