Radio Coverage on canning

KUOW attended a canning class we took this summer and did a brief interview.

Here is the link

interview

Sustainable Burien coverage

In case you didn't see it, here is a link to some coverage to our cause on the B-town blog. Thanks to Scott Schaefer.
b-town coverage

B-town blog is hosting a Halloween party at The Mark tomorrow night, Tuesday October 28th. For more information on this fun community event, check it out at: Halloween party

Raw Foods

Here is a link to more information on raw foods by one of our new food pod members Becca

raw foods

Her blog also lists classes

Backyard Chickens Class

Upcoming Backyard Chickens Class information

Keeping Backyard Chickens
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Burien Community Center

Imagine having chickens in your own backyard! Unique pets, abundant
eggs, rich compost, sustainable living -- more people every day are
discovering the many joys of chicken keeping. Learn whether
chickens are right for you, and how to get started -- even if you have a
small yard. Find out about care, feeding, and housing needs. See
displays, hear from an experienced chicken keeper, and walk away
with helpful resources.

Thanks a bunch.
Hope to see you soon.
Andrea Lindsay

Meeting notes 10/26/08

Another beautiful Sunday in Burien. The leaves outside the library are spectacular. I saw a woman pull over with a camera to get a picture. We had a very productive meeting with many great ideas.

I have been in contact with the White Center Food Bank and am working on a project called "Cut Out Hunger" where I match Sunday newspaper coupons with local grocery store sales. If you have access to any coupons inserts out of the paper, please bring them to our meetings and donate them. This is a great way to help our community food banks.

Lucy Krakowiak has volunteered to be a point person for dropping off florescent bulbs and used batteries to be recycled. If you have any laying around, bring them to our next meeting.

You are also welcome to bring any food items that you may want to barter to our next meeting. For example, if you have way too many apples and another person grew too much garlic, you can barter. Any food left over can be donated to our local food bank. There is also talk of starting up bartering of skills/services/goods resource for members.

We are still in the investigative stages of consideration of a Burien Pea Patch. Discussion of some property owned by Highline School District was brought up. Further investigation is required.

We're still forming ideas for the Burien Strawberry Festival. Talk of a bee tent came up. I will talk to the director of the food bank to see if they want to showcase their lettuce Bowl program in a booth. The Lettuce Bowl program provides materials and instructions for food bank clients to grow their own vegetables.

Interest was expressed in square foot gardening. A current concept of growing vegetables in very small plots of land and containers.

I personally joined Full Circle Farms CSA and pick up in north Burien on Tuesdays. I am really pleased with the variety of fruits and vegetables and look forward to it. If interested in joining contact Full Circle Farms. We are interested in starting up a south Burien/Normandy Park location and if we have at least 12 people interested, we can establish another drop off location.

We had another successful gleaning of apples and pear apples and are looking to ramp up volunteers for our next harvest season. I have been working with Community Harvest of South Seattle (CHOSS) with their volunteers but want to get our own Burien group organized for next year.

October 11th harvest

The Community Harvest group of South Seattle gathered Sunday to glean a Burien neighbors trees

We gathered around 100 lbs of pear apples and apples

It was a beautiful fall sunny day

Still looking for Burien volunteers......................

Sunday 2 p.m. gleaning

Looking for volunteers to help with an apple tree gleaning this Sunday at 2 p.m.


It is a big apple tree - lots of apples

Loval harvest resource

Here is a great link to local harvest information

http://www.localharvest.org/

September meeting

We had a small group due to an incredibly beautiful fall Sunday. But it was still productive. Our action items were:

1. Research pea patches - how they work, what they charge, how to get one started, etc.

2. Spring sustainable living tour - which may be modified to be a backyard chicken coop tour.

3. Organizing booths for the Burien Strawberry Festival - we were excited about piggy backing onto an already popular event. We discussed setting up booths for our individual pods to promote our interests in sustainable living.

4. Burien Gleaning - we are still working on raising volunteers to start our own Burien group.

5. Full Circle CSA - we are going to speak to this particular CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to see if they would possibly set up another pick up location in Burien for residents nearer to Normandy Park, South Burien area.

6. Food swap barter - an interest was expressed in discussing a food swap barter. For instance, if you grew too much kale and would want to swap with someone who grew too much garlic.

In the general group we did have a member who is now Wildlife Habitat certified. We were all encouraged to look into certification for our own properties. There was also discussion of a 5 minute talk to Burien City Council representing our group. We were all encouraged to invite local businesses to our next meeting and to bring a friend.

Press Coverage & Thanks

Here is a nice note from Aviva of Southwest Community Harvest. Looks like gleaning is getting some national press coverage.

Hello volunteers,
I wanted to pause from scheduling trees to be picked and just say "thank you" to everyone who has made this season so bountiful. We are up to over 3,000 pounds - more than tripling last year's harvest! This fresh produce is so gratefully received at both the White Center and West Seattle food banks. It truely makes a difference, and each of your efforts are so key.

We are indeed still picking: plums are ripening, and then there are the pears. If you have some time on Tues, Weds, Fri evening, or Sunday afternoon, and you would like to pick, let me know.

We were lucky to get some press coverage this week: The New York Times ran an article "Foodbanks Finding Aid in Bounty of Backyard" which mentioned Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle. It's interesting to learn about similar efforts in California. Imagine harvesting lemons and limes instead of pears and apples. At the West Seattle Farmer's Market on Sunday, King-5 News interviewed Mary Ellen Cunningham, from Community Harvest. The interview was aired on the 5:00 news.

Thanks again for being a part of this program. Volunteers are what is making it happen!

Best,
Aviva Furman
Community Harvest of SW Seattle

Food Pod Updates

I am going to start this blog spot so we can see each others comments and ideas. If you have any feedback, leave a comment and we can keep in touch.

West Seattle Gleanit.org has too many trees to harvest and is asking our group if we can gather volunteers to handle any harvesting of trees in our neighborhoods. I listed an ad on craigslist for volunteers and am asking neighbors. If anyone is available to help harvest, please let me know and we can set up a time to meet and pick fruit to drop off at the food bank. Pears and plums are ready.
I hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer.