Linda's Loves Lettuce Link

A huge thanks to Linda Derschang and the staff at a few of her iconic eateries and watering holes, Tallulah's, Oddfellows Cafe+Bar, and Smith!  Linda and a group of twenty employees came out to Marra Farm last month to work the fields and for a farm tour.  Not only did Linda's group work the farm but they donated a portion of proceeds to Lettuce Link from the meatless Mondays at Tallulah's, Oddfellows, and Smith in July and August!  .

Partnerships with local businesses that share our values are part of a recipe for success and sustainability. We look forward to continued collaboration with Linda and her staff. 

Lettuce Link Staff

Amelia, Kathleen, Kyong, Nate and Scott

Save the date for Fall Fest!

Please join us for the 13^th Annual

Marra Farm Fall Fest

Celebrate the harvest,
South Park style!

Saturday, September 20, 12:00–3:00PM
Marra Farm: 9026 4^th Ave S
(between South Henderson and South Barton)

* farm-fresh food * apple cider pressing *
* live music * children’s activities * farm tours * 

Free and family friendly!

Volunteers needed: assist with kids’ activities; prep, grill, and serve food;
wash dishes; help setup and cleanup, etc.
Contact Kyong: kyongs@solid-ground.org or 206.713.3247

We hope to see you there!

~ The Lettuce Link team:
Amelia, Kathleen, Kyong, Nate and Scott

Lettuce Link’s Giving Garden at Marra Farm is a program of Solid Ground

        

Unfortunately, Marra Farm is not wheelchair accessible

A Garlic Feast

This summer at Lettuce Link we're lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we're featuring the writing of April, a Seattle native, Duke University student, and garlic-harvester extraordinaire.

Hello! My name is April and I am a new intern here at Lettuce Link. I have lived in Seattle my entire life, but I had never seen or heard of Solid Ground, Lettuce Link, Marra Farm or the Seattle Community Farm until this year. I have very little knowledge of farm work but am ready and eager to learn!

At the beginning of my internship, I drove right past both the Seattle Community Farm and Marra Farm, a not realizing that these were the farms that I was looking for. Both are tucked away in residential neighborhoods, and many people pass by not realizing the great work done by staff, volunteers, and community members at these farms.

In my past two weeks at both of these farms I have been astounded at the sheer quantity of fresh vegetables, and occasional fruits, that these small plots of land are able to produce. At Marra Farm, I am in charge of weighing and recording each bin of harvested vegetables each week.

Two Fridays ago, we harvested garlic, and at first I didn’t believe it was garlic. I am used to the white garlic pieces my dad gets from the grocery store, however, this was a deep beautiful purple plant with a long stalk attached. After a further explanation, I figured out it was fresh garlic that needed to be cleaned, weighed and then dried for two weeks.

There must have been at least ten baskets full of garlic bulbs. This garlic could last a long time for families who receive it at the food banks Marra Farm delivers produce to. A little garlic goes a long way, and adds a lot of zing and flavor to any dish. Given the large amount of garlic we harvested, I anticipate there will be wide variety of flavorful, garlicky dishes prepared with Marra Farm garlic.

I was able to bring some of the extra garlic home with me and truly enjoy the “farm to fork” experience. I am looking forward to learning about, growing, and eating new and exciting vegetables this summer!

Hamm Creek Restoration: Would you believe this is Seattle?

Harmony. Lots can come to mind when you really think about it. But I’m talking environmental harmony. I visited, photographed, chatted at and volunteered on the Marra Farm Giving Garden for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was one of those rare Seattle spring days where the sun lingers all day and the temperature is just right. While I poked around the farm (before getting down and dirty planting tomatoes), I kept the idea of Hamm Creek in the back of my mind.

About three days before my visit, I talked to Nate Moxley, Lettuce Link Program Manager at Solid Ground, about where I might find the creek once I arrived at the farm. He explained to me exactly where I could find it. I mean, the exact placement of the creek from any standing position, whether you’re facing north, south, east or west; are 300 feet from 4th Avenue South; next to the tallest scarecrow, etc. Let me tell you: I stillmissed it. After slowly exploring the farm, I finally circled back to where I’d started.

