Dispatches from Ravenna, a neighborhood in Northeast Seattle
The Ravenna-Bryant Community Association is holding their monthly meeting this Wednesday, September 15th. It will once again be held at the Northeast Library (6801 35th Ave NE) from 6-7:45pm.
I don’t know the precise agenda at this time, BUT I know that the big community meeting in October will be discussed.
And if you need further reason to attend, I’ll be bringing HOMEMADE COOKIES. And they are VERY TASTY.
You could clean your garage this weekend, like you’ve been meaning to do for MONTHS. But here are some other options for your weekend that you might enjoy a little more than that:
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
BOTH
Anything else to add? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll edit the post!
Time to say GOODBYE to summer; not just because Cliff Mass says so, but because it’s Ravenna tradition!
Ravenna-Eckstein Playground on dedication day, September 5, 2008
The Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE) is hosting its annual Final Fling party TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 25th, from 6-8pm. It does cost a whole dollar to partake, but there’s a barbecue dinner and CAKE in it for you. Balloon Buffoon will also be on hand to create his impressive balloon creations.
The balloon line on dedication day.
This event has also become the Ravenna-Eckstein Playground’s annual birthday party. Technically, the current version of the playground was dedicated on September 5, 2008 (read our post “You may now commence the fun” for a look back at the ceremony), but why take a chance on September weather?
Vases & Pitcher in Blue I by Teresa Burrelsman 14"x11" pastel and mixed media on paper
Seattle artist Teresa Burrelsman (www.greentart.com) has an exhibition of her work now showing at the University Unitarian Church (6556 35th Ave NE). Her “Contemplation†series of pastel/mixed media still life drawings is a part of a 2-person show running through September 15th.
The other artist showing her work at the same time is North Bend’s Ann Heideman (large nature themed paintings).
There is an opening being held for the show on Sunday, August 29th from 4-6pm. Some lovely art, free refreshments and relaxing music await you, should you attend.
Alternatively, you can stop by to view the artwork on Sundays from 9-10am or 11am-1pm (worship starts at 10am), during other scheduled events, or call to make an appointment (the exhibition is in the church’s chapel). All works as the show are for sale.
Teresa’s funding provided by:Â Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs
The short version (from the Ravenna Blog twitter feed):
Just came back from Planet:HOME, the sustainability festival. It was the most adorable, well-conceived, pro-community event I’ve ever seen.
The long version, with LOTS of pictures (all of which are linked to larger versions of themselves):
I arrived at the festival around 2pm, on the downhill side of the event. That’s not to say there weren’t plenty of people milling about, listening to speakers, talking, making tea, etc. I just missed out on some of the events and activities that were happening earlier.
Map of the grounds - Form of A HOUSE!
The layout of the festival grounds (at 7744 35th Ave NE; provided by Hunter Tree Farm folks) was that of a house, complete with rooms. SO well executed. I’ve never been in such a cozy gravel lot.
"Directions," of a sort.
2:30pm speaker Barry Lia (Biodynamic Gardening) in the Living Room.
If you click the above picture for the fuller view you will see that the back of the Living Room (the purple part) is actually three doors fastened together, providing a backdrop for the speakers, as well as a handy place to hang notes and graphics.
Seating here was a combination of chairs and bench seating on the straw bales (the latter of which could be taken home at the end of the festival, with a donation to Sustainable NE Seattle).
The day's schedule in the Garden.
Sessions in the Garden were more informal and smaller than those in the Living Room.
Boundary between the Living Room and the Garden was an informative clothesline.
"Clothes last longer when you line dry. -Where do you think lint comes from?"
"You can reduce the full lifecycle climate change impact of your jeans by up to 50% by line drying and washing them in cold water."
Goats!
Well-feed, but still VERY curious.
Three goats — mama and two kids — were kept in the back of the garden…although I did see them out on the dance floor once the band started playing.
Sign reminded me of the Las Vegas tourism motto. Sort of.
Behind the Garden, the How to Do Your Lawn In installation (my title).
