Grow the Most Local: "EAT YOUR YARD!"
Certified awesome!
Urban agriculture has become immensely popular and many people in Seattle are learning the joys of producing their own food. Why not combine your efforts with your neighbors and extend your growing area beyond your own lot? There are many benefits to cooperative growing, here are just a few:
Click here for a quick overview of our Edible Neighborhood ideas!
Sign up here for more more information on Edible Landscapes, Neighborhoods, Veggie Start CSA, Food Justice or Everything!
(Volume 5 Issue 5)
Now that the brief heatwave is over we’re back to typical Seattle May weather, its hard to imagine that real summer is just around the corner, but now is a great time to start planning that big gardening or landscaping project that you’ve been dreaming about all winter. Big or small, CEL can help you realize those dreams this year, the only limit is your imagination!
What’s Ripe in May? If you had an edible landscape you could now be enjoying: Braising greens, wild greens, lettuces, asparagus, celery, sweet salad onions, potatoes and root veggies, radishes, cauliflower, green garlic, fresh herbs, radicchio, hothouse cherry tomatoes, rhubarb, and more!
FREE* Rain Gardens and Cisterns: If you live in Delridge, View Ridge, Windermere, or Ballard Contact us today at food@eatyouryard.com for more information. If you don’t live there, contact us anyway and we’ll keep you posted when the city approves your neighborhood for the rebate. Rebates typically cover 70-100% of costs.
This just in-New Neighborhoods Added to the Rainwise program: South Park, Highland Park & West Seattle areas now eligible for RainWise rebates! Visit the official Rainwise website to check if your property falls within the new program expansion.
Summer Landscape projects. Summer is a great time for doing hardscaping, building beds, carpentry, stonework, irrigation, any foundation work for your garden. Hardscaping is a big piece of edible landscaping and we love to work with stone of all kinds-flag, drystack, pavers, etc. We build walls, patios, and paths, whatever you need! Fall Crops go in in July + August, so let us know if you need more space!
Gifts for Mothers Day: Looking for something unique for Mom this year? CEL can help! We are offering beautiful strawberry plants in window boxes or decorative pots for $25. Order by contacting us at info@eatyouryard.com and pick-up your gift at the U-District or Redmond Farmers Markets this Saturday. Nothing beats the taste of a just-picked, sun-ripened strawberry, so order now and give your mom the gift that keeps on giving
Blueberry Special!: We are offering $500 worth of blueberries for just $250! Select varieties. Only two sales worth available so contact us now at info@eatyouryard.com to order.
Think outside the fence and consider the wonderful world of cooperative gardening! This year CEL will be teaching a series of workshops that will assist neighbors in sharing their resources and extending their gardening efforts. “Edible Neighborhoods” are a great community based solution to to dependence on big ag and can serve as a form of community preparedness during a natural disaster. Stay tuned for dates and times, or contact us today at info@eatyouryard.com for more information.
Want to host classes at your home, church, or organization? We are seeking people who want to host and help organize their neighborhoods into Edible Paradises and spaces of community growth. Contact us at info@eatyouryard.com if you would like to be a part of our program.
FOOD FOREST PACKAGES : Imagine being able to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for your family for years to come. We have everything you need to start your own food forest!
Seattle Parks Summer of Service: The Summer of Service (SOS) is a six week program that helps 6, 7, and 8th graders identify needs in their community and make a difference while gaining leadership and work skills.
We are helping to put together an Edible Neighborhood program with SOS in 2013 by teaching these youths how to build raised beds and compost bins, sow seeds, maintain a greenhouse, and grow fruits and vegetables. If you belong to a community group, center, or organization that is looking for assistance with a gardening project and would like to help Seattle youths develop work skills and participate in community outreach, contact us today at natalie@eatyouryard.com to get involved!
Our Community Supported Plant Start Program (CSPS) Helps you Grow your Own: Have flats of locally grown, seasonally appropriate veggie starts delivered to a neighborhood near you and take the guesswork out of gardening. Click here to purchase a membership for the Summer of 2013! The deadline for Summer is Midnight on Monday May 27th, projected delivery is May 31st. Click Here to check out our list of Summer crop offerings! We might be bumping up the delivery date by 1 week due to the recent warm and sunny spell.
This program survives by referrals and we would love it if you referred us to your friends and family!