[Read about the rest of Nicole's visit to Hamm Creek on the Solid Ground blog.]

Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative

Last summer we introduced 17 teenage chickens (pullets) to their new home at Marra Farm as part of the Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative (MFCC)!

This was a monumental step towards the dream of a community-led chicken cooperative at Marra Farm. Though Lettuce Link provided staffing and support for the initial phases of the project, the long-term vision, however, has always been to see the chicken co-op become self-sustaining and self-governed by South Park community members.

Over the past few months, the Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative has narrowed down to a core group of 13 members who share the responsibilities of morning and evening care for the brood of hens. With the help of Lettuce Link’s Marra Farm Coordinator, Kyong Soh, and AmeriCorps member Amanda Reeves, the cooperative has developed systems for accountability, communication, and collecting dues, ensuring that they properly care for the chickens and fairly share the work (and benefits).

Cooperative members have committed to daily care of the chickens, cleaning the coop on a regular basis, and regularly communicating with each other. We commend the ways that the members have worked together across linguistic, cultural, and relational differences!

To maximize the health of the chickens, the land, and the eggs, the group decided to feed the ladies organic feed, greens, and other plant scraps. With an abundance of fresh greens at Marra Farm—including scraps from Lettuce Link’s Giving Garden, the brood has a diverse array of healthy greens to munch on alongside the store-bought feed. The hens get quite excited when presented with some scrumptious chard or bites of winter squash.

Given the timing of the project, the hens approached egg-laying age as winter approached and egg production dramatically tapered off. However, in late October co-op members collected the first few eggs, allowing the group to see their commitment pay off! It’s a nice taste of what the springtime will bring.

We welcome you to visit the chickens at Marra Farm. Community neighbors and visitors alike have enjoyed watching the chickens and seeing urban farming on a whole different level. The chickens also provide an opportunity to educate visitors about the importance of ethical and healthy animal care, and the amazing possibilities that emerge with community collaboration. Next time you come to Marra Farm, please walk around and say “hello” to the Marra Farm chickens!

Winter at Marra farm

With chilly temperatures and shortened hours of daylight, Northwest gardeners are taking a much-deserved winter’s rest. Cover crops have been sown, leaf mulch has been spread, and the gardeners are resting and remembering the year’s harvest.

While much of Lettuce Link's Giving Garden at Marra Farm has been “tucked to bed,” we are still hard at work tending 10 newly planted beds for winter growing! Garlic, spinach, chard, fava beans, bok choy, radishes, and carrots will grow slowly but surely throughout the winter months and help usher in the new season with an early spring harvest.

In November we set up hoop houses over the delicate crops to shield the small sprouts from bitter winter winds and freezing temperatures. We hope that the plants, snugly tucked in under these portable greenhouses, will make it until March.

Our preparations for our long winter's nap were no small task. The water to the whole farm is shut off to avoid freezing pipes, requiring resourceful and creative solutions to nourish the fledgling plants. Thanks to the help of South Park resident and grower, Irene, we set up a gravity-fed water barrel system to collect and distribute water. As a member of the Marra Farm Chicken Cooperative, Irene also helped set up a winterized water system for the coop.

Winter is also a time for preparation. Even though Marra Farm doesn’t appear to be very active, we are using the respite from the busyness to organize the sheds, maintain and clean the tools, order seeds, and plan for the 2014 growing season. Beyond preparing farm operations, we are planning for community events in South Park in the upcoming year. We are excited for the possibilities in 2014 and hope you'll stay tuned for updates on opportunities to join us!

Marra Farm Fall Fest 2013: A Sunny Celebration

On the day before the autumnal equinox we hosted our 12th Annual Fall Fest at Marra Farm. All week we had been worriedly watching the weather forecast, which predicted a dismal cold and wet day. But to our delight, we woke up to sun and a fresh, fall day!

It was the perfect summer sendoff. People of all ages came out for the celebration – South Park neighbors, Mien and P-Patch gardeners, Lettuce Link volunteers, and students from Concord Elementary.

