Mission Statement

We seek to break urban isolation by providing opportunities for people to garden together, learn from each other, develop a sense of neighborhood, and create a more livable urban environment.

Photo By Mary Jones

History

P-Patch Trust combines, when possible, green-friendly funds, individual, and community support for development of P-Patch sites and community gardens. The Trust seeks to play a leading role in advocating organic principles, ensuring access to low income gardeners, encouraging produce donations to food banks, and preserving gardens through purchase.

In 1987, land for the first truly permanent community garden was deeded to the P-Patch Advisory Council to be held for permanent preservation as a community garden. Looking forward to future opportunities, in 1992 FPP founded its dedicated land acquisition fund. In 2002, the Trust purchased its fifth permanent community gardening site. The Land Stewardship Committee was formed in 1991 which worked to gain public open space funding for eight sites for preservation as P-Patches. In 1994 the City Comprehensive Plan called for a community garden in every Urban Village.

In the 1970s the Picardo family found that truck farming was no longer profitable. Darlyn Del Boca, a member of the landscape architectural community, recognized the importance of the Picardo Truck Farm as open and recreational space, as well as a secure food source. Darlyn, with her belief in the creative power of community building, gained permission from the Picardo family to use their land to teach children about gardening. The produce was donated to “Neighbors in Need”, and there were a lot of needy folks in those years. As the children planted their crops, parents who assisted were offered space to "grow their own" and community gardening sprouted along with the vegetables. Through her efforts Darlyn is credited with being the founder the Seattle P-Patch Program.

In 1974, the City adopted the garden, expanded to 10 additional sites and the P-Patch Program was born. The "P" in P-Patch was in honor of the Picardo family, who made the original land available. But it also stood for "passionate people producing peas in public". The 1970s in Seattle were years of grass roots activism and by 1979, activist volunteers organized themselves and formalized their support of the City’s program as the non-profit “P-Patch Advisory Council,” The P-Patch Advisory Council nurtured community gardening through the vagaries of politics, the ups and downs of economics, and the rapid growth of Seattle. Later the P-Patch Advisory Council evolved into the non-profit “Friends of P-Patch”, a membership based organization. In 2004 it evolved again into a land conservancy and preservation organization called P-Patch Trust.

In the 1990’s, the Advisory Council strengthened its focus and became Friends of P-Patch (FPP), a grassroots membership organization. FPP joined Seattle P-Patch program staff to rescue community gardening, which had almost died in Seattle. The City, faced with tight budgets in the early 1980s, reduced services to P-Patch gardens and increased fees. FPP responded by suggesting alternative ways to provide services and by establishing the Gardenship Fund to assist needy gardeners to pay their plot fees.

In 2003 the Friends of P-Patch Board of Directors adopted changes to the organizations Articles of Incorporation and FPP became the P-Patch Trust, a community gardening land trust. The Board aligned the purpose of the organization with the major efforts of FPP over the previous years in acquiring land and setting it aside in perpetuity as community gardens.

In addition to promoting and supporting community organic community gardening in the Seattle the new Articles chartered the Trust to (1) operate as a nature conservancy by acquiring, owning, conserving, and preserving urban open spaces to be utilized as public community gardens, (2) promote the conservation of urban open space for the use and enjoyment of the general public, (3) to provide sustainable opportunities for low income families and (4) through leadership, coordinated effort and open forum to educate Seattle residents regarding urban ecology and biodiversity through organic gardening.

The Trust continues to play a leading role: advocating organic principles, ensuring access to low income gardeners, encouraging produce donations to food banks, and preserving gardens through purchase. The Trust has not faltered in its mission despite the vagaries of politics, the ups and downs of economics, and the rapid growth of Seattle. The P-Patch Trust continues to make more gardening opportunities available to increasing numbers of urban dwellers.

Purpose

P-Patch Trust combines, when possible, green-friendly funds, individual, and community support for development of P-Patch sites and community gardens. The Trust seeks to play a leading role in advocating organic principles, ensuring access to low income gardeners, encouraging produce donations to food banks, and preserving gardens through purchase.

P-Patch Trust
1. operates as a non profit nature conservancy by acquiring, owning, conserving, and preserving urban open spaces to be utilized as public community gardens;
2. promotes the conservation of urban open space for the use and enjoyment of the general public through suitable land conservation techniques, such as voluntary agreements and acquisition of fee title or partial property interests (such as conservation easements);
3. promotes the conservation of soils at open space properties it owns or in which it has an interest;
4. promotes the improvement, through composting and soil building, of the soil ecology of open space properties it owns or in which it has an interest;
5. conserves the urban ecology and biodiversity of Seattle by providing food and habitat for urban wildlife a nd beneficial micro-organisms;
6. holds its properties for the primary purpose of educating Seattle residents regarding urban ecology and biodiversity through organic gardening and sustainable development;
7. provides solutions to food security problems by making opportunities available for growing organic produce for those in need and providing opportunities for self-reliance to low-income communities;
8. enhance recreation opportunities through community gardening

Annual Report

P-Patch Post

Contact Us

Board Roster

Alice Burgess
alice.b@ppatchtrust.org

Hanahn Korman
hanahn.k@ppatchtrust.org

Erin MacDougall
erin.m@pppatchtrust.org

Kristen McIver
kristin.m@ppatchtrust.org

Michael McNutt, Treasurer
Michael.m@ppatchtrust.org

Cristina Mone, Vice President
cristina.m@ppatchtrust.org

Joyce Moty
joyce.m@ppatchtrust.org

Ray Schutte, President
ray.s@ppatchtrust.org