Sustainable Crown Hill

Check out the details of this new film, A Chemical Reaction, to be viewed on Sat. Feb 20…hosted by Seattle Tilth and COOL.  Event details are at the bottom of this post.

COOL (the Coalition of Organic Landscape Professionals http://www.organiclandscapers.org/index.html) and Seattle Tilth (http://www.seattletilth.org/) are presenting the compelling documentary “A Chemical Reaction” as part of an afternoon event at Lake Washington Technical College in Kirkland on Saturday, February 20th, from 2-6pm. The event will also feature keynote speaker Paul Tukey, the nationally-known gardening host who is the executive producer and narrator of the film. Tukey is also the founder of the regional gardening magazine “People, Places & Plants”, author of best-seller The Organic Lawn Care Manual, and founder of SafeLawns.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting natural lawn care and grounds maintenance. The event will feature displays and resources from The Garden Hotline and several other environmental organizations, books for sale, refreshments, and a question-and-answer session and book-signing with Paul Tukey after the movie screening. Proceeds from this event will be contributed to http://safelawns.org/

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With all the bigger-is-better, too-big-to-fail, merger mania that has swept the country in the last, say, 25 to 50 years, we have lost knowledge of where our food comes from. Many of these large companies don’t want you to know, and don’t want to be burdened with the requisite record keeping to let you know. After all they may not know the exact source and composition of the grain fed to those cows, and which feed lot the cow was at before a piece of its flesh arrived on a white styrofoam tray encased in plastic wrap. The concept of traceability is something many of the food mega-conglomerates would rather not encourage.

Stone-Buhr / Shepherd's Grain Flour

I often attempt to buy at least some of my food from trace-able sources, and this is often not easy to accomplish. Mega-stores like Whole Foods are probably no better, and it could be argued are actually complicit in the attempts to reduce traceability and consumer knowledge of food sources and composition. Many so called organic products are actually distributed and packaged by some of the largest agricultural entities in the world. Just look at the organic spinach fiasco from 2 years ago propagated by some of the biggest food companies. All you have to do is look at who owns who and you realize that real spinach grew in the ground and needs to have the dirt and sand washed off in a sink.  It doesn’t come pre-washed, in little plastic bags pumped full of just the right amount of inert nitrogen and product, then shipped from the Salinas Valley in California to Washington state via Texas. Similarly the peanut butter fiasco of a couple of years ago doesn’t lend any feeling of a safe or trace-able food chain … even companies like locally owned Cougar Mountain cookies were misinformed about the provenance of the peanut butter they were purchasing.

A few years ago, I tried to alter at least some of my buying habits to enhance my knowledge of the products I was purchasing, and the companies that made them, and the chain down to the farmer level. As at least some of you know, I make bread, and lots of it. A natural place to start, no?

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City Fruit offers a series of fruit tree care classes starting in January 2010. Register at Brown Paper Tickets (links from www.cityfruit.org) or send a check with the name of the class and your contact information to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118.  After registering, you will receive confirmation and the address of the class. If you can’t afford a class but really want to learn, email us at info@cityfruit.org. The Phinney Neighborhood Association serves as City Fruit’s fiscal sponsor and is the co-sponsor of these events.

Feb 6 Fruit Varieties for the Pacific NW . 1 – 3 pm.  UW Botanic Gardens.  $20/$15 (members). Sam Benowitz is the owner of Raintree Nursery, a nursery specializing in fruit trees and other edibles. Whether it’s plums, apples, pears, or berries, Sam knows what varieties do best in any particular situation. He will discuss the best fruits for the Northwest, why rootstocks are important, and how to determine how big a tree will grow.

Feb 20 The Art of Espalier. 1 – 4:30 pm. UW Botanic Gardens. $30/$25 (members). Dave Conners, former president of the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, has been training 18 different antique apple varieties on his city-sized lot for more than a decade and has been teaching “The Art of Espalier” at the UW’s Center for Urban horticulture for many years.

