(or Living la Vida Local) “Community’s not a sentiment. It has to do with necessity – with people needing each other. If you allow the larger industrial system to remove the pattern of needs that is the force holding people together, then you lose the community.” –Wendell Berry Well, this essay is different than what I had planned to write before Corona Virus became a household word and worldwide concern. What struck me is that in this time when so much has changed so rapidly, we have the opportunity to notice what we take for granted, how attached we are to certain things, and what is relatively easy to let go…
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Leave the Leaves
It is fall again, and we have harvested all of our garden produce and are making sure our outside faucets are protected against winter’s freeze. The leaves are changing color and tumbling from the trees—and that means fall cleanup in the yard and garden. For many people fall cleanup means cutting all the seed heads and stems off the flowers and raking up all of the leaves. A tidy garden and yard are what many people strive to achieve. Everything clipped back, leaves raked and removed, messy piles of branches put in the green bin for pick up. This tidiness may look nice to us, but it is not good…
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Picking Peas
Where Have all the Bugs Gone? Why are insects important? “When I was a kid….” No, I’m not going to say that I had to walk many miles to school in the snow. However, I will say that I remember that on summer evenings we would go for rides in the countryside, all of us in the family car, the windshield of which would be covered by smashed bugs. Loads and loads of smashed bugs. Ask any older person – they will remember that. I realized a few years ago that the bug-spattered windshields no longer happen. I will admit that it’s kind of nice not to have to soak…
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“Barn Raising” Community Cuts the Cost of Solar
Since 2016, Give Solar has organized crowdfunding campaigns and five solar barn raisings which have added 291.4 kilowatts to the local grid. Taking a page from the Amish and Mennonites’ playbook, a Harrisonburg, Virginia non-profit adapted the community barn-raising tradition to the solar energy arena. On November 5, 2016, a group of volunteer members of the community came together to support the non-profit Vine and Fig by installing solar panels (63 kW) on the roof of the Gift & Thrift store. The store benefits the worldwide relief and development efforts of the Mennonite Central Committee. The success of this first solar barn-raising made it clear that this idea has wings.…
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The Green Burial
Green burial is a way of caring for the dead with the minimal environmental impact that aids in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat. The standard conventional funeral, complete with embalming and burial in a lawn cemetery, is fraught with health hazards. In addition, it requires the permanent installation of non-biodegradable vaults around non-biodegradable caskets. Embalmers have an eight times higher risk of contracting blood diseases such as leukemia, and three times higher risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), while groundskeepers are more than twice as likely to develop Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD); both are…
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Save Our Pollinators
Convert Your Backyard to a Bee Lawn Dear EarthTalk: What is a “pollinator lawn” and how can I make one in my backyard? —Jane W., Westbrook, CT Bees and other pollinators are essential for growing a great deal of nature’s finest foods. These include coffee, chocolate, beans, many fruits including apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, and peaches, nuts like almonds and cashews, and vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussel’s sprouts, just to name a few. More than 100 U.S.-grown crops rely on pollinators. Small birds and animals also depend on a variety of pollinated wild fruits and seeds to survive. Unfortunately, the populations of bees and other pollinators, including hummingbirds, butterflies,…
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Oregon Solar +Storage Conference
Portland Crowne Plaza 1441 NE 2nd Ave, Portland, ORNovember 2 – 4, 2021 Earn NABCEP CEUs, visit engaging exhibits, hear from industry leaders about solar policy, storage, business development, land use, large-scale development, and more. Join OSSIA for one of the most comprehensive solar + storage conferences in the nation! Solar Career Expo at OSSC will be a featured part of the Energy Trust of Oregon Contractor Day at the Oregon Solar + Storage Conference. The event will commence with a Keynote Delivery (TBA) and be followed by various breakout sessions that include resources for job seekers and providers. Our Speed-networking sessions can assist you as you expand opportunities for…
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EIGHTH ANNUAL MORROW COUNTY HARVEST FESTIVAL
FREE COMMUNITY EVENT CELEBRATING LOCAL ARTISANS, PRODUCE, AND FAMILY FUN October 2, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm101 Olson Road, Boardman, OR SAVE THE DATE! We’re so glad to be back in any fashion for the 8th annual Morrow County Harvest Festival presented by the SAGE Center. The Morrow County Harvest Festival will be exclusively outdoors. It will feature a variety of vendors with high-quality, regionally produced agricultural goods, and handmade artisan crafts. Returning this year, Threemile Canyon Farms will provide an opportunity for attendees to “fill-a-bag” full of locally grown produce in exchange for a small donation to a local 4-H program. Pack a grocery bag full of traditionally…
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Native Plants in the Pacific NW
& How You Can Incorporate Them Into Your Garden The last twenty years have seen a growing interest in gardening with native plants. The term “native” has several meanings, depending upon the context. “Native” is used to mean a plant species that has been in a specific region for hundreds of thousands of years and continues to be present in the landscape. Dinosaurs were surrounded by Araucaria, known today as Monkey Puzzle trees, and other conifer species; ferns, rhododendrons, and horsetail. So, these plants may be as old as 135- 180 million years. It doesn’t get more native than that. Another definition of “native” plants is that the species has…
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Signing Up for Community Solar
My Experience Community solar just had its first birthday in Oregon. While the program was years long in the rulemaking, it has been slow to roll out, and COVID then threw a wrench in the works. The first PV projects are now steadily moving forward and will go into the ground and catch solar photons next year. Oregon is one of a handful of states which currently have policies that support community solar. Some states (in green below) have programs in the works or about to launch, while others (in blue) have live, active community solar programs you can sign up for now. Advocates see community solar as an important…
