North Seattle College
IN-7: Community Garden

The Licton Springs P-Patch Community Garden is located on the south end of the North Seattle College (NSC) campus. P-Patch is the name given to the network of City of Seattle's community gardens that exist throughout the city. The community garden idea at NSC started as a student-driven initiative in 1976, but the land intended for the first community garden ended up as a school parking lot. Then, a few several years ago, the NSC Sustainability Committee began an approval process to bring a garden to the neighborhood of Licton Springs. The garden was built in 2013 and 2014 was the patch's inaugural year. The Licton Springs P-Patch at NSC consists of 15,000 square feet with accessible raised beds, honeybees, and giving gardens. For playing host to the P-Patch, NSC is awarded six garden plots. The NSC Office of Sustainability coordinates NSC's six plots.

P-Patch community gardeners:

-Grow community
-Nurture civic engagement
-Practice organic gardening techniques
-Foster an environmental ethic and connect nature to peoples' lives
-Improve access to local, organic, and culturally appropriate food
-Transform the appearance and revitalize the spirit of their neighborhoods
-Preserve heirloom flowers, herbs, and vegetables
-Cultivate understanding between generations and cultures through gardening and cooking.

The Licton Springs P-Patch at NSC consists of 67 plots. Many other individuals use and visit the garden, but we do not have an accurate count of the number of individuals that use the institution's community garden annually.