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Soul Food: Creating a Space for Immigrants and Refugees to Grow

5/17/2018

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Article By Hannah Kett, The Nature Conservancy - Cities Program Manager
Photo by Hannah Letinich
​
A year ago, the parking lot at Kent Hillside Church was just that — a parking lot, with moss growing on the cracks and an almost constant stream running along the bottom of it. Today, it is hard to picture what it used to look like. Now, it is now home to 50 garden plots, four cisterns, a tool shed and blossoming community.
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You want to read more, don't you?  

Keep Reading Here...... 
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Check out the Local Food Initiative - Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden

4/26/2018

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Have I mentioned how really spectacular it is that we were chosen to do the design and installation for the Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden?  Not to mention that we get to work regularly with World Relief Seattle and the unforgettable Tahmina Martelly.  Take a quick gander around 4.10 at the work being done at Paradise.  It is truly remarkable and inspirational.  

And - come to the Grand Opening at Hillside Church on May 9th - 6 - 8 pm!  
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Kent Hillside - Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden Grand Opening!!

4/23/2018

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Mark your calendar for the grand opening of our community garden! See the parking lot turned garden, and help us celebrate the kick off of the growing season. Join us for tours of the garden, speakers, international food tasting, planting in the demonstration beds, sidewalk chalk, games, face painting, and more! 

Address: Hillside Church 930 E James St, Kent, WA 98031
​RSVP Today! 

We are converting an acre of paved parking lot space and transforming it into the Paradise Parking Plots community garden with 50 plots, where refugees, immigrants and local community members can gather to grow culturally appropriate foods that promote a healthier lifestyle, improve food access, foster economic independence, and build community. Further, this garden will provide a much needed space for interactive nutrition and health education of youth and adults in the Kent community.
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Help Design a Rain Garden!

3/12/2018

 
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Design a Rain Garden. Enjoy free food. Impact your community. 

Creative and innovative middle and high school students are invited to help us design a rain garden for the amazing Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden. 

FREE, but registration is required so we can plan food and material! 
REGISTER HERE: goo.gl/oF7ckD

During this two-day engineering design workshop, students will work with Paradise Parking Plots Landscape Designers Jake Harris and Marco Downs from Stone Soup Gardens to answer the questions “Where are the best places to put a rain garden in order to reduce stormwater pollution?” and “What types of plants should we put in the rain garden?” 

PART ONE: 1:30-3:30 Wednesday, March 28: Rain Garden Engineering
PART TWO: 1:30-3:30 Wednesday, April 4th: Rain Garden Plant Selection
WHERE: Hillside Church, 930 E James St, Kent, WA 98031

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND:
1. Get involved with your community & earn Service Learning Hours
2. Increase your knowledge of rain garden engineering.
3. Tour the amazing “Paradise Parking Plots” Community Garden.
4. Help reduce polluted stormwater runoff in Mill Creek
5. Enjoy delicious free food.

INFO or QUESTIONS….? 
Contact Cassandra - cassandra@sustainabilityambassadors.org

FREE, but registration is required so we can plan food and material! 
REGISTER HERE: goo.gl/oF7ckD

Raingarden Class at City People's Garden Store

3/12/2018

 
A great big thank you to City People's Garden Store for hosting Jake Harris to talk about Raingarden plants and stormwater infrastructure in January!  We had a few photos from the event that we wanted to share.  Check our Education page for more great upcoming opportunities to connect and learn about plants! 

Career Paths in Urban Agriculture

2/22/2018

 
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Stone Soup Gardens will be speaking about how we create community and residential urban farms. We'll be showcasing some cool current and past projects including developing P-Patches, transforming a street into a community farm to supply the food bank, and turning a 2-acre parking lot into a community farm for refugees. Stone Soup Gardens would love to model our work as a career path for others interested in Urban Farming and will share some of our challenges and successes. 

About the Urban Ag Food Summit: 
Do you enjoy gardening, science, local food and being outside? Curious about sustainability and permaculture? You won’t want to miss the Urban Ag Food Summit, a two-day event at Highline College. This year’s theme is Career Paths in Urban Agriculture.

All activities are free and open to the public.

Enjoy community resource tables with information and activities ranging from small business development to native pollinator habitat to permaculture. Experts will be available to talk about your ideas.

Location: Highline College, Des Moines, WA - Building 8

For more information: 
https://www.highline.edu/event/urban-ag-summit/

City People's Garden Store - Delicious Raingarden Plants

1/18/2018

 
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Saturday, January 27, 2018, 10 - 11 am
City People's Garden Store, 2939 E Madison Street, Seattle
​Free - but you must RSVP! 
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Learn From Edible Rain Garden Pioneer Jake Harris about how to incorporate delicious and Beautiful plants into Green Stormwater infrastructure at your home or community space. Our Plant Pallet focuses on how to fulfill our clients’ needs with Edible, Native and Wildlife Habitat plants. We will talk through our favorites in those categories and provide space for questions about how best to work Rain Gardens into your plan. This is a great class for Homeowners, Contractors and Designers who are looking to expand their pallet. 