Over the course of the sunny afternoon, we feasted on a delicious potluck, with items ranging from neighbor Mike’s freshly caught salmon, to grilled summer squash harvested from Marra Farm, to a wide array of international dishes from members of the Mien Community Garden and the Marra Farm P-Patch.

And we drank fresh-pressed Marra Farm apple cider! We washed and quartered the apples, cranked the cider grinder, and then pressed the pulp through to make sweet, tangy cider. The press ran the entire afternoon and every drop was thoroughly enjoyed!

Kids of all ages (and the young at heart) enjoyed pumpkin painting, apple bowling (using the Marra Farm Putt Putt hole), gunny sack races, story time with librarians from the South Park branch of the Seattle Public Library, and exploring the sensory wonders of the farm—including a ginormous sunflower head.

And what would a party be if there wasn't any music? The Rooftop Dogs bluegrass band and the Seattle Fandango Project serenaded the crowd with fun, harvest-time tunes and fantastic, foot-tapping music from Mexico.

This year’s Fall Fest was also an opportunity to honor the amazing ten years of work of Farmer Sue McGann, who will retire from Lettuce Link in early October. We welcomed two new staff members - our new Marra Farm coordinator, Kyong Soh, who started training with Sue in September, and Lettuce Link’s new Program Manager, Nate Moxley, who started work in July. Fall Fest happened to be the day before both Sue’s and Nate’s birthday, so we serenaded them with a festive, chaotic rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Community, delicious food, games, music, sunshine - we had all the ingredients for a good party. Thanks to all of you who were a part of Fall Fest in 2013, and we hope to see everyone again next year!

~ Amanda, Apple Corps Member with Lettuce Link

Learning about Pollinators

The beehives at Marra Farm emit a steady hum that fascinates children. We stop on our tours of the farm to watch the constant stream of bees on their way to and from the hive, some setting out to find nectar and pollen, others return to the hive laden with food they have collected.

When bees fly from flower to flower to collect their food, pollen sticks to their legs, allowing them to pollinate the plants they visit. Bees work nonstop during the summer to stockpile enough food to last them through the winter.

These beautiful cucumbers began as flowers cross-pollinated by bees.
Thanks, bees!

As we learn in our kids’ classes at Marra Farm, we humans should remember to thank the honeybees. We reap the benefits of their hard work, consuming not only their honey, but the literal fruits and vegetables of their labors.

Global Pollination

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 70% of the crops that produce 90% of the world’s food supply require pollination by bees.

A complex mix of factors has contributed to the catastrophic collapse of bee colonies around the world in recent years, including the widespread use of toxic agricultural chemicals, the decline of flowering plants, a rise in pollution, and even the globalization of food supplies – international shipping quickly spreads virulent fungal pathogens, which can wipe out entire hives.

Colony collapse disorder spells bad news for global food security. In the words of Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UNEP, “Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to 7 billion people.”

For a holistic look at the threats facing bees around the world as a result of current mainstream agricultural practices, consider watching the award-winning documentary More Than Honey.

A honeybee industriously collects pollen in the
Childrens’ Garden at the Seattle Community Farm.

Pollinator Lessons

Despite the grim future of our most vital pollinators, in our garden and nutrition education classes we focus on teaching children the important role bees play in the garden:

• We examine the Velcro straps on a student’s shoes and learn how bees also have sticky “Velcro” on their legs that collects pollen when they buzz from flower to flower. 

• We learn how a bee returning from a successful foraging mission performs a “waggle dance” to tell the other bees in the hive about the direction and distance to flower patches with abundant nectar and pollen. And then we do our own waggle dances! 

• We visit flowers in the garden and observe bees collecting nectar. Then we watch as pollen from one flower brushes off a bee’s legs onto another flower. 

• We learn about the different roles within the bee colony by dividing the class into worker bees, drone bees, and the queen bee, and then we fly around going "buzz buzz buzz!" 

By teaching the next generation about the importance of honeybees, we hope to instill appreciation for these buzzing friends and their habitats.

