Saturday August 17th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

My goofy fur baby Prince.

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

I love going to the Farmers Markets. They are so much fun and I love seeing all the local farmers, gardeners, beekeepers, and artists there selling their wonderful plants, art, and homemade items. We have gone to the Clatskanie Farmers Market this year a lot. They have the "Power of Produce" program which provides kids 4-12 free $2 tokens for edible plants or food that has been grown. We bring our daughters, who are 11 and 8, so they can get something while they are there. The one across the river from where I live has their market on Tuesday as well and I need to remember that.

Longview Washington Squirrel Fest is today! I plan on making a point to getting over there to look at the fun vendors. Even though I love the festival, I don't really like the squirrels here...at least the ones we have at the farm. They are ground squirrels and like to dig in my gardens, under my trees, and under my home. They cause all sorts of damage and are very destructive even though they are very cute. We have an over abundance of them as well because we have a lot of old growth walnut trees on our property.

I have a ginger root that has sprouted. I need to break off that part and place it in a pot of dirt. Hopefully it thrives.

I love indoor houseplants and would love more to add to my growing collection. If anyone would like to send me cuttings I would be very appreciative. 🌱

I am glad I took the Master Gardener course a while back. That was sure a wealth of information and I learned a great deal. I am also so glad that my husband was able to take the class with me. He is always so very busy, it is hard to find time to do things together anymore.

I need to start exercising regularly. I have a hard time being motivated enough on my own to do so though. I wish I had a friend that I could start exercising with. 💪

I wonder if it will rain at all this week. The sky looks a little angry over by the bridge, but that might clear up. Hopefully it does before we go to the market.

I love my dog, Prince. He can be a big goof sometimes, but he is the best dog ever and I am glad he is ours. We rescued him from a shelter about 10 years ago. He is a great companion. He is part standard poodle/part coonhound. He has soft floppy ears and a long tail that always is wagging. My kids adore him too. He is laying right next to my chair right now all curled up in a large fuzzy ball. He flipped over this morning so I could rub his belly and when I did it was all wags. 🐾

Happy Saturday beautiful humans. I hope your day is filled with things that bring you joy & a happy heart. 🤗

Localish Plant Sales on Saturday - One in St. Helen's and One in Portland Oregon

Spring Garden Fair

The 20th Annual Spring Garden Fair is happening on Saturday, April 30, 2016. It will be held at the St. Helen's High School Commons located at 2375 Gable Road, St. Helen's Oregon, 97051.

Dozens of local vendors will offer annuals, trees, shrubs, perennials, vegetables, ceramics, trellises, garden art, herbs, containers, hanging baskets and more.

Certified Master Gardener's will offer 5,000 tomatoes in over 30 varieties for only $1.50 per plant; tomato and general gardening information, raffle tickets, hourly prizes and displays.

Raffle tickets are on sale now for $1 each from many Master Gardener's.

Free parking - please carpool

Free admission - ATM on site - shop indoors and out 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Brought to you by the Columbia County Master Gardener Association.

Incredible Edibles Plant Sale

The Incredible Edibles Plant Sale is also happening Saturday, April 30, 2016 from 10am til 4pm. It will be held at the Westminster Presbyterian Church on 1624 NE Hancock Street, Portland Oregon, 97212 (between 16th and 17th Avenue).

This FREE event is a great opportunity to buy organic herb and veggie starts for your home garden so you can harvest nutritious, fresh-picked goodness for your table! You’ll find both heirlooms and hybrids among our proven varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, squash, greens, lettuces, herbs and more.

‘Get the Real Dirt’ from OSU Extension trained Master Gardener Volunteers who will be on site to answer your gardening questions.

Plant. Grow. Eat. workshops (Scheduled throughout the day)....