Jake Harris founded Stone Soup Gardens and has been installing Rain Gardens and Cisterns with Seattle's Rainwise Program since the program began in 2010. He is excited to share this class with the City People’s Community.

A Rainwise Contractor Fair will happen after this event from 11 - 1 pm.  Join us for more information! 

This event is free. Would you like to attend? Please email gardenstore@citypeoples.com to RSVP.

This weekend - Educational Opportunities Galore!

9/28/2017

 
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NW Permaculture Convergence
Clark County Fairgrounds
17402 NE Delfel Rd
Ridgefield, WA 98642
September 22 - 24th

"Greywater: 101" with Patrick Loderhose
Saturday, Sept 30th, 10:45 am
Greywater, water from sinks, showers, and washing machines, is a great source of irrigation and can greatly reduce your outdoor water use. Greywater systems are especially important in times of drought. Come learn about popular greywater systems, design considerations, water saving potential, costs, regulations, health and safety, soaps and products, and how to choose a system that is a good match for your home and landscape. 

"Building Bridges With City Infrastructure" with Jake Harris
Saturday, Sept 30th, 2 pm
Stone Soup Gardens is a whole systems permaculture-based design and build company in Seattle. We work with community and city collaborators creating awesome Urban Farms, and Stormwater Management systems.  Join us as we share our experiences working with Alley Cat Acres and the Department of Transportation on turning a city designated street into a food bank farm, collaborating with World Relief and the City of Kent on turning 2 acres of parking lot into a community farm for refugees that will filter rain runoff,   and our ongoing work with Seattle Public Utilities Rain Wise Program installing edible rain gardens and cisterns aiding in cleaning our watershed. Owner Jake Harris is looking forward to sharing a conversation about our  successes and challenges in creating public permaculture connections. 

For more information, or to register for the day: http://northwestpermaculture.org/

Food Brings a Sense of Community

9/28/2017

 
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The Nature Conservancy recently did a piece on our design work at Paradise Parking Plots at Kent Hillside Church in Kent, WA.  We couldn't be happier!  It is such an amazing project, and so many amazing people are involved in making it happen.  

"The day to day uncertainty of being a refugee and immigrant can feel more manageable through the visceral feeling of smelling and tasting familiar food. By creating this community garden, Hillside Church and World Relief Seattle are giving refugees and immigrants a renewed sense of belonging."

Read all about it here: 
http://www.washingtonnature.org/fieldnotes/kent-community-garden-immigrants-refugees

To find out more about Paradise Parking Plots, follow their Facebook Page: 
https://www.facebook.com/HillsideParadiseParkingPlots/

Our own Stone Soup Crew went to help with the depave project - check out our recap of the events of the day here: www.stonesoupgardens.com/blog/depave-party

Coming up Next Week...

9/14/2017

 
GRiP: Raindrops and Roof Crops - Roof  Top Urban Farms and GSI
Thursday, Sept 21st, 2 - 4 pm
On top of the Mercer Street Parking Garage
Tour the Up Garden with Designer Nicole Kistler. The Up Garden is  Seattle’s Premier rooftop P-Patch, and this is a great chance to  hear about its design, implementation and benefits to rain water management.   Attendees are invited to come with questions and ideas to share about expanding the adoption of roof cropping as a tool for green infrastructure development.
 
PLEASE NOTE:
This GrIP meeting will be taking place outside, rain, shine or ashen snowstorm.  GrIP steering committee members will provide canopies and some seating for the initial networking time and presentation prior to touring the garden, but please come dressed for the weather and ready to walk the roof top garden.
 
About our speaker:
NICOLE KISTLER creates works that reimagine place and bring people together in community. She has 14 years of experience managing large-scale public arts, arts planning, public involvement and landscape design projects with work shown nationally. She has a passion for creative collaboration and leadership on projects like the award-winning UpGarden, the nation’s first community rooftop garden, and 2015 arts festival Duwamish Revealed that featured nearly 100 artists. As the City of Seattle’s first Urban Agriculture Artist-in-Residence, she recently installed a series of story-based cast iron sculptures for the Beacon Food Forest. By creating frameworks through which individual stories and perspectives can be shared she hopes to build a larger narrative about love and life.
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    Author Susan MacLaren

    Stone Soup Gardens is a full service edible landscaping company specializing in beautiful sustainable gardens, connecting folks to their environment and their food.

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