On Saturday, April 25, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ P-Patch Community Gardening Team hosted its annual Earth Day Resource Fair for community. Community members and fellow gardeners from across Seattle gathered at the Northwest African American Museum for gardening related workshops, seed swaps, sharing resources like organic fertilizer and rodent mitigation, live music, and refreshments.

In Seattle, there are 90 plus garden gates and arbors punctuating neighborhoods across the city from Lake City and Bitter Lake to Hillman City and Longfellow Creek. Earth Day may just be a headline for some, but in the world of the P-Patch Community Gardening Program at DON, it’s more tactile than that. It smells like compost and sounds like a dozen languages trading advice on growing tomatoes. It looks like a child holding a seed packet as if it were a treasure map.

And as the Department of Neighborhoods officially celebrates its 35 years this year, we reflect that for three and a half decades neighbors have shaped Seattle through our department, and tended spaces. P-Patches are the clearest evidence of that shaping. They grew because neighbors asked for land to cultivate.

The Resource Fair was a reminder that cities are ecosystems. They require tending and nutrients. They require music and laughter and translation, and sometimes a sturdy tote bag to carry it all home. Thanks for another great event!

On behalf of the entire DON P Patch Community Gardening Team, I want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your presence at our recent event. Your enthusiasm and energy added immeasurable value, making the occasion truly successful! Once again, thank you for being a special partner @ P Patch’s annual Earth Day Resource Fair!
-Kenya Fredie, P Patch Program Supervisor

Thanks to our vendors and partners: City of Seattle Office Labor Standards, Seattle City Light, Department of Neighborhoods Outreach, Seattle Public Library, King County Environmental Health Services, King County Seed Lending Library, King County Public Health, King County Gardener Program, GROW NW, Tilth Alliance, Washington State Seed Library Network, Washington Native Bee Society, Master Gardener’s Growing Groceries, Tilth Alliance Garden Hotline, Seattle Giving Garden Network, Byrd Barr Place, Walt’s Organic Fertilizer, Urban Feed & Garden, Uprising Seeds, Eden Brothers, Johnny’s Selected