Alleycat Acres

The urban farm, as it's called, is the newer of two. The first is located in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood, and I will have to stop by because it sounds amazing. The Central District farm is in the beginning phases. I asked how they came across the spots and was told that the first farm's owner contacted the Alleycats himself, saying he had some vacant land, and wanted them to use it. The more recent aquisition of land came after some scouting of the Central District located a vacant lot. The owner agreed and the land was cleared. Old cement chunks form walls and walkways, rocks cleared from the soil make up gravel paths, an old support beam on the corner may one day become a welcome sign. The main issue with vacant lots seems to be water. This site, for instance, has a solar powered pump that pumps water from a cistern through the garden hose. The other site apparently uses a series of garden hoses connected up with someone's backyard tap (volunteered as a source of course). In order to fill the cistern, however, the Alleycats cart water in a barrel from down the street. This took most of the two hours I was helping out tonight.

While the cistern was being filled, I was put to work making signs saying 'welcome' and 'community garden'. I was told that the site has been the target of break-ins, which is sad because they're really providing a benefit to the community and breaking into the shed wouldn't really provide much in the way of 'loot' but would set back the work of the Alleycats and badly damage morale, I would think. So, let's hope my signs do the trick. The hope was that pointing out that the farm was the community's would discourage vandalism, theft and damage. We'll see. It was interesting though because many people who lived nearby stopped to talk to us as we were working. The area is in transition and you see a WIDE variety of people passing by. I hear the other farm is in a more quiet, more residential area. I'm not sure which is better for urban agriculture, honestly.

I'm excited to finally have an opportunity to be a part of something I feel is a GOOD IDEA. Why not use vacant land to grow things? And why not grow things we can eat?! So, I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me about this in the future. Enough for now, time for bed!

The other day, I finally got out on Danny's bike.  It felt awesome.  I should do that more before winter hits....  and Saturday, I went to yoga in the park.  I'll have to write about that too, it was AWESOME.  Ships coming in, breeze (too cold....but oh well) coming through, waking up your body on a Saturday morning...  perfect placement to hop over to Pike Place for a coffee and piroshky after...