White Center Now: The blog about White Center

This garden has teeth! The New Start High School Shark Garden hosted a community open house last Saturday; thanks to Gill Loring for the photos.

It was more than a chance to see the community garden and those who tend it – it was also a resource fair, with local nonprofits on hand.

The garden was founded in 2015; you can read its story here. (Scroll down that page to see how the garden has donated literally tons of food to the White Center Food Bank!)

Nature and art together made for quite a show at New Start High School over the weekend. Gill Loring shares the photos from the celebration of art at the school’s renowned community garden:

The garden has an amazing backstory – including the fresh-grown produce it donates to the White Center Food Bank, more than a ton last year alone!

As we end the holiday weekend – a few splashes of color, photographed by Gill Loring:

Thanks to White Center Library Guild president Astha Tada for the report and member Gill Loring for the photos – here’s how the guild’s Plant Sale went this past Friday:

Thanks to the wonderful support and team effort of many individuals, the White Center Library will have money to support their programming efforts, especially targeting our youth. In 4 hours, $589 was earned selling outdoor and indoor plants, garden tools, garden books, and children’s books, etc. A number of community members gave a little extra to support our much-beloved library.

It was a fun time with lots of conversations as individuals came to peruse, buy and ask
plant questions. Some mystery plants we were not able to identify were sold to adventuresome buyers.

The White Center Library Guild hopes to continue this fun event next year. We are a small group of
dedicated individuals and can always use more members. Join us! Make a difference!

Gardeners – happening tomorrow!

Gardening weather is here, and it’s perfect timing for this event coming up Friday (April 27):

The library is at 1409 SW 107th.

Just two days away!

Friday afternoon, be at the White Center Library (1409 SW 107th) to support the guild and get your gardening season into gear!

From the White Center Food Bank:

Community garden plots are available at White Center Heights Park, open to White Center residents who need garden space.

Please contact Mara Bernard – Community Garden Manager at the White Center Food Bank for more information.

All ages and experience levels welcome! – Mara@WhiteCenterFoodBank.org

Last month, we brought you the story of new owners for Village Green Nursery – and today, it’s their official reopening day. We stopped by for a photo of Noah and Sarah in the rain – after all, April showers bring May flowers. They’re open until 6 pm, and again 10 am-6 pm tomorrow, at 10223 26th SW.

(Photos courtesy Village Green Nursery)

Village Green Nursery is reopening under new ownership. One year after its longtime proprietor Vera Johnson closed it and moved, we received this announcement from its new owner, Noah Trutzschler, who plans to open next month:

Announcing the grand re-opening of Village Green Perennial Nursery, White Center’s premier provider of organic herbs, veggies, fruit & plant starts.

HI, I’m Noah, the new owner of the Village Green Nursery. My partner, Sarah, and I are in the process of setting up the nursery to its former beauty, and plan on continuing the tradition of providing the community with healthy and beautiful plants. Both of us love to garden, but have never tried anything as ambitious as starting our own nursery before. We have big shoes to fill, but are looking forward to journey.

We will be specializing in organic herbs, veggies, fruit, plant starts, and small ornamentals. We’re in love with heirloom tomatoes and think you’ll love them too, which is why we have 12 different types of heirloom tomatoes. Want fresh basil for pesto, edible flowers to add a little zest to your plate, or Italian herbs for your latest culinary creation? We’ve got you covered. In fact, we currently we have over 70 different varieties of edible plants to choose from, and will keep our website up to date with the complete list as we continue to add more.

Prefer to start your own plants from seeds? We not only have local organic seeds, but are the only nursery we know of in the area that has Cow Pots. Haven’t heard of Cow Pots? We hadn’t either until we started research for the nursery. These are a biodegradable, natural, and sustainable method for quickly transplanting plants because it’s the biodegradable pot you plant. We’ve tested them in our garden, and are seeing amazing root growth (just as promised).

Our Grand Re-Opening will be April 22nd and April 23rd, 2017 from 10:00-6:00:

– The first 10 customers will get a free gift.
– We want to encourage kids to get outside, dig in the dirt, and eat healthy. So, the first 50 kids 12 and under can pick their very own free organic fruit or veggie start (think rainbow carrots, kids sized cucumbers, or edible flowers).
– For the adults, we’re offering 1 free plant with the purchase of 10 plants.
– We are also featuring the work of 3 Seattle artists:

*Peggy Johnson creates oil paintings of garden scenes, meant to invoke feeling, awaken memories, and nudge the viewer to see things in a new way.

