Preparing for the future: OSU Home Horticulturist/Master Gardener Online Course Forming

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Greetings to those interested in the Master Gardener™ Online basic training course! We are happy to inform you that Registration is now open for Option 1: Online Course Only to earn your certificate of home horticulture. The online course, which runs from Sept. 7 - Dec. 14, 2009, does not require any on-site volunteer hours and can be completed conveniently from your own home. Please note that space in this online class is limited to 75 individuals. Submit your registration form and payment as soon as possible to ensure your spot in the fall class. You will receive confirmation that you are registered once we have received your payment for the course. If you are interested in earning your Master Gardener™ badge, you will want to explore Option 2: Online Course and Volunteering, which begins January 2010. This option includes the online Master Gardener™ basic training course and will require participants to complete volunteer hours at their local OSU Extension office in order to become a certified OSU Master Gardener™. We will alert you via email when registration opens for this option. Feel free to contact us if you have questions about registering. Or, visit theMaster Gardener™ Online web pages for more details on this sustainable gardening program offered through OSU Extension Service in cooperation with OSU Extended Campus. We look forward to helping you reach your gardening goals with the help of online learning. Extended Campus Oregon State University ecampus@oregonstate.edu 800-667-1465 or 541-737-9204 ecampus@oregonstate.edu • OSU Extended Campus

A word of thanks from the American Red Cross

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Thank You Thank you for your recent donations. Please remember, blood donors like you really are helping to save lives - lives like Alex's - each time you give blood. Recipients, their friends and family, and the Red Cross are grateful for your selflessness and generosity. Four-year-old Alex of Portland, OR was recently diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. During his treatment, Alex has received several blood and platelet transfusions and will likely need more in the future. "Our sincere Thank You's to all the donors who help make our hope of Alex beating this cancer a reality. From the bottom of our hearts." - Sara, Alex's mom To help save lives through blood donation, please make an appointment by calling 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or by visiting our web site. To learn more about Alex and his battle with cancer, visit his mom's blog called Alex's Battle. Copyright © 2009 | The American Red Cross Pacific Northwest Blood Services Region 3131 N. Vancouver Avenue Portland, OR 97227 (503) 284-1234

If you have been told previously that you should never donate blood, please disregard this message. If you recently made a blood donation, or if you have already scheduled an appointment to donate blood, please accept our thanks on behalf of the patients whose lives you may have touched.

What we have here is a failure to communicate

It's time to slow down and stop this fast-track rush to sell off control of land in Minto-Brown Park before the public is well-informed about the stakes. Image by c_smith2k000 via Flickr

One of the most maddening things about the city's proposal to sell off control of 200 acres of precious, rich agricultural land on Minto-Brown Island is the way that the whole thing, from the very start, seems to have been designed to be accomplished without any public awareness and certainly without significant public involvement.

The original proposal was put onto the City Council's CONSENT agenda -- the one that gets no discussion! And until a citizen told the City Council that the project wasn't even listed on the City website stimulus projects page, it was missing in action there as well.

And today, August 7, here are the "major topics" listed on the city website (list below). Notice anything that's conspicuous by its absence? That's right -- there's a proposal to radically change the use of a beloved city park by permanently ceding control of 200 acres of it to the federal government -- in direct contradiction to the current park master plan (which calls for agriculture to be continued, not reduced by 80%) that is nowhere listed as a "major topic" on the city website.

By way of contrast with the way Salem has handled this radical change in activity in Minto, let's compare the process that the city makes you go through to get a residential parking zone established on your street (to prevent high school kids and downtown employees from parking in front of your house all day):

To get your street added to the 90-minute-only parking zone, the citizen petitioner is required to knock on the door and notify 100% --- each and every one --- of the affected neighbors, even if they already have a no parking zone in front of their house. THEN the citizen is required to submit the petition to the Neighborhood Association for their endorsement. If the citizen fails to contact _all_ the affected residences (and to get 3/4 support from them all), or to go through the neighborhood association, no action will be taken.

Is the permanent loss of control of 200 acres of a unique public park really less significant than getting a 90-minute parking zone established in a residential neighborhood? If not, then why has the public not been given at least the same level of notice and opportunity to comment?

Topic: Keeping of Urban Chickens

Topic: Neighborhood Services Program

Topic: Sign Code Amendments

Topic: Shopping Cart Ordinance

Topic: Police Department Facility Task Force

Topic: Salem River Crossing Project (3rd Bridge)

Topic: Parks & Recreation System Master Plan

Department: Public Works

Contact: Mark Becktel, Parks & Transportation Services Manager, 503-588-6211 mbecktel@cityofsalem.net

Topic: Minto Island Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge

Tell Salem Planning Commission: Chickens aren't livestock!

Revising the definition of "livestock" to exclude chickens will make it much easier for Salem to permit backyard hens. Image via Wikipedia

Please take a moment to send a note to the Salem Planning Commission to ask them to recommend that Salem take chickens OUT of the definition of "livestock." And if you can attend this upcoming Planning Commission meeting, please do.

What: Planning Commission Public Hearing

When: Tuesday, August 18 at 5:30 pm

Where: Salem City Hall, 555 Liberty St., Room 240.

Why: A hearing on whether the Planning Commission should recommend that Salem City Council correct the definition of livestock to exclude chickens. (Livestock is forbidden in residential areas, so if chickens are defined as livestock, then no hens in most of Salem.)

Please send a brief letter or email to the commission staff to urge the Commission to revise the definition of livestock to exclude chickens. Include your name, address.

Bryce Bishop, Associate Planner

City of Salem – Planning Division

555 Liberty Street SE, Room 305

Salem, OR 97301

This change would make it easier to get an ordinance permitting backyard hens and to revise that ordinance without having to go through the detour of the Planning Commission. A backyard hens ordinance will be discussed at a future city council meeting, probably in September. Getting the definition of livestock revised to exclude chickens will make it much easier for Salem to permit backyard hens!

Note that Planning Commission meetings are on Tuesdays, but they are held in the same place and have the same format as City Council meetings (signup to speak, 3 minutes only).

A few days before the meeting on August 18^th, the agenda will be posted online.