The P-Patch

Our plot is in a P-Patch at Johnson Farm. The City of Bainbridge Island owns approximately 60 acres of “public farmland” with the goals of providing healthy, local food for our families and helping present and future island farmers create viable livelihoods. Johnson Farm is one of several farms owned by the city.

The idea is for these public farmlands to be farmed, collectively and collaboratively, by farmers that not only respect the culture of the place but also cultivate the farmers of the future. Countless hours are dedicated to a variety of community efforts including youth education, farmland improvement projects, mentoring apprentice farmers and participation in monthly work parties and farm walks.



At Johnson Farm, they also have community plots, available for an annual fee to anyone who would like to garden there. In our area, this type of community garden is called a P-Patch. P-Patches allow people in urban areas and apartment dwellers to have the opportunity to grow their own food, and there are many in the Seattle area. Curious about the origination of the term, I found this Wikipedia definition:

A P-Patch is a parcel of property used for gardening allotments; the term is specific to Seattle, Washington. The "P" originally stood for "Picardo", after the family who owned Picardo Farm in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood, part of which became the original P-Patch. (A folk etymology attributes it to "pea patch".)