• 10:30 am - “Kale-palooza!” Learn some great tasty, simple ways to use the nutritional iron horse of the garden…kale! Plus see a chiffonade demo so you too can master the technique at home. Presenter: Greg Sweeting, Chef, OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.
• 11:30 am - “Tips for the Beginning Veggie Gardener” A great workshop for those you know who are beginning gardeners. They will learn tips and tricks on how to “get growing” with their very own vegetable garden. They will learn just how easy it is to have nutritious veggies to harvest. Presenter: Susan Ristau, OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer. 
• 12:30 pm - “Eat What You Grow” The joy of simple preparations for your homegrown edibles. When your produce and herbs are this fresh it’s a delight to create simple meals with them at the center of the plate. Presenter: Katherine Deumling of Cook With What You Have.
• 1:30 pm - “Bountiful Berries” Learn all the steps needed to harvest a bounty of berries in your garden from an expert home grower. Strawberries, blues, Marion, and raspberries! Oh my! Presenter: Bob Deultgen, OSU Extension Master Gardener.
• 2:30 pm - “Delectable Ways to Enjoy Your Bounty” Get inspiration on how to utilize your bountiful veggie harvest with quick, delectable preparations. Presenter: Joe Hickey, Chef, Noble Rot.

Kids Grow...
Drop by the Kids Grow station and discover incredible garden science with hands-on activities for the kids.

Feed Your Soul with a Variety of Food Vendors...
Thrive Sauce and Bowls, Salvador Molly's, Nossa Familia Coffee

Garden Inspired Art...
A Little Sun!, Victory Garden of Tomorrow

Great Music...

• 10am      Sellwood Marimba Band a festive kick-off! 
• 11 am      Brian McEvoy, Jesse Robinson, Bret Malmquist, country and folk—with a little bit of honky-tonk! 
• 12 pm     Rick McNutt Quartet, Latin-jazz to move to! 
• 1 pm       Possum Six Pack, old time, traditional, toe-tapping tunes!  
• 2 pm      Arco PDX, classical orchestral and chamber music with a contemporary attitude! 
• 3 pm      Bill LaCroix and Dan Kimbro, serendipitous old-timey music!

Check out the veggie varieties they have on order!

Also enter their raffle while you are there! There are over 100 donors and tickets are just $5! You pick which prizes to try your luck on.

RSVP to the event e-vite on Facebook and like them on their Facebook page too.

Brought to you by the Multnomah County Master Gardeners.

OTHER PLANT SALES COMING UP IN OREGON BY COUNTY & DATE:

• Lane: April 30th, 9am - 3pm, Lane County Fairgrounds (Eugene)
• Jackson: April 30th, 9am - 5pm and May 1st, 10am - 4pm (many plant vendors), Jackson County Expo (Central Point)
• Clackamas: April 30th, 9am - 5pm and May 1, 9am - 4pm (lots of plant vendors), Clackamas County Event Center (Canby)
• Polk: May 6th and 7th, 9am - 4pm, Polk County Fairgrounds (Rickreall)
• Hood River: May 7th, 9am - 1pm, OSU Extension Service Office at 2990 Experiment Station Drive (Hood River)
• Wasco: May 7th, 9am - 2pm, City Park (The Dalles)
• Douglas: May 7th, 9am - 4pm (many plant vendors), Douglas County Fairgrounds (Roseburg)
• Benton: May 7th, 9am - 2pm, Benton County Fairgrounds (Corvallis)
• Tillamook: May 7th, 9am - 2pm, Tillamook County Fairgrounds (Tillamook)
• Curry: May 14th, 10am-7pm at the High School (Gold Beach)
• Clatsop: May 14th, 8:30am - 2pm (garden vendors and seminar), Clatsop County Fairgrounds (Astoria)
• Lincoln: May 31, 9am-2pm, Newport National Guard Armory (Newport)

  
OF NOTE: If these are too far from you, try your local Master Gardeners and see if there is a plant sale in your area. Many of them are happening this weekend! Just do a search by county and state or call your local  Department of Agriculture Extension Office for more information. You might also find a website or newsletter you can join for your county chapter to get information on other plant sales, events, and classes.

