It's Not Goodbye...It's See Ya Later

Today is my last day at DNDA and as I finish cleaning and organizing my desk area I can't help but feel sad to be leaving. Of course I knew this day would come. That's the thing with Americorps, you only get 10.5 months. But therein lies the inherent flaw with Americorps. It's a great program that gives people the opportunity to spend a year serving a community, working in public service and growing as an individual. It's also a great resource for communities and individuals that deal with oppression and injustice everyday. But 10.5 months. Come on.

In my time at DNDA I have just recently begun really solidifying key relationships with members of the community. I have only just started truly strengthening those connections into something functional and positive. And while there is a chance that I was just slow, that I am the only Corps member that took so long to build a strong foundation, I highly doubt that. It takes time to gain someones trust, to begin to be vulnerable with a person and let them in a little bit. Especially when you're coming from two different worlds. To bring people in from all over the country to engage in "community service" only to have the leave once they have established themselves enough to really be of service...it seems kind of like a cruel joke.

I feel that Americorps should take a page out of the Peace Corps' book and have people commit to two year terms. Then they'd be getting more bang for their buck (and believe me, it's a small buck). Having one person in a position for two years, getting to know the community and really getting comfortable in their position, is of far more benefit then taking that person away after a year and putting someone brand new in to start from ground zero. Sure, the first person laid down a framework in terms of projects and programs, but the newbie has to start from scratch building trust, openness, and collaboration. That loss of productivity is unfortunate.

But, with that rant out the way, I will truly miss many of the people I have met this year, especially the people who I had the opportunity to work with in the gardens. I have learned so much from them and value every nugget of wisdom they were kind enough to share with me. I can't imagine how much I would learn if I were here for two years. Just another reason, Americorps, to change your system. But of course, as I write this, I'm not entirely sad. Because I know that many of the relationships I have built will continue beyond my position here. People have promised to stay in touch via e-mail, to send me pictures of the gardens throughout the season. Others I am friends with on that life-consuming network called Facebook. I may be leaving this desk in a few minutes, and walking out of this office for the last time, but the 10.5 months I've spent as the Family Gardening Coordinator will certainly stick with me, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hangin' with Mr. Cooper

I mentioned early on in this blog that one of DNDA's properties, the Cooper building, did not require a lot of attention from me. Allthough it is actually the same building my office is in, the residents of the low-income artist housing above me tend and care for their garden with vigor and expertise. There are a ton of container beds scattered about the terraced hillside. There is a chicken coop that is also a chicken cooperative in which residents share responsibility and benefit. The Cooper gardeners' success has never been more evident. I managed to take a lunchtime stroll through the gardens yesterday and, with the recent summertime weather that has finally come to Seattle, they are looking beautiful. Check it out!

It's The Final Countdown...

My days as the Family Gardening Coordinator at DNDA are coming to a close, and I've been making the rounds to meet with residents and get them some final resources before I leave. At Croft Place, I worked with one of the residents to complete some final projects, putting in two benches, leveling out some of the perimeter areas, carving some steps into the landscape (see picture), and transplanting some flowers and shrubs. It was a great way to end my time at Croft, seeing so many changes that drastically improved the aesthetic of the garden area. Not to mention all our veggies and herbs are growing great with the vast improvement in weather. The resident has already harvested and eaten tons of chard, spinach, and lettuce. We both ate some strawberries and they are so sweet and juicy, it's incredible. The heat has been especially good to the squash and cucumber plants. It was tough saying our goodbyes on our last work day, but we sipped some iced tea together after a hard mornings work, which was a nice way to end.

I stopped by Delridge Heights yesterday because I was having trouble getting in touch with the two women there who actively garden. I had an extra tomato plant that the kids started indoors during garden clubs and no space at any of those three properties, so I brought it with me to Delridge Heights. If you saw one of my previous posts, you know how great the lettuce, broccoli, and carrots are all looking in their garden. The spinach plants and some collards went to seed due to the sudden heat, so we took out a few plants, making room to plant some new seeds. We filled some empty spaces with tomatoes (the one I brought as well as some plants she had started indoors) and peppers that she started indoors. Today I dropped off some collard, cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash, and corn seeds to fill up the rest of the empty space.

I had also been trying to get in touch with the woman at Holden Manor who has been incredibly successful with her windowsill herb garden. She had expressed an interest in getting a second container and growing some more herbs. Her phone was disconnected, so I dropped by today to see if she was home. I had a windowsill container for her that I filled with potting soil, and had stopped to pick up some herb seeds on my way. She was feeling under the weather, but was super excited to have a new container. Her basil and chives were still looking amazing, and I brought her some parsley, oregano and marjoram to plant as well.