Bumblebees throng to the vibrant purple artichoke flowers.
The many artichokes at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm
are planted expressly to attract our bee friends.

-Cordelia, summer Children's Garden and Nutrition Education intern

Rainbows and Bravery Bites: Lessons from the Children's Garden

After 130 years of cultivation, the dirt at Marra Farm is like no other. 130 years is a long time. “It’s probably older than your grandma’s grandma”, I would tell the wonder-struck kids as they wandered through our sunflower forests this summer. “After 130 years, this dirt understands more about good health than we’re ever likely to know.”

Under the shade of these magnificent 10-foot tall sun-towers, we’ve been bonding with the dirt and cooking up its marvelous creations.

How do you grow magical sunflowers?
By using magical soil!

Here are seven lessons, tips, and grubby seeds left behind from our summer kids’ nutrition education classes at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm.

Rainbows Rock

We built our summer series with preschoolers around the theme of colors. We prepared a rainbow of recipes: purple kohlrabi and beet hummus, orange carrot and yam mish-mash, yellow squash and eggs -- you get the idea. The kids ate it all up! The theme of colors integrates beautifully with the MyPlate nutrition guidelines. Because really, who doesn’t want to eat a rainbow?

12th Annual Marra Farm Fall Fest

Lettuce Link invites you to come celebrate the harvest, South Park style!

Saturday, September 21, 12–3pm

Marra Farm: 9026 4th Ave S, 98108

* farm-fresh food * apple cider pressing * live music * children’s activities * farm tours *

Free and family friendly!

We’ll appreciate the amazing work of Farmer Sue McGann, who is retiring after 10 years at Marra Farm, and we’ll welcome new Marra Farm Coordinator Farmer Kyong Soh!

Volunteers needed: assist with kids’ activities; prep, grill, and serve food; wash dishes; help setup and cleanup, etc. Contact Amelia: amelias@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6731 for details or to sign up.

We hope to see you there!

South Park Putts Out

At Lettuce Link we've been lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we're featuring the writing of Bea, a Whitman College student who infused Lettuce Link with her artistic talents this summer.

When I first started my internship at Lettuce Link, I joyfully volunteered for my first project: the construction of a mini putt-putt golf hole. At first it seemed like an odd task – I thought my internship was about farming, not mini golf construction.

But I learned that as part of the National Night Out Against Crime, the group South Park Arts organizes a mini-golf course each year, and this year they had invited Lettuce Link to sponsor a Marra Farm hole.

As a naive, over-excited college student, I was ready to jump to any height for my awesome new internship. Conveniently ignoring the fact that my construction skills were somewhere between rusty and nonexistent, I began making lists of materials and costs.

In the first couple of weeks, I filled my office hours with brainstorming, and assumed that one day soon I would proudly display the completed project on my desk.

What I didn’t know then was that in the weeks to come, in between my time working at Marra Farm and the Seattle Community Farm, I would end up hauling electric drills and large pieces of wood as part of my daily commute.

Since my commute was two hours long and included multiple buses and a ferry, this was no small feat. As much as I loved it when a suited business man came up to me on the 7:05 am boat to tell me that the wooden two-by-four hanging out of my backpack was a safety hazard, I was a bit overwhelmed by the increasingly large scope of the project.

After several late nights finishing the construction, I could almost take a sigh of relief…almost. Yes, I had finished the construction process, but my plans were not complete – I still had to paint the hole. At this point, I was kicking myself for having such extravagant expectations for the project, and was just ready to be done with it. It took me five hours to complete the painting.

Finally, the hole was ready. We transported it (rising to the task of wrangling a large, unwieldy structure into a small car) to the Putt Putt event, where it delighted and challenged our mini-golfing South Park neighbors all evening.

Despite the unexpected challenges with the project, I survived it all. And, if I do say so, the Putt Putt golf hole looks awesome.

Thanks, Bea, for all your hard work on the project. We agree, it looks great! Check out the South Park Arts Facebook page for more pictures of the event.

