Is that flowering kale still edible? UW farmers say “of course!”

Sasha McGuire is the Education Programs Assistant for Adult, Youth and Family Programs at the UW Botanic Gardens. Sasha enjoys reading, hiking, and video games; she also dabbles in cooking and homesteading activities like making cheese and sausage.
Sasha grew up in upstate New York and received a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Anthropology and Plant Science from SUNY-Geneseo. 

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) Customer Programs Division is seeking either an undergraduate or graduate intern to gain experience in community engagement programs within the Resource Conservation Section. This Section provides a wide range of conservation services to Seattle residents, businesses and community groups across SPU’s Solid Waste, Drinking Water, and Drainage and Wastewater utility lines of business. The selected intern will gain experience supporting education and community engagement programs focused on waste reduction, potentially including the following programs:
Residential food waste prevention: Help residents reduce the amount of edible food they throw away. 

Ever wanted to work with inner city, elementary school kids?  Do you want to teach kids the basic life skills of growing their own food?   Do you want to help kids connect more to their natural world?  If the answer is yes to all three questions, Leschi Elementary’s Peace Garden needs your excellent volunteer services!

Leschi Elementary is a Seattle Public School located in the Central District.  

Spring is not typically known for its subtlety around these parts, but upon its early awakening many plants warrant a closer look. Enjoy!
1)  Acer palmatum ‘Katsura’                     Katsura Maple

One of the first Japanese maples to leaf out each spring. The small, five-lobed leaves emerge pale yellow-orange, with brighter orange margins.
Found in the semi-dwarf group of Japanese maples.
Specimen 19-10*A is located in grid 30-4E. 

Almost no one is aware that the Washington Park Arboretum is the location of two kames. “Kames, what is that?” everyone asks. Wikipedia tells us that “a kame is a geomorphological feature, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier.”
Located just east of Lake Washington Boulevard E. 

The Arboretum Loop Trail is a jewel of the master plan approved in 2001.

Kirsten is a Volunteer at the Elisabeth C. Miller Library.  She grew up in Denmark near Copenhagen and relocated to the Seattle area in October of 2011.  Kirsten likes to garden, knit, and sing in her free time.
She has a BS in biochemistry and biology and a BS in library and information science.  Her favorite classes in college were evolution and classification of higher plants, native plant identification, and information retrieval.  

As part of her UW senior capstone project, student farmer Mallory Culbertson has been working hard to bring chickens to the UW Farm! We hope to have a flock of feathered friends in 2017 but in the meantime, check out this informative Chicken Keeping Handbook Mallory created for other student farmers.
If you’d like to learn more, you can view her project’s annotated bibliography HERE. 

Join us on April 7 at the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden for a tour of the lovely spring ephemerals.