L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 8 Behind the P-Patch community: The Italian Ernesto Picardo The 27th Annual Italian Festival If you have ever wondered about the origin of the name P- Patch, you are not alone. The "P" stands for Picardo, the involun- tary founder of the marvelous community garden project in Seattle area. When Ernesto Picardo, with his two brothers Orazio and Sabino started farming in South Park along the Duwamish River in 1922, he had no idea that he was about to create a movement that would spread across the city. Ernesto, who soon became the patriarch of the family, left Italy in the 1890s to find a home in Seattle, leaving behind Salza Irpina, a little village in the southern Italian province of Avellino. After a year or two farming the banks of the Duwamish, the brothers decided to swap their house in South Park for a portion of land that had been part of what was acknowledged as the "Ravenna Swamp", for the next 40 years the family farmed with passion and fervor the 20 acres located between 25th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 80th Street. Ernesto along with the other men of the family delivered their produce to the grocery stores in the area and then sold another part of their produce at the Pike Place Market After Ernesto died at age of 89 in 1961, the land remained unused for several years, until the neighbors started to taking care of it and cultivate it again. Finally in 1973 the City, with the permission of the Picardo family, purchased the land, creat- ing the first in the list of several community lands. Today, the 89 P-Patches dis- tributed throughout the city, are managed by Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods Garden, but preserved and main- tained with love and dedication by over 4,400 gardeners in a circa 23 acres. The plot sizes differ from gar- den to garden, but usually they range between 40 and 400 square feet. P-patch gardeners grow organic plants, flowers, food crops, herbs and sometimes fruit bush and trees. The P-Patch Community Gardening Program is affiliated with the nonprofit organization P-Patch Trust, which supports low-income gardeners paying their annual fees ($34-$67 according to the plot size). The Italian Ernesto Picardo started gardening creating an incredible exception to the mas- sive tendency of immigrants to opt for The Klondike Gold Rush, very popular in Seattle area between 1896 and 1899. It's difficult to imagine how different the Northwest land appeared to Ernesto Picardo, compared to his home land of Salza Irpina. For those who have explored the remote inland of Campania region, the differences are enor- mous. Despite the lack of tourism in the area, it is no less fascinating and beautiful in its own way. Salza Irpina, is a small town of 798 inhabitants, located in the heart of the chestnut production area. In fact the village hosts every year La sagra della castagna, the chestnut fair in October and La Sagra del fungo porcino, the porcini mushrooms fair, in August. The village is a green oasis, made of cultivations of strictly DOP extra virgin olive oil, hazel- nuts trees, worldwide fame for the two varieties present here, the "avellana" and "mortarella", the typical product of Irpinia. In addition to those, corn and wheat are common and charac- teristic of the rural landscapes of Irpinia. Consequentially Ernesto Picardo very likely found a dif- ferent kind of natural environ- ment in the Northwest, but lucki- ly he probably didn't encounter too many difficulties in farming. In fact similar vegetables were growing in his hometown region such as: vegetables, pep- pers, eggplants, green beans, potatoes, chicory, tomatoes, endives, beets, squash, zucchini and broccoli. The rich history of the Picardo family is another incred- ible story of Italian immigrants who were able to leave their mark on a city through their pas- sion and desire for what they truly loved and what inspired them. Fore more info about p-patch program, visit: http://www.seat- tle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/ MICHelA tARtAGlIA Aug. 23, Sat.-"Beyond Garlic Bread - Authentic Italian Cuisine". Workshop taught by Michela Tartaglia at Bellevue College North Campus. 9:30AM to 12:30PM. For more info: http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/ce/ Aug. 24, Sun.-Scampagnata Italiana, Italian picnic, by Slow Food Sunday. 2PM. The event will be lead by Italian chef Francesco Rizzo from Pisa. The program will be held on the grounds of Bastyr University. For more info: http://slowfood- sunday.org/ Sept. 10, Wed.- Festa Volunteer Meeting at Mt. Virgin Meeting Hall. , 7PM, For more info: http://www. italianclu- bofseattle.com/index.htm Sept. 12, Fri. -Italian Club General Meeting/Dinner at Mt. Virgin Meeting Hall. 6:30PM. For more info: http://www.italianclubofseattle.com/index.htm Sept. 24, Wed. -Festa Downtown Luncheon, at Seattle Yacht Club. 11:30AM. For more info: http://www.italianclubof- seattle.com/index.htm Sept. 26, Fri. - Italian Club/SU Baseball Golf Tournament Benefit at Echo Falls GC. For more info: http://www.ita- lianclubofseattle.com/index.htm Sept. 27, Sat-Festa Italiana – Seattle Taste of Italy at Seattle Center Armory. 7PM. For more info: http://www.festaseat- tle.com/ Sept. 28 & 29, Sun. & Mon.- Festa Italiana 26th Annual Italian Festival, at Seattle Center. For more info: http://www.festaseattle.com/ Italy lovers and fans: sign up your calendar! The 27th Annual Italian Festival is coming up from September 27th to September 28th at Seattle Center. Like every year, walking in the beautiful open space at the foot of the Space Needle, will feel like being in the center of "Little Italy" with countless events, such as a bocce ball tour- nament, a grape-stomping com- petition, Italian music, Italian crafts, a classical Italian Vehicle Exhibit and the swirling smell of Italian food of course. For those who are not familiar with Festa Italiana, this is a good time to explore the beauty of Italy. Festa Italiana is a wonder- ful organization that puts togeth- er an annual weeklong series of events on the last week of September, closing with the most important Italian Festival at Seattle Center. Since fall of 1988, Festa Italiana has been presenting the Italian Festival at Seattle Center, seeing an average attendance of 30,000 patrons each year and some years as high as 10,000. This year in particular, the calendar is full of important events. Here are a few: food vendors, wine gardens, puppet theatre and an Italian photo exhibit honoring the "old country". A beautiful Historical Photo Exhibit with hundreds of images that pictured the earliest Italian immigrants to the Pacific NW. What festival would be complete without Italian food. Each year The Great Italian Chefs from around the area demonstrate their cooking skills and love for Italy. In years past chefs Mario Batali, Giuliano Bugali, Biba Caggiano, Michael Chiarello, Rocco DiSpirito, Mary Ann Esposito, Michol Negrin, Christina Pirello, Nick Stellino, Anne Burrell and Rossella Rago each brought their own perspec- tives to cooking. For those interested in the music scene, singers, musicians, bands, orchestras and dance troupes from Italy, United States and Canada will delight the festi- val. A special grazie goes to the event's director since 1993, Dennis Caldirola, whose exper- tise and dedication make the Italian Festival what it is and whose direction in fundraising not only makes this annual event possible, but also very success- ful. For more info visit http://www.festaseattle.com/ Mbrascatu will be performing at the Festa Italiana Seattle MICHelA tARtAGlIA Picardo Farm, 1923 The tradition of the P-patch gardeners continues today. In the photo Viola Rosa Tartaglia proudly picking carrots in the p-patch of Belltown

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