Work Party Saturday December 21st 12-3PM

Season's greetings U-Heights P-Patch volunteers! 

(and nothing says Christmas more than shoveling dirt, right?)

Paula Perkins has kindly agreed to host our last formal work-party of 2013 on Saturday, December 21st from 12-3pm

We realize that work-party dates and times may not work for everyone, so if you have the time and inclination, feel free to work on-site when it is convenient for you.  

If you need access to the tools in the toolshed, please email Geoff at geoffberg@yahoo.com or call him at 206-422-6512

Wooden framed beds in the north section can be weeded before adding soil to them.

Soil from the large pile near our shed can be moved via wheelbarrow into any of the beds.  We suggest to ensure all beds have been filled only 3 inches on the bottom, rather than fill beds the beds completely.  We will likely need to amend that soil with lighter material later.  

Please be sure to write your hours in the white notebook in the shed. 

If we don't see you beforehand, best wishes for the holidays:)  

We will keep you posted for upcoming work parties in 2014!

WORK PARTY 12/1/13 12-4 PM

Greetings, volunteers!  

Thanks to Seth Wendzel and student volunteers of Seattle Parks Outdoor Opportunities for  very productive work-parties on November 16th & 24th.  

Our irrigation trenches were back-filled (thanks to Sandy Pernitz and the P-Patch office for hooking our plumbing up) and our pathways were weeded.  You folks got an awesome amount of work done!

I can't promise weather as good as last Sunday, but I will be out at U-Heights P-Patch between 12-4pm this coming Sunday 12/1/13.  We will be moving some more soil into the raised beds and cleaning out and up, in preparation for moving our toolshed.   

As usual, bring some work-gloves. 

Check out Photos from our last Work Party!

Thanks to all the volunteers who are helping make this renovation happen.  We are getting closer and closer to a brand new, revamped, beautiful P-Patch with your help!  

Keep the effort going and feel free to invite friends for some good old fashioned community building and outdoor exercise. 

Work Party Nov 10th 12-4PM

Greetings U-Heights P-Patch volunteers!

We had a great turn-out at our last work-party, with soil being moved into raised beds, a sign recruiting passer-byes was installed and work was done on our irrigation system. 

Work-parties will continue through November on these dates:

Sunday, Nov. 10th, 12-4pm

Saturday, Nov. 16th 2-4pm

Sunday, Nov. 24th, 12-4pm

We will keep on moving soil into the raised beds, and then put gravel into the pathways. 

If you have a wheelbarrow or access to one, please bring it. 

Questions about how you can help, even if you can't make the work-parties? Geoff @geoffberg@yahoo.com or 206-633-2502

P-Patch Work Party Sunday Oct 27 12-4 PM

What's Spooky is how close we are to accomplishing a complete overhaul of this fabulous community garden!

The weather should be good this Sunday, so bring your work-gloves and get some exercise. 

We will be moving soil into the raised beds, finishing the irrigation system and building the last two beds.  Come on by, 12-4 this Sunday if you can.  

Bring friends and family... the more the merrier!

Work Party October 13th 12-4 PM

What better way to enjoy this gorgeous fall weather than to join folks for a work-party this Sunday, October 13th from 12-4 PM. 

This is a great way to enjoy the crisp air, get some exercise, and build community!  

We plan to complete work on our irrigation system and move soil into our raised beds. 

 We will have tools, but please bring work gloves and any friends or family that are interested.

Hope to see everyone there! 

September 29th P-Patch Work Party

Well Folks, things are really shaping up here at the U-Heights P-Patch!  We are reaching the tail end of a total overhaul of this fantastic community garden.  We have completely re-designed the layout and rebuilt all the garden beds.  Check out our work and some of the committed people who have put in the necessary elbow grease. 

 

Building Beds!

It has been quite awhile coming, but be are finally ready to start construction of the U-Heights P-Patch garden beds!

Our next work-party is Sunday, June 23rd, 10:00 am - 3pm.

We will be working in teams to construct raised bed frames.  We will provide tools, but you should bring your own work-gloves, if you have them.

Once the beds are constructed, we will need volunteers to do shovel and wheel barrow work to fill up the beds with soil.  That's something you can do on your own schedule - but remember to keep track of your hours!

Work Party Posponed

We have postpone the work-party scheduled for this Sunday, May 5th.  UHCC has decided to have the site re-graded to provide a better surface for our gardens. 

Unfortunately, this will delay when we can build the new beds and of course when we can start planting. 

We will send out send out a notice as soon as the site is ready and we know when the lumber for the raised beds will be delivered.

Check back soon for more developments...

Work Party May 5th

There is a work-party planned for May 5th to start raking and plotting new raised beds! Come one, come all. Bring your gloves and gardening boots as our plot is all dirt now and may be muddy. Time: 10 am - 2 pm.

