-That compost is important
to our connection with our community.
-Learn how restaurant scraps are improving
future meals and the planet
thanks to the magic of composting.
-Whoa! Look at this fungus growing.
-Taking the classroom outside.
Creative learning in any weather.
-When I want to feel good, I look at some of his pictures.
-Honoring Black History Month through the lens of Al Smith.
His images reveal a rich, hidden history
of Seattle's Central District.
These stories and more next on "CityStream."
♪♪
I'm Linda Byron.
Welcome to "CityStream" from the Danny Woo Community Gardens.
At one and a half acres,
this spot is the largest green space
in Seattle's south downtown.
The garden serves over 70 low-income residents.
Most of them do not speak English.
Danny Woo, a former landowner and restaurateur,
donated the land in 1972,
and back then it was an overrun patch of blackberry bushes.
Today, it is a source of pride for the CID community,
providing both sustainability and calm
in a busy urban setting.
If you've ever tried gardening,
you know sometimes you have to get a little dirty.
Fortunately for us,
a local nonprofit is doing the dirty work
of keeping these plants happy.
It's a hyper-localized composting program called
Restaurant 2 Garden.
Brian Callanan has more.
-Do we need chanterelles tonight?
-Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy.
-Itsumono in the Chinatown-ID neighborhood
has made a name for itself by taking a scoop here
and a few slices there of culinary traditions
from around the world. -There you go.
We call ourselves a mukokuseki gastropub.
Means, like, no nation, no borders.
-But it's what doesn't make it on the plate
at Itsumono that's lifted its popularity to a whole new level.
-Watch your step.
-Restaurant 2 Garden is a Seattle nonprofit
that's walking the talk when it comes
to making the process of composting even greener.
It turns out R2G has unlocked a simple answer
to a complex problem.
-Be careful.
-When sanitation workers pick up
your food and yard waste, they have to burn fuel,
which creates greenhouse gases which impact our environment.
But Restaurant 2 Garden uses pure people power.
-That's everything.
-Walking in to pick up compostable food scraps
from Itsumono's back door,
then taking an eco-friendly hike about two blocks north to a spot
that can put this material to good use --
the CID's Danny Woo Community garden.
-Us localizing this process decreases the use
of that transportation
and creates a circular economy in this area.
-Amy Bettle is the Executive Director of R2G.
-Open these bags into the metal buckets
and then we will start chopping the food waste.
-And she knows at first this may look disgusting...
-Ugh, eww.
-...but once this food waste is cut into roughly 1-inch pieces
and combined with a bokashi bran full of essential microbes
that can start a fermenting process,
a layered delicacy is starting to cook.
-This is the bokashi lasagna.
We also use the analogy
of dusting powdered sugar on a cake.
-Then that cake or lasagna goes in a 5-gallon bucket
and is allowed to break down for a few months
before it's cycled through the 4 foot by 4 foot earth cube
to become nutrient-rich compost.
-We're going to empty as much of it as we can today.
-For Bettle, this process of breaking down food scraps
is building up Seattle's environmental health
and the cultural health of the Chinatown-ID neighborhood.
-Us providing that compost is important
to our connection with our community.
It's multigenerational. It spans multiple languages.
-[ Speaks native language ]
-As Iku Yong explains it,
when he moved to Chinatown many years ago,
the city gave him this little plot of land
to grow fruits and vegetables to provide to the community.
Thanks to Restaurant 2 Garden,
he appreciates not having to buy any compost,
and he appreciates the kindness of a younger generation,
helping continue an age-old gardening tradition.
-I get to see all the Asian aunties and uncles here.
-Volunteers like Kevin Ly say working with R2G
feels like being part of a family.
It takes hard work and there may be some missteps along the way.
-Ugh!
-But Ly says finding the strength to dig deep
and overcome those obstacles to grow something beautiful
is what R2G is all about.
-I see that, and I see this, like,
this resilience in the city, and I just love it.
How, like, there's so much spirit here.
-City figures show businesses in Seattle
throw out nearly 22,000 tons of food every year.
Restaurants are working hard to make sure
any edible food goes to our food banks.
But for what does have to be thrown away,
Restaurant 2 Garden is seeing a major opportunity.
