The Darling Buds of May

April showers do bring May flowers. Even with the wetter and cooler than usual weather this year (or so I am told), the flowers and trees are definitely in bloom here in Portland. It's not that spring isn't and wasn't lovely in Los Angeles but it's different than it is here. And, part of my fascination with it is that I don't, as of yet, have a clue what most of the plants are. I do know that there is a photo of a Wisteria, a Rhododendron, a Lilac, a Dogwood and may be Blue Bells (but I'm not sure of that one). The others, I have not a clue about. And, not knowing is kinda nice since it gives me yet another thing to learn about my new home.

Project Grow and Our New Raised Bed

It's springtime and I've been thinking about vegetable gardening for many, many months now. I stopped working in our L.A. vegetable garden over this past winter once Dan and I had decided to move to Portland. It just seemed silly to keep putting in all that effort on something that we were going to have to leave behind. But, know that we are in Portland and the sun is finally starting to make an appearance, I can't help but want to get back out there in the dirt. Our new home will have some areas that are veggie garden friendly but we are not ready yet to start on that project...and it is a project. We needed something that was easier to manage and get started with so we wouldn't miss the whole spring and summer growing season.

What to do? Finding a community garden spot was the answer. And, thanks to my friend, Jana, we did just that. Jana introduced Dan and I to her nephew, James, who just happens to work for Project Grow. Project Grow is a progressive program for adults with developmental disabilities that teaches them skills so that they can develop careers in urban farming as well as the arts. Most of Project Grow's urban farming space is dedicated to growing produce for area restaurants and for a small CSA. But, they have a few raised beds available for members of the community. And, Dan and I were able to score one of those beds. It's not huge but it is definitely large enough to give us some veggies this summer and fall.

We finally got our butts over there yesterday and started pulling out the cover crop of vetch and a few stray leeks and green onions that were in the bed. And, we managed to loosen up the soil a bit as well. Now, I need to go find some northwest hardy vegetable starts and get planting.

Battle Dandelion

Sure, they look all innocent and cute...if you only have a couple in your yard. However, we have dozens and dozens of them. They're in the front yard, the side yard and especially the backyard. We are pretty sure that we're being invaded by the dreaded dandelion -- the weed nemesis of many a gardener. And, since yesterday was a gloriously sunny day here in Portland, I decided that I needed to tackle the dandelion onslaught. Actually, my lovely goddaughter, Jebrahn, took charge of the dandelions while I tried to cleanup some of the other yard issues plaguing our neglected garden.

Jebrahn was able to get a large patch of the backyard cleared but there are still a lot of them out there. It will certainly take more than a few hours on a single Sunday afternoon to rid us of this foe. It's definitely not a one day job. I wish you could just pull them out of the ground but they have deep roots so each one has to be dug up. 

Wednesday is supposed to be pretty nice so I might try to dig up some more then. The only solace in this battle against the dreaded dandelion is that most of our neighbors seem to have a ton of them in their yards as well. 

Getting Settled in Puddletown

Well, our move to Portland happened and we have been here now for nine days. The journey from Los Angeles to Portland was not without some adventure when Dan's car brokedown on I-5, mine got a flat and we had to spend a day in Los Banos, CA dealing with our various car repair issues. However, we like to think that our little detour to Los Banos was the universe's way of telling us that we needed some rest from our packing and moving travails. All of this put us a day behind but we still arrived in Portland late last Monday evening in time for the movers on Tuesday morning and we were at least a bit rested.

Unpacking has been lots of fun (she said sarcastically). We don't have a enough room for everything in our small house but fortunately, we have a basement and a garage to store things that we do not use on a regular basis. Looks like Dan and I will need to continue purging more of our possessions on our mission to declutter our lives.

We now have a functional kitchen, which is nice since eating out all the time gets to be a drag... and expensive. We baked a loaf of bread the other day and tonight, I will even attempt a pasta dinner.

So, we are getting our new home set-up little by little. More to today, including another trip to Target and Home Depot. At least, we now know how to get there. Hopefully, we will have a little time this afternoon for some more exploration of our new home town. So much to see and do.

Movin' On Up...North

I just couldn't resist a reference to The Jeffersons in the title for this post. Sorry. However, to get back to the actual point of the post, Dan and I are indeed moving up north to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. To be more specific, we are going to Portland, Oregon. Yes, it will be quiet a change from Los Angeles in many, many ways. However, it is a change that we are excitedly looking forward to. 