Level Site!

Our P-Patch site is now leveled! A huge thank you to Frank Shields of ExcavatorsNW for donating time and equipment to move all that earth. And here's a call out to the volunteers who showed up on a super rainy Sunday to help out! Keep an eye out for updates about future work parties to build our raised beds and planning meetings to, well, make plans.  Dates TBA.

And the Rebuild begins!

Next Sunday, April 7, there will be a work party between 10 and 2pm.  We will have an excavator on-site and will be leveling the site, moving the compost bins and removing more of the boxwood hedges.  The next work-parties will have us building our raised garden beds! Come and start rebuilding the University Heights P-Patch!

Work Party Report for Sun, March 24

At the last work party we isposed of most of the plastic lumber and other debris on the site, as well as the boxwood hedge, to the north of the garden.  Our fearless leader, Geoff, has been arranging with UHCC for the last two weeks for a excavator to come in and level our site (and move our collected garden soil) in preparation for building our raised beds.  The good news is that Frank Shields of Excavators NW has agreed to donate his time for our project.  Frank was involved in Ballard P-Patch's renovation last year, and  will be a very valuable resource. Look for our upcoming excavation work party.

Work Party... with sun?

Well, sunny is what they're predicting.  Good weather for a work-party, which we shall have between 10am and 2 pm, Sunday, March 24.  Bring work-gloves and any food and beverages that you wish.  We will be cutting out a boxwood hedge, hauling organic debris and ripping out the last of the garden bed frames.  Also, someone interested in making maps can work on tracing our water system.

Further good news, UHCC has signed the grant contract with the Dept of Neighborhoods, so work can be done on the overall outside renovation. The volunteer hours we put in go toward getting the matching funds from the grant.

Another planning meeting is coming soon - and if you've been wanting to be a work party leader there will be a chance to jump on the band-wagon as we plan our spring work parties.  Keep an eye on our calendar!

Changing Gears

Everybody has done so much good work in the garden that we have canceled the work party this Sat. We just don't have enough deconstruction work left before we reassess and turn toward planning the rebuilding. There will be a weeknight meeting coming up soon where we will be presenting design ideas, gathering gardener feedback and making some decisions about the rebuild. Keep an eye open for that - it will be on the calendar and posted here as soon as we have a date.

Thank you for all your hard work!

Work Party: Moving Mountians of Wood!

We had a great turn out today - around 20 people showed up.  We zipped through the piles of wood, loading it all into the giant construction dumpster in about two hours.  We then turned to shoveling topsoil and moving gravel. The weather was lovely - near 60 degrees and only at the end did we get a spat of rain.

We are coming to the end of the deconstruction phase - keep your eyes open for meetings coming up to talk about reconstruction and design ideas. Our calender will have them as soon as we find dates and we'll also post them on the site. In the meantime, we have two more work parties scheduled in March, so if you couldn't join us today we hope to see you next time.

 

Upcoming Work Party

This Saturday, March 2, is our next work party.  Our main goal will be to move the wood piles into bins that will be provided.  We will also be continuing to move dirt and gravel.

There will be snacks donated by Chaco Canyon Cafe, but you may want to bring your own water and other snacks or lunch items.  Work gloves are a must for moving the lumber and if you want to bring a hammer or crowbar for removing nails that would be great.

Hope to see you there!

Work Party Feb 9

The rain held out and we had a great turnout for our work party on Saturday, 2/9. We had 17 volunteers, including four children. We made great progress! In the south end of the garden, efforts were  focused on salvaging all top soil by moving it from the beds into large mounds. And in the north end, deconstruction efforts continued. The crew here relocated gravel, dismantled beds and removed rebar (which was not easy; thanks, Susan!)

The next work party is scheduled for Saturday, March 2 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. Tasks will include moving top soil into piles for later re-use, disassembling any remaining beds and moving gravel in the pathways.

A huge thank you for everyone who came out. We had an impressive turnout and made great progress!

Up Coming Work Party

Next Saturday, February 9th, will be the next work party for the U-Heights P-Patch. Remember to bring work gloves, sturdy shoes for tramping and digging wet soil, refreshments for yourself and/or to share and maybe a Farmer's Market Basket so you can snag some fresh veggies and other Market goodies.

Work Party Jan 26

We had a pretty good turn out for a rainy morning.  Our crew manged to take apart most of the raised beds and moved a lot of gravel and topsoil.

Thank you to Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe for donating coffee and apple cake to keep us all going.

A New Garden for a New Year

Continuing the transformation of the University Heights P-Patch from last year, gardeners met on January 10th to review the progress so far and to plan work parties for the coming spring.  We decided to send some scouts out to other P-Patches to investigate features and designs that might be options for our new garden.  In addition, we set up five work party dates and created an orientation meeting for work party leaders.