A legacy of gardens for us

 

 

Our city is aptly nicknamed the Emerald City and we Seattleites sure do love our trees and gardens, specifically our P-Patches. "Forty years ago a group of neighborhood activists and a city council member decided that fallow farmland in the middle of the city should stay as farmland. Thus was born the P-Patch Community Gardening Program, with the “P” commemorating the Picardo Family who's farm became this first P-Patch," the first of eighty-two smaller gardens sprinkled throughout our neighborhoods.

Last week, we decided to meet and have a picnic dinner here with the other halves of some of these guys, the Pike Place Fish wives and kiddos. I'll let Sarah do the introductions and wow you with her photos. Join us for a tour will you? Ita bean will lead the way down a grassy path, Gaia will be the keeper and watchwoman over all that is fertile within these 300 plots of magical wonderland.

photo from Sarah's blog

 



 

 

The amount of bees, butterflies and birdsong were what really struck me as I strolled through 98,000 square feet of gardens.  It's not something we hear everyday in the city and I relished the sounds and flurry of flying activity.  I especially love this glimpse of my girl peeking into the bee yard.   We're secret admirers of apiaries, since we want honeybees someday.   It was easy to take a picture of one of the buzzing girls because they were everywhere.   I love to watch them pollinating about.  In addition to bees I would also like to order one of these moss gardens in my future.  Oh yeah, and a cow crossing sign too, thank you.

 

 

 

My children spent most of their time playing "house" in the impressive children's garden bean pole structure.  What a fabulous secret shady hiding spot this will be in a few months (please add one of those to my future garden as well, thank you.)  Really though, it's time to eat as our little berry hostess declares.  Be sure to eat your dinner of berries so you can have berries for dessert with one of Dina's love-ly creations.  Did you ever know rice krispie treats taste amazing with blueberries?  Me niether.

My girl would like to proudly show off her newly aquired photography skills.  She apprehensively asked, "Will you put them on the blog?"   Of course!  She just learned how to use the macro button on Mama's camera and I'm loving her perspective.  Maybe Papa's late work nights aren't so bad after all.  As the sun sets and my children start rubbing their eyes, we wander through rows and rows of various cultivated colors and textures.  I'm chatting with other women who share similar experiences and I am so very grateful to the Picardo Family for leaving their legacy to us tonight.

 

 

from the Picardo Farm website