Tag Archives: food forest

Local Events

5/18: Food Forest work party and communal soft sculpture art project

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bff_logo-web_full_webThe Friends of the Beacon Food Forest have sent out an announcement of an upcoming work party and communal art project, along with some status updates about the project. Read on:

Community Work Party and Communal Soft Sculpture Art project

When: Saturday May 18th, 10am- 2pm

Where: BFF Site, 15th Ave S and S. Dakota St

What: Family farm and art event all people welcomed and appreciated. We’ll be doing a variety of farm building projects suitable for all ages. Some of the tasks we’ll do are: organize the plant nursery and repot larger plants, fill in the hose bib and irrigation trenches, build more forest floor by sheet mulching, plant beneficial plants around our trees, broadcast some seeds, build retaining walls for the P-Patches, build community and share a meal.

Dress appropriately for the weather, wear sturdy shoes and bring your work gloves. We need tools and wheel barrows. Please bring an item of clothing to donate to our community sculpture project, see description below.

Food: There will be a Biochar stove demonstration that will cook some pizza for lunch and create nutritious soil amendment at the same time. Never heard of a Biochar stove? come by on the 18th and check it out. We’ll also have pasta and sauces, bread etc and hopefully some desserts if anyone offers to make some. If you contribute a food item lunch is on us, for all others we ask 2$ suggested donation. Please contact Judi at foodforestvolunteer@gmail.com if you have questions.

BFF Fence Line Clothing Project and You
Community Fabric Sculpture Project

We would like to turn our construction fencing into a soft sculpture symbol of community power. Please bring one or more items of clothing to donate to the May 18th Work Party to decorate the fence.

Strung up on a long fence, long sleeve shirts will look like they are holding hands, pants will be their legs, and hats may be their heads. Farmer’s overalls and uniforms are one complete package. Long sleeved children’s clothing will look like they are holding and swinging from the arms of their family. We would love to see over 100 linear feet of community cloth decoratively surrounding the BFF.

And we share, if you are walking by and need a little more warmth (or style baby) you can gather it, you can practice your Beacon Food Forest ethical harvesting skills!
Please bring at least one, ARTicle of clothing to decorate/donate to your fence as a massive symbol of community support. If you have sturdy safety pins bring those too we’ll also have some. This is a temporary installment but hopes to be effective while up. All clothes will be donated to Goodwill when they come down. Questions about this project contact glennherlihy@speakeasy.net.

BFF Quick Updates:

  • Juniper Timber ADA bed retaining walls are complete. Thank you Timber Team.
  • Lower bench food forest area water system is up and running. Thank You Irrigation Team
  • Two Bee Hives have been installed by our bee keeper Bob Redmond. Bee Keeping workshops coming soon. Thanks Bob
  • UW Design build program is building our gather plaza structures off site to be installed late May early June. Thank You UW
  • Sign Project is progressing beautifully, soon we will have a world class self guided tour of the scientific and social benefits of food forestry on site.
    Thanks Molly and Mathew of mdml.co
  • Steering Committee (SteerCo) is working hard on governance and guiding principles. Go Steerco!
  • Site Development Committee meets every Tuesday at the BH Library 6:30pm. Absolutely persistent power!
  • We are continuing to experience country wide media attention and massive Face Book participation.
  • BFF is positive change, by acting local and effecting the global. Remember that bumper sticker? you are achieving it.
  • Next work party June 15th.
BH in the News, Food and Drink, Neighborhood Pride

Reacting to the Beacon Food Forest

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Raspberries photo by Chris Gladis via Flickr/Creative Commons.
On Monday, Dan Stone of National Geographic’s Change Reaction blog featured “Seattle’s Free Food Experiment,” the Beacon Food Forest:

“Can food be free, fresh and easily accessible? That’s the bold question that the city of Seattle is hoping to answer with a new experimental farm not far from the city’s downtown that will have fruits and vegetables for anyone to harvest this fall.”

Read more at NationalGeographic.com.

Meetings

Help plan Food Forest Gathering Plaza

bff_logo-web_full_webThe Friends of the Beacon Food Forest invite all interested neighbors to a meeting this Saturday, March 9 from 1 to 4 p.m. to help design the Forest’s Gathering Plaza. At the meeting, the community will have an opportunity to give opinions and share design ideas about structures to be built at the Food Forest site this spring.

The meeting is at Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave. S. It will be facilitated by the UW Design/Build Group and the Friends of the Beacon Food Forest.

Clean and Green

Food Forest news includes work party, construction update

bff_logo-web_full_webThe 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 →

Meetings

Input wanted on Food Forest educational signs

All interested neighbors are invited to a community meeting this Saturday, February 9 from 12 to 2 p.m. to give feedback on educational signs in the Beacon Food Forest. Designers Molly Danielsson and Mathew Lippincott will be on hand at El Centro de la Raza (2524 16th Ave S) to hear your thoughts on the signs’ proposed materials and concepts. Snacks will be provided.

The Friends of Beacon Food Forest recently received a $12,600 grant to create educational signs for the Food Forest. The signs will provide information about the ecological and social processes behind the Food Forest. The signs will be installed in July 2013.

Clean and Green, Local Events

Food Forest celebration Friday, 1/18

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All supporters and friends of the Beacon Food Forest are invited to a celebration this Friday night, January 18, to celebrate the community’s accomplishments and the project’s new grant award from the Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund. There will also be a showing of a 53-minute film, “The Power of Community.”

