350 West Seattle, International Day of Climate Action
West Seattle CoolMom and Partners' Edible Garden
The West Seattle CoolMoms, Kids, Dads and friends gathered on Saturday morning October 24 to build several raised beds in the back yard of C&P Coffee to highlight the number 350, the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. All were industrious, even the kids got into the act and got dirty for the cause equipped with shovels and pails.
Sandy Pederson of Urban Land Army designed the layout of the beds and provided instruction on how to plant the donated edibles, some of which came from West Seattle Nursery. Our very own CoolDad, Doug Elfline -husband of CoolMom West Seattle Coordinator, Laura Elfline- was our foreman of the day. Owning his own homebuilding company and having the tools to prove it, Doug was the play maker for the day. Doug helped build and instructed others to the ins and outs of building a solid raised bed built from cinderblocks, gravel bases and donated green garden soil from Cedar Grove. Another key resource for the day was Cascade Edible Landscapes' Michael Seliga who took a trip to egreen landscaping to pick up additional gravel for the foundation of our walls and cinderblocks. He also volunteered to gather up additional boxes and cardboard to place at the bottom of the beds to prevent weeds from growing.
The goal for the day was to build one raised bed complete with walls, dirt and plants. The goal was exceeded with two plus beds completed! There were about 20 to 25 people who attended the 350 event. All were instrumental in the success of building these raised beds. Next steps include completion of the last two beds, additional plantings and maintenance. C&P Coffee will be hosting planting parties including educational teachings on gardening for the West Seattle Community. Stay tuned for more news on the beds coming from C&P Coffee's newsletter.
As mentioned before, the beds are designed to provide edible vegetables, flowers and fruit that can be harvested and eaten by the public. The focus of growing and eating locally is one of the ways that folks can reduce their carbon footprint. We are hoping this project will foster this effort and love for growing 'home grown' vegetables. A big THANK YOU goes out to Cameron at C&P Coffee, Cedar Grove, West Seattle Nursery, Sandy Pederson of Urban Land Army, Doug Elfline of Mighty House Construction, Michael Selgia of Cascade Edible Landscapes and all the volunteers that helped out on this day. Heres to eating and growing Local!
CoolKids moving the dirt
Work party in action
Foreman Doug
Additional photos can be seen on flickr (scroll down on page four to see the West Seattle 350 event photos).
The West Seattle Blog story on the 350 West Seattle event can be seen here.
On October 24th join local West Seattle CoolMom, Sustainable West Seattle, Urban Land Army and the generous hosts of C&P Coffee to build an edible garden.
When: Saturday, October 24 10 am to 12pm
Where:C&P Coffee House, 5612 California Ave. SW, 98136 in the back yard
What: CoolMom, C&P Coffee House, Urban Land Army and Sustainable West Seattle are partnering to create 4 large (3x6 feet) edible garden beds in the back yard of C&P Coffee. One of these 4 beds will be built on October 24th with the plan of creating the other 3 on a quarterly basis until completion in the Summer. The beds will grow vegetables and edible flowers to be consumed by the public and including possibly a local food bank. We are also looking for sponsorship by several gardening facilities to help supply the cement blocks and cedar cap that is needed to build the bed. We are getting the soil and compost donated by Cedar Grove.
The purpose of this community project is to provide and ongoing community edible garden and to highlight the very important number of 350, the number scientists believe to be the safe upper limit of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, in parts per million. Our current level in the atmosphere is 385, so you can see we really need all communities participating in reducing our carbon footprint. These edible gardens can contribute in several ways:
*growing locally grown vegetables to be distributed to families and a possible local food bank.
*creating a community garden for teaching purposes, i.e. "how tos" on creating your own garden, by having these gardens built throughout the year, we will highlight how to grow your own local home grown vegetables for those new to gardening. Each bed will highlight what can be grown each season. We are envisioning garden parties of some sort (more planning is taking place around this idea). Growing vegetables locally and organically as you know, is one of the ways to reduce carbon footprint created by food production.
How can YOU be involved? -donate cinderblocks or cedar planks for the structure of the gardens and bring a shovel and your working gloves. Please bring the kids and plan to get dirty!