“I can’t think of a thing you guys should change! I did a Fall flats and now I’ve bought all of 2013. I wouldn’t have timed it right; I wouldn’t have picked the right types; I would have planned and not really known what to do… but when the flats are right there, you just put em in. It really boosted my gardening confidence. Thanks!!” Kate Sipe, Kenwood Farms.
CEL and CSPS Program featured on KSER radio’s Sound Living Program: Follow this link to listen, and skip to time stamp 38:50
Recipes from the web: Basil Marinated Radicchio with Fresh Mozzarella, Caramelized Onion Pizza with Prosciutto, Herbed New Potatoes, Buttermilk Asparagus Salad, Bee Sting Cake,
Glowing Trees to Replace Street Lights? Click here to read more!
Why wont the US protect our Bees?: Sign the Petition-The EPA must stop ignoring science and act to protect honey bees!
Local First; Webinar Series: Check it out Here.
May 11th-Introduction: How to Build an Edible Neighborhood: Learn the basics of how to start your own edible neighborhood in this class taught by our own Michael Seliga at Whole Foods Interbay. 11am-12:30pm. Contact Maura.Hardman@wholefoods.com to register.
May 11th: Introduction: How to Build an Edible Neighborhood @ Whole Foods in Interbay taught by Michael Seliga! 11am-12:30pm
May 11th: Orca School Annual Plant Sale, featuring plants from CEL! 10am-3pm
May 11th: Lopez Lamb, Wool and Goat Festival, Lopez Island, 10am-3pm, email fibers@islandfibers.com for tickets
May 15th: Give Big Charitable Event, Seattle Foundation, 12pm
May 15th: UW Science Now: Natalie Footen: How Parasitic Plants Help Promote Biodiversity in Washington Prairies, Seattle Town Hall, 7:30pm-9pm
May 18th: Spring Into Bed, Redmond, 10am-1pm
June 1st: Food Lust 2013, Willie Green’s Organic Farm, 5pm-10pm
June 2nd: Beginner Gardening Class taught by Michael Seliga! Just $12 for CSA members. Click here to purchase tickets
Wonderful Food Forest Garden just installed in the Central District as part of our Edible Neighborhood program.
Our 2013 Sod Cutting Spree Fundraiser for the Just Garden Project was a success! Four lawns and two sets of neighbors in the pouring rain!
Check out the new rain garden CEL installed for a NE Seattle client. We have mixed edible plants in with the traditional rain garden varieties and it will be so beautiful once all of the plants grow and fill in! To learn more about rain gardens and how the city of Seattle can help cover the cost click here.
Beefsteak, Brandywine: heirloom (80 d, indet): Pinkish red flesh is smooth and juicy, with a great balance of sugar and flavor. The fruits are large, weighing 1lb or more. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant
Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple: heirloom (80 d, indet): Brownish-purple skin with green shoulders and red flesh. Large beefsteak fruits weigh in at 12-16 oz. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Cherry, Sugar Sweetie: Super-sweet red cherry tomato with high sugar content. Sets masses of 1-1.5” round cherries in long clusters prolific through summer. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Cherry, Sun Gold (60-70 d, indet): Exceptionally sweet, bright tangerine-orange fruit. Vigorous plants start yielding early and bear right through the season. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Cherry, Sweet Millions: Sweet and packed with flavor. 3 foot tall plants produce 1-1 1/2 inch fruit in grape-like clusters. Very disease resistant. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Cherry, Yellow Pear: heirloom (70 d, indet): 1-2 inch yellow pear-shaped fruit. Mild flavor. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Sauce, Japan. Black Trifele: heirloom (75 d, indet): Pear-shaped fruit has green-streaked shoulders, deepening to a burnished mahogany and finally to a darkened, nearly black base. Rich, meaty flavor. Very crack resistant. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Tomato, Sauce, Roma
Slicer, Moskvich: cold-tol. heirloom (60 day, indet): Fruits are round to slightly flattened with a deep red color and luscious, rich flavor. Very resistant to cracking. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Tomato, Slicer, Oregon Spring: Meaty fruits weighing 3 to 5 oz., with excellent flavor. set fruits even in cool weather and continue to yield all season long. Nearly seedless. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Tomato, Slicer, Stupice: OP heirloom (60 d, indet): Cold-tolerant tomato that bears an abundance of very sweet, flavorful 2 to 3-inch, deep red fruit. Nearly seedless. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Tomato, Slicer, Taxi: easy to grow (64 d, determ): Best yellow tomato for short season gardeners. Taxi matures its bright yellow tomatoes in just 65 days. Expect heavy yields of mild, non-acid tomatoes for 3-4 weeks. Full sun, space plants 24-36″ apart, maintaining about 4 square feet around each plant.