All three of those goodbyes were difficult and bittersweet. I'm so happy that they are all comfortable with where their gardens are at right now, and that they're using the stuff they are growing. It's also incredibly rewarding to hear how appreciative they are and how sad they are to see me leave. It truly affirms all the work and energy I have put into this job over the past 10+ months. Next week will bring closure at some of the other properties and will most likely be even more surreal.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Garden Clubs may be over for the season, and my time at DNDA may be coming to a close, but the gardens are looking great. All the work the kids did planting seeds, watering, caring for seedlings, making sure there were plenty of worms in the soil, and hunting for slugs has really paid off. Enjoy these pics I took today, starting with a few of the strawberry patch at Croft Place that a resident and I created a few months ago. The plants have been fruiting for some time now and the berries are starting to ripen. Yum!







Last year residents planted raspberries along the fence by the garden. Last month we added some soil to the area and tended the vines. I checked on them yesterday and they've begun to fruit as well!





In addition to the abundant berries, 8 of the 10 beds are full of veggies, almost all of which the kids planted during the Garden Club season. One of the residents has been harvesting chard and spinach for salads, and she and another resident already harvested the garlic that had been growing throughout the winter.



A tomato plant at Croft Place starting to flower. This is one of many that the kids started in pots indoors and later transplanted.



A pepper plant at Croft Place that the kids started indoors beginning to get some delicious looking fruit.



A few more tomato plants growing in the gardens at Croft Place.



An entire plot at Croft Place dedicated to peas.



Zucchini! Croft Place will be flooded with zucchinis when these four plants get big and begin to fruit.



Broccoli and Cauliflower galore!



At One Community Commons, many people have tried the lettuce the kids planted and marveled at the freshness and good taste. Some seemed even more excited and bewildered than the kids.



Tomatoes and sunflowers growing in the container at One Community Commons.

Delridge Heights

(Centerwood kids during one of their last Garden Clubs, making a sign in English and a sign in Spanish asking people to not step on the gardens)

Admittedly, my focus on Garden Clubs at Croft Place, Centerwood, and One Community Commons has undoubtedly caused me to neglect some of the gardens at other properties. One of these is Delridge Heights. I have managed the occasional meeting with one of the two residents who actively garden in order to answer questions and give her materials such as seeds and soil. The other resident was a bit more elusive and we have been unable to connect recently.

Delridge Heights, as you may remember, has four container beds, three that are 4ftx8ft and one that is 2ftx8ft. The two residents that participate each manage one 4ftx8ft garden and half of the 2ftx8ft garden. The fourth bed is under my care in order to grow some produce that can be made available to other residents who have expressed interested in eating the produce without necessarily gardening. The two residents have planted broccoli, peas, cauliflower, zucchini, onions, collards, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic, in addition to the many herbs and strawberries that were planted last year. In the community bed I planted lettuce, carrots, corn, and cucumber.

I dropped by the DH today for a scheduled meeting with the elusive resident, but alas our paths failed to cross once again! Frustrating indeed, but I got a chance to check on the produce and weed the gardens a bit. Oh what a wonder a little bit of heat and sunshine will do for a garden. The plants look incredibly happy! The onions are growing strong, and I separated many that were bunched closely together to give them ample bulbing space. The lettuces are huge, and I am going to have to pull a few and deliver fresh heads of lettuce to some residents before the end of the week. The broccoli has started to form a nice head and the strawberries are beginning to fruit. It's all very exciting (to me anyway) and I just hope I connect with the residents as soon as possible.

Here's some pics I took this morning.

Spring Garden Parties

After 16 weeks, Spring Garden Clubs came to an end last week and we made sure to celebrate. As my loyal readers certainly know, the Garden Clubs were after school programs for kids at 3 of the apartment complexes in the neighborhood. At each property, we spent one afternoon a week over the last 4 months planting seeds and tending the seedlings as we learned about dirt, worms, vitamins, healthy food, and many additional random subjects the kids would bring up. To celebrate all their hard work, we had a party in the gardens at each property with food, games, garden activities, and a sign-making station. It was also an attempt to encourage some of the adult residents to come out, see how much the kids have accomplished in the gardens, and maybe, just maybe, take a greater interest themselves. Unsurprisingly, turnout was best at Centerwood and One Community Commons.

