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Lettuce Link (an innovative food and gardening program growing and giving since 1988) creates access to fresh, nutritious and organic produce, seeds, and gardening information for low-income families in Seattle. We work to educate the community about food security and sustainable food production.
Photo by Ben Feigert
• We encourage people to grow food for their families. To promote self-sufficiency, we distribute seeds, plant starts and gardening information to low-income gardeners all over the city.
• We educate children about nutrition and sustainable food production. Also at Marra farm, we facilitate experiential learning programs so elementary students learn about healthy food and how to grow it.
• We coordinate with over 30 P-Patch community gardens. We link P-Patch gardeners with food banks and meals programs. In 2006, over 30,000 pounds of fresh, organic produce was grown and given to over two dozen providers, feeding hundreds of people. To download various P-Patch signs to use in your garden, see “More Information” below.
• We harvest fruit from neighborhood backyards. As part of the Community Fruit Tree Harvest, we pick fruit from neighborhood trees and deliver hundreds of pounds of locally grown, unsprayed fruit to meals programs and food banks.
• We garden and donate our organic produce to food banks. At Marra Farm, we cultivate 1/2 acre of historic, urban farmland for donation to a food bank in South Seattle. To learn more about our Giving Garden at Marra Farm, click here. We also have a brief video on Marra Farm.
Are you a home gardener with surplus produce?
Consider donating your surplus to a food bank near you. To find out times and locations of food banks that will accept your veggies right now, click here to view a .pdf file.
Are you a North Seattle resident with healthy fruit trees?
The Community Fruit Tree Harvest, a partnership between Lettuce Link and Seattle Tilth, connects your surplus fruit to food banks. To register your trees, call the Natural Tree and Garden Hotline at 206-633-0224 or e-mail info@lawnandgardenhotline.org. Volunteers will come and do the rest of the leg - and ladder - work! See “More Information” below for details.
Interested in volunteering with Lettuce Link?
Lettuce Link relies on our dedicated volunteers to make our programs a success. Here are just a few ways you can contribute:
- Help grow fresh, organic produce to donate at local food banks. Spend part of your day getting your hands dirty at the Giving Garden at Marra Farm.
- Share your gardening knowledge with food bank clients and children. Spend part of your day distributing seeds at food banks or helping with the children's program at Marra Farm.
- Help pick fruit trees. Spend part of your day picking fruit trees with other volunteers. The season runs from approximately July to September.
- Bilingual? Help translate at Lettuce Link events. We are always looking for skilled translators, especially Spanish and Russian.
How do I sign up as a Lettuce Link volunteer?
To download the Solid Ground Lettuce Link Volunteer Application (in MS Word format), click here. Simply e-mail it to michelleb@solid-ground.org or call 206.694.6754.
See our program brochure in .pdf format.
Stay Informed! Read the Lettuce Ink Newsletters:
Please note: These newsletters are large .pdf files and may take time to download.
- The Lettuce Ink, Fall 2007, click here.
- The Lettuce Ink, Spring/Summer 2007, click here.
- The Lettuce Ink, Winter 2006/2007, click here.
- The Lettuce Ink, Summer/Fall 2006, click here.
- The Lettuce Ink, Spring 2006, click here.
- The Lettuce Ink, Winter 2005, click here.
- The Lettuce Ink, Spring 2005, click here.
A Guide to Growing Your Own Healthy Food
We recently published Gardening for Good Nutrition: A Guide to Growing Your Own Healthy Food to help people take better control of meeting their own nutritional needs. The guide provides simple to follow gardening and food preparation advice, as well as basic nutritional information on over two dozen crops. In addition, the guide has basic steps that a beginning gardener can follow to set up container gardens or yard gardens, including composting advice and a list of community resources.
Click here to view a sample guide in .pdf format.
For a free copy (you will be asked to consider making a donation) of the full 32-page guide, please call 206.694.6761.
Download various P-Patch signs to use in your garden.
These signs are all in MS Word format.
To learn more about the Community Fruit Tree Harvest, click here.
To read an interesting Seattle Times article about our Community Fruit Tree Harvest program, click here.
The P.I. also wrote about the Tree Harvest program. You can read about it here.
To download a .pdf version of the US Conference of Mayors 2004 Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities, click here. Lettuce Link is featured on page 42...
Phone: 206.694.6754
Email: michelleb@solid-ground.org
FAX: 206.694.6777
Address: Lettuce Link
Solid Ground
1501 North 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98103-6708