On a recent tour of gardens, the phrase I heard most often was “it’s a work in progress.” To which I replied, “every garden is.” It reminded me of a phrase I heard lately from the principal of my nephew’s elementary school. She asks the kids recite the following: Do what you can with what you have in the time you have to do 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
Tomato Sauce = Fail
My eyes are still wet with tears and I can’t believe I am making myself write this post. I had a huge bucket of Roma tomatoes from the Urban Farm I have been planning to can into marinara sauce. I waited a week for them to ripen to the perfect level. You don’t want them overripe, but I wanted them really red. Finally, they were
Soaked, again
The appropriate category for this post would be “rant”. You have been warned. There is swearing. I don’t consider myself a fair-weather gardener, mostly due to necessity. I live in Portland, Oregon, where it rains about nine months out of the year. It is Spring – the time to plant seeds – and seeds must be indeed be planted. If you wait to do yard
Busy Week
It’s been almost a week since my last post and it grates on me to go that long without writing. Unfortunately, it has been a really tough week at my day job. I do a relatively good job of not bringing work home with me, meaning I don’t think about it once I leave the office. But this week I couldn’t escape it. Although things
Mysterious Happenings
Strange things are afoot in my backyard. And front yard. First: the weather. The temperature has been dropping here, close to or at freezing some nights. Strange for Portland in April. This evening I was walking through the backyard feeling very lucky that I came up with my raised bed cloche things right when the weather turned sour – hopefully those lettuce, spinach, and collards
Caution: Rant Ahead
Be warned: This is not so much a gardening-related post as it is a home ownership-rant. You have been warned… This is our first house and I know some of you readers are in the same boat because I have read your blogs too. It’s hard getting into that first house, especially in Portland. Jay and I value living as close to the city center