Centerwood's party had an additional activity, and 5 residents came out to help build their second container garden. Creating an L-shaped container to match the first one we built just a few weeks ago, we filled it to the brim with soil and transplanted flowers and two jalapeno plants. We then moved on to the first garden and transplanted two more tomato starts the kids had started from seed during one of their first Garden Clubs. The tomato and bell pepper plants we transplanted weeks ago have luckily survived the few cold spells we've had this June, and the carrot, spinach, chive, basil, and cilantro seeds have all begun to sprout.

At One Community Commons, the kids came with tons of energy and enthusiastically colored their sign asking the landscapers to respect their food garden. A couple adults came out to inquire about the garden, and walked away with some brochures on container gardening as well as a map outlining what the kids planted this season. They picked and ate some fresh lettuce, which made them excited at the prospect of eventually harvesting fresh tomatoes, carrots, peas, and peppers. One resident in particular decided she will contribute to the garden and plant some culinary herbs such as thyme and oregano.

Overall, the parties were a great capstone to the season. It has been a learning process for me, personally, to understand that even the smallest steps have merit. I find that I want and somehow expect monumental changes to occur, for residents to take a sudden impassioned interest in growing their own food and come together as a community overnight. While that hasn't occurred, the communities have all taken some action, however small or large, in the direction of greater food resources. And that is a success.

Breaking In At Holden Manor

No, there hasn't been a break-in at Holden Manor. But, there is some small gardening and food activity happening at the seemingly impenetrable complex. One resident, a woman with a constant smile who insists that everyone she meets call her grandma, has been working on her first windowsill herb garden. She planted cilantro, chives, and basil and has been waiting patiently for me to get her some parsley to add to her collection. Already it's growing exceedingly well in her window, and we researched ways to preserve and use her herbs. She's eager to get more boxes to grow even more herbs.

Lately, other residents have been approaching her in awe of her herbs. Now they are all expressing interest in having windowsill gardens of their own. I've often heard the expression baby steps, but this scenario seems to illustrate it perfectly. In the fall, I had the door shut on me more times than I'd care to reminisce about. But now the seeds have been planted (excuse the cliched pun), and who knows, maybe not long from now they will have some container veggie gardens like the 7 other properties.

Mapping Voices

Check out two videos made by residents of one of DNDA's properties. Members of the Delridge and White Center communities were invited to attend a workshop on creating Digital Stories, sharing their personal stories related to healthy eating and active living. The creators of these videos are both extremely active in the gardens at their property. One video is about how the garden space has benefited their small community, and the second is about how community youth sports changed her life and the lives of her children. Enjoy! Hopefully the links work. Once on the Mapping Voices site, check out some other videos from the community and take a look at what MOVE (Mapping Our Voices for Equality) is doing to promote social justice and healthy communities.

Vivian View Gardens

Finding Affordable Sports

Mapping Our Voices for Equality

Centerwood Gets a Garden!

Yesterday was a big day for the gardens. A resident at Croft Place came to me on Tuesday wanting to build an herb garden outside her living room window so she could have fresh herbs for cooking and maybe some easy veggies. She and another resident arranged planter boxes in a rectangle using her external wall as one of the sides, outlining a small space for a garden. The soil in the area is extremely hard clay and rock so she asked me to help her get some good soil. With limited resources available, we came up with a plan. We took about half of the soil from one of the 10 beds that has not yet been planted in and transferred it to the newly designed space outside her apartment. After filling the area with good soil, we transplanted some oregano and lemon thyme and planted some cilantro, chive, and green onion seeds.

Then it was on to phase two. The Centerwood garden build has been on hiatus for a while due to some coordination issues with a key resident. Without a garden at Centerwood, we have been running out of things to do at Centerwood Garden Club. With half of the soil removed from one of the beds at Croft Place, I took the boards apart and raked the remaining soil smooth, leaving a shallow, non-container garden bed. I took the boards to Centerwood (after a stop at Home Depot to make some necessary cuts) and had the kids at Garden Club help me put together an L-shaped container bed. Next week, Garden Club will transplant our indoor tomato and pepper starts, as well as plant many herbs such as oregano, cilantro, thyme, and rosemary. We will also plant flowers (as per the kids' request) and the soon-to-come second garden bed will be predominantly flowers as well.

It felt great to creatively address two needs in one day. The residents of Centerwood have their first container bed and the resident at Croft has a kitchen garden right outside her living room window. All the while, the bed that was dismantled will still be functional as a garden, simply without a wooden exterior. The next step is to prevent the landscaping company from doing anything in the new garden space, but that's a story for another time.

