Weather Slows Seattle Community Farm's First Growing Season

Grade-schoolers from the Rainier Valley Boys & Girls Club yesterday gathered at the half-acre plot, which celebrated its grand opening this weekend, to paint rocks and plant radishes, green onions, and beets. Staffers from sponsoring agency Lettuce Link , a division of Solid Ground, explained to the young volunteers that the farm will eventually provide fresh produce for community residents.

"One child in particular was like 'This place is going to be awesome,'" Lettuce Link program manager Michelle Bates-Benetua says.

That's a message staffers are working hard to convey to area residents. The project has been in the planning stages since 2009, but its progress has lately been slowed by the lingering cold, wet weather that's afflicted farmers and home gardeners across the region.

"It still looks more like dirt than produce," spokesman Mike Buchman says of the former hard-clay parking lot.

Bates-Benetua concedes it's difficult to rally enthusiasm for an empty field. "I think when the plants grow a little bit bigger, that will entice people to come by," Bates-Benetua says.

The Seattle Community Farm, which has been aggressive in its neighborhood outreach, initially plotted its crops according to requests filed in community meetings at which attendees could indicate their preferences by affixing stickers to photographs of various vegetables and herbs. The weather has forced organizers to tweak their plans slightly by scrapping peas and other early-season plantings for more hardy greens.

Bates-Benetua hopes the first radishes will be ready for picking in a month. She's also counting on other improvements to draw more neighbors to the farm. "Things like signage will help," she says. "We haven't been able to put in an overhead shelter yet."

Farm organizers also hope to find different ways to engage surrounding communities. Bates-Benetua reports that a few older women from East Africa were disappointed when they discovered there was food at the grand opening and they hadn't been asked to bring coffee.

"Opportunities like that will help the community feel more ownership," Bates-Benetua says, adding the farm plans to ask neighbors to contribute to a mural project. "There's a lot we can do."

The farm is located in the nation's most ethically diverse zip code, so organizers say they've been diligent about providing translators at farm events and printed materials in multiple languages. For programs such as its free gardening class, which convenes again Tuesday, volunteers go door-to-door to invite residents to participate.

"It's been a long road," Bates-Benetua says. "But the planting is just starting, so we feel we're just starting as well."

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