All posts by David Koon

13th Annual Piper’s Orchard Festival of Fruit

The 13th Annual Piper’s Orchard Festival of Fruit will be held Saturday, October 5, 2019, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm.   This year’s festival will be held entirely in Piper’s Orchard. 

There will be orchard tours, apple juice pressing, apple variety identification—bring your apples, heritage apple tasting, apple tree planting, and tree pruning and orchard care demonstrations, children’s games, mason bee display, live music and a Master Gardener clinic with free consultation.

The Festival of Fruit is organized by the Friends of Piper’s Orchard, a group of dedicated volunteers who rescued the historic North Seattle orchard from invasive plants. Each year, the annual festival raises awareness and funds to help the volunteers ensure that the orchard, originally planted in the 1890s, will survive at least another 100 years.

Alongside the Friends of Piper’s Orchard, the Festival of Fruit is also sponsored by Seattle Parks and Recreation, Carkeek Park Advisory Council, Seattle Tree Fruit Society, and City Fruit.

Getting There: Metro bus lines D, 28 and 40 all travel near the McAbee entrance to Carkeek Park. From there it’s a ½ mile walk down the Piper’s Creek trail to Piper’s Orchard.

Parking: Parking is limited. If you park at the bottom of the hill along Carkeek Park Road, it is less than a 1/2 mile walk up Pipers Creek Trail to the orchard.

Make your way down to Piper’s Orchard between 11am and 2pm on Saturday, October 5th and join in the fun!

For more information
Email: pipersorchard@gmail.com
Visit: www.pipersorchard.org

Carkeek Park Advisory Council Meetings have moved

The Carkeek Park Advisory Council has moved its monthly meeting to the fourth Tuesday of the month starting in June 2019. We used to meet on the fourth Monday of the month. Our next meeting will be this Tuesday, June 25th at 7pm in the Carkeek park Administration Building. These meetings are open to the public and we welcome anyone interested in the health of Carkeek Park or in volunteer activities in the Carkeek Park.

Note, our July meeting time is reserved for our volunteer recognition party and we do not meet in August. Our next meeting after June 25th is Tuesday, September 24th at 7pm.

1st Salmon Fry Release of 2019

This sign lets Park visitors know that the Imprint Pond is open.

The first batch of Chum salmon fry will be released into Venema Creek on Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 7:00 PM! Look for the sign at the bottom of the hill as you enter the park directing you to the imprint pond.

Salmon Imprint volunteers have been feeding the 30,000 fry we received from the Suquamish Tribe hatchery at Grover Creek 3 time a day, 7 days a week for 37 days to prepare them for release.

Visit the CWCAP website for more information.

Piper’s Orchard Festival of Fruit, Saturday 9/15

The Friends of Piper’s Orchard invite the community to join them in celebrating Carkeek Park’s historic orchard on Saturday, September 15th from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm in Carkeek Park. FREE and fun for the whole family.

The Heaven & Earth outdoor art exhibition, which will be in Carkeek Park for the 10th year, will also offer the opportunity to meet exhibit artists and tour the installations located throughout the park.

There will be activities in two locations in Carkeek Park:

At the Environmental Center
Apple pie contest (10-10:45am) Enters by 9:30!
Mason Bee demonstrations
Apple identification
Apple and Pear variety tasting Fresh pressed cider demonstration
Cider pressing
Buy pies and cider from Tillie’s Cafe (11am-2pm)
Master Gardener Clinic with activities for adults and children
Honey Bee demonstration
Demonstartion Gardens tours for children (11:15am and 1:00pm)
Demonstartion Gardens tours for adults (12:30pm)
Heaven and Earth Outdoor Art Exhibition Opening
Live Music featuring Will Morgan and Kelly Blanchard

In Piper’s Orchard
Visit the orchard
Orchard tours (11:30am and 1:30pm)
Orchard History presentation
Get your fruit tree and grape questions answered

Bring a homemade apple pie between 10:00 am and 10:30 am to enter into the pie contest or donate a homemade pie for resale. More interested in eating pies than baking them? That’s okay too! Donated pies will be available for purchase at Tillie’s Café, and the proceeds will go toward maintaining the orchard. Contest pies will also be available for purchase.

The Festival of Fruit is organized by the Friends of Piper’s Orchard, a group of dedicated volunteers who rescued the historic North Seattle orchard from invasive plants. Each year, the annual festival raises awareness and funds to help the volunteers ensure that the orchard, originally planted in the 1890s, will survive at least another 100 years.

Alongside the Friends of Piper’s Orchard, the Festival of Fruit is also sponsored by Seattle Parks and Recreation, Carkeek Park Advisory Council, Seattle Tree Fruit Society, and City Fruit.

Getting There: Metro bus lines D, 28 and 40 all travel near the McAbee entrance to Carkeek Park. From there it’s a ½ mile walk down the Piper’s Creek trail to Piper’s Orchard and another ½ mile to the Education Center.

Parking: Parking is very limited. Visitors are encouraged to park below the Education Center. Volunteers will be directing guests.

For more information
Email: pipersorchard@gmail.com
Visit: www.pipersorchard.org