pretty love poppy

I love this caftan from Plum Pretty Sugar. Isn't it dreamy? I see myself wearing it on the beach and in the desert. Places that are hot, breezy, and sandy. Another great recommendation from over at Modish, and a splash of color for yet another rainy Portland day.

cannon beach

Yesterday, we went to Cannon Beach for the first time. There were some clouds, no rain, a little sun, lots of dogs, intelligent thieving sea gulls, a few surfers, strawberry blossoms, broken sand dollars, and that amazing tang of salt and sea.

 

This guy above only had eyes and ears for his surfer buddy, the black speck in the water in the back left. He had no interest in us other humans trying to pet him and talk to him.

peagreen

Mount Fuji by Lizzie Carins

Peagreen Shop has some adorable, feel-good prints that make my heart smile. Here are some of my favorites.

Musical Dreams by Lizzie Carins

 

Daydream by Lizzie Carins

Summertime by Josie Hurst

City Flower by Lisa Barnes

Portland, a love affair

Yesterday, I visited some of Portland's wonderful spaces and places, the first being Nomad Piercing Studio where I finally treated myself to some of his hand-carved earrings.

My new earrings are a slightly smaller version of the blue-green one at the bottom center. He stains the wood while it's growing with elderberry and other natural berry dyes. I just realized that my girl Cascade is featured on the website in these fabulous earring that he stained with beet juice (she's the one who referred me to this place).

I also went to Ink and Peat so that my friend Amy could buy some earrings of her own. It's one of those lovely little shops where you just want to buy everything and walk out with dozens of ideas for sewing and decorating, including making adorable applique dishtowels, pillows, and aprons.

I had a beer at Eat, and I bought chile peppers, lemongrass, and more marigolds and nasturtiums at Livingscape.

Later, I helped Brian brew some beer. It was a crash course in the art and science of brewing. He converted his own mash tun from a cooler and has a pump and cooling plate. The coolest part is that he grandfathers the yeast from batch to batch. I've made some good homemade yogurt and sour cream, but that's nothing to this homebrew process.

Which reminds me that the next huge stage of this whole crazy gardening process (after a few weeks of mulching, feeding, and weeding) is food preservation. Since I'm afflicted with bibliophiliomania, I found this great reference for books on canning, preserving, fermenting, and dehydrating food. My library has been notified: I'm going to start from the top with Wild Fermentation and How to Store Your Garden Produce.

Yesterday's dinner included two courses from my garden. A big salad with endive frisee, kale, green leaf lettuce, lemon balm, spring onion, and spinach. Plus, I unearthed some new potatoes that I didn't realize I'd planted, so I sauteed them with spring onion and sprinkled chives and sea salt on them. (The potatoes were so delicious and so easy to grow, I've decided to go for it and grow some more.) We ate these with steaks from Afton Field Farm.

I'm currently trying to get my girl Laura to Lilith Fair. As I write, I'm listening to the talented voices of Portland vocalists and musicians hoping to go to Lilith this summer. You can listen and vote as well. I recommend Laura Ivancie!!!

raindrops and fizz

Yesterday, during the rain shower, I took these photos of the wild-flower bouquet that one of my students picked for me on my last day of school.

 May has been rainy and gray here in Portland. I think the warmest weather we've had so far this year has been in the 70s--No outlandish heat yet. I don't mind the rain, but I do wonder what it means for my garden.

I've discovered that marigold is an extremely easy plant to propagate. One of my starfire marigolds was looking a bit leggy, so I trimmed it and stuck the cuttings in water. Within literally a weekend, I had roots.

This marigold is blooming on one that I started from seed and then propagated off of that original seedling. This will be my second flowering plant that started as a tiny seed in February (the first is the tomato plant pictured below).

I took the cuttings and planted them in a little purse that a friend was getting rid of.

Brian has been making homemade sparkling tea. In the one below, he used rosehips, lemon balm, and orange peel. He brews a quart of ultra strong tea, puts it into a cornelius keg, and adds 5 gallons of water. The water must reach 38 degrees F overnight at 22 PSI before it's ready to drink. It's natural and fresh and thirst quenching (not to mention more exciting than boring old water).

My tomato plants are doing well--Most of them. I had a few casualties. One plant is flowering already. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but I'm rejoicing! I have so many plants, a few early flowers won't hurt anything.

For dinner, we feasted on a large mesclun and endive frisee salad that I grew from seeds! After harvesting these leafy greens, I planted another round of rocket arugula, mesclun, red deer tongue lettuce, and endive frisee, as well as swiss chard and collard greens, almost all in containers.