The best part? This ‘hood used to be gang territory…and here’s what I noticed the other day riding home from the gym…and then I spotted THIS…heh.
sometimes you almost crash your bike when you see things you’ve not seen before in the city…
sometimes you then get off your bike and snap a shot to prove it’s real…and why you love your hometown 
Posted in Local Grrl
lovely at the start , icky hot at the end. hit up the island, new tenant arrived this weekend from berkeley, i sweat my arse off in the kitchen (canning, baby), and i learned, twice, of the gigantor raccoon living in my laurel bushes that fears, well, no one. watching my peppers deal with this heat so poorly and seeing early stage blossom end rot on some of my tomatoes is giving me GA – Garden Anxiety. but at the end of it all, plane tickets were bought by my fella for a nice long visit this fall and i couldn’t be happier. that’s what it’s all about, y’all.
i love great art on the sides of buildings, even if it’s advertising…this is on NW 23rd…and I can’t wait for them to open later this month!
gyros for lunch at Blue Olive…fulfilling a craving
escaped town via ZipCar to head over to Sauvie Island to hit up the Pumpkin Patch for 50 lbs of local peaches, a flat of fresh blackberries, and more…but this vista made me stop and sigh happily…
dropped off the ZipCar and this dude was awaiting me with a grin
mellowing out on the patio of Tin Shed with a cider and the jalapeno/cherry quesadillas. perfect.
madly in love with this along Alberta St…
completely loving this local chive & black pepper cheese from Willamette Valley Cheese Co.
I’m not much of a basket collector but this shallow one was so beautiful and happen to be handmade in Uganda by a tribe visited by some Oregon folks who were teaching them sustainable gardening methods (nice trade!)
um, so this is my tomato land at eye level. wowza.
Most of them are still green and a couple bushes I’m a bit manic over as there’s blossom end rot in ‘em, but this Russian Black one (nope, not black…) was so tempting that I got to eat my first tomato off the vine today. good tomatoes, happy ecogrrl.
so i always seem to pick the hottest weekend to can, haha. ginger blackberry peach jam, spiced blackberry jelly, and bourbon vanilla blackberry jam. on a side note, most of my recipes do not include sugar (or fake versions of sugar). i’d rather taste the fruit!
Posted in Local Grrl, Weekend in Pictures
Back in May, our NE Portland Homesteaders group did a Garden Crawl, and had a great time getting to know each other, seeing other people’s gardens, and of course getting lots of inspiration. So we thought, why not catch up again when things were up and running in our gardens – see how everything had evolved a few months later, and get some new ideas?
Due to the weather forecast (hey, we out here in the NW are sensitive…and without air conditioning), we started out a bit earlier than normal at my house after getting some sustenance from the lovely ladies at Cafe Eleven. A few new people joined the group thanks to the article in the local paper, which made it even more fun, and our last stop was under the arbor in one of our participant’s gardens, complete with iced tea, snacks, and a mister keeping us cool as it hit just under 90 by 11am.
After this? A harvest dinner, of course, sometime this fall, where we’ll each make something from our gardens. But in the meantime, here are some of the things that made me smile today…
Nothing like parasols to protect from the sun!
look closely in gardens and you’ll see some interesting textures and colors…even in the heat of the day…
we were welcomed by a very sweet girl belonging to one of our gardeners
loved the beautiful color and black eyed susans with the happiest bees around
totally awesome bike parking structure in the garden
gonna gotta get me a rain chain – love this aesthetic
okay so I thought MY sunflowers were tall. these ones? dang!
can’t remember what these seedpods were called…can anyone help me with this?
back under my favorite grape arbor, this time with the fruit going crazy. uber inspiration.
kind of alien but gorgeous, isn’t it?
and rocking in the hammock under the arbor – i could have (if they let me) fallen asleep right then & there
completely love this garden art!
talk about a happy place…my how this garden evolved over 10 weeks!
love the textures & colors around the water and how peaceful it looks
gorgeousness
talk about an entry to chicken land. sigh…
finishing off the Crawl with cool drinks and good company – perfecto!
Posted in In My Garden, Local Grrl
loving the view on Dekum Street
Sipping a cider at Good Neighbor
gazing at the evening sky from my streetcorner
Posted in Local Grrl, Photography
Welcoming us into the Vagabond’s Theatre of Rose City Vaudeville
a great scoop, as usual, at Salt & Straw
scrum dilly icious sushi at Hana (yes that roll is wrapped in a cucumber instead of rice – kinda awesome…
my favorite shot of the night, looking out the window at those enjoying their cones
Posted in Local Grrl, Photography
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