A spring trash pickup is scheduled for this Sunday, April 27, to clean up litter from Jefferson Park. Meet at the Jefferson Park Community Center at 1 p.m.  Please bring gloves and your family and friends. Other supplies for picking up litter will be provided.
Please contact Lee Nathan at leenathan@gmail.com for more details.
Neighbor gaspari5 writes to the Beacon Hill mailing list:
Join some hearty souls as they prep and build the timber foundation for the new greenhouse at the great renovated demonstration garden at El Centro. With many hands working together we’ll be out of the cold sooner.
Saturday. 10:00 am, bring a shovel if you can, and gloves.
Better cold and sunny than rain and wind.
That’s this Saturday, December 7. El Centro de la Raza is located at 2524 16th Ave S,
Volunteers are wanted this Saturday, October 5, at the Cheasty Greenspace/Mt. View work party, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Volunteers will be removing blackberry and ivy vines east of the Angeline Trail Head.
All you need to bring is yourself, your sturdy shoes, warm clothes, water to drink, and a treat to share. Volunteers should meet at 2809 S. Alaska Place 98108 starting at 9:45 a.m.
In other Greenspace news, the Cheasty/Mt. View group applied for an Opportunity Fund grant, but their proposal for a mountain bike path was not selected because of rules banning off-road bicycles in parks. The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners will meet next Thursday, October 10, to discuss and vote on an update to the Bicycle Use Policy that would allow the projects like the Greenspace project to happen.
Neighbors are invited to attend and express their opinions at the meeting starting at 6:30 p.m, October 10, at 100 Dexter Ave. N. in the Kenneth R. Bounds Park Board Room.
Did you know that there is a facility on South Dakota Street that grows about 200,000 to 250,000 annuals and perennials each year, producing plants to be used in parks and other city landscapes? The Jefferson Horticulture Facility on South Dakota Street propagates these plants that keep Seattle green. On Saturday, September 28, the community is invited to find out more about the facility at the Seattle Parks and Recreation Jefferson Horticulture Facility Open House, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
At the Open House, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about Parks’ Natural Resources Unit and their role in the city’s specialty gardens, parks and urban forestry. It’s also a chance to learn more about the nearby Beacon Food Forest, and enjoy light refreshments and family activities.
All ages are welcome. The facility is located at 1600 South Dakota Street. For more information on the event, contact Necka Kapesi at necka.kapesi@seattle.gov.
Interested in learning how to make solar energy at your home more affordable? A workshop will run from 6-7:30 p.m. tonight at the Beacon Hill Library (2821 Beacon Ave S.) to provide information about the Solarize Seattle program, which features a group-buy program to provide a streamlined process for residents and small businesses to purchase solar systems for a discounted price.
Workshop attendees will learn how solar works in oft-cloudy Seattle, how it is installed, what tax and production incentives are available to bring the price down, and how low-interest financing can spread out the cost. On June 30, Governor Inslee signed an extension through 2016 of the sales tax exemption on solar systems smaller than 10kW (which a typical residential system would be). The Solarize campaign intends to install over 200 kilowatts of solar energy in central and southeast Seattle by the end of 2013.
Registration for Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast is open to neighbors who live in the geographic area bordered by the Montlake cut to the north, I-5 to the west, Lake Washington to the east, and the City of Seattle boundary to the south. See the website for more information.
Planting starts on Thursday, May 23 from 4-6:30 p.m. and continues on Friday, May 24 at the same time. On Saturday, May 25, the planting party takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers should bring a trowel and gloves; everything else will be provided. El Centro de la Raza is located at 2524 16th Ave. S.
If you wander over to El Centro Saturday afternoon to enjoy Cinco de Mayo, be sure to stop by the Beacon: A Hill of Beans booth under the big tent. We’ll have free seeds (purple pod pole beans and green bush beans) along with some advice to get you started.
Chat about plans to plant the 24 planters around the parking lot with heritage beans and create Beacon’s first public U-Pick! We are looking for planting help later in the month. And let us tell you about the plans to bedeck the Beacon business district with pots of scarlet runner beans (beware of low flying hummingbirds in these locations)
Finally, shop local with our selection of heirloom seeds (see www.beaconahillofbeans.org for varieties). Mother’s Day is May 12, and Father’s Day is June 16 and everyone loves an unexpected token of friendship, beautifully packaged in envelopes designed by Maura Shapley of local Day Moon Press.
Join us in making Beacon: A Hill of Beans in 2013!
If your spring cleaning efforts have turned up some old computers, cell phones, refrigerators or the like, you might want to make your way to the Rainier Community Center’s northeast parking lot at 4600 38th Ave. S. on Saturday, April 27, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., for free electronic recycling and paper shredding.
Items accepted for recycling include appliances, electronics, lawn equipment, bikes (to be donated to BikeWorks), metals, batteries, and more. See the official flyer for details and a list of restricted items. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Windermere Foundation and the Rainier Community Center’s youth scholarship program. Donation receipts will be available.
Those attending the Bean Bonanza event will leave with free bean seeds, a bucket, bean poles and soil. Other beany activities include a bean “teach-in” with Master Gardener Mick Duggan, a bean haiku contest, bean bag games, a bean buffet, a sale of sample packets of heirloom bean varieties, and more. Attendees will also find out details of the Beautiful Bean photo contest, demonstration gardens, and plans to decorate Beacon Avenue merchant spaces with pots of scarlet runner beans.
Bean events will continue throughout the summer with taste tests, preservation demonstrations, and an autumn bean supper.
The Friends of the Beacon Food Forest sent out a newsletter this week with information about an upcoming work party, progress on the Food Forest, and more. Read on:
Hello all Food Foresters and Friends,
Our next Work Party is Saturday February 23rd from 10am to 2pm on the BFF site. The site is located on the very SW corner of Jefferson Park Beacon Hill. Cross Streets, 15th Ave S and S. Dakota St. Please bring your work gloves and dress appropriately for the weather. Expect wet earth on your feet. This is a family event open to all people, please share this notice with your friends and families.
What we will do
We will be continuing our work on the Lower Bench’s Fruit and Nut Grove by sheet mulching and building our forest floor. We’ll be planting some trees and shrubs as well. Many of our food forester’s now have experience with sheet mulching bed building and we are counting on this experience to help us use our time efficiently while educating those who look to expand their knowledge in no-tilling techniques.
Continue reading Food Forest news includes work party, construction update