*Dehanna Jones is a native Seattleite who specializes in colorful blown glass floats.

*Jessica Wilkinson’s creative spin on ceramic pots is sure to put a smile on your face.

For a sneak peek at the featured artists’ work, take a look at the Garden Art section of our website. Every month we plan to feature new art, and new artists. If you’re a local artist that would like to be featured, contact us at agentsarahy@yahoo.com and share an example of your work.

Please visit VillageGreenGarden.com for more info, or better yet, come see us in person April 22nd or 23rd!

Noah Trutzschler
Sarah Young

Village Green is at 10223 26th SW.

Spring is here, and that means it’s time to dig in. Mara Bernard, White Center Food Bank garden coordinator, has a message to share:

Just wanting to get the word out again for this year, that community garden beds are available in White Center Heights Park. Anyone interested should contact gardens@whitecenterfoodbank.org to get more information. Signup ends April 9th.

P.S. Check out the White Center Giving Garden Facebook page!

This Thursday, it’s time for the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council‘s next meeting. President Barbara Dobkin shares the preview:

North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting
When: 7 pm Thursday, February 6
Where: North Highline Fire Station (1243 SW 112th)

We are pleased to be hosting Grace Stiller, President of the non-profit group “Weed Warriors.” Weed Warriors work with cities and communities to reduce the negative impact of invasive, noxious weeds in public places, like parks, trails, and open spaces. 
The program offers education about invasive weeds, methods for control or eradication, and provides opportunities where volunteers participate in “hands-on” restoration projects; thus improving the environmental health, and aesthetic and recreational qualities of our public places.

We are also pleased to have a presentation from Hannah Kett, Neighborhood Program Manager for Sustainable Seattle. Ms. Kett will be providing information on plans for the introduction of rain gardens and urban gardens at Holy Family School in White Center. She is also interested in ideas for where these types of projects could be located in the greater North Highline community.

White Center Storefront Deputy BJ Myers will be on hand to provide updates on crime trends.

Please plan on joining us for this informative community discussion – All are welcome –

Community Matters – Be Involved – Be Informed – Be Heard

It’s a beautiful day, perfect for beautiful photos. White Center resident Sarah Beard kindly shared hers (thank you!) from the recent Village Green Tour of Gardens, presented by Village Green Perennial Nursery, and this seems like the right time to admire the peaking-at-midsummer scenes:

Mark your calendar! Here’s the official poster:

On Monday, we reported local entrepreneur Vera Johnson‘s decision to change the name of the White Center garden tour she is sponsoring July 20th, after WC Jubilee Days asked her to do so, in a way that touched off a Facebook firestorm. Sara Sanford has followed up with an open letter to Jubilee Days organizers and asked if we would publish it. (Note that “today” in her letter refers to Monday.):

Dear David Krause, Greg McCorkle, Michael McGrath, Peter Mort, and Karen Padden,

Seven months after moving to White Center and immediately falling head-over-heels for the neighborhood, I had the opportunity to be one of three co-chairs for the annual Jubilee Days’ Spring Gala. It was truly a labor of love that ultimately gave me and the other volunteers the great gift of meeting vibrant generous community members we might not have encountered otherwise. Vera Johnson was one of these gracious humbling individuals.

In the midst of the chaos that typically accompanies community events and fundraisers, Vera Johnson – a stranger to me until then – found out we were in need of some last-minute miscellany. She and her employee threw together centerpieces and decorations and donated auction items to raise funds for the Jubilee Days event. After giving away her own time and materials, she refused a free ticket to the event and insisted on buying tickets for herself and several friends. I’m fairly sure that in the course of the evening we broke one of her vases and may have lost some decorations. She never cared. She thanked us for all our hard work and went on to run the Garden Tour that had been handed over to her at the last moment. I do not know all the behind-the-scenes that produced this garden tour – but I know the overall community impact was positive, as all events at her nursery have been.

Today, White Center Jubilee Days Board publicly posted a Cease and Desist letter to Vera Johnson on Facebook. They had already sent this letter to her in the mail, and she had received it Friday. She hadn’t even had an entire business day to respond before her name and business had been dragged through the mud by an organization she had assisted in the past. Again, I was not privy to all the behind-the- scenes action on this either – I just know that the overall impact on the community has been nothing but toxic.