Teaching and Learning in the Children's Garden

This summer at Lettuce Link we're lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we're featuring the writing of Cordelia, who recently moved to Seattle and is interning this summer with our Children's Garden and Nutrition Education programs.

My Food Roots

Coming from a family of “weekend farmers” - enthusiastic amateurs who spend a lot of time Googling topics such as ‘how to prune an olive tree’ - I grew up knowing the satisfaction that comes with eating food you have grown yourself, and subsequently have always been interested in issues of farming and food justice.

Like many, this interest translated into a desire for action and education – for myself as well as others. In college I edited the food section of my college newspaper and while studying abroad in Latin America, started a now-permanent column in the college paper where students studying abroad share what they have learned about the food cultures and food practices of their host country.

My other passion is working with children and I hope to become an elementary school teacher someday.

As a recent college graduate, I came to Seattle looking for a project that would allow me to continue my education about food justice and small scale, community farming while working with kids. As a summer intern with Lettuce Link’s Children’s Garden, I feel so lucky to have found an experience that allows me to engage both of these passions. 

Chickens Have Arrived!

For many months now, we've been busy planning, organizing, building, moving, discussing, and planning some more to bring chickens to Marra Farm. We’re happy to announce that the hens finally arrived at Marra Farm in late July, officially kicking off the start of a South Park chicken cooperative.

Our 17 happy hens are finally home, but getting them there took months of planning and years of dreaming and scheming.

Celebrating Marra Farm

At Lettuce Link's Giving Garden at Marra Farm this season, over 1500 volunteers have already turned beds, planted, watered, weeded, and harvested over 7900 pounds of produce. Wow!

Volunteers from Starbucks recently produced this short video featuring our own Sue McGann and the amazing work done at Marra Farm. Take a look:

Come volunteer with us at Marra Farm - we've still got thousands more pounds of vegetables to grow and harvest this year, and need your help!

South Park Community Corner

Marra Farm chard, photo by Steve Tracy

Do live or work in or around South Park and wonder how to get involved with Marra Farm? We've got a new page on the blog, the South Park Community Corner, with all the information you need. Come on over and say hello!

Thank You Amanda!

This summer at Lettuce Link we're lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we're featuring the writing of Victoria, who left her home in Texas to spend the summer in Seattle with Lettuce Link as a DukeEngage intern. 

It’s hard to imagine a job that involves monitoring school recess, teaching children how to cook, leading volunteers, and organizing a chicken cooperative. But Lettuce Link AmeriCorps member Amanda Horvath had that job and did it all.

After graduating from the University of Portland in 2012 with degrees in Spanish and Environmental Ethics and Policy, Horvath applied to work at Lettuce Link through Solid Ground’s Apple Corps AmeriCorps program, which requires 1700 hours of service in ten and a half months.

“I had spent my last couple of years working at our school’s organic garden and studying our food system and food policy,” Horvath said. “This position was a perfect mesh of being able to get my hands dirty and learning about what it takes to grow food.”

Horvath started work on September 1, 2012. During the fall, she worked in the Lettuce Link office at Solid Ground, performed outreach cooking demos at the Providence Regina House food bank in South Park, and worked at Marra Farm.

“When I started on the farm,” Horvath said, “I shadowed Sue to learn about how she led workparties and then slowly transitioned into leading workparties around the farm and doing more hands-on work.”

During the winter, Horvath increased her time in the office in order to organize a tour for the American Community Gardening Association Conference in August, and organized a chicken cooperative project for the South Park community.

“I had never run a project before and was really grateful [Lettuce Link Program Manager] Michelle let me do it,” Horvath said. “I learned that working with people is very challenging. I have a new appreciation for those who have the ability to work with people who have different interests, different ideas, and different ways of working and then bringing them together around a common goal.”

In addition to working in the office, Horvath spent Thursday afternoons at Concord International Elementary School, helping support the school’s move to schedule lunch after recess.

