So great. Watch.

Update: Here's the kind of messages you get once you sign up to help this wonderful organization:

A crop of plums will be harvested this Saturday, August 14, at 9:00 AM (30 pickers). The plum harvest listed below includes 30 trees in Dallas, Oregon. The lowest fruit is about six feet up, but the trees are tall. They may best be picked by shaking branches so that ripe fruit falls. If you sign up for this plum harvest, bring a tarp or an old sheet to catch the fruit and a ladder if you have one. We will have some orchard ladders on the site.

1,100 plants of blueberries a few miles East of Salem will be picked in three harvests:

Friday, August 13, from 6:00PM to 8:30PM (200 pickers)

Saturday, August 14, from 8:00AM to Noon (300 pickers. This harvest is scheduled for four hours. It will help with parking logistics if pickers do not all arrive at 8:00AM. There are plenty of blueberries for those that come later.)

Monday, August 16, from 6:00PM to 8:30PM. (200 pickers)

Sign up for these harvests at: http://www.salemharvest.org/harvestlist.php

Please remember that everyone who signs up must already be a registered picker. If you are already registered then you do not need to register again. If you are signing up someone who is not registered, first go to the picker registration page at http://www.salemharvest.org/pickerinsert.php then to the harvest parties page. Pickers cannot be added to the harvest roster unless they are registered.

Neighborhood Harvest runs entirely on volunteer power. In order to host these blueberry harvests, we need 10-15 intake assistants at each harvest to help with parking, checking people in, and weighing buckets in 30-40 minute shifts. Will you help out? It's easy and you still get to pick when it isn't your turn to help. Please respond to Lisa at lclark-burnell@salemharvest.org if you'd like to help make these harvests happen by being an intake assistant; write "Intake" in the subject line. One perk of serving as an intake assistant is that we will squeeze you into a full or closed harvest as a thank you for helping out. And you get the satisfaction of knowing that you made it possible for 200 people to pick berries and that literally a ton of fresh blueberries will go to hungry families. That's a pretty great feeling.

Hens still struggling to break out of the shell in Salem

Image by terriem via FlickrFrom Barb Palermo:

The good news is …… the city is sticking to the promised timeline. Notice has been given to the state (required for pending land use changes), the First Reading of the proposed ordinance is scheduled for this Monday night (Aug 16), and city staff is recommending a public hearing (also required) be held on September 13, along with the Second Reading and final vote. If all goes well, we could be legal 30 days after that!

The not-so-good news is …… the wording of the proposed ordinance has significantly deviated from our original agreement. This Monday night I will vigorously argue for a lower fee, fewer inspections, and no distance requirement pertaining to the coop's proximity to the chicken-owner's house. I will also point out that the 120 square foot requirement should apply only to the coop, not the chicken run. You'll see what I mean by reading the latest version of the ordinance here (pdf file).

Once again, I am requesting your presence at Salem City Hall this coming Monday, August 16, at 6:30 pm (555 NE Liberty St, Room 240). In May we had a huge turnout and as a result, they voted unanimously to reconsider the issue. Let's continue to show our city councilors that public support has not dwindled. This is the night they hash out all the details and vote whether to advance the ordinance to the final step!

Please feel free to email me with any questions and/or to let me know if I can count on your attendance Monday night. Thank you!

Another local gem to treasure and keep healthy

There's been a huge surge of support for Salem Cinema, thanks to the many fine people in Salem who just needed a reminder that this town has some real gems.

(Here at LOVESalem, we're very proud to have played a small part in getting out that vital message. Even if some people got a garbled version that suggested that Salem Cinema was going to close in two weeks -- NOT TRUE! The whole point of rallying the community was to make sure to alert people, so that we could act to head off the disaster that it would be if the Cinema had to close.)

Maybe "gems" is the wrong metaphor though -- gems are pretty much indestructible and don't need tending. Better that we think of these places as rare and wonderful creatures then, creatures that add immeasurably to the pleasure of living here, but which also need regular care and feeding. Luckily, that's the pleasurable part -- the effort to see more movies at Salem Cinema is surely no burden.

And, speaking of exotic and wonderful creatures in Salem needing some support and offering real pleasure in return, meet Tigress Books ("Wildly Independent") -- f/k/a "Tea Party Bookshop" until the apparent connection to the Teabaggers became too much. Located at Liberty and Ferry, Tigress is a great local bookstore. Just as Salem profits immensely from having Loretta Miles and her passion for movies, JoAnne Kohler's passion for books and ideas gives Salem a unique bookstore that doesn't look or feel like any other. And, soon she'll be adding gently used books, meaning you can afford to access more of the great ideas that have appealed to other Tigress fans.

So, keep up with the movie a week, and when you want to read the stories in the great movies, drop by Tigress Books.