Thanks for reading!

And More Pics

I spent some time today over at Vivian McLean Place, chatting with a few of the residents and perusing their gardens to see the progress. The gardens are looking beautiful, and everyone is hopeful that the weather will perk up and we'll have a very productive late spring and summer. I wanted to share with you all some of the pics I managed to take with my phone while I was wandering around the patio. Above is a picture of a small section of the garden with flowers, some fruit trees, and various vegetable seedlings that are difficult to see in the photo. Enjoy the pics!


Raspberries running up the side of a tall container box.



Lettuce, broccoli, radishes and more planted and tended by a resident attempting to maximize her container space.



Another shot of the same garden showing her beautiful flowers as well.



Tomatoes and peppers planted in cages among red plastic mulch to trap in what little heat we have been getting.



A broccoli plant stands out.



Hot & Spicy Oregano (Yum!)

Thanks for reading/looking. I hope to continue to update with each property in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for some photos/updates on Delridge Heights and Santa Teresita.

Pics

Some flowers just starting to sprout in an old shoe of mine that the kids planted at OCC Garden Club.



Lettuce seedlings at OCC are finally starting to flourish.



A spinach seedling, one of many that the kids at Croft planted during Garden Club.



Bibb lettuce at Croft Place growing like crazy.

What's In A Name?

As I said in my last post I worked with a resident at Croft Place last Wednesday, transplanting strawberries and training some roses up brand new trellises. For part of that project I had two young kids, a brother and sister, eagerly helping me. The boy occasionally comes to Garden Club, which is every Tuesday. But whenever he sees me he excitedly says "It's Gardening Club!" and asks what we are going to do. He's only 5, so in the past I've just assumed that he doesn't quite grasp that the Club is only on Tuesdays. He sees me there and automatically assumes it must be Garden Club. Makes sense. I simply remind him that Garden Club is on Tuesdays and tell him I'm glad he's so excited for the next one.

After he helped me work the soil in the strawberry patch last Wednesday he had to leave with his family. As he was getting into their car, he waved to me and shouted "Goodbye Gardening Club!" As I waved back and thanked him for his help, it hit me. All this time I thought he just connected my presence at his apartments with having Garden Club, and thus would excitedly and mistakenly proclaim that Gardening Club was happening. However, I now realize that this whole time he has actually been referring to me as Gardening Club. Looking back, it makes so much sense. He calls me Gardening Club because he's too young to remember my name. And you know, I'm kind of okay with that.

One of the residents at Croft Place and I have established a standing work date on Wednesday afternoons. Last week we took out some herbs and ornamentals from an underutilized space a bit separated from the main garden area. We transplanted some of the herbs to the container beds, some others to pots on her porch, and some of the ornamentals to the area lining the driveway. We then churned up the dirt (which was predominantly clay) and added some good topsoil. This week, we completed the project by transplanting strawberry plants into the newly renovated plot, creating a strawberry patch out of an underutilized area of overgrown herbs.







We also added two trellises to the area near the garden entrance. We then moved two container rose bushes that had been sitting in a less visible, less sunny area to behind the trellises and started training the vines up. In the summertime it should make a beautiful entrance to the gardens.



Despite the cold weather of the past few months, some of our produce is actually beginning to grow and possible even flourish. The spinach, chard, bibb lettuce, and salad mix are all coming up, and some broccoli sprouts are starting to show themselves as well. Somebody seems to be munching of some of the young leafage so that's definitely something I'll have to take care of.

April Showers Bring...

I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that the weather improves and spring finally kicks into gear. Despite the rains, we have been managing to keep busy at the properties. A resident at Croft Place worked with me for a few hours today to begin transforming an underutilized area into a strawberry patch. It sprinkled on us a few times, but thankfully held off on the downpour until we had finished. Unfortunately the heavy rains meant I had to cancel Garden Club at Centerwood for today. It was simply not feasible to accomplish what I hoped to accomplish today with this rain, and I'm sure the kids would have been miserable outside for over an hour.

Enjoy a few pictures of our indoor (mostly tomato and pepper) plants for Croft Place and Centerwood. The kids at the Garden Clubs have been watering them each week and taking great care of them!

Updates

I apologize that my blog posts have been on hiatus, but I'm getting back into the swing of the things. We have had a ridiculously cold spring (as most of you probably know) and the weather has held up a lot of potential garden progress. However, I am still hopeful that the weather will turn around and our growing season will kick into gear.