Reflections of a “Foodie”
By Kris Davis, Greenhouse Manager
I got into growing because of my lifelong interest in eating. My personal seminal food moment occurred around age 8, when my parents offered me a stack of Bon Appetit magazines and the chance to choose the recipes for our upcoming Easter dinner. I found myself enraptured by one selection in particular, the stuffed mushroom caps. That experience left me wondering about the many other flavors and textures I had yet to discover. Other memorable childhood culinary explorations include pit-roasted suckling pig at a luau on Whidbey Island, and escargot.
I have remained an adventurous eater. While living in China I sampled many foods unknown in the West but typical to the culinary traditions there; back in the states, I regularly try new things. (Current discovery: I like blood sausage, though I prefer boudin to morcilla. Who knew?) However, the fact that my zip code is awash in sources of organic whole foods and cultural delicacies is not lost on me. Many in our country’s cities live in what are known as “food deserts,” defined by Wikipedia as “a district with little or no access to large grocery stores that offer fresh and affordable foods needed to maintain a healthy diet.” However, I’m glad to report that many people are working to counter the modern phenomenon of the food desert. One such activist, Ron Finley, paints a vivid picture of the effects a food desert can have on a community, and offers ways to fight back, in his ten minute TED talk
But you don’t have to become a guerilla gardener to make a difference. Even growing one row of your own vegetables contributes to our society’s movement away from processed foods, food deserts, and GMOs. Whether you are a foodie interested in freshness, an activist advocating food justice, or someone somewhere in between, I wish you well in your micro-agricultural journey. This will be my last post for Garden Gnome news, as I have accepted a position as a personal chef and gardener for a private residence in Seattle. While I had not planned to leave CEL at this time, I am pleased to be moving on to a role that blends perfectly my commitment to growing fresh, whole foods, and preparing them. Happy growing, and happy cooking!
(Volume 5 Issue 4)
In case you missed it, Spring is here ! The trees are in bloom, tender shoots are pushing up through the soil, and as usual we are up to our necks in plants and projects around Cascadia. So please excuse if this April newsletter is a little behind, and keep reading for news and resources that will help you make the most of spring.
What’s Ripe in April? If you had an edible landscape you could be enjoying: Asparagus, radishes, sunchokes, spring greens, garlic shoots, cabbage, greens, kale, mustards, hothouse cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, wild mushrooms, wild foraged greens, fiddlehead ferns, baby vegetables & greens, rhubarb
Sod Cutting Spree 2013 Fundraiser Photos - 4 lawns in about 4 hours! $500 raised to help other gardeners.
Recently completed NE Seattle Rain Garden Photos
FREE* Rain Gardens and Cisterns: If you live in Delridge, View Ridge, Windermere, or Ballard Contact us today at food@eatyouryard.com for more information. If you don’t live there, contact us anyway and we’ll keep you posted when the city approves your neighborhood for the rebate. Rebates typically cover 70-100% of costs.
Think outside the fence and consider the wonderful world of cooperative gardening! This year CEL will be teaching a series of workshops that will assist neighbors in sharing their resources and extending their gardening efforts. “Edible Neighborhoods” are a great community based solution to to dependence on big ag and can serve as a form of community preparedness during a natural disaster. Stay tuned for dates and times, or contact us today at info@eatyouryard.com for more information.
Want to host classes at your home, church, or organization? We are seeking people who want to host and help organize their neighborhoods into Edible Paradises and spaces of community growth. Contact us at info@eatyouryard.com if you would like to be a part of our program.
Central District Food Forest Photos
FOOD FOREST PACKAGES : Imagine being able to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for your family for years to come. We have everything you need to start your own food forest!
Seattle Parks Summer of Service: The Summer of Service (SOS) is a six week program that helps 6, 7, and 8th graders identify needs in their community and make a difference while gaining leadership and work skills.
We are helping to put together an Edible Neighborhood program with SOS in 2013 by teaching these youths how to build raised beds and compost bins, sow seeds, maintain a greenhouse, and grow fruits and vegetables. If you belong to a community group, center, or organization that is looking for assistance with a gardening project and would like to help Seattle youths develop work skills and participate in community outreach, contact us today at natalie@eatyouryard.com to get involved!
