Diggin' Shoreline: Building Community Through Gardens

Community volunteers at the Children's Center

From Diggin' Shoreline

That beautiful last Saturday of March was a great day for Community members gathered at the Shoreline Children's Center. With all the enthusiastic local talent on hand, it’s no wonder that the nearly all-day work party accomplished so much, meeting the school’s initial goal of sprucing up existing gardens. Diggin’ Shoreline coordinated the effort through networking and sharing resources, which are integral to its mission.

Along with Diggin’ Shoreline members, Shoreline Children’s Center teachers, parents and lots of eager children, volunteers came from the immediate neighborhood, Berean Bible Church, the always fabulous team from Rain City Rotary, and employees from Fred Meyer.

The Fred Meyer store supplied the cardboard for sheet mulching, which was also put to excellent use by the kids in building forts! Seattle Tree Preservation and Evergreen Tree Care provided the wood chips used for mulch. Maria Galvao (Maria’s Desserts) earned SWEL Timebank hours for organizing the food and refreshments for the entire day with the help of fellow timebank members and neighbors.

Central Market donated food. The Children’s Center served up pizza at lunch time. Derek Fowler of Ironwood Landscapes demonstrated how to prune and train fruit trees in the school’s orchard. 

Diggin’ Shoreline is taking the lead in revitalizing and restoring the Shoreline Children’s’ Center garden areas based on the school’s past and future visioning, so the gardens not only function better for the children, but also meet the teachers’ needs and demonstrate the importance of connections to nature and healthy food. 

Stay tuned - more fun to come!