Work Party 10/13

WORK PARTY & POTLUCK: Saturday 10/13
TIME: 11AM - 2PM
PLACE: The B-Patch
Great oppurtunity to finish those community service hours!

Board Meeting this Thursday

There will be a quick meeting of the Community Garden Board at the Bee Patch this Thursday at 6pm, to discuss the fall clean up party, and a few other items

Help make a lantern!

We will be working on lanterns for the Arts Aglow this Saturday at 1PM at the garden if you or your kids are bored and have nothing to do! We will make lanterns out of water bottles,and some Luminarias out of paper bags! Fun and easy!

Gardeners Day!

Arts Aglow Lantern Festival

Burien's Unique & Oh So Sweet Lantern Festival & Procession!
Saturday, September 8, 2012
5:00-10:00 PM
FREE!
Dottie Harper Park, 421 SW 146th

www.burienwa.gov/GLOW

A magical evening in the forest! We will have lantern art and performers around every corner, face painting, the tea house, and Food Trucks!  Make your own lantern and join the procession at dusk (8ish)...don't miss it!
Performers
5:00-6:15pm Beautiful Harp by Jini O'Flynn
6:30-8:00pm Abrace -- Acappella from around the world!
8:00-9:30pm VamoLa` Dance & Drum Ensemble will lead the procession and finish out the night with music to dance to!
Artist installations by: Celeste Cooning, Mary Coss, The Moonrock Collective, ArtAbility Faire, and more!

Lantern Making
Lantern making workshops! Or make a balloon lantern at home! You can also make a lantern from glass jars or plastic water bottles, pie tins ,paper bags, tin cans...you can recycle and be creative! Light your lantern with glow sticks or battery operated candles!
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Thank you to our sponsors: 4 Culture, B-Town Blog, Phoenix Tea, The Highline Times, Burien Arts, Burien Daily.

Community Gardeners:
We are also involved. We need volunteers to make lanterns, and volunteers to light lanterns in the garden and take them down after parade has gone buy (Light about 7pm) The parade of glowing folks will be going through and past the garden!
Contact Rob at robj98168 if you can help out

Tasty Recipes for Overripe Produce

Photo- Earth 911.com

Mary Mazzoni writes for Earth911.com , and came up with these great uses for when your Apples, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, cucumbers and banana's get a bit ripe. Don't throw them out- use them!

5 Tasty Recipes for Overripe Produce

Carrot Chips

Arts Aglow- Save The Date!

 

Arts-A-Glow Burien’s fabulous lantern festival and parade is September 8th, 5:00-10:00 PM at Dottie Harper Park We will again be participating by putting up lanterns all over the garden, so it will be lit when everyone parades by. We need some volunteers to help light the garden at dusk, and help tak them down after the parade goes by. And it would be so cool if we could get some folks to make some lanterns. Any ideas? We could meet up a week before to make lanterns if anyone is interested! If interested email Rob

Save the Date...

For our 3rd annual B-Patch Gardeners day, coinciding with World Kitchen Gardeners Day on Sunday August 26, 2012

More info is coming, here are a few words from the KGI World Kitchen Gardeners Day webpage:

"World Kitchen Garden Day is an annual, decentralized celebration of food produced on a human-scale. It is recognized each year on the 4th Sunday of August. It is an opportunity for people around the world to gather in their gardens with friends, family, and members of their local community to celebrate the multiple pleasures and benefits of home-grown, hand-made foods.

 Background:

KGI initiated Kitchen Garden Day in 2003 as a healthy response to "Snack Food Month" organized by the International Snack Food Association each February. The thinking was that if the makers of potato chips, pretzels and fluorescent orange cheese doodles could spend 28 days and millions of dollars promoting their foods, the world's kitchen gardeners should be able to have at least a day for celebrating theirs.

 Goals:

• To celebrate the positive role of organic kitchen gardening in society, health, and gastronomy

• To raise awareness about the benefits of eating local and to encourage people to explore local food options in their areas

• To build community spirit, at local and international levels, around the universal experiences of gardening, cooking, and eating"

Usually we have some garden demo's, and a big old potluck. So start thinking of your demo's, and planning what to bring. Of course this event is open to gardeners, their families and invited guests.

Happy Birthday, America!

Hoping everyone has a safe and sane 4th of July!

B-Patch has class!

Seattle Tilth and the Burien Parks Department joined forces to hold a class in the community garden. The first class is now complete, with their plot being prepped and planted. The class is lead by Laura Matter, An educator with Seattle Tilth. The harvest will go to the area food banks. This truly makes the garden a community space. The first session is complete, but there is a new session on Fall crops starting in July and I think there are a few spots still open. Contact the Burien Parks Department for more information.

Work Party!

 

A lot of the gardeners came out for our first work party of 2012. A lot of work got done, a lot of good food was eaten later. The pathways now look great, thanks to everyone weeding and spreading chips, as well as the potting bench area.