Mar 6 Pruning Grape Vines 9 am – noon. Phinney Neighborhood Association and neighboring site with grape vines. $20/$15 (members). Learn to prune and train grape vines and get tips on growing grapes for best production. Larry Davis is a Master Gardener and teaches grape and other fruit production classes for the WSU-King County Master Gardener program.

Mar 20 Planting and Caring for Young Fruit Trees 10 am – noon. Orca School Environmental Learning Center. $20/$15 (members). Find out how and where to plant your new fruit tree and how to keep it healthy. John Reardon, vice president of the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, teaches tree care classes for Plant Amnesty, Seattle Tree Fruit Society and City Fruit.

Fruit tree care classes are also offered by the following organizations. See the City Fruit Calendar at www.cityfruit.org, or their websites for details.

Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle

Friends of Piper’s Orchard

Seattle Tilth

Seattle Tree Fruit Society

Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation

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Fruit Tree Pruning Class

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Offered by City Fruit

Location: Phinney Ridge

10 am – noon

$20/$15 (City Fruit members)

Pruning your fruit tree will improve its health, productivity and appearance. This beginner’s class covers the basics, including pruning tools, reasons for pruning a fruit tree and basic techniques. Instructor Ingela Wanerstrand, Green Darner Garden Design, specializes in edible garden design and coaching and has been pruning fruit trees professionally for 14 years.

Register at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/91245 or send a check with the name and date of the class and your contact information to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118. After registering, you will receive confirmation and the address of the class. If you can’t afford a class but really want to learn, email us atinfo@cityfruit.org.

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Come join us for an evening of sustainable holiday crafting Sunday, December 13 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Crown Hill School in Room 4.  Potluck event from 5:00 -5:30 PM – bring your own eating utensils, plates and cups.

We’ll make Bottle Cap Jewelry, Paper Sack Gift Tags, Stamped Cards, and Collages.

If you have any miscellaneous crafting supplies you’d like to contribute, we can use everything (stamps, stamp pads, markers, scissors, paper, magazines, glue, acrylic paint, watercolor paints, paint brushes, bottle caps, paper garbage sacks, newspaper, crayons, yarn).

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Meeting Notes – 15 November 2009
Facilitator: Bert

Upcoming Events:

Thanksgiving Salmon Walk (3rd Annual)
Saturday 28 November 10 AM
Meet at the old oak on the Corner of 13th Ave and 95th Street NW. We will walk to Carkeek Park. Doug will provide information about restoration of the salmon habitat and Carkeek Park. Continue Reading »

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Sustainable Crown Hill Meeting Notes
11 October 2009

Announcements

Significant Tree Program

- grant has been submitted by CHNA to Seattle Dept of Neighborhoods

- Go to CrownHillNeighbors.org to  tell about your favorite CH tree or trees. Continue Reading »

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Halloween 2009 Flyer

Come to the Third Annual Crown Hill Halloween Celebration. For kids of all
ages (from 0-100) and adults too. Come in costume, prepared to feast with
your neighbors. Bring something to share with everyone. Flashlight
treasure hunt at 6:30. Please RSVP to halloween@sustainablecrownhill.org
with the number of adults and kids so we can plan for the treasure hunt.
Bring a flashlight.

The world famous Bucket Brigade (headquartered right here in [drumroll
here] Crown Hill) will make a rare public appearance to entertain us with
drumming and dancing. And, for all you closet drummers, there will be a
fantastic chance to try out your rhythmic skills on the same buckets using
the same drum sticks as the pros.

October 24th 6:00-8:00 PM
Crown Hill School Play Field
South end of Crown Hill School
(in case of rain, we’ll move inside the building)

See you there!

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Sustainable Crown Hill Mtg. Minutes
Meeting held September 13, 5-7pm at Jean Davis’ house

Announcements

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Sustainable Crown Hill Meeting

July 26, 2009

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