Coffee chats with Wedgwood Elementary’s principal scheduled

January 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

Wedgwood Elementary School’s principal, Chris Cronas, is holding a series of informal meetings for parents in January and February. The meetings look to be taking place in the neighborhood (vs. at the school) in both mornings and evenings.

Wedgwood Elementary’s PTA president and vice-president will also be attending the chats.

From the Wedgwood Weekly (about page):

Over the next several weeks, I will be hosting a series of informal coffee meetings for parents, the first of which will be on Tuesday, January 17th from 9:00 to 10:00 am.  The purpose of these meetings is to give parents a chance to come and ask questions about any issues they are thinking about, and discuss these issues with others in the community.  In addition to myself, Katie Traverse and/or John Piccola, our PTA President and Vice President will be there to chat with folks and answer any questions about the PTA.

I want to make it possible for everyone who wants to attend one of these coffees to do so.  For that reason, they will be offered at two different times – one in the morning right after the school day begins, and one in the evening off campus.

The morning coffees will be held in the library from 9:00 to 10:00 on the following dates:

Tuesday, January 17th

Thursday, January 26th

Tuesday January 31th

Monday February 6th

The evening coffees will be held off campus from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.  The first meeting will be at Café Javasti on 35th, which has graciously offered to stay open late just for us.  The location for the remaining meetings will be announced soon.  The dates of the meetings are as follows:

Monday, January 23rd, Café Javasti

Thursday February 9th, location TBA

Thursday February 16th, location TBA

If none of these times work for you and you are interested in attending, please let me know.  I look forward to meeting with many of you in the following weeks.

Chris Cronas
Principal

While Wedgwood Elementary School itself (2720 NE 85th Street) is located in the Wedgwood neighborhood, a chunk of northern Ravenna is within the school’s attendance boundary (which you can see here; 421 KB PDF).
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Really, it *is* spring. Here are some local garden events to prove it!

March 31, 2011 by 1 Comment

[UPDATED 4:47PM – Added some Center for Urban Horticulture Events]

Spring has, indeed, sprung. The sun’s path has crossed the equator and is headed further north everyday. (Astronomers know what season it is well before meteorologists and Seattleites, unfortunately.)

Here are some upcoming local garden-related events you may want to attend. Just be prepared to bring along your rain poncho.

Ravenna Community Garden

Two April work parties are scheduled (and you can find out about future ones by visiting their website  at RavennaCommunityGarden.org):

  • Sunday, April 10th, noon to 3PM – plant cabbage in Bed #10, move dirt pile, re-position compost bins, BUILD SHED, weed and plant the herb border, install fencing around herb bed
  • Saturday, April 30th, 2 to 5PM – plant potatoes in separate containers, plant Bed #7 with root veggies, BUILD SHED, border plantings

Anyone in the neighborhood is welcome to lend a hand in the community garden. It’s located on the northern end of the field behind the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE).

Picardo P-Patch

The Picardo Farm Gardener Gathering date has been set for Saturday, April 9th, in the University Prep Commons Area (8000 25th Ave NE). (This meeting is really only for Picardo P-Patch plot holders. If you’d like to look into getting your own plot at Picardo [or any other p-patch in the city], you can read up on the process here.)

Here are some agenda highlights:

10-11AM – New Gardeners

  • Picardo history and culture
  • Expectations and gardener responsibilities
  • Mentoring program

11-noon – Whole Garden

  • Announcements: Leadership, Straw Bale and Coffee Bag sale, post garden plant sale
  • Master Plan updates: Compost bins, orchard areas, grant proposal
  • Composting Toilet: Demonstration after the meeting
  • Food Bank gardening
  • South Field conversion to year-round gardening: process and how to get involved
  • Door prizes

After the meeting to 2PM – New gardener orientation in the p-patch

  • Find your plot
  • Learn about the garden – composting toilet, orchard, children’s garden, toolshed, etc.

Center for Urban Horticulture

Over in Laurelhurst at the UW’s Center for Urban Horticulture (3501 NE 41st Street), gardening-related events ABOUND. Here are three that I would recommend:

  • Saturday, April 2nd, 9AM-2PM – Northwest Fuchsia Society Spring Plant Sale: Hardy, species, baskets & many hard to find varieties. More info at www.nwfuchsiasociety.com.
  • Saturday, April 2nd, 9AM-3PM – Garden Lovers’ Book Sale: Free and open to the public. Find a great deal on used gardening and plant books. Proceeds of the sale are used to purchase the best and newest in horticultural books and journals for the Elisabeth C. Miller Library. More info at depts.washington.edu/hortlib/index.shtml
  • Saturday, April 16th, 10:30-11:15AM – Young Gardener’s Story Time: The Magic of Seeds! Join us for a story program that starts small and grows into something amazing! After the stories, do a seed dance and plant a seed to take home. (Held monthly, through the growing season.)

There are MANY more events in April at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Visit their Classes and Events Calendar to see them all.

Thanks to Rebecca on facebook for the tip!

________________________

Do YOU know of any other Ravenna-area gardening events in April? Let me know in the comments below or by email, and I shall add them to the post.

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Community meetings of note this week

February 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Lots of community meetings this week which you may have interest/be a stakeholder in:

Roosevelt Neighborhood Association Land Use Committee Meeting
Monday, February 28, 7 PM
Calvary Christian Assembly, 6801 Roosevelt Way NE

Topics include the latest developments on the Roosevelt Development Group/Sisley project (which people particularly in northwest Ravenna should be paying attention to), and the Roosevelt neighborhood rezone.

Ravenna Bryant Community Association Board Meeting
Tuesday, March 1, 7 PM
Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Avenue NE

Monthly RBCA board meetings (first Tuesdays) are always open for residents to attend. No official agenda out yet, but there will likely be a recap of the previous evening’s RNA Land Use meeting.

Northeast District Council Meeting
(Tentatively) Thursday, March 3, 7 PM
Wedgwood Presbyterian Church, 8008 35th Avenue NE

The NEDC generally meets on the first Thursday of the month, and the agenda often includes a speaker from city or county government (last month’s was City Council President Richard Conlin). Each active neighborhood council in the Northeast district of Seattle sends a representative to this meeting.

For a map of the Northeast District and the neighborhood associations that cover the area (the ones I’ve been able to find the geographical areas of, anyway), check out this map on the Ravenna Bryant Community Association’s website.

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