R2G is planning to build a new facility on King Street,
at the site of the old Asian Counseling
and Referral Services food bank.
The project will include a 40-foot composter
called an Earth Flow to scale up operations
and hopefully bring in even more food-service partners.
-There's waste in every restaurant,
and there should be a plan for it.
-Sean Arakaki is chef/owner of Itsumono,
which along with the Panama Hotel,
are the only two restaurants working with R2G currently.
-It's an honor, really.
We're really glad that we could be of use.
-And he's even able to work in some produce
from the Danny Woo Community Garden in his cooking.
A full-circle win for the environment and a restaurant
where now even the leftovers are getting 5-star reviews.
-We're getting some -- some return on our waste,
you know, which, you know, it's not so wasteful.
-As the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons,
make some high-quality, hyper-localized compost.
-Alright, Lisa, can you come here
so you can sprinkle both of these buckets?
-Or as Amy Bettle puts it,
finding a way you can positively impact our planet
and your community makes a lot of lives better,
including your own.
-For us, making it hyperlocal doesn't take away
from our contributions to that big picture.
I think I have a lot of gratitude
for what this organization is doing for the neighborhood,
and also what the organization is doing for me.
[ Laughter ]
-Volunteers are needed year round for Restaurant 2 Garden.
If you'd like to learn more,
contact the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
Next, there's no rainy-day recess at this school.
Every day is outdoors for these preschool kids
as "CityStream" continues.
♪♪
-We are the everyday storytellers of this great city.
We are Seattle Channel, a gateway to everything Seattle.
The intersection between government, culture,
news, and the ever-unfolding story of the city we call home.
So follow your curiosity and come explore Seattle with us.
Seattle Channel.
♪♪
-Welcome back to "CityStream"
from the Danny Woo Community Gardens.
As you can see, it's being a typical Seattle day
with some overcast and some rain.
And not long ago, it was snowing.
For most of us, that means it's time to go inside,
but not for the kids at the Fiddleheads Forest School.
Rain, snow or sun, these preschoolers' classroom
is out amongst the trees in the arboretum,
and I was fortunate enough
to follow the Fiddleheads around a couple of years ago.
And I got to tell you, this is one cool school.
-Good morning.
Do you have a nice walk in this morning?
Yeah? I'm gonna sign you in.
What do you want to do this morning?
-It's late September,
and the smell of cedar greets parents leading
their children into Seattle's Arboretum...
-I do need to go.
-...where they'll spend the next four hours.
-I love you.
-[ Child yells ]
-Think if we turn the page, are we gonna see her,
do you think?
-You won't see any plaid skirts or pressed pants here.
The school uniform consists of boots and anything waterproof.
Instead of cubbies, kids toss backpacks into plastic bins.
-You can say, "Finn,
can I have some space to draw the face on the tree?"
-No walls either, only a tarp offering minimal shelter.
-So today our question is going to be can it float
or does it sink?
Float or sink, float or sink? [ Gasps ]
-Welcome to Fiddleheads Forest School,
where everything happens outdoors.
-Did they float or did they sink?
-They float.
-♪ Hello, hello ♪
-This is the Magnolia class,
named for the trees growing nearby.
-♪ How are you? ♪
-The group of 14 kids, ages 3 to 5,
start their day by exploring between learning stations.
-1, 2 , 3.
There's usually lots of creatures under here.
-Like this obstacle course where slugs and bugs delight...
-This is a little baby wormy. Would you like to grab it?
-...and nature astounds.
-Whoa! Look at this fungus growing.
We're not gonna eat this gum.
Before we eat anything in the forest,
we need to talk about what it is
and if it is okay for our bodies.
-This is a living classroom.
-There's some that splattered onto my arm here.
If we have a planned lesson,
say, about plants and maybe an owl flies into our classroom,
then that kind of curtails our entire day.
Sometimes we talk about the owl
and, like, what their body looks like, what they eat,
what an owl pellet is.
♪ A-hiking we will go ♪
-With nature setting the agenda,
every day is like a field trip.
-♪ Hi-ho, the derry-o, a-hiking we will go ♪
The arboretum -- it feels very big,
so sometimes we forget
that we're still very much in, like, an urban space.
Hi, crow! -Hi, crow.
-They're listening for things, they're smelling things,
they're feeling things.