“I helped with the transition,” Horvath said, “by going to the playground, oftentimes monitoring behavior, and hanging out with the kids in the lunchroom. I also realized that the kids did not have sufficient time to eat lunch. They were given twenty minutes, but getting through the lunch line would sometimes take ten minutes. I started recording how many kids had not finished eating at the end of lunch and wrote a report for the staff. At the last staff meeting of the school year, they were unsure about continuing to scheduling lunch after recess, but committed to working on the issue of kids not having enough time to eat.”

When Lettuce Link’s garden classes started in the spring, Horvath co-taught fifth graders during the school day from Concord with Lettuce Link Education Coordinator Amelia Swinton and taught an afterschool class that incorporated cooking, nutrition, and gardening.

“My favorite role was working with the kids,” Horvath said. “I enjoyed the outdoor setting—getting to be a teacher but not necessarily being inside a classroom. It’s fun to see the kids be so excited about being in the garden. I definitely want to work with kids in the future. I’ll either get a degree in teaching or a master’s in public health that will be related to working with kids or working on childhood obesity or other child development issues.”

Horvath finished her AmeriCorps term on July 14, 2013.

“The biggest challenge,” Horvath said, “was grappling with the idea that I was doing a lot of community outreach and being involved with the community while knowing that I was leaving in ten and a half months. It’s such a short time period to build a relationship with the community and then just leave. It’s a really hard transition. This is something I’ve thought about a lot throughout my life, and I’m still struggling to figure out why I keep choosing to put myself in positions where I am involved for a short period and then leave. But through AmeriCorps I found my dream job I could do for a full year, and I loved it.”

Spring at Marra Farm: New Friends and New Food

Some of Lettuce Link's interns and volunteers have been guest blogging for us over these past few months. Today, we welcome the final words of Molly Bell, a UW student and Lettuce Link spring intern.

As I conclude my internship, I've realized that one of the most memorable aspects of working at Marra Farm these past few months has been witnessing the relentless power of volunteers. Every Saturday for four hours, rain or shine, volunteers from organizations, companies, and religious groups all over the greater Seattle area contribute to the prosperity of Marra Farm.

I have met new people, made connections with strangers, and am leaving with new friends. Many of the volunteers at Marra Farm are connected by their common interest in growing food. However, for others who have never had the chance to work on a farm or grow food, coming for a day of service with their company can inspire new interests.

Marra Farm reconnects people - including me - to food: where it comes from, how it is grown, and how to cook it. I learned to identify baby vegetable plant starts by only their first leaves. As a co-teacher with the children’s garden and nutrition classes, I tried new foods and cooked new dishes from different cultures, including Ethiopian- and Asian-inspired cuisines.

In an era dependent on technology, I found it very refreshing to escape the distractions of phones, TVs and computers each week and have the chance to meet and talk to new people, face to face.

My spring at Marra Farm has solidified my belief that food, whether eaten around a dinner table or grown at a farm, brings people together. Food undeniably unites people of all cultures. As I move on to new adventures, I know I’ll be growing and cooking food wherever I go.

Singing in the Garden

Some of Lettuce Link's interns and volunteers will be guest blogging for us over the next few months. Today, we welcome the words of Molly Bell, a UW student and Lettuce Link spring intern.

As summer draws near, Marra Farm is slowly growing greener and taller. The tiny starts we planted in March have sprouted and grown into heads of lettuce and flowering pea vines. In the Children’s Garden, the empty beds have transformed to an abundant garden full of vegetables (and a few weeds).

At the beginning of April, the students planted a variety of vegetables, including bok choy, kale, and cilantro. Each week, the children observed, watered, and weeded their individual plots. Now that their plots are ready for harvest, we are busy cooking up delicious and healthy snacks with their vegetables. We are also learning together about good nutrition, healthy soil, and all the creatures that bring life to the garden.

The young learners don’t just work the whole time. We also play games and sing songs. My favorite song is the leafy green rhythm that goes something like:

“Leafy greens, so good for me. My eyes, bones, muscles, my teeth. Leafy greens, they‘re so healthy, and give me lots of energy!”

