After a Saturday that had p-patchers coining the expression, “After April hail comes May kale,”the sun came out — as did all the city luminaries — for the opening of Magnolia’s first p-patch at Magnolia Manor Park on April 14.
But the stars of the show were the volunteers and fund-raisers who made the p-patch a reality. At the formal opening and ribbon cutting, Seattle City Council president Sally Clark congratulated the crowd of more than 75 and ended her remarks with a quote from Kipling: “Gardens are not made by singing, “‘Oh, how Beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.” The crowd related to it with laughter and knowing nods of total agreement.
Volunteer coordinator and fund-raiser Sharon Knoll summed it up in her speech: “This is a salute to the power and joy of community. You can [now] see the shed and the retaining walls and the paths and the plots and the tools and the wheelbarrows…. What you can’t see is the 1,400 volunteers hours since January, the 145 tons of material moved….”
Friends of Magnolia Manor Park chairperson Susan Casey, serving as mistress of ceremonies, inserted bits of history about how the p-patch evolved over the last three years.
Ray Schutte, past president of the P-Patch Trust, offered the present of new tools and said, “They are only good when used!”
Neighbor Alvin “Bubba” Hendricks, who overlooks the patches from his home of 41 years, welcomed his new neighbors saying, “We will be happy seeing you doing your own thing out there in the p-patch” and led the crowd in a rendition of “Side by Side,” setting the tone for a long relationship with the existing neighborhood.
Department of Neighborhoods director Bernie Matsuno said she would make it a point to return in late July to see the flowers and the fruit in full bloom.
After the formal celebration — in which Heather Ussery of Magnolia’s Umpqua Bank, donors of $15,000 toward the cause and hours of volunteer labor, cut the ribbon and the treats donated by Metropolitan Market were eaten — those who had plots were back to digging and putting a patina of scratches on those new shovels and hoes.
For more information, go to www.magnoliamanorpark.org or www.facebook.com/friendsofmagnoliamanorpark.
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