And surely you can experience that in an indoor classroom,
but I feel like it's -- it's heightened
when you're out in the forest.
-But you can do most of what kids do
in a traditional classroom...
-Can you help me draw?
-...whether it's drawing or doing a science experiment.
Push!
I'm wondering if we can show this snail kindness
by leaving it in the same type of environment
that we found it in.
-[ Speaks indistinctly ] -Lead us, lead us, show us!
Let's go.
-Asher's parents chose outdoor preschool
after moving here from New York.
And yes, they knew all about the rain.
-You know, my parents ask me that all the time, too.
I think for us, he's gonna experience rain wherever, right?
Like, it's not something that we can shield him from.
It's not something we want to shield him from, frankly.
-Use special powers to zap them.
-I just stay here by myself? Okay, bye.
-Joe Kim loves watching his son learn
to be flexible and resilient.
-The idea of preparedness is really important.
You know, you can do anything as long as you're prepared.
-Should I put it in the basket? -Mm-hmm.
-When Sarah Heller co-founded Fiddleheads eight years ago,
she wasn't sure an all-outdoor school would fly
in a city where it rains 155 days a year.
-We knew about schools in Europe that do this in the snow.
They stick their kids on skis, they go sledding,
they're out in negative temperatures.
So we learned a lot from them.
-Sylvie's doing some puddle jumping.
-Yes, we did have people telling us
that we were a little bit nuts.
-Not ready to go.
-Looking at 3-year-old Aya,
it's hard to believe she once avoided going outside.
-I had concerns that she might not be a fit,
and it didn't end up having any problem whatsoever.
She loves it. She loves being out here.
She's -- She's never talked about the weather.
-Out of the way.
-The benefits can be unexpected.
-Our son had some balance issues.
And within two weeks of being here,
just from, like, running around on the uneven ground,
like, all week, his balance, like, greatly improved.
-Slippery. -Slippery.
[ All howling ]
-Hikes offer adventure,
but there's more going on than just play.
-Do you think that is?
-I don't know. -Oh, it's stretchy.
Look at that.
-There's a bigger goal for teachers and parents
that connecting kids with nature early
will encourage them to care for the troubled planet
they're inheriting.
-I do think that these sorts of programs do create,
um, stewards for our environment and the planet.
And there should be more children in outdoor schools.
-Unless wind or lightning make conditions unsafe,
school is never canceled.
And, no, it's never moved indoors.
-In comparison to a lot of parts of the world,
we have very mild weather.
-Even on the Friday before Christmas,
the darkest day in Seattle history,
and the fifth wettest day on record,
the Magnolias are outside, soaking it all in.
-My car is quite muddy.
-These mothers have a special relationship with Mother Nature.
-My boots are muddy. -[ Grunts ]
-They've learned to efficiently strip away layers
and muddy boots before loading up tired explorers
and heading home to wash another load of clothes.
-I just let my car get dirty. We clean up our seats later.
-Another day in the forest without noise,
technology, artificial light.
Another day learning in nature's sacred classroom.
Fiddleheads Forest School is so popular, they're booked up
through the 2025-26 school year.
If you'd like to know when the next lottery will be,
go to their website -- botanicgardens.uw.edu --
and search under the Education tab.
Next on "CityStream," recognizing Black History Month
through the photographs of Al Smith.
We'll be right back.
♪♪
Just down the block,
you'll find the historic Jackson Street Jazz District.
This was the place where legends like Duke Ellington,
Ernestine Anderson, Louis Armstrong,
Ray Charles and Quincy Jones
lit up tiny clubs scattered across 10 blocks
and one man captured it all --
photographer Al Smith.
Connie Thompson takes us
inside Smith's extraordinary body of work,
in the clubs and in the community.
It's an unmatched window
into the Central District's rich and vibrant history.
[ Jazz music playing ]
♪♪
-He was always a photographer.
He was an artist.
It was like you were engaged in what was happening
at that particular moment that he would take the photographs.
What he covered was happy, you know?
He showed people enjoying themselves.
And when you look at his pictures,
for me, you feel that.
And so when I want to feel good,
I look at some of his pictures
because it -- it's -- it's a nice escape.
-A great photographer always finds a way
to be in just the right spot at just the right moment.
