Barb Burrill, local tree steward, sent in this shot of the aftermath of the weekend windstorm on Meridian Park:

Two Winter Banana variety apple trees at Meridian Playground were blown over during the windstorm Saturday. The trees were in good health but had a shallow root system. They were part of the original Good Shepherd Center orchard, dating from the early 1900s.

Winter Banana is a common apple variety at the Meridian Playground orchard – there are seven remaining original trees of that variety.

 …

Halloween is this Friday! Excited?

As people get more health conscious, and as the incidence of food allergies in kids continues to skyrocket (when will we figure out why?), there’s been a growing interest in handing out something besides candy. If that’s what you’ve got boiling in the cauldron this year, you may want to put out a teal pumpkin to let people know.

The Teal Pumpkin Project was an introduced by FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education) as a way to help parents of kids with food allergies to identify “safe” houses to trick-or-treat at.

Here’s a list of …

Wallingford Farmers Market has packed up and gone away for 2014, but there’s still some time left to get some locally grown veggies: today (Saturday) is the last CityGrown Farmstand market (although they allow they might re-open one more time, weather permitting).

As always, they’ll be out front of 4108 Eastern Ave N from 10 am – 2 pm, selling vegetables grown in small plots around Wallingford and Ballard. Here’s what they say they’ve got, all fresh:

Carrots, Head lettuce – romaine, red crisp, red oakleaf, and butterhead, Salad mix, Pea shoots, Spicy greens – bunch or bag, Arugula – …

Ever wondered what the buildings in Wallingford were before they are what they are?

What was Nikola’s before it was Nikola’s? Well, sure, that’s easy, it was Rusty Pelican. And before that, actually, it was Nikola’s, again. But what about before that? And before that?

Robert Ketcherside has thoughtful history of the building going back to when it was built in 1927 on his blog, ba-kground.

According to RoKet, the building was completed in 1927 and leased to Eba’s grocery store chain, which occupied the spot for just two years (apparently, something bad for business happened in 1929, probably …

The Meridian School is holding its Fall Carnival at Meridian Park behind the Good Shepherd Center this Saturday Oct 25th, from 1 – 4pm. There will be games, food, face-painting, balloon animals, and prizes. Recommended for kids ages 2-10.

That’s all we know.…