Hey Locavores, Wine Lovers: Harvest Moon Dinner at GeerCrest Farm

Funky display? Click here

Join us at Historic Geercrest, a sesquicentennial farm, for a farm sourced, chef prepared

dinner in celebration of fall!

Harvest Moon Dinner at GeerCrest Farm Experience the third meal of the day in a whole new way. GeerCrest Farm & Historical Society invites you to a taste experience you won't forget as we offer up our bountiful summer harvest, invite a guest chef to work their magic, and present a 4 course dinner paired with 4 local wines. With our historic farmhouse and 20 peaceful acres as the ultimate outdoor venue, you are sure to savor the experience of dinner at GeerCrest. Saturday, September 29th 6:00pm $80 per person Seating is limited. Reserve your seat today! RSVP

True Dat. "Cow's milk is for suckling calves" -- Jack LaLanne

Interesting.

Great "new" blog in Salem: The Upright Cyclist

OK, I'm probably the last to know . . . this "new" blog is only new to me maybe, having started last November (nobody tells me anything!).

A great addition to the Salem blogroll, a blog about living a richer, maybe a slightly slower one (but not always), with a sly pun in the title. 

As LOVESalem has been saying for over five years now:

“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” 

—H. G. Wells, 1904

Fun and inspiring

Community Garden (Photo credit: Plan for Opportunity)

Marion-Polk Food Share’s Community Gardens Program presents…

The 2nd Annual Community Gardens Bus Tour

· What: Tour 8 community gardens via school bus.
· Where: Meet at Marion-Polk Food Share, 1660 Salem Industrial Dr. NE.
· When: Saturday, September 22nd, 9 am - 3 pm.
· MUST RSVP, either by email or phone

• imcdonald@marionpolkfoodshare.org or 503-581-3855 (x 329).

· $10 suggested donation.
· Bring a sack lunch

About the tour:

Did you know Salem-Keizer has over 25 community gardens? Ever wonder where they are or how you can get involved? Get on the bus, and check out our bountiful, beautiful gardens. Bring a sack lunch and a suggested $10 donation, and hop on board! Limited seating, RSVP now.

Ian Dixon-McDonald
Emergency Food Prevention Programs
Marion-Polk Food Share

T: 503-581-3855 x329 C: 503-798-0339 F: 503-581-3862
E: imcdonald@marionpolkfoodshare.org
1660 Salem Industrial Drive NE Salem OR 97301-0374

Once and future history of Oregon

One of the greatest gems in this area is Geercrest Farm, a sesquicentennial farm on Sunnyview Road in the Waldo Hills between Salem and Silverton, where GeerCrest Farm and Historical Society is making great headway in preserving and bringing this irreplaceable treasure into the future, providing a place where the future pioneers of Post-Carbon Oregon can reskill and learn how the last generations thrived in the era before fossil fuel farming took over.

Upcoming Events:

"Annotated Cartoons By Davenport"
Book Release Party - Saturday, August 25 – 6:00 pm

The Davenport Project and GeerCrest Farm & Historical Society are pleased to announce a special Book Release Party to celebrate the publication of “The Annotated Cartoons by Davenport.”

This event, set for Saturday, August 25, at 6:00 pm is to honor the many backers of our recent “Kickstarter” Fund Raising campaign, that made the publication possible. Folks who donated $25 or more during the Kickstarter Campaign are the honored guests of the evening. Others may attend for $30 per person. Please do RSVP to the farm via phoneat 503-873-3406 or Email.

During the evening, light refreshments, beer and wine will be available. Gus Frederick, the book’s researcher and compiler will be on hand to autograph copies, which will be available for purchase for $15, a 25% discount off of the cover price of $20, for this event only. Additionally, a short presentation by Frederick will provide some historical context to Davenport, the Gilded Age and how reprographics technology enabled a local country boy from Silverton, Oregon to become the highest paid cartoonist in the world.

In 1898, Homer Davenport published Cartoons By Davenport, a collection of over 80 cartoons which originally appeared in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Evening Journal. It was a large format work, with hardbound cover and an introduction by Senator John J. Ingalls, (R-Kansas).

Over 100 years later, Davenport historian Gus Frederick researched, compiled and reprinted a fully annotated edition of this historic work. The faces and the issues behind Davenport’s witty, satiric caricatures were teased out in a cartoon-by-cartoon commentary.

This revised, expanded edition will number just under 200 pages, and measure slightly over 8 by 10 inches. “Annotated Cartoons by Davenport” will be the first publication of The Liberal University Press, based out of Silverton, Oregon.

Great Sunday Morning Seminar -- Thinking about the infinite

A petition worth signing: REINSTATE GLASS-STEAGALL

griftopia (Photo credit: cdrummbks)Hi,

I signed a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama titled "Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act".

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://signon.org/sign/reinstate-the-glass-steagall-5?source=s.em.cp&r_by=756599

Thanks!

Young Writers Contest from one of America's best magazines

Few magazines cause me to think about what a great and interesting read I've had as often as this one. My bride and I both comment about what an unusual magazine HCN is, and what a pleasure it is to see serious journalism on environmental issues that isn't always solemn, along with great photography.

If you know a young writer (2012 grads and later, down through HS), suggest that they peruse some issues of this fine publication and thinking about whether they have anything to offer on this topic:

In 600 words, describe why your heart is at home in the American West. Is being a Westerner a physical state, a frame of mind, an emotional experience? Is it something you earned? Something you were born into? A title conferred on you, or one you adopted on your own?

