How did it get to be September already? Is someone playing a trick on my calendar? Here we are in the thick of tomato and squash season. I feel like it all happened overnight! I have been volunteering intermittently at the Urban Farm between summer vacations and it is just bursting there right now. I probably consume more food while I’m working than I help
Winter Harvesting
My outdoor garden beds have been providing me with a steady supply of the usual winter suspects: kale, swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, leeks, and tasty brussel sprouts. Oregon, especially the Willamette Valley, is fortunate to have relatively mild winters and we pretty much live on brassicas from November through February. This is the first winter I have had the pleasure of gardening with a
Eugene Local Food Resources
Thanksgiving looms on the horizon and I have decided to stay put this year. The holiday falls right before my final review of the term, which means I basically don’t get much of a Thanksgiving for the three years I am in grad school. So instead of traveling four hours round trip in one day to Portland and back, I am celebrating quietly in Eugene.
Fall at the Farm
I have been continuing to help at the Urban Farm here in Eugene, which has been going really well. I work with an awesome group of students this term who are hard workers and seem really interested and motivated to learn more about urban agriculture. We are moving inside now for the remainder of the term mostly because we no longer have enough light. It
Finding Where I Fit
It has now been about a year since I uprooted my life in Portland and moved a couple hours down south to Eugene for my grad program. Part of me wants to design public urban green spaces. Another part of me wants to just focus on residential projects. And another part of me wants to build my own version of Zenger Farm – a place
Grassroots Garden Visit
Last week our Plants class visited Grassroots Garden, a local non-profit here in Eugene that grows food for the needy. We did some volunteer work that morning planting carrots in the morning sunshine and learning some interesting things about soil amendments. The garden itself is humming right now, making my own backyard look a little sleepy. They are situated on a couple acres of land
My New Gig
I have been a dedicated volunteer over the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm since moving to Eugene in June. This term I became an actual “employee” at the farm. The whole class has about 80 students who then get split up into smaller groups. My job is guiding about 10 of them in their journey of learning about food production. It has been easier than
Winter Gardening
It is that time of year to start planning the coming season’s garden and get our seeds going indoors. I have to admit that I haven’t started a thing yet and I am already feeling really behind. Hopefully this weekend will allow me a sliver of time to get my seed starting organized. In the mean time, there are still things to do outside in
Goodbye Urban Farm
It’s time for me to spend the last of this year in New York, so I said goodbye to the Urban Farm a few days ago. Sure I’ll be back in January, but going away for the next few weeks without my favorite corner of Eugene made me a little sad to be leaving. I spent a chilly morning out there mixing compost and admiring