Well, the packing part is not so exciting. Actually, it's a bit of a nightmare and extremely stressful. Dan and I trying to purge and pack at the same time. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate. We are doing our best to get rid of some of this stuff...even a bunch of our beloved books. But, we are keeping most of our gardening tools, decor, etc. since we have been blessed with finding a home with a small backyard. So, I will be writing a lot in the future about our adventures in gardening in a much damper climate and learning to cook with an electric range (Ugh!). But now, the clock is ticking and we have exactly one week before the movers show up to load our possessions into a van for the drive north. So, I should probably get back to packing.

Yes, I've Been Gone for Awhile

I know, I know... it's been several months since I last wrote a blog post. To say that I've taken a bit of a break, would be an understatement. A lot has happened in those months but most of it had nothing to do with gardening, cooking or sustainability. It had to do with family and the passing away of my mother. And, my grief has made writing on this blog a very low priority. Some people are able to write about their grief but that is not the point of this blog so I will not be sharing on that level.  I am, however, trying to get back to writing about some of my passions and being more consistent with my blogging. 

Handmade and Local at Artisanal LA

As I suspected it would be, Artisanal LA was great. Lots of interesting and, often tasty vendors. Dan and I spent more time there than we thought we would and spent more money than we should have. But, it was great to see so many people interested in and producing local and handcrafted foods. There is more of a sustainable food movement in Los Angeles than I thought there was and that is very exciting. 

I decided to showcase some of, but certainly not all of, the vendors that we encountered at our time at this event. Above is jar of Hell Fire Pepper Jelly from Jenkins Jellies. I've tried a lot of pepper jellies before but this is by far the best one that I have ever tasted. They know how to balance the sweetness and heat. And, yes, we bought a jar. I can't wait to pair this with a nice goat cheese for an appetizer or try it with pork. 

Tried some out-of-this-world jams at the Lemon Bird Design booth. Even bought a jar of their tomato with vanilla bean jam. The acidic tomato with the lovely warmth of the vanilla beans is heavenly. This made Dan and I feel that we need to step up the creativity with our jams and preserves. Also, I have to say, that I love their logo and label design. Their booth looked great as well. Sadly, too many people to get a great shot.

Tools of the butchering trade at the Lindy & Grundy booth. This is a new butcher shop that will be opening this December over in the Fairfax area of West Hollywood. The owners and operators are two women. The shop will feature local, pastured and organic meats (beef, lamb, pork and chicken). And, they are going to offer workshops on butchering techniques. I can't wait for the shop to open even if it will be a bit of drive to get there. I have a feeling that it will be well worth it.

Super cute display of 'breakfast' ornaments at the Common Thread booth. Yes, that's a chicken, a piece of toast and a slice of bacon. Not sure why the chicken and not an egg, since there is a breakfast theme but I'm guessing it was because the chicken was cuter (yet strangely blue). This sewing studio from South Pasadena was offering a bit of crafting at the show. For a small price, you could make either ornaments or egg cozies.  

So, Dan and I could not resist the 'breakfast' ornaments. Besides, who uses egg cozies. So, for $10.00, we got to make our own set. We had a lot of fun doing this. It was a nice, relaxing break from walking around the show. Plus, we made something to bring home. Can I put that bacon ornament on a Hanukkah bush? 

Since it is time to start planting our late fall and winter garden, we stopped by the Winnetka Farms booth and picked up some heirloom Italian seeds. They also have classes and workshops on gardening with edibles and are located in the San Fernando Valley. We can't wait to see how the veggies will grow from the seeds we purchased. 

We fell in love with this group, Backwards Beekeepers. They are a Los Angeles-based collective of small-scale, chemical-free beekeepers. They also rescue feral bees and teach beekeeping skills. Bees are responsible for pollinating a third of our  produce crops as well as providing delicious and nutritious honey, so it's so important to take care of them in a sustainable and humane way. We were glad to find people teaching these skills and keeping this craft alive.

I love this flour sack towel that we got from the Miss Fruitfly booth. The towel is unbleached cotton and made in the U.S. Then Fina from Miss Fruitfly silk-screens designs and quotes onto them. I love what this towel has to say and thought it was the perfect way to end this post.