Classes at The Patch

2 Great classes taught by Seattle Tilth right in our Community Garden! Space is limited so sign up soon!

Great Summer Crops:
Summer weather means it is time to plat our hot weather crops! Come learn the best ways to plant and grow your tomatoes, peppers, squash and beans. Learn which varieties perform well in the Pacific Northwest and hor to enhance their heat needs. On site in the Burien Community Garden hands on with a garden Garden Hotline educator from Seattle Tilth.
Ages 16Y and up. Fee $10
Class #14408
June 7/14th
Online Sign up through Burien Parks Guide

Fall and Winter Gardens Start Now:
Environmental concerns have reached an all time high, so the need for 'Green' and 'sustainable' classes have risen. Join us for different series each quarter, featuring topics on gardening, Green cleaning, and more. July hardly seems like time to plan for fall weather, but in the garden this is the perfect time to plant for fall and over-wintering crops. Learn which types of plants to set out that that will extend your harvest through the fall and which plants can live over the winter to ensure you an early spring harvest. Learn how to protect young seedlings from the summer sun and best watering practices. On site in the Burien Community Garden; hands on with a Garden Hotline educator from Seattle Tilth.
Ages 16Y and up Fee $10
Class #14534 July 12th and 19th 6PM-7:30PM  
Online Sign up through Burien Parks Guide  

1st Work Party of 2012

Enlarge the poster by clicking on it

Mother Earth News Fair

The Mother Earth News Fair at the Puyallup Fair Grounds is June 2-3. Come see the best in 

Organic food and drink

Books and magazines

Tools and seeds

Clothing and more  

as well as Demos and Workshops in

Renewable energy

Small-scale agriculture

Gardening

Green building and more

Pea Shoots and Tendrils... An Early season surpirse!

As your peas start growing and you start thinning, don't dispose of the thinnings! You can use the thinnings in the kitchen!
Pea shoots are the tiny, tender leaves and vines of young pea plants. Any type of pea will suffice, but sugar pod peas are the easiest types to grow for shoots and tendrils, since they tend to shoot up faster and stay light and crisp. Pea shoots and tendrils are tender enough to serve with no or minimal cooking. They are often tossed into salads or on top of soups. You can always add a few curls as an edible garnish. Pea shoots and tendrils are also a tangy addition to stir-fired dishes or simply steamed or sautéed as a side dish.
Wondering how to cook pea shoots? Here's an easy, quick and tasty pea shoots and tendrils recipe from Kim Knox Beckius, a blogger at About.com

Reminder: Orientation Meeting

Community Garden Orientation meeting is Tuesday, 4/17 at 6:30 PM
Note: we will be looking for a couple of Garden Board members, so please think about serving!
Also word from Steve Roemer is there are a couple of vacant plots- so if you know of anyone who would like to get a plot, let them know.

Application Deadline is Friday, April 6th

From the B-town Blog
If you want to grow your own in Burien’s Community Garden, you’d best turn in your Application soon, as the deadline is Friday, April 6.
Burien’s Community Garden Program is open to all city residents, and applying for a garden plot will provide you a space to cultivate and also the opportunity to garden with other community members.
For consideration please complete and return the application form with your payment.
“Garden applicants must be 18 years or older and a Burien resident,” reads the application. “All gardeners must provide 8 hours of service annually to the community garden common areas. Gardeners are allowed one garden plot/resident household each year (April 1– March 31.) Applicants can request to be added to the waitlist for an additional garden plot, availability will be determined by April 13.”
The Community Garden is located at 437 SW 144th Street.
Download the application here (PDF file).

Highline Food Bank Garden

There is a new community garden amongst us! The Friends of Highline Food Bank garden serving the Highline Food Bank and the local community, the Highline Food Bank Garden provides a space that inspires scientific inquiry through the lenses of Health, Agriculture, and Environmental Stewardship with an emphasis on local community values. In addition to serving educational values to the local Highline Big Picture, the Honeybee Garden is partnered with Sustainable Burien to deliver fresh organic fruits and vegetables to the Highline Food Bank.

Anyone interested in working in the food bank garden should contact Steve through their website

Pay to play (with us)

Just a reminder to pay for your plots for 2012! Current gardeners have until 3/16 and people who want to join in the fun have  can sign up now at The Burien Community Center, 14700 6th Avenue SW, (The Old Burien Library. Here is a registration Form

Non-GMO Seed Companies

Looking for non GMO seeds? Or wondering if your favorite seed company goes non-GMO? Well there was a question a short while back that Monsanto bought Terrirtorial Seed company. It is False. Here is a link to a SAFE SEED RESOURCE LIST put out buy the Council for Responsible Genetics on companies who took the Safe seed pledge for 2012.

What's the difference between "hybrid", "heirloom" and "OP" varieties?

A good article over at Kitchen Gardeners International, explains the difference between "hybrid", "heirloom" and "OP" varieties.

Seed and Plant Swaps/Sales

For those who are interested there will be a seed sale at South Seattle Community College on 03/12/2011 - 2:00pm - 4:00pm- More Info Here


NW Area Online Seed and Plant swaps here

There will be a seed swap as part of the Sustainable Burien meeting  February 5th. More info on when and where coming! 


Seattle Tilth will be hosting an edible plant sale. It's on Saturday, March 17, 9 a.m.-3 p.m in Hangar 30 at Warren G. Magnuson Park. There's no admission charge - come browse and get ideas for your spring garden!

The Eiffel Flower

While I think we had a few sunflowers at the Community Garden that challenged the "Eiffel Flower", I am guessing this Sunflower, just short of 24' takes the prize