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Lonely graves

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Gravestones are meant to memorialize the dead. Often, however, graves are left untended and forgotten. Something about fall makes me think of these lonely graves. And, no, this is not meant as a Halloween post. Just a reminder ( memento mori ) of those, who through happenstance or neglect, are left largely unremembered. Forgotten cemetery A memorial to the Chinese buried at Lincoln Park is the only visible remnant of the cemetery. San Francisco's Lincoln Park is home to the majestic Legion of Honor art museum and a golf course in the Lands End section of the city. Atop a hill, the site boasts amazing views of the ocean, bay, and city. What is not visible are the thousands of graves that once made up the Golden Gate Cemetery, many of which are still occupied.  Cemeteries do move. There are many examples around the world of cemeteries giving way to development, erosion, or other natural or man-made calamity. The Golden Gate Cemetery itself was established in part to house remains fro...
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Crucible for Activism: Fighting for Seattle's Community Gardens

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The bulldozers are closin' in now o n my back garden No one can explain why I came to be chosen The bulldozers are closin' in They've ripped up all the trees Soon the lorries will be zooming through me  cabbages and peas (The Motorway Song, Black Family) Seattle's p-patchers and community gardeners have often witnessed bulldozers closing in, both metaphorically and in reality. Threats to these edens, external and internal, have served to push those engaged in peaceful pursuits to take action, organize, fundraise, and learn to work together for common goals. Here are some of the stories: Bradner Gardens: Protecting Parks Bradner Gardens was originally set up by the City of Seattle to provide space for Mien refugees from Laos in the 1980s. A few years later, the Mount Baker garden overcame a serious threat. Long-time gardener and activist Joyce Moty described how the neighborhood banded together to protest the city’s decision to sell the land to a housing developer in the...
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Digging in, Part II: The New School Garden

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In Part I of Digging In , I wrote about the early history of school gardens and student gardeners in Seattle. In Part II, I'll look at the new wave of school gardens and explore a few around town. The Orca Garden at Columbia School, undated. Courtesy Rainier Valley Historical Society. The Edible Schoolyard In 1995 Alice Waters, chef and educator, launched an innovative project in partnership with a Berkeley elementary school: the Edible Schoolyard. The project was well publicized and caught on: schools around the country started garden clubs and small garden patches. A new generation of families, steeped in the liberal ideals of the sixties and the seventies, explored alternative teaching methods outside the standardized academic curriculum. The school garden as a tool for nature study and food culture was revived.  Annalisa LaFayette remembers getting her first taste of gardening at a garden club at the old Denny Middle School in West Seattle in the miid-nineties:  "It was on...
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Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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Digging in, Part I: The History of Seattle's School Gardens

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When we engage children in harvesting our gardens -- when we teach them about where their food comes from, how to prepare it, and how to grow it themselves -- they reap the benefits well into the future. (Michelle Obama, American Grown) In recent years renewed interest in environmental education and child nutrition has led to an increase in the number of horticultural gardens at Seattle's elementary and secondary schools. Advocates of outdoor classrooms hail the conversion of asphalt jungles into green spaces. While this may seem like a relatively new phenomenon, in fact, gardening has been a part of school programming going back a century -- with peaks and valleys in interest along the way.  Early 20th Century: The School Garden Movement Children take to the hoes. This likely staged photo shows what may be the beginnings of a 1918 war garden adjacent to York School (now John Muir Elementary) in the Rainier Valley. Courtesy Rainier Valley Historical Society. The early 20th century ...
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