And that was Al Smith, Sr.
-He knew when to snap that shot.
People are having a great time.
He was tuned in to capturing those moments
that brought us joy.
-Absolute joy.
I feel like, "Wow, I wish I'd have been alive
to be around that scene.
That would have been pretty cool."
♪♪
-You can just feel the audience.
That's, to me, a very energetic photograph.
-If anyone has a greater appreciation
for Al Smith's work,
it would be his son, Al Smith, Jr.,
or "Butch" to those who know him.
Butch says his dad took so many pictures
because he truly cared about his Central area community.
-He never would refer to himself as a historian,
but that's what he was.
-The nightclub ones are sort of the glamour end of things.
The concert shots and so on.
But his day-to-day work in the community,
those are much appreciated.
-It's different when you have a photograph.
It gives a whole nother dimension.
-He took photographs of birthday parties, weddings.
Oh, you name it.
He was capturing things he thought should be captured.
-He didn't just photograph black people.
You know, he photographed Chinese, Japanese, Filipino.
-In the Central District in those days,
it was just a melting pot and a mix of all kinds of people.
That was a very special time in Seattle history.
How lucky are we to have somebody
who documents the history of a community
that otherwise may not have been documented at all?
-It's an opportunity to time travel and see
how vital and interesting their lives were at that time.
-If it were not for the Smith collection,
there would be a huge void for us
in terms of documenting over the decades the Central District.
-Redlining limited
where black people could own homes in Seattle.
That was the Central District,
but gentrification has now forced them out.
Also gone, much of the rich culture
and soul of that community.
-It's just really important to have the history there
so people don't think, "Well, yeah,
a lot of black people used to live here and now they don't."
-I realized the historical significance,
and I don't want those pictures to just sit.
[ Laughs ] This is old.
[ Both laughing ]
-So, Butch, with the help of the Black Heritage Society
and the Museum of History and Industry,
are making a concerted effort to get Al Smith, Sr.'s
images out there as a way of connecting
the present to the past.
-Look at those dresses.
-I know. -Yeah.
-It helps to ground you.
And when you're grounded and feeling connected,
I think that that sense of community
is more conducive to building neighborhoods
and the character of neighborhoods.
Recently, we were having a discussion about
how character matters in our community.
And when we see these images in these photographs
that capture that character,
it just reinforces it.
-It's a great way
to memorialize what the Central District used to be.
-Smith's photos are so captivating,
they were featured in a 2022 memory study called
Sharp -- Sharing History through Active Reminiscence
and Photo-imagery.
It brought together the city's aging and disability services
and the University of Washington.
Seniors with early Alzheimer's or dementia
walked the neighborhoods of their youth,
using some of Smith's pictures to jog memories and discussions.
One particular photo consistently
got a huge response.
-That was the photo of the parade.
It was the big Cadillac with the Esquire on the side
and somebody waving in the crowd.
There was a lot of, "Ah, I remember that."
-When people can see these images in these photographs,
it's defining.
It gives you a sense of place about where you live
or where you came from.
-It allowed these black elders to be seen in places
where they hadn't been seen in a long time.
You know, there were just a lot
of great discussions and memories and a lot of laughter.
-You know, he carried his camera everywhere.
-The Black Heritage Society and the Smith family
continue to push for Al Smith Sr.'s photos
to be prominently displayed in new Seattle buildings,
as well as long-standing community landmarks.
All this to honor one man's lifetime hobby
and transform it into a lasting legacy.
-He would appreciate it.
But it's not something he expected.
He said, "I wasn't doing anything special.
I was just taking pictures."
He meant that.
He was just surprised nobody else was.
[ Laughing ]
-If you'd like to learn more about Al Smith's
extensive collection, the Museum of History and Industry
has a wonderful look at his life and his work.
Just go to mohai.org/exhibits
and search for photographs of Al Smith,
and we'll be right back.
♪♪
That wraps up this edition of "CityStream"
from the Danny Woo Community Gardens.
And, you know, there's so much more
to do here besides gardening.
There's a chicken coop, a children's garden,
and even a pig roast in the summer.
If you'd like to learn more about this location
and all of their year-round events,
go to interimcda.org/danny-woo.
I'm Linda Byron, thank you for watching.
♪♪