As noted in the thread that ensued, there are endless ways to discuss where and how and why this was the poor choice.

There’s the technical/legal side of it all:

Read the rest of this entry »

By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

Nine months after the last White Center Jubilee Days festival and three months before the next one, the local business owner who organized last year’s WC Garden Tour in connection with the festival says she’ll run a tour under a different name this time. This, after the Jubilee Days board went public with accusations via Facebook, and sent her a letter demanding that she stop using the name “White Center Garden Tour.”

We contacted Village Green Perennial Nursery owner Vera Johnson for comment after readers pointed us to this post on the Jubilee Days FB page, accusing her of focusing last year’s tour promotion on her business instead of WCJD. Festival organizers also published a cease-and-desist letter on the Jubilee Days website. Here’s how Johnson answered our inquiry:

The WC Garden Tour was started by Peggy Weiss 20 years ago (she and I are in direct contact). Peggy fully supports me taking over the garden tour, as an educational tool/experience and fun community event.

However, to avoid any community conflict, I’d prefer to be respectful to the people who the tour is intended for, which are the gardeners and tourgoers; I will change the name of my garden tour to the ‘Village Green Tour of Gardens’… in White Center’ and move forward towards a happy and joyous gardening season and look about the gardens we have already lined up, visiting the gardens, and connecting with the tourgoers.

The ‘Village Green Tour of Gardens’… in White Center’ will still take place on July 20th; all information will remain the same.

According to the Jubilee Days website, the festival is having its own garden tour on July 14th.

From new garden manager Mara at the White Center Food Bank:

Been looking for garden space? The White Center Food Bank’s new garden manager Mara is “wanting to get the word out about the availability of garden beds for community use. These beds are FREE, with only a commitment to care for the space as it’s provided. Tool checkout available.

Anyone interested, or with questions, can contact Mara at gardens@whitecenterfoodbank.org to find out more.

(2012 White Center Garden Tour photo by Nick Adams for WCN)
Announced by Vera Johnson of Village Green Perennial Nursery:

July 20th, 2013, 10 am. FREE!!!

White Center Garden Tour has been a much-anticipated tour for 18 years now, drawing tourgoers from the Olympic peninsula all the way to Portland.

10 gardens will be featured on this tour, 2 having rain gardens. Rain gardens are a very important way of handling our rain fall to prevent erosion and allow for water filtering into the soil./

Come and learn about how this works!
Maps will be made as a download file from the Facebook page as well as online at villagegreenpn.com – more info to follow soon.

This is entirely a community supported event. We get all of our money to host this event by sponsorship from many local businesses. This is the 19th year, born out of an idea from Peggy Weiss, who handled this event on her own for many years.
It’s back as an independent event, full of educational gardens and community building. We hope you enjoy this event.

Here’s the Facebook page for the WCGT.

(White Center Now/West Seattle Blog video of Ciscoe at Village Green in April 2012)
Again this year, fabled gardener/broadcast personality Ciscoe Morris will visit Village Green Perennial Nursery, announces owner Vera Johnson:

Ooh-la-la! Ciscoe Morris, renowned gardening expert, will be coming to the Village Green Perennial Nursery again this spring.

That very same day, members of the National Wildlife Federation will be here to explain how to certify your backyard as an official wildlife habitat.

Ciscoe is the author of a bestselling gardening book, and he hosts the “Gardening with Ciscoe” radio show on 97.3 FM Kiro radio and a weekly TV show on KING 5. He leads garden tours around the world, and he still somehow finds time to tend his own garden here in Seattle. Ciscoe is full of personality and wisdom, and he is sure to make you laugh. This is not an event you’ll want to miss!

The visit is set for 1 pm May 19th; Village Green is at 10223 26th SW.

(Photos by Nick Adams for WCN)
This year’s White Center Garden Tour is a wrap! Coordinator Vera Johnson of Village Green Perennial Nursery (one of the tour stops) says today’s tour participants voted on their favorites, which won prizes as a result, and the one garden photographed for WCN came in first – #7, Russell Hodgkinson and Shelley Poncy‘s garden in White Center near 17th and 106th.

They get a $15 Village Green gift certificate and a 4-pound bag of fertilizer. Here’s one more view:

(The vintage trailer, we’re told, is a recent addition.) In third place, receiving a $10 gift certificate, was the Barton Street P-Patch; and in second place, with a $15 gift certificate, was garden #6 on the tour map.