We use songs and games as teaching tools to help students focus in the outdoor environment. Since they spend most of their learning time inside the classroom, kids often associate being outside with free playtime. Educational songs and games channel their excitement and rambunctious energy.

Using the garden as a classroom allows students to learn in different ways. Digging in the dirt gives students a hands-on, personal experience with the subject matter. Playing games such as “I Spy” encourages their observational skills.

Plus the games and songs are a fun way to engage with the activities and remember things – for both the students and the adults!

Another favorite garden song of ours is “Dirt Made My Lunch” by the Banana Slug String Band – take a listen and sing along!

A Lifetime of Gardening: Learn Once, Get Forever

Yao Fou Chao, preparing to weedwhack, and Sue McGann at Marra Farm

At Lettuce Link, one way we engage community members in growing and sharing fresh produce is by supporting the work of Giving Gardeners across the city.

A Giving Garden can take many forms. It may be a garden plot dedicated to growing food for donation in a P-Patch or other community garden. It may be a group of volunteers who glean from their garden plots for donation. Or it may simply be a community of people that grow and share produce together.

Yao Fou Chao works with all types of Giving Gardens. As a Mien immigrant and Washington State University Extension garden educator, Yao Fou primarily works with Mien, Lao, and Hmong gardeners. At the Mien Community Garden at Marra Farm and three other P-Patches in Seattle, he teaches gardeners how to grow food in Seattle, where the climate is very different from the highlands of Laos.

Yao Fou has been a farmer his whole life and is eager to share his knowledge. Sometimes Yao Fou has to tell someone "you can't grow that here." But he’s quick to help that person find a different vegetable to grow instead.

He also shares resources widely. If he gets bitter melon seeds that won't grow here due to the cooler summers, he then finds a garden in Yakima that will take them. There's no reason to waste good seeds just because they won't grow here!

Yao Fou knows his community, and he knows what they like to eat! He serves his community by donating from his own garden and encouraging the gardeners he works with to donate their extra produce to the Beacon Ave Food Bank and the ACRS Food Bank in the International District. People that visit these food banks delight in the familiar varieties of Asian greens, cucumbers, beans, and squash.

Yao Fou also serves his community by teaching and sharing his knowledge. He is particularly concerned that Asian youth learn not just the skills, but also the importance of growing food. "Learn once, get forever," he says, expressing his conviction that learning to garden is a skill that lasts a lifetime.

The Mien Community Garden and the P-Patches Yao Fou works with are lucky to have his expertise. At Lettuce Link, we’re lucky to work with him, too!

~ Mariah Pepper, Harvest Coordinator

The Marra Farm Ecosystem

Some of Lettuce Link's interns and volunteers will be guest blogging for us over the next few months. Today, we welcome the words of Rachel Sofferin, a children's garden and nutrition education volunteer.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms and the nonliving components of their environment (such as air and water) that interact as a system.

Ecosystems are defined by both the interactions between different organisms and the interactions between organisms and their environment. Ecosystems can come in any size, but usually encompass specific, limited spaces.

The specific ecosystem under discussion recently is that of the four acres of preserved farmland in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood known as Marra Farm. Here, groups of second and fifth grade students from neighboring Concord Elementary School bring classroom learning to life. Students identify components of the farm’s ecosystem and learn, hands-on, just how connected everything is.

Before spring break, students in Mr. Hunt’s class planted their garden experiments. After a few weeks there is much to observe. Crouched figures huddle around the raised garden beds and speculate about the height of sprouts. They carefully count and record the number of plant leaves in their field books and make other observations about their experiment and control gardens.

On the other side of the fence in the Giving Garden, volunteers from local businesses, religious communities, and schools work tirelessly to cut grass, weed beds, and mix nutrient-rich compost into the soil. Local food banks receive the organic produce grown here - over 22,000 pounds a year!

As the students learned, Marra Farm is a thriving ecosystem of plants, animals, and people. Come join the ecosystem! Volunteer in the Giving Garden, donate gardening tools and supplies, or stroll through the farm on your daily walk. 

The Marra Farm ecosystem is constantly growing and evolving - how can you be a part of it?