OM NOM: Art of Pancakes Fundraiser this Saturday

November 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

Every weekend is a good one for rolling out of bed late and cooking up some pancakes* for breakfast. But not every weekend can you cook them up at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center in an art competition!

On Saturday, November 19, the RECC is holding its annual Art of Pancakes Fundraiser for the Ravenna Community Garden.

Details from the event page:

Please join us during a wacky pancake art competition benefitting the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Garden! Enjoy a pancake breakfast that includes toppings, bacon, and beverages. Decorate a pancake for the “Wall o’ Art”.

The cost is three dollars per person. Pretty good deal for breakfast in the neighborhood.

Now, should you want to practice your Pancake Art skills before Saturday, we recommend you check out the Jim’s Pancakes website.

Here’s a time lapse video of a Millennium Falcon pancake in production:

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*See also: Hash browns, bacon, eggs, toast, coffee, etc. Am I missing anything?

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Your Busy Weekend in the Ravenna Neighborhood (updated)

October 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

Here is a smattering of events happening today (Saturday) and next week.

Saturday, October 1

  • Help out our neighborhood and its community organization by delivering copies of the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association’s Fall 2011 Newsletter to your part of the neighborhood. No delivery area too small. Please contact RBCA Land Use Committee Chair Andrew Miller for more information.
  • Ad partner UW Medicine is holding an open house at their new Ravenna Clinic location (4915 25th Ave NE #300) from 1-4 PM. Tour the new facilities, listen to and meet members of the UW Husky Marching Band (from 1-1:30 PM), meet UW mascot Harry the Husky (1-2 PM), enter to win gift certificates to University Village, and more. More information about this new UW Medicine primary care clinic and today’s open house can be found here.
  • Ravenna Community Garden hosts a Harvest celebration dinner this Saturday Oct. 1 from 5:30-7:00 PM at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE). Pasta, salad bread and dessert on the menu. Donations happily accepted: $5.00 individual, $10.00 family.
  • Candy Cane Lane holds its annual yard sale (weather permitting) on Saturday, October 1, from 8AM-1PM, at 2132 Park Rd (the corner house at the bend on Ravenna Blvd, closest to the Ravenna playground and parking lot). It is a multi-family sale put together by the Candy Cane Lane families, and we use the proceeds to buy all the paint, plywood, lights, decorations, etc for the yearly holiday display, as well as to pay the electric bill to run the revolving carousel. This year we will have some furniture, including two children’s rolltop desks, some outdoor items, plus lots of toys, books, children’s clothing, baby items, kitchen items, and household goods such as lamps, curtains, rugs, etc. We never know what the neighbors bring out until the day of the sale, and every year we have some lovely treasures.

And into Next Week

  • Join other Eckstein Middle School parents at a gardening work party
    in the raised beds in the back courtyard every Monday and Wednesday from 9-10 AM (weather permitting). Please bring gloves and weeding tools if you have them. For more information or to make a donation please contact Gretchen Bauer at
    urbandingo@gmail.com.
  • Ravenna-Bryant Community Association’s fall community-wide meeting takes place next Tuesday night, October 4th, at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE), from 7-9 PM. Agenda and more information available here.

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    Local residents and business owners: Have an event going on for or in the greater Ravenna neighborhood that you’d like to share? The email inbox is always open for you: rebecca@ravennablog.com.

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Grow your cake and eat it, too: The Ravenna Community Garden turns ONE this weekend

May 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

20110514-085824.jpg

This weekend, the Ravenna Community Garden (NE 68th Street and 21st Avenue NE) is celebrating its first birthday.

Everyone is invited to the festivities, which start at 2PM today (Saturday, May 14).

Carrot cake will be served. Natch.

Should you be interested in bringing along a present or two to the party (or any other time), the garden organizers have a list of equipment they could use (used items are welcomed; wrapping is optional):

  • Tools: Shovels (large and small; pointed are best), Rakes (garden and leaf), Digging forks, Hand trowels, Pruners, Garden gloves (kids and adults), Wheelbarrow (1 large and 1 small), Hori Hori
  • Plants: Herbs (thyme, tarragon, lavender, sage), Perennial Flowers (Echinacea, Monarda), Rhubarb, Artichoke plants, Annual flower plants

If partying with plants is not your thing, no worries: There’s a WORK party on from 10AM to 4PM. Plants will be planted, a tool shed will be built, and a kiosk for garden and community center news will be constructed.

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Soil movers needed this week at the Ravenna Community Garden

April 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Ravenna Community Garden could use your help (and your shovel) this week.

The group is looking for a few volunteers on Tuesday and/or Friday to help move the large pile of soil into the garden. Many hands make light work, AND you could skip your push-ups for the day.

Willing parties should show up around 5:30 PM, with shovels and wheelbarrows if they’ve got ’em, at the north end of the field behind the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Avenue NE). Hope for good weather, but dress for the worst.

For more information, contact the Ravenna Community Garden folks at ravennacommunitygarden@gmail.com, or visit ravennacommunitygarden.org.

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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!

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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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Local things to see or do this weekend

November 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

If you haven’t caught my cold by this weekend, here are some local events worth leaving the house for.

Saturday

  • Pancake Art Contest (Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Ave NE, 9-11 am; breakfast admission $3, Pancake Artist entry fee $5) – Enjoy a pancake breakfast (including toppings, bacon and beverages) and/or show off your pancake decorating skills in competition. Prizes awarded to each age group. Money benefits the Ravenna Community Garden (Project Ravenna Phase 2).
  • Will Bake For Food (University Congregational Church’s Ostrander Hall, 4515 16th Ave NE, 10 am-2 pm; food donations or money) – Over 60 local food bloggers hold a bake sale for Northwest Harvest, their baked goods exchanged for your donations. Read the Ravenna Blog post about this event, or head to the Will Bake For Food website for more information.
  • Free Wine Tastings (McCarthy & Schiering, 6500 Ravenna Ave NE, 11 am-5 pm) – Two try this Saturday are two 2005 Corliss Estates Reds. Read more about them here.

Sunday

  • Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale (Ida Culver House Ravenna, 2315 NE 65th St, 11 am-5 pm) = Selection of homemade jewelry, quilts, paintings, organic dog treats, greeting cards, baked goods and more will be for sale. Proceeds benefit the retirement community’s garden club.
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