Sustainable NE Seattle may be most famous for their three videos on YouTube (Lawn Gone, Parts 1 through 3) which chronicle the process of turning one of their member’s front lawns into a food garden.
The Sit'n Room
Sit'n Room AKA Irv's Elder, Sage and Rare Treasure Appreciation Installation Station (my title, again)
I was fortunate enough to meet Irv Thomas at last week’s Ravenna-Bryant Community Association meeting, where he shared some of his writings about the history of Ravenna and more (“Reclaiming the Village Outlook”).
By his own definition, Irv is an Sage, but after having a couple of conversations with him, I’d put him squarely in MY Rare Treasure category.
Can you find YOUR category?
I hope to feature some of Irv’s writings on the Ravenna Blog this fall. Until then, if you have the time — and I mean, snowed into your house with food to get you through the winter in Alaska kind of time — visit his website (irvthomas.com).
More sustainable seating at the festival
Near the Kitchen, a solar cooking showroom, with samples!
Info on a solar cooker building workshop on Saturday, August 28, at University Heights Community Center
The Courtyard featured ART IN ACTION
The collectively created recycled art piece
The Barker Boys, rockin' out in the Living Room
No, I did not take a picture of the woman dancing with the goat. You’ll just have to imagine it.
Fixing tools is Joel's vice.
Something I didn’t take enough pictures of (I’m realizing this now, in retrospect, darn it) were the events in the Garage area, two I’ll mention in particular.
Had a tool that was broken or dull? Needed help with the fixing or sharpening? A coupla handy guys in the Garage were there with tools of their own to help you out.
Had a bike that needed some repair? Or had a question about fixing bikes in general? A volunteer from the bike shack (bikeshack.org) was there to help out. He also had an oldie-but-goodie from the 1960s for sale.
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I ended up a staying at the festival for nearly three hours. I couldn’t help it!
Sure, I happened to know a lot of the people there, but I ended up meeting quite a few that I didn’t. I may have volunteered to start a group that gets together in the winter to make big batches of stock to share. I certainly want to check out the bike shack as I try to get my own 1969 Sturmey-Archer cruiser in riding shape. A lot of good take-aways from this event, and I didn’t even make it to any of the workshops.
The folks at Sustainable NE Seattle who put together this event did a fantastic job (in my humble opinion). As tired as they all must be right now, I hope they’re already thinking about Planet:Home 2011.
The Ravenna McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants (6500 Ravenna Ave NE) usually has free tastings on Saturdays, and this weekend is no exception. From 11am-5pm they are sampling seven different varieties of 2008 Oregon Pinot Noirs. See the full selection here, at their weekly news page.
Now, a local free tasting of seven different Pinot Noirs is pretty great news. But the other wine event today promoted on the McC&S site is pretty darn fantastic, too.
There’s a WINERY opening in the Roosevelt/Ravenna neighborhood! And they have an open house today AND next Saturday, also from 11am-5pm.
Eight Bells Winery, in the heart of the audio/visual area of Roosevelt
Eight Bells Winery (6213B Roosevelt Way NE; 8bellswinery.com) is jointly owned and operated by three guys (Tim Bates, Andy Shepherd and Frank Michiels), one of whom (Tim) has been making wine on his own since 1980. Andy joined him in 1996, and Frank completed the trio in 2006 (came to watch, ended up fermenting 100 pounds of grapes in his own kitchen for the cause). Read more about them on the Eight Bells Winery About Us page.
They do ask that you RSVP if you plan on attending either open house (rsvp [at] 8bellswinery.com).
Eight Bells will have samples of their Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Tempranillo (all 2009) for tasting and sales (read more about these wines here).
Also on display and for sale during the Eight Bells Winery open houses are paintings by Seattle artists Patty Ryan, Rita Marlowe, and Susan Hamilton. Read about these artists and see samples of their work on Eight Bells’ art page.
If those links aren’t enough, Eight Bells also has a facebook page, where you can see some pictures of the new winery’s interior.
Yours truly made it to a Ravenna-Bryant Community Association meeting at long last! Huge success.
