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It’s almost time again for the 9th Annual Ballard P-Patch Art in the Garden party. Enjoy a wonderful walk through the garden while listening to some awesome musicians and viewing amazing artworks…all for sale…by our local artists.

Have a beer and brat on the patio and dessert at our infamous bake sale. This year we will be adding a silent auction and a “Bacchus Crown” tent, where you can make your own crown from flowers, herbs and ribbons.

Last year was loads of fun and one of the best local events in the city. Come join us this year. Visit our website at BallardGardenParty.com. Here you will find the artists and the musician lineup, pictures of last years event and more.

Ballard Art in the Garden party

Ballard P-Patch: NW 85th and 25th NW
Saturday, July 18th
10am to 6pm

Free Parking and Admission

Schedule of Events:
· Live music 10am through 6pm
· Over 20 local artists displaying and selling their works
· Free coffee & doughnuts &10% off art 10-11am.
· Free hotdogs and lemonade for the kids.
· Free door prizes every hour on the hour.
· Wine & cheese tasting by local artisans.
· Beer & brat garden.
· Bake sale including yummy whole pies and assorted pastries.
· Bacchus Crown Making.
· Silent Auction.

What’s not to like about an all day party in the garden. All money raised goes to support our community garden. So please invite your family and your friends.

Are you looking for something to do this weekend?  Want to find an activity for the whole family?  Are you intrigued by the rise in vegetables gardening this year?  Seed companies have reported a 20-30% increase in sales in 2009!

Although West Seattle and other locales have been running edible garden tours for some time, this year marks the first ever Ballard Edible Garden Tour.   The tour is sponsored by Sustainable Ballard and Groundswell NW.  One of the key individuals responsible for getting this off the ground is Ingela Warnerstrand from Sustainable Ballard.  This spring I wrote a post about free gardening classes at the Loyal Heights Community Center and Ingela was the teacher.

This tour will encourage your ‘inner gardener’ and show you what grows successfully here in Ballard and how to get creative with small spaces, growing items in pots and parking strips, etc.  If you have always been intrigued by growing your own food, but didn’t know where to start, this tour will allow you to ask questions of gardeners who have experienced success and failures and are happy to share their hard won gardening wisdom.

Tour information:

Edible Garden Tour – 14 edible gardens

Saturday 10am to 3pm

$10 per person or $20 per vehicle (though of course walking or biking is highly encouraged)

Tour information:  www.groundswellnw.org

Purchase tickets:  www.brownpapertickets.com

Are you interested in architecture, history, gardens or community projects?  If so, the East Ballard Walking Tour includes all of these things.  The tour is Saturday at 10am and will last for 2 hours, so wear comfortable shoes.  The tour will cover the area between 65th and Market between 3rd Ave. and 14th Ave.  and will loop back to end at Crash Landing Pizza on 65th Street.

The tour is sponsored by the East Ballard Community Association, a neighborhood group which promotes quality of life in the community.

The tour is very informal and a good chance to meet some fellow Ballardites and even if you have lived in the area a long time, you are bound to learn something new.  The tour starts at:

10 am Cafe Bambino – 405 NW 65th St
We’ll be starting the tour at 10, so if you’re gonna get coffee, make sure to get there early!

It might seem strange to be talking about umbrellas during these sunny warm days, but I can’t resist writing about my discovery of a unique Ballard business.  Bella Umbrella is a one of a kind shop featuring umbrellas.  You would think with the climate in Washington state that there would be plenty of shops like this, but it’s the only one in Seattle to sell umbrellas exclusively and indeed it’s one of only a few shops like this in the world.

You might think a shop like this would be slow during this sunny stretch, but Bella Umbrella has a fantastic rental business providing vintage umbrellas for weddings to protect from the sun, rain or just to look picturesque in the wedding photos. In addition to renting umbrellas, there are vintage or modern umbrellas for sale.  There were some umbrellas made with Marimekko fabrics that were smaller than the usual compact umbrella.  Unlike most compacts, these could actually fit very easily into a purse, even a small bag.

For those of us more used to picking up a cheap umbrella from a big box store, this shop is an eye opener.  The vintage umbrellas have a charm not available in the modern versions.  Not only are the fabric choices more interesting, but the handle are works of art.  I was shown an umbrella with a carved wood handle more than 100 years old, an umbrella with a handle decorated with 14 karat gold and longingly eyed the lucite and colored handles on rows upon rows of umbrellas.  I honestly felt looking around as if I was in an art gallery there was so much to look at.

In chatting with the owner, Jodell, she mentioned that with global warming people are thinking about using umbrellas for more than rainstorms.  Recently a woman came into the shop desperate to buy an umbrellas because she couldn’t take the sun.  There was a time when ladies were supposed to have marble white skin and only ‘rough’ women had tanned skin.   Maybe the clock is turning back to this earlier era and we will see a sea of umbrellas even in summertime.

http://bellaumbrella.com/

Bella Umbrella Boutique
1421 NW 70th Street
Seattle, WA 98117

PH 206-297-1540

This is the time of year when the weather is beautiful and our Ballard parks get many visitors.  However, some parks are unfortunately the site of activity that is illegal or just makes visitors uncomfortable.  This week’s Ballard District Council meeting includes a talk on what is being done locally to keep our Ballard parks safe and inviting.

In this tough economic times, Ballard homeowners feeling the pinch may welcome the mayor’s proposal to allow ‘backyard cottages’ which can be rented for additional cash flow, other residents will not welcome the increased density or the idea of renters in a neighborhood of homeowners.

If you are interested in some of these topics, be sure to attend the Ballard District Council meeting this Wednesday!

AGENDA

7 PM  Short Announcements by Member Organization Representatives
Please hold announcements to not more than one minute.

7:15   Briefing – City Draft Pedestrian Master Plan, Jennifer Wieland
and Barbara Gray- Seattle Department of Transportation

7:40   What are We Doing to Make our parks in Downtown Ballard Safe and
Inviting, Beth Miller, Executive Director – Ballard Chamber

7:55   Mayor’s Proposal “Backyard cottages” Andrea Petzel,
Project Manager – City Department of Planning & Development

8:25   Update – 2009 Ballard Projects funded by City Neighborhood
Streets Fund, Rob Mattson

8:30    Adjourn

BALLARD DISTRICT COUNCIL
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Ballard Library – 5614 22nd NW
(Free parking below building – accessed from NW 56th)
7:00 – 8:30 PM