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Local Farms Selling Fresh Organic Produce at Convenience Store

As you may have heard, or read in the Olympian, there is a farm-to-market project at the Lucky 7 convenience store located at the corner of 4th Ave. and Eastside St, at the edge of our neighborhood. Now fresh organic produce direct from the farmer is available right nearby on days when the Olympia Farmers Market is not open! 

Left Foot Organics and Rising River Farm are now selling their produce at the Lucky 7 Food Store at 1026 East 4th Ave – CSA shares available as well.  

Left Foot Organics is selling produce from a cooler inside the store on a daily basis and Rising River Farm has started a farm stand that is open on Wednesday’s from 3 pm – 6 pm in the parking lot of the store.  This project is facilitated by Thurston County Public Health and Social Services through
funding provided by the Washington State Department of Health through the Centers for Disease Control’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work program.  For more information contact Lesley Wigen:  [email protected] or 360‐867‐2515.

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Great First Cleanup at Fairview Pathway

Five volunteers came out on Sunday, July 24 to clear brush and brambles from the green space next to the pathway on Fairview between 10th and Union. It was hot, but with tenacity and water, we got about halfway through cleaning up underneath the trees. Check out photos of the pathway in progress.

What’s next? We’ll have another clean-up event the weekend of August 13, either in the morning before the Eastside Picnic, or on Sunday afternoon. If those times aren’t convenient for you, and you want to help, we encourage you to drop by and cut back blackberry or pull ivy. Before you start, you’ll need to get instructions and sign a liability waiver! Download the Public Pathways Waiver (PDF) and contact [email protected]. You can either send the signed waiver as an image by email or mail the paper to PO Box 7666, Olympia WA 98506.

As the green space is cleared and we discover what it looks like underneath, we’ll be working on a plan for a low-maintenance pocket park. Watch the website or subscribe to our email newsletter for updates.

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Free compost May 14

This coming Saturday, May 14 at the city’s Saturday Drop-Off Site, the City of Olympia will provide up to 2 5-gallon buckets of free compost from Silver Springs Organics. The Drop-Off Site is located at 1401 Eastside St SE and is open 9am – 2pm.

This compost giveaway is in recognition of International Compost Awareness Week, which was last week, May 1-7, and to acknowledge City of Olympia customers for doing their part in helping turn waste into a resource.

The Saturday Drop-Off Site is a convenient location for safely disposing of yard waste and scrap metal. Read more about it on the city’s website.

Contact Ron Jones, Public Works, at 360.753.8509, or email [email protected] if you have questions.

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Neighborhood Conversation on May 23

Monday, May 23, 2011
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Olympia City Hall City Council Chambers

The program will begin with a Neighborhood Conversation on planning and a review of the Imagine Olympia neighborhood meetings held in January and March.

Then Jim Diers, the former director of Seattle’s Office of Neighborhoods, will share his thoughts and vision with our community. Jim is a champion of participatory democracy who finds creative and resourceful ways to get more people involved with their communities and the decisions that affect their daily lives. In Jim’s fourteen years of service with the city of Seattle, his department’s mission was to decentralize and coordinate city services, strengthen communities and their organizations, and work in partnership with these organizations to preserve and enhance the neighborhoods. Jim’s influence and legacy is still evident throughout Seattle and in today’s work at Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. Jim is also the author of Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way.

This event is sponsored by the City of Olympia and the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations. Questions about the event? Contact the president of the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, Julie Hankins at [email protected]

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Free trees for Arbor Day & tree climbing competition May 21

The City of Olympia will be celebrating Arbor Day at Lions Park on Saturday, May 21, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. This year’s celebration will include traditional highlights from years past, and new additions for 2011:

  • An official reading of the Arbor Day Proclamation by Mayor Pro Tem Stephen Buxbaum;
  • A representative of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources will recognize Olympia as a Tree City USA for the 18th year;
  • This year’s Jay Butts Friends of Trees Award will be presented to Councilmember Stephen Langer for his contributions to the success for the first Annual Legion Way Tree Planting and Veteran’s Day Celebration;
  • Free tree seedlings available to take home;
  • The planting of a brand new shade tree at Lions Park; and
  • Fun and interesting tree care information for the whole family!

New for 2011—the Puget Sound Regional Tree Climbing Competition!

The City of Olympia Parks Department and the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture are co-hosting the Puget Sound Regional Tree Climbing Competition at Lions Park on May 21. Come early or stay late at Lions Park on Arbor Day and watch word-class professional tree climbers compete for prizes, prestige, and slot in the international competition in Portland next year. Five different unique and exciting climbing events will be staged around the park. This event is family-friendly and free for spectators.

For questions, please contact:
Kevin McFarland, Urban Forester
(360) 753-8301 – [email protected]

Please note: Parking is limited, so please walk, bike, bus or carpool to this event.