What We Do:

• 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 coordinate with over 30 P-Patch community gardens, mobilizing and supporting P-Patch gardeners to plant an EXTRA row of produce for food banks and meals programs. In 2008, over 22,000 pounds of organic produce was grown and given to over two dozen providers, feeding hundreds of people. To download signs to use in your garden, see below under More Information.
  
  
• We garden and donate organic produce to food banks. At Marra Farm in the South Park neighborhood, we cultivate a 3/4-acre Giving Garden on this historic urban farmland, and donate harvests to a nearby food bank. Read more about our Giving Garden at Marra Farm.
  
  
• 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 harvest fruit from neighborhood backyards. Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest project engages volunteers to pick fruit from neighborhood trees and deliver hundreds of pounds of locally grown, unsprayed fruit to meals programs and food banks.

Interested in Volunteering with Lettuce Link?
Lettuce Link relies on 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.

"Where can I donate my extra organic produce?"
Home gardeners with surplus produce can donate to local food banks. Here's a listing of local food banks that will accept your veggies right now, including locations and hours.

"Can I donate my extra fruit?"
Seattle residents with healthy fruit trees can donate to Lettuce Link's Community Fruit Tree Harvest project, a partnership between Lettuce Link and Seattle Tilth, which connects your surplus fruit to food banks. To register your trees, call the Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224 or email them at help@gardenhotline.org. Volunteers will come and do the rest of the leg- and ladder-work! See “More Information” below for details.

Lettuce Ink Newsletters

• Spring 2009 Lettuce Ink
• Fall 2008 Lettuce Ink
• Spring 2008 Lettuce Ink
• Fall 2007 Lettuce Ink
• Spring/Summer 2007 Lettuce Ink
• Winter 2006/2007 Lettuce Ink
• Summer/Fall 2006 Lettuce Ink
• Spring 2006 Lettuce Ink
• Winter 2005 Lettuce Ink
• Spring 2005 Lettuce Ink

Other Print Resources

• Lettuce Link brochure
  
  
• Gardening for Good Nutrition: A Guide to Growing Your Own Healthy Food: We created this useful guide to help people grow their own organic food and take control of their health needs. It offers simple-to-follow gardening and food preparation advice, basic nutrition information on over two-dozen crops, steps a beginning gardener can follow to set up container gardens or yard gardens, composting advice and a list of community resources. For a free printed copy of the full 32-page guide, please call 206.694.6761 (donations to Lettuce Link are happily accepted).
  
  
• Giving Garden Tips: This document outlines how you can create a successful Giving Garden at your P-Patch. It includes: 1) a food bank growing calendar for Seattle; 2) tips to help you solicit donations, improve soil, grow big yields in small spaces, protect your crops from pests and save seeds; and 3) a Produce Donation Record form to help you track donations to report to Lettuce Link.
  
  
• Where to Donate 2009: A comprehensive list of Seattle-area food banks, meal programs and low-income apartment buildings that gladly accept fresh produce donations, including contact information, best hours to donate, and preferred donations.
  
  
• US Conference of Mayors 2004 Status Report on Hunger & Homelessness in America's Cities: Lettuce Link is featured on page 42.

Lettuce Link in the News