2012 Annual High Country News
Student Essay Contest

What does being a Westerner mean to you, and why do you consider yourself one?
"How I Became a Westerner"

Entry Deadline: Sept. 21,2012

Send essays to studentwriters@hcn.org. Visit hcn.org/edu for more information.

In 600 words, describe why your heart is at home in the American West. Is being a Westerner a physical state, a frame of mind, an emotional experience? Is it something you earned? Something you were born into? A title conferred on you, or one you adopted on your own?

The contest is open to all currently enrolled high school students and undergraduates at American schools, colleges and universities as well as 2012 graduates. Submissions must be original, unpublished work (the writing can have been published in a student publication). One entry per person, please.

Include your name, contact information, school name, and area of study with your submission.

The winning essay will appear in the upcoming HCN Books and Essays special issue and the writer will receive these backpacking essentials from MountainSmith:

• Lookout Backpack
• Poncha 35 Degree Sleeping Bag
• Rhyolite Trekking Poles

High Country News 119 Grand Avenue, PO Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428

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WHAT SALEM NEEDS: a Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes

Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes

Awesome!

WEIRD: Oregon Ag Dept working to undermine Oregon Ag

The Willamette River Valley (Photo credit: Wikipedia)This is another example of how moneyed interests capture public agencies and bend them back and use them as weapons against the public interest instead of regulators on behalf of the public well-being.

Allowing genetically tampered crops loose in the Willamette Valley is unwise, unnecessary, and totally undesirable. There is no benefit to Oregonians from allowing the gene tampered foods to intermix in the Willamette Valley -- the only benefit is to the corporate interests who would be only too happy to despoil the Willamette Valley and destroy its status as a haven for organic producers.

The industrial "phood" that results from gene tampering is designed solely to allow corporate interests to capture the entire food supply and destroy peoples' ability to grow pure, real food.

Good afternoon ~

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has fast-tracked the approval of canola production in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. This would include Genetically Modified Canola.

This would mean that our crops that are related to canola (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussel sprouts, etc) would be at risk for cross pollination and contamination by GM canola.

Many gardeners rely on seed grown in the Willamette Valley for their home gardens.
Please read the letter below from the Seed Ambassadors and act now to express your thoughts on this issue.

Please comment by THIS FRIDAY to prevent the Oregon Department of Agriculture's temporary rule permitting GM canola and thus, bypassing the public comment period.

It is up to us to protect the genetics of our food.
Thanks!
Marisha

Hello Everyone!

We here at the Seed Ambassadors Project haven't sent out any e-mails in a while, but are compelled to do so today: There is an immediate threat to our food supply because the Oregon Department of Agriculture has fast- tracked the approval of canola (including GM canola) production here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

As many of you may know the Willamette Valley is one of the top 5 places in the world for growing and supplying specialty seed and maintaining seed diversity. Seed grown here not only is sold by local Oregon companies, such as Adaptive Seeds, but is also bought by other seed companies such as Johnny's, Fedco, and lots of others both nationally and internationally. Basically, seed grown here supplies the world with food.

One of the specialty seeds that the Valley is perfect for is brassicas, which includes broccoli, cauliflower, arugula, rutabaga, turnip, radish, kale, cabbage, etc. Canola is also a brassica but spreads rampantly and cross pollinates with a lot of other brassicas with detrimental effects. Oregon State University has conducted research proving that canola will cross pollinate with many different crops including turnips, broccoli raab, some kales, rutabaga, and possibly radish and broccoli.

Meaning the presence of canola production in the Willamette Valley will definitely contaminate and destroy those other seed crops. Without doubt.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) has previously maintained a canola exclusion zone in the Valley. However, in the past few months there have been a series of meetings held behind closed doors to change this zone to allow canola (including genetically modified canola) to be grown in the valley unchecked and with disregard to existing seed pinning map isolation guidelines.

ODA only just released a press release on Friday, August 3rd saying they will grant a temporary rule to allow canola this Friday, August 10th.
By issuing a temporary rule the ODA is avoiding the requirement for public comment and therefore behaving unilaterally with only special interests in mind. Not only does this decision harm seed growers but GM canola cross pollination will also potentially threaten the livelihood of any of the certified organic growers in the area. There are good reasons why canola has been banned in the Willamette Valley by ODA up to this point, and pressure on ODA to lift these bans needs to be countered.

Please contact the ODA and Governor Kitzhaber yourself and make your voice heard! It does not matter if you are not an Oregon resident, this decision effects everyone in a huge way and they need to be reminded of that.

And spread the word!

ODA phone number: (503) 986-4552
ODA Director Coba: KCoba@oda.state.or.us

Governor Kitzhaber: (503) 378-4582 ; or email

Remember, we only have until this Friday, August 10th to change this decision!


Check out the following links for more information:

Friends of Family Farmers: Willamette Valley Immediately Threatened by Canola

2006 OSU Special Report on Canola Outcrossing Potential in the Willamette Valley

GMOs At The Door, Wild Garden Seeds, Frank Morton

Willamette Valley Farmers Continue the Canola Debate, OregonLive.com

Thanks for your time and help!

Sarah Kleeger
Andrew Still

Visit Beaver State Permaculture

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