I have become quite the joiner this past week! Although I love the virtual community of gardeners, I have been searching for ways to join a community of gardeners here in Portland. It’s proven more challenging than I first anticipated. I began the search with gardening clubs. To date, I have found only a couple gardening clubs and their members are mostly 60+. Probably the
Eugene Calling
Eugene, Oregon, will always have a special place in my heart. I spent my college years there attending the University of Oregon and a few monumental things occurred during that time which have left me with fond memories of this little town. My work sent me down there Friday and a work connection hooked Jay and I up with an overnight stay at a lovely
Farmer’s Market Restraint
I had the pleasure of spending Saturday morning with a good friend at the farmer’s market in downtown Portland. It’s the largest one in town and the earliest to open for the season. The past couple weekends have been too busy, so this is my first market trip for the year. I showed incredible restraint throughout the pleasant morning. Unbelievable restraint in fact. The weather
First Farmers Market
Portland’s largest farmers market will be opening for the season tomorrow! I love this downtown market, near Portland State University along the park blocks. It is open from 8:30am to 2:00 in the afternoon. The farmers market near me, the Lents International farmers market, won’t be open until June. It is much smaller and less exciting than the downtown one on Saturdays, but this year
New Additions
I spent my Sunday afternoon at the downtown Powell’s bookstore and came away with a couple new and exciting additions to my book collection. As I went in search of the permaculture books in the gardening section, I realized there is a whole new addition in the area called “Sustainable Living”. I just about screamed in joy at this discovery! It’s a whole aisle of
New Book Decisions
Decisions, decisions… I have a Powell’s gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket and I think this weekend is the one to spend it. I’m in a funk and nothing says instant-happiness than some good materialistic fulfillment. The seeds are still sprouting on my record player, so my vinyl can’t take the funk away. A few months ago I added a new book to
Roll Out the Harvest
I have this bad habit of working so hard to preserve the harvest and then actually forgetting all about it until the next harvest rolls around… Amazingly, I broke the habit this past weekend when I remembered the bags of frozen berries stacked up in our freezer. I decided it was a good time to whip them out and into some tasty smoothies. My version,
The Produce Bible/Gardening Gifts
The latest addition to my growing cookbook collection is called The Produce Bible, by Leanne Kitchen (nice name). I was wandering through the Powell’s Home & Garden location on Hawthorne and it caught my eye. Although I have a few books already with some good gardener/farmer’s market recipes, this one has been a nice addition. It was one of the staff recommendations and the photography
Tomatoes, Basil, and Bob
One of the great things about sharing your love of gardening with friends is pooling the harvest together. We have some friends in the neighborhood that have had great success with their tomatoes this summer. Last night we were taking a stroll by their house and they sent us home with a lovely assortment of homegrown tomatoes. Such a treat, considering mine are a pretty