You too can become a Master Gardener, just call your local extension office to find out more information. Also if you live in Oregon, here is the Oregon Master Gardeners Website to look up the chapter in your neck of the woods. The chapter meetings are open to all, not just members, and they usually have an interesting speaker to listen to and learn from.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this information and images for this post. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I am a OSU Columbia County Master Gardener and wanted to share this information with my readers.

What I Learned At Soil School 2016

Did you know that:

• There are 1 billion organisms in every pinch of soil?
• There are 22 thousand different soil types?
• Mollisols are the most productive soil on the planet? 
• Legumes like fava beans are nitrogen fixing for the soil and are a great cover crop if you need that nutrient? 
• Like your veggie garden you should rotate cover crops too? 
• Some slugs and snails pollinate some plants? 
• Slug/snail slime absorbs 40-100 times its volume in water and therefore the best way to get it off your skin is actually using dirt? 
• 90% of flowering plant reproduction depends upon pollinators?
• There are over 4000 different species of native bees, 600-800 live in Oregon? 
• 70% native bees nest in the ground and need bare dirt? 
• Native plants are 4 times more likely to attract pollinators? 
• The best worms to use for vermicompost and a worm bin is the red wiggler or Eisenia fetida? 
• The ideal conditions for the worms in vermiculture is keeping them in a shallow bin with air holes and drainage holes in 59-77 degree temperature, 75% moisture, slightly acid PH, lots of oxygen, grit for their digestion, and their favorite compostable foods added?

I learned all this and more at Soil School, which is offered every year in Portland Oregon for farmers with small farms, landscapers, gardeners, grounds managers and anyone else who wants to improve their soil. I learned about it through my Master Gardeners Program. It is a jam packed learning day with a complimentary breakfast, snacks, and lunch. It costs $30 for a single person and $50 for two people.

This year it was held at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Event Center on April 16th, 2016 from 8am-3:30pm. My husband and I signed up. We all where treated to the "not to be missed" key note speaker, James "Dr. Soil" Cassidy who taught all about, yes you guessed it, SOIL! Then we broke up into our various classes of which we had to pick 4 each out of the 12 offered.

I took Using Cover Crops, Slugs & Snails, Planting for Pollinators, and Vermiculture. My husband, Brian, took Soil Testing & Analysis, Irrigation, Invasive Weed I.D. and Organic Weed Control. Then after we compared notes and I brought home a lot of printed information, a lawn sign and some other cool swag. We had a lot of fun and learned a bunch! Brian also won a door prize at the end which was a boot brush and scraper combo! We can definitely use that on our farm!

Classes and Speakers: 

• Key Note, Soil Structure/Composition/Test Analysis: James "Dr. Soil" Cassidy (OSU Soil Instructor)
• Soil Testing & Analysis, Landscaping with Native Plants: Weston Miller (OSU Extension)
• Using Cover Crops: Kim Galland (NRCS)
• Organic Weed Control, Lawn Conversion: Mary Logalbo (West Multnomah  SWCD)
• Stormwater Management: Clair Klock (Clackamas SWCD)
• Composting/Organic Matter: Dave Alba, PNW Organic Land Care Coalition
• Slugs & Snails: Claudia Groth, OSU Master Gardener
• Planting For Pollinators: Kammy Kern-Korot, West Multnomah  SWCD
• Irrigation: Dean Moberg  (NRCS)
• Vermiculture: Glen Andresen (Metro Area Master Gardener)
• Invasive Weed I.D.: Rob Emanuel, (Clean Water Services)

Sponsors:

• East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District  
• Tualatin Soil & Water Conservation District 
• West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District  
• Oregon Tilth 
• OSU Small Farms Program
• OSU (Oregon) Master Gardener Program 
• Metro Master Gardeners