Tag: Blair Community Garden

Getting to Know Our Plot

Dear Liza,

Well, we got our garden plot in the Blair Community Garden! I mean, we knew that we had one, but today we got the actual number and the combination to the garden’s lock. So of course, Grandpa Nelson and I walked the two blocks over to have a look at our new dirt.

The part covered by the burlap… is all ours!

It is a ten by ten foot (exactly the size of your daddy’s room when he was growing up) raised bed. It has a gentle southward slope, and is bordered by a cyclone fence (good for tying tall sunflowers to) on one side and someone else’s plot of land on another. I am sure this other gardener and I will get to know each other as the season progresses.

Me and my dirt!

And I am looking forward to meeting my other fellow gardeners, as well. The Community Garden Program in Portland is 46 years old, and is not just “here’s your dirt, come plant stuff” situation. It is practiced as a stewardship program, a way of helping overcome societal prejudices and inequalities, of bringing people together by gardening, providing for people and caring for the land.

Our plot, off to the far left, in the midst of everyone else’s.

So, tomorrow I need to go to the used clothes store and get some coveralls so I can start digging! I am excited, happy, and looking forward to my summer adventure!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Bits of Happy

Dear Liza,

Happy March! The calendar tells us spring is just a few weeks away, although in Romania they celebrate the First of March as the beginning of spring. Even with cherry blossoms making some of our trees look like they are wearing lacy pink underwear, it is still chilly here.

Auntie Katie, belated birthday girl

But even with the chill, we have some things going on. On Sunday Grandpa Nelson and I finally got to celebrate Auntie Katie’s birthday with her, taking her a present and lunch, and eating in the gazebo at Abernethy School, just across the street from her Books with Pictures shop. We had a chat and a walk around the neighborhood.

In the parkway by the shop, Cousin Kestrel has installed a new fairy doorway and friends in one of the elm trees. Kestrel is always taking care of our local fairy folk, and their pony and ducky friends.

New fairy door….

There is also a yummy new place to eat! Covid has taken its toll on restaurants, and folks are having to get creative to stay in business. One of our favorite places to walk to was Monk’s Deli, which was a food truck parked just behind the Belmont Station Bottle Shop and Pub. We were sad when it closed last year, but it has now re-opened under a new name.

It turns out the former owners had wanted to retire and the people living literally next door had asked to get first dibs on the place. They did, re-opened, and now Monster Smash makes the best, biggest, juiciest burgers, with homemade pickles! AND, fabulous, crispy French fries! Yummy! We will definitely walk there when you get to visit.

Auntie Bridgett and I also discovered some new places down in Division Street. After a long walk and shop at Collage Art Supplies, we needed a snack. Pinolo Gelateria is right next door and sells just eight flavors, but they are stunning. We had Pistachio and Fior di Latte ( Milk Flower) flavors, which were rich, not too sweet, and just what needed.

Not our order! Photo credit, Pinolo Gelateria

As we sat in the chilly sun (properly wrapped up, of course) we noticed the Division Do It Best hardware store across the street, and were helped by their friendly staff in buying my new garden wagon! Hooray! Now I will be able to haul gardening stuff to and from our “allotment” in the Blair Community Garden.

So that’s what’s going on here. I hope you are well and staying happy. See you soon.

Love,

Grandma Judy

In the Garden!

Dear Liza,

When we first moved into our house here in Portland, we noticed the Blair Community Garden just two blocks away. Fitting in between a long term care facility and a few houses, the L-shaped lot is filled with raised beds of various sizes.
Knowing I would be missing my own garden back home, Grandpa Nelson offered to see if we could get a space in the garden. “Sure!” I said, eager to get out and dig.

It’s just up the block!!

That was in 2018, and there was a waiting list. A long waiting list. But we got word last night that we’re in! We have a 10 foot by 10 foot raised bed in which to grow anything we want! I am excited, happy, and feeling just a wee bit overwhelmed.

This sunflower has been calling to me….

I am verklempt with possibilities. We will need some equipment! Some hand tools, and a hose, and a wagon to haul them back and forth the two blocks to the garden.
AND what will we grow? Basil, of course, for pesto. And cherry tomatoes and chives and all sorts of lettuces. Sunflowers for Auntie Bridgett. Fresh baby carrots for Grandpa Nelson. Some squash and most surely, a pumpkin!

I need to do a LOT of homework about what is and isn’t grow-able here. I have always gardened in Southern and central California, and Portland is a very different, and soggier, place. There are also rules to make sure our garden plot doesn’t interfere with anyone else’s. I have already had folks volunteer to help me. This should be fun!

And as soon as the snow melts, I’ll be there.

Love,

Grandma Judy