If you remember from on earlier post, the residents at Santa Teresita started some veggies indoors back in late February. I stopped by infrequently to check on everything and the residents took amazing care of their plants. The lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower starts were growing crazy in their little newspaper pots. The tomatoes were close to outgrowing their small plastic containers and smelled delicious already. The peppers were coming along as well, too. Last week I went for a few hours and worked with about 8 youth to transplant the lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower into the garden. They did an amazing job, and the weather was gorgeous that day. I only hope they've endured these recent downpours. We also potted up the tomatoes and a few of the pepper plants.

At another property, Vivian McLean Place, we've been trucking in loads of compost-enriched topsoil to add to their boxes. In addition, back in March we all made beautiful postcards to send into the ZooDoo lottery at the Woodland Park Zoo. For those of you who don't know, the Zoo composts the feces from its herbivorous animals and sells it. The demand is so high, that twice a year when the Doo is ready they do a lottery in order to determine who will be able to purchase. 6 of us who submitted postcards were chosen and we picked up a total of 3 truckloads of dynamite doo for the gardens!

Garden Clubs have also been going strong despite my lack of blog posting. We made scarecrows and bird feeders, planted herbs in alternative "pots" (old shoes and gloves), made an organic pest spray using garlic, and made some mighty tasty guacamole.

I wish I had pictures to share at this time, but I will try to get a ton of great ones so my next post can be all pictures.

Thanks for reading!

Spring Garden Clubs - Week 4

Week 4 Garden Club meetings were a little shorter than normal, but that's okay because we accomplished a lot. At Croft and Centerwood, we had tomato and pepper seedlings that needed to be potted up. We got our hands dirty filling medium-sized pots with some healthy potting soil and moving the soil to create a good sized hole in the middle. We then talked about how to take care of the plants during this process, remembering to hold the seedlings by the leaves, not the stems. We gently pried each plant out of the small pots and placed them carefully in their new homes.

Because the kids are as young as 4 and 5, some seedlings were treated more gently than others, but all seem to have survived the trauma. At all three Garden Clubs, we made vegetable markers with craft sticks and permanent marker in order to keep track of what we plant where.





Because we missed one week at OCC, there was no need to pot up any of the seedlings as they have only just started sprouting. Instead, we took some time to observe the progress the seeds had made in just one short week. We marveled at the little green sprouts and talked about how all the parts of the plant-to-be had been contained within the little seeds. Part of the original plan was to water the seeds we planted outdoors as a group, but it had rained during the early afternoon, giving the seeds the water they needed.


The kids at OCC also got to do some extra art projects. The kids drew pictures of the seedlings that had sprouted, and made a greenhouse out of a shoe box and clear plastic wrap for the pots that had yet to sprout.

Thanks for reading!

Spring Garden Clubs - Week 3

For Week 3, the main objective was to plant some cold-season seeds outdoors. We spent a little time talking about why we would plant some seeds indoors but it's okay to plant other seeds outside at the same time. But mostly we got right to playing in the dirt!

The kids at Croft planted in four of the ten beds, sowing Spinach, Chard, Lettuce, Mesclun, and Onion. At Centerwood we planted Spinach, flowers, Cilantro, and Onion in the pots they had filled with soil in Week 1. We made sure to water the newly planted seeds, but also talked about how the rain would also help to water them.

Because Garden Club was cancelled at OCC for Week 2, we had a lot to do this week. In the short time we met, we needed to plant seeds both indoors and out. We filled newspaper pots and small plastic pots with seed starting mix and planted some Tomato, Pepper, Carrot, and Onion seeds. One of the adult residents stopped by to see what was happening and took some Tomato and Pepper seeds for her own purposes, which was exciting.

Before we moved outside, we drew a map of our circular container to plan where to put each vegetable and flower. We listed each of the plants we started indoors, as well as the seeds we were about to sow outside (Spinach, Chard, Peas, and Lettuce). We designated a spot on the garden map for each veggie, taking into account which plants need more sun. We then went out and planted accordingly.


All three Clubs ate a pre-made snack of sweet potato fries and made Potato People. Each kid got a Russet potato to decorate with pieces of fabric, pipe cleaners, string, and bean seeds. They had full control over their decor, and there was a wide variety of styles and characters. The glue took a little while to dry, so we had eyes falling off all over the place, but the pipe cleaners just stuck right into the potatoes!

Thanks or reading!