The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S. It’s a dessert potluck, so bring a favorite dessert to share; there will be beverages and popcorn provided. All are welcome to this family event.

Along with the movie, Tlaloctecutli Dance Group will perform, and beekeeper Bob Redmond will be there with an information table and local honey.

Questions? Contact Melanie at melanie.coever@gmail.com .

Clean and Green, Local Events, Volunteering and Giving

First trees in the ground at the Beacon Food Forest

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Photo by K. Shuyler from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.

Last weekend, Beacon Food Forest supporters came out in force for the project’s “Ground Making Day.” Project organizer Glenn Herlihy sent out this letter to neighbors and supporters:

The Beacon Food Forest’s Ground Making day was an absolute blast. We’d like to thank the 100 plus community volunteers who came out and converted 3750 square feet of grass into the first Beacon Food Forest planting bed. It was an impressive sight to see so many people farming, smiling, eating and learning together.

We planted the first plum trees and a few shrubs that arrived on bicycle trailers powered by the good people of Beacon Bikes, we shared a delicious meal supplied by Tom Douglas, Essential Bakery, Central Coop and La Panzanella, and made a lot of friends. Thank you nutrient donors! Thanks also to City Fruit and ACTrees, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle P-Patch, Seattle Parks and Recreation and SPU for being apart of a successful collaboration.

Thank you Food Foresters for making the time to become responsible stewards of your public land. Nice work people!

Continue reading First trees in the ground at the Beacon Food Forest →

Clean and Green, Local Events, Neighborhood Pride, Volunteering and Giving

Food Forest friends to celebrate “Ground Making” 9/29

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The Food Forest site was marked during July’s Jefferson Park Jubilee to show where the features of the park will eventually be. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.

Three years into the Beacon Food Forest planning, the site is still just plain lawn. That will change on Saturday, September 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. when the forest’s first trees are planted at the Beacon Food Forest Ground Making Day celebration. All are invited to this inaugural work party to begin the transformation of the site.

West African drums will be played by Katia Roberts and Friends, and there will be food provided by Tom Douglas, La Panzanella, and more. Volunteers should RSVP to Glenn Herlihy at glennherlihy@speakeasy.net, and bring their own gloves.

The next day, Sunday, September 30, a tree planting workshop is scheduled for the Food Forest site from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., taught by Jana Dilley, Seattle Public Utilities’ reLeaf Program Manager. There are 20 spaces available in this workshop to learn how to plant and care for fruit trees. RSVP to cramerjacqueline99@gmail.com to reserve a space.

Both events will be held at the Beacon Food Forest site, the southwest corner of Jefferson Park, at South Dakota Street and 15th Avenue South.

The Ground Making work party will begin by planting trees in a small area of the site. The rest of the site preparation and planting will come later, after the site is connected to a water source. The Friends of the Beacon Food Forest sent out an announcement explaining the delay:

“Hard working people at Seattle P-Patch (BFF is a Seattle P-Patch) are negotiating with several government agencies to find our point of connection to city water. Since we are starting with absolutely nothing but grass on our site we need to find where we will be placing our water meter and routing our water to the forest garden. Currently we are exploring two options: 1) Seattle Parks and Recreation allows us to tap into their Jefferson Park system or 2) we create our own point of connection by digging up 15th Ave S and running a new line up into the site. Seattle P-Patch, Seattle Parks and Recreation and Seattle public Utilities who are negotiating these terms are being asked to be as economical and ecological as possible in their final decision. When the point of connection is agreed, final drawings for construction will be delivered to the Conservation Corps who will be doing the construction beginning, we hope, later this month.”

Clean and Green, Local Events

Friends of Food Forest wanted for workshop

Beacon Food Forest fans and friends are invited to come out this Saturday (June 30) from 10 a.m. until noon, to the workshop “Permaculture and the Beacon Food Forest: Building skills and leaders for the food forest planting and care.” The workshop will be held at El Centro De La Raza, room 310, 2524 16th Ave. S.

Topics covered will include permaculture concepts, soil building, plant guilds, and leading a team in planting the first stages of the Beacon Food Forest. Attendees will begin to design plant communities and plan productive work parties.

Interested in attending? RSVP to Jacqueline Cramer, cramerjacqueline99@gmail.com.

Clean and Green, Local Events

“Permaculture and Food Forests” presentation tomorrow at JCC

Two founding members of the Beacon Food Forest will present a talk tomorrow (Saturday, June 16) about permaculture practices and how they will be used to build the food forest.

The talk, “Permaculture and Food Forests: Taking care of our Fruit Trees in Holistic and Long-Lasting Ways,” is at Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave. S., from 10 – 11:30 a.m.

According to the announcement, “We will be sharing formation on building soil, food forests, permaculture and plant communities. These skills will enable our community to care for fruit trees, including those we planted last month into pots for the fall, helping build a resilient community and local food source.

“Thanks to the efforts of City Fruit, in partnership, we have been funded by an ACT grant to bring this information to our community. Please RSVP cramerjacqueline99@gmail.com.”

If you can’t make this class, there will be another one on June 30 at 10 a.m. at El Centro de la Raza.

Earlier this month, neighbors toured the Food Forest site to see where the plants and features will be. Photo by K. Shuyler in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.