The apple trees are budding in Wallingford, and if you want a good harvest you should start tending to them soon. I’m not a fruit tree expert, but I am an avid backyard gardener and a nerd who reads a lot. It took me several years of research and trial and error to finally yield a good harvest from my own apple tree. Hopefully what I’ve learned can help you, too. In my mind, I like to separate apple tree problems…
Sarah Steininger Leroux believes that a creative practice is an important part of a holistic life, no different than exercise or a spiritual practice. “It’s a part of our psyche to want to produce,” she says, “it makes people feel fulfilled.” And yet, Steininger has found that many people are intimidated by creative experiences. She also feels that in urban tech centers like Seattle, people are often working on intangible projects that make it difficult to walk away and say “I…
Seattle Furniture Company may just be the coolest shop you've never heard of! Hiding in the basement next to Norco Medical Supply and marked by an inconspicuous sandwich board is a 7000+ square foot trove of American and Danish mid century furnishings, along with vintage and contemporary, Asian, industrial and Hollywood Regency home décor. Located 0.1 mile from my house, I'm ashamed to admit that I walked by for several years without believing there was anything worthwhile inside such an unassuming…
B.F. Day Elementary made a visible statement about peace on March 14th. Kiro 7 helicopters captured the above image. After 25,000 people viewed the video on Kiro's website they decided to write a special piece on what made the elementary school want to participate in what was called a "school walkout" elsewhere. I highly recommend reading the article in full for a detailed explanation which includes an interview with the principal, how the students and PTA came up with the idea,…
As I reported in November, the City has released the "Preferred Alternative" maps for proposed zoning changes under HALA (if you don't know what HALA is, you can find out more here). What I did not have in my hands when writing about the Preferred Alternative maps the first time, was the figures for just how much new development Wallingford could expect under these proposed zoning changes. As you can see in the document linked below, Wallingford is targeted for a…
I’d like to tell you a story about the life and death of our Neighborhood Plan. The story starts back in the 1990’s. It was a time when Seattle was still a small big city before Amazon took over a whole neighborhood, when we were the center of a musical grunge scene and flannel was everywhere (well, maybe that last part hasn’t changed). If you are old enough, you may remember this version of Seattle. But while the cool kids…
Ever since I have lived in Wallingford, the restaurant Joule has been a hit, and so I assumed it had always been that way. I've been reading My Rice Bowl, Rachel Yang's new book, which I eagerly purchased on the day of its release in late September. Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi are chefs/owners at Joule, Revel and Trove. I love their restaurants. According to the book, Joule wasn't a huge success initially. They opened in November 2007 on N 45th…