Where Did the P in Seattle’s P-Patches Come From? Mossback’s Northwest
How urban gardening took root in Seattle
Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss Seattle’s early efforts at farm-to-table living
KCTS 9
Oct 20, 2023
More than half a century ago, large city farms were the urban dodo bird, headed for extinction. Nevertheless, in 1973, amdist the worst economic downturn in Seattle since the Great Depression, a boom in small urban farming began from one plot in Wedgwood.
Seattle was once full of farms. But as the city developed, land-use regulation and other forces began to push farmers out.
One farming family feeling the squeeze in Seattle in the 1970s helped launch a program that has had a profound impact on the city ever since. A piece of their land became the first of what is now a collection of about 90 public urban gardens, or “P-Patches.”
Crosscut’s resident historian Knute Berger dug into this history and what it represents in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there is a lot more left to unearth.
In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss Seattle’s early efforts at farm-to-table living, how the rise of supermarkets and other economic forces almost derailed them, the details of the first P-Patch and what these popular gardens now symbolize in an ever-changing city.