Our Community Supported Plant Start Program (CSPS) Helps you Grow your Own: Have flats of locally grown, seasonally appropriate veggie starts delivered to a neighborhood near you and take the guesswork out of gardening. Click here to purchase a membership for the Summer of 2013! The deadline for Summer is Midnight on Monday May 27th, projected delivery is April 31st. Click Here to check out our list of Summer crop offerings!
Check out our guide to the many wonderful tomato varieties we are offering this season!
This program survives by referrals and we would love it if you referred us to your friends and family!
“I can’t think of a thing you guys should change! I did a Fall flats and now I’ve bought all of 2013. I wouldn’t have timed it right; I wouldn’t have picked the right types; I would have planned and not really known what to do… but when the flats are right there, you just put em in. It really boosted my gardening confidence. Thanks!!” Kate Sipe, Kenwood Farms.
Open Positions at CEL: Click Here for job descriptions and applications.
Contact us at info@eatyouryard.com to join our team.
PTSA Plant Sale Fundraising Opportunity: CEL partnered with two schools last year and organized plant sales to benefit their PTSAs. Contact us at info@eatyouryard.com if you would like to get involved this year!
Permaculture Design Course on Camano Island
The true cost of food? Ask an undocumented agricultural worker
Spring Recipes from the web: Rhubarb Pie, Vegan Roasted Asparagus Soup, 7 Things to do with Garlic Scapes, Garlicky Wild Fiddlehead Ferns, Herbed Baked Eggs
Growing More with The Space You Have
Healthy Local Food-Not Just for the Farmers Market Set
Spring Produce Guide
21 Acres; Cooperative Growing in Your Neighborhood: Taught by Michael Seliga, this SaturdayApril 27th. Click Here to learn more and register today!
Seattle Tilth May Edible Plant Sale, May 4th-May 5th
Come out to our May Edible Plant Sale and choose from a thrilling selection of organic and sustainable edible plant starts perfect for summer gardens. It’s FREE and takes place on Sat. and Sun., May 4 and 5, 9 a.m.-3 p.m at Meridian Park in Wallingford. Find warm season crops like tomatoes, basil, peppers and squash that will thrive this summer.
April 16th: 2013 Olympic Peninsula Farm-to-Table Trade Meeting, Sequim, 9:30am-3pm
April 16th: Seattle Speaks: Shaping Seattle Neighborhoods, Seattle Town Hall, 6:30pm-9pm
April 19th: Spokane’s Power of Our Regional Food Economy Conference, Spokane’s University District, All Day.
April 24th: SPRING GARDENING MADE EASY, Seattle Central Community College, 6:30pm-8pm
April 25th: Building Your Urban Pantry – Canning 101, Covington Library, 7pm
April 27th: Growing and Cooking with Culinary Herbs, Kenmore Library, 2pm
April 27th: Cooperative Growing in Your Neighborhood Taught by Michael Seliga, 21 Acres, 1pm-4pm
April 29th: DEBORAH MADISON: VEGETABLE LITERACY, Book Larder, 6:30pm-8pm
May 4th & 5th: Seattle Tilth May Edible Plant Sale , Meridian Park, 9am-3pm
May 11th: Introduction: How to Build an Edible Neighborhood @ Whole Foods in Interbay 11am-1230pm
Cascadia Edible Landscapes is one of the many people,organizations, and businesses raising fund$ to support the JGP. CEL does this by removing of as many lawns as possible. A team of 2-4 people come to your place and cut and roll sod to help your gardening adventures. Additional fees will apply if you would like us to haul the material later in the week. Also, Volunteers will help increase the proceeds!
Your yard and/or neighborhood. We hope to focus on several neighborhoods. SCALLOPS and other neighborhood groups encouraged to participate. We want a minimum of 3 neighbors in a neighborhood to sign up.
Initial $100 charge covers sod-cutter, truck use, and (volunteer) team showing up at your place. If there are at least a couple other people in your neighborhood who also want sod removed, we can split the charge between you.
The cost for cutting sod is 0.75/square foot with a minimum of 100 sq feet. Remember: this is a fund-raiser. Additional fees apply if you want CEL to haul away material later in the week. How: Contact info@eatyouryard.com if you want your lawn removed or if you want to help remove sod.
Come visit our booth at the U-District Market on Saturday March 16th and at the Ballard Market on Sunday March 17th, and peruse our selection of succulent spring veggie starts, edible perennials and northwest natives!