The following is my report to you, the community-at-large, in three parts (which is why this is a Friday post and wasn’t a Thursday post).
As a member of the hyperlocal, hyper-plugged-in community, I have to say that — up to this point — I’ve found the group very frustrating. The website’s been stagnant for years. Contact information had lead to dead ends or nothingness. I didn’t even know how many people served on the board until that night (5 officers, 5 at-large). And finding meeting information was merely serendipitous (I spied the about sign at the library last month, the day before July’s meeting).
Now that I’ve been to a meeting, I feel SO MUCH better. These are passionate people — passionate about their neighborhood, passionate about issues affecting the neighborhood. But they’ve been at this a while (some for a long while). Issues come and go, interest wanes, board members get graduate degrees and their time is sucked away…it happens. I’m certainly not blaming anybody — it’s the nature of the community association beast.
I’m a firm believer in “See a problem? Help fix it.” Some trash on the ground? I’ll pick it up! My new neighborhood doesn’t have a blog? I should start one! My neighborhood’s community association needs some energy? I’ll join up and help supply some!
The next RBCA meeting is September 15, at the NE Branch (6-7:45pm) again (agenda includes more discussion of the BIG Community Meeting in October). I’m going to be there again. You should join me.
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YOUR TURN: What would it take to get YOU more involved in your neighborhood association?
Did you know that we have one of the best sustainable living resources in the city right here in Northeast Seattle? Well, now you do! And they’re having a festival this Saturday, chock-full of green learning opportunities.
Sustainable NE Seattle is hosting Planet : Home – A Sustainable Living Festival this Saturday, August 21st, from 10am-5pm at the Hunter Tree Farm (7744 35th Ave NE).
Event description, from the Sustainable NE Seattle website:
Free workshops, speakers, food, live music, demonstrations, hands-on science and art activities for kids! Come learn how you can reduce your environmental footprint and share your experiences in trying to live more sustainably! Learn about solar cooking, bicycle repair (bring your bike!), cheese-making, weatherizing your home, growing your own tea (bring a cup!), sod replacement, worm bins, bee-keeping, tool repair (bring your tools!), edible landscaping, knowledge-sharing with community elders, rain gardens, and much much more. Take home ideas for environmentally-friendly living and maybe win some eco products to help you on your way.
Morning schedule includes:
Afternoon schedule includes:
Cheese making? Fixing your own bike? Live music? FOOD? PRIZES?!
Eh, they had me at “cheese.”
This Wednesday, August 18th, from 6-7:45pm at the Northeast Branch of the Seattle Public Library (6801 35th Avenue NE), the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association is holding a meeting.
If you have ANY interest in becoming a more active member of your community (and perhaps even helping define what that means in the Ravenna-Bryant neighborhood), I urge you to come.
I will be there this time! And you can plan on reading a post about the meeting the next day. But I’d rather see you in a chair next to me.
Besides, we can’t let Roosevelt have all the fun!
I’m a sucker for local bluegrass bands, probably because my brother was in one (The Dustmakers). I enjoyed going to his shows…and hearing his horrible, horrible banjo jokes.
Gentlemen Buckhunters: Quite possibly the Old Spice Guys of bluegrass (judging from this picture anyway)
So when we got an email from Gentlemen Buckhunters about their show tonight near our neighborhood (The Scarlet Tree, 801 NE 65th Street, 9pm), I said I’d be happy to promote it on the Ravenna Blog.
Plus, they said they’d plug the blog from the stage! How cool is that?!
From the event’s facebook page:
This Friday, Gentlemen Buckhunters is opening a show at the Scarlet Tree. This is our second time playing at this venue, and we’re really excited to play there! We’re opening for Big Medicine. This will be a good show! Check out ours and Big Medicine online!!
Go to Gentlemen Buckhunters’ SoundCloud page to check out their sound (I’m partial to Drinking Dark Whiskey [ha ha]). They’ve also got a video teaser on facebook. To give main act The Big Medicine a listen (band members include brothers Chad and Nathan Jackson of Local 808 and Drop Six), hit their myspace page.
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