Free Admission at the Chinese Garden in Portland

Tim and I went the Lan Su Chinese Garden earlier this week. We were going to head up Mt Hood to do some snow shoeing, but it looked really wet and rather warm up there, so instead we had a mellow day in the city. We went to the Garden and took the cameras and tagged along on one of the tours for the first time. Its always fun to learn something new about a favorite place. And it was free admission! What a deal! This made me happy!!!

If you live in Portland Oregon - check it out: the Chinese Garden is offering FREE complimentary admission until Jan 11th. They are celebrating the 10th Anniversary with 10 days of free admission and there's a schedule of fun free events as well.

So why not go down and take your camera and check it out. This would be your one and only opportunity to sit in the tea house and have wonderful little snacks while watching the rain drip off the fancy roof tiles and sip Tao of Tea teas from special cups - all without paying for admission to the garden! (you still have to pay for the tea, but usually you'd have to pay to get in the garden as well) And its such a perfect time of year to go. Seriously.

Rain + Chinese Garden = Wonderful.

Ode to Garden Mobile

I feel like summer is rounding out... kids are going back to school... my tomatoes are all ripening getting eaten, my beans are almost done for the season. Its been so hot that a lot of my flowers are sorta tortured by now... soon I'll have to start planting more bulbs for next spring (I forgot to do that last year- so I've got a big box of bulbs I've got to plant this year - when is the right time?)

Jan and I have created a flower mobile that I had to share here on my blog.

The colors are reflective and shiny, the mobile is a garden of many different flowers that Jan has carved over the years. We've done a garden mobile before (which is exquisite!) but this is the first time we've printed the flowers in colors (the other garden mobile is monochromatic)

I like how the red pops, and I colored the stems of the flowers green. I was inspired by the Orchid plate that we made recently.

In these last two pictures I tried to capture how the color is vibrant and metallic.

Portland Farmers Market

Today I went to the farmers market! To be specific I went to the Montavilla Farmers Market and it was super cute and packed with happy people and their families. All of us there to stock up on healthy goods to fill our bellies.
As we drove down Stark St to the market I notice a cute older couple walking down the street carrying a big bag of produce, greens bursting out the top... the man and woman each held one side of the bag, walking along together splitting the burden of the market booty. It was so cute! And I knew I must be close to the market :)

Its the peak time of year for the farm stands. There is so much to mention! The crunchy sweet juicey bi-colored corn...

the peaches that were so incredibly perfect (who doesn't like a taste test!!)

the cherry tomatoes in colors that I didn't even know had been introduced into the realm of cherry tomatoes (I grow the little orange sun gold, but purple? that is new to me, and utterly delicious!)we bought some delicious goat cheese and a loaf of bread (Tim also got some sort of cinnamony potato donut for himself at the bakery while I was purchasing a flat of black berries to make into jam) and some green zebra tomatoes that we sliced up and had for brunch... sooo tastey

and I made the most amazing market salad:

• golden beets really thin (got to use my mandolin which sadly is a rarely used kitchen toy in my house)
• onions shaved thinly as well
• fresh basil (the bundle from the market was so huge! bigger than my plants I'm growing!) cherry tomatoes, both orange and purple :)
• olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper

and then later I made black berry jam with Maggie. We made jam and syrup... we had a LOT of berries!

Upside-down Tomato Time

Its that time again! This will be the third year for me planting tomatoes upside-down. I love it! Its due time I got started (its been a late spring here) so I picked up a starter at the nursery...
Here are all the materials and supplies I used... both cats came out to help me :) (not pictured is a bucket) I use a hanging plastic planter that I've drilled a large hole in the bottom and a piece of flat foam that I've cut a slit and a small hole in the center.
I put the foam around the base of the tomato plant, cut so it was bigger than the hole in the planter. This is not necessary, but it prevents any dirt loss and just makes life easier for the tomato plant.

I prefer to use Sungold Orange cherry tomatoes. They are the bestest ever yummiest tomato ever... I swear. :)I stood the tomato plant up on the bucket (the bucket was turned over) and brought the planter down over the starter... slowly started getting the delicate plant thru the hole. This year I only lost one little leaf. In past years I've surrounded the plant in a tube of paper and/or put a bag over the plant to protect it from going thru the hole... but honestly its easiest to just be careful and slowly get the plant thru the hole with no special tricks
Once the whole plant was thru I was able to just rest the pot on the foam circle...
Then I flipped the bucket over and stood the planter up in the bucket with the plant resting unharmed inside the bucket
my starter was not so tall which made this was possible, in past years I've needed a helper to hold the planter while I fill it with dirt before I hang it...
You can see the plant sits happily upside-down on the piece of foam
I filled the pot with some organic potting soil...
And then re-arranged the hanging chains so I could pull the plant out of the bucket and hang her!
Day 1 2009 Upside-Down Tomato