Down the Memory Hole with Saint Ronnie

As the vicious reactionaries attempt to repeal the 20th Century in Wisconsin, it's well to remember the sainted Ronald (hat tip to Sam Smith, Progressive Review):

By outlawing Solidarity, a free trade organization to which an overwhelming majority of Polish workers and farmers belong, they have made it clear that they never had any intention of restoring one of the most elemental human rights - the right to belong to a free trade union. - Ronald Reagan, 1982

Green Valentine's Day: August 14, not February 14!

Remember: Put it on your calendar now, let's celebrate with our sweeties when it makes the most sense for us here in the lush and abundant Willamette Valley -- and that ain't February 14.

Inspired indeed!

Seedy Saturday! March 5, Silverton Grange

Image by Satrina0 via Flickr

Silverton Seedy Saturday
Saturday, March 5, 2011 - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free for Everyone to Attend!

"Seedy Saturday" is an event where people get together to swap garden seeds, especially heirloom varieties, or varieties that have been in the family for generations. But the event is so much more!

* Free Garden Seeds. Bring some to trade too (Not required)
* Master Gardeners to answer your gardening questions
* Demonstrations on Using Worms for Composting
* The buzz from Marion County Beekeepers Association
* Grab a couple free seed catalogs to browse
* Nutritionist discussing fresh vegetable meals
* Learn about gardening with water conservation in mind
* And so much more...

The Silverton Grange Hall is located at 201 Division Street, Silverton.

From Main & Water downtown, head south 1.7 miles on Water Street towards Silver Falls State Park, and turn left on Division Street. There is a large State Highway sign for the Grange Hall on the corner.

More Information: seedysaturday2011@yahoo.com

The new Sustainable Valentine's Day: August 14!

Image by Getty Images via @daylifePlan ahead now: tell your sweetie that, henceforth, you won't be pitching woo with those air-freighted hothouse flowers in February, but you'll deliver a much more loving gift under the sun on August 14, when the flowers around Salem are so mind-bogglingly beautiful that you'll wonder why you ever settled for the imports.

It's time to say a firm no! to fossil-fuel-flowers, the kinds grown in South America and shipped via jet airplane up to northern markets in the dead of winter.

Let's start a new kind of peace movement right here in the city named for peace, a movement about stopping the war against climate stability, a movement about making peace with the beautiful and bountiful place we live by acting carefully to protect it against our excesses and outmoded habits. Instead of just keepin' on the old ways, let's be smart, and time-shift Valentine's Day six months, to August, when there is a glorious abundance of gorgeous flowers throughout the Willamette Valley, and a real dearth of holiday celebrations.

Support local farms and growers with your dollars, keep your money circulating around you and enriching your own community, instead of sending it on an airplane to fly straight into the pockets of the oil companies and Wall St.

A Historic Opportunity to Reconnect with Salem's Past . . . and Future

Dear friends and community members,

A number of community residents recently attended a presentation about the Sustainable Cities Initiative plans that were presented by University of Oregon students for Minto Brown Park.

We were excited about many of the students' ideas. In particular, we would like Salem residents and park users to think about renovating the Cherry Orchard,and adding an organic community garden at that site.

We invite you to come see the orchard. The attached flyer has information on Cherry Blossom tours of the orchard planned for April, and work parties scheduled for March. The city has volunteered to provide some gloves and tools for the work.

This idea fits well into the existing Master Plan for the park, which calls for organic gardening at that site. City Council is considering designating $100,000 of the recent Federal payment to replant the historic Minto orchard with native habitat. We think that with all the farmland that is to be planted with natives, saving the orchard and providing for organic community gardening is a better use of that little corner of the park.

CALENDAR: "Crisis in Oregon: Is water quantity and quality in danger?"

Oregon's wealth is its waterCrisis in Oregon:Is Water Quantity and Quality in Danger?

Salem Public Library 585 Liberty St. SE, Salem, OR 97301
Anderson Room A Phone: (503) 743-4567

Wednesday, March 2 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Come and join us to hear what's happening at the state and local levels and how you can work to protect Oregon's water resource.

Speakers:

• Alyssa Mucken, Policy Coordinator, OWRD
  
• John DeVoe, Exec. Dir., WaterWatch of Oregon
• Lisa Milliman, Natural Resource Planner, Marion County

Sponsors: Friends of Marion County
Friends of Polk County
Friends of Yamhill County
Friends of French Prairie
1000 Friends of Oregon

Whadd'ya know? When you drown a good idea in stupidity, not many think it's such a good idea any more . . .

Whoa, who could ever have guessed that if you make the henkeeping hoops onerous and expensive enough, not many would sign up for that kind of abuse. In other news, not many people applying for a hard punch in the nose either.

A little Saturday Catitude

Here. One of our boys is feeling punky today, seems to be having a bad reaction to some vaccines yesterday.

What I don't understand is how Salem can struggle for years to cough up such a hairball of a henkeeping ordinance but then not have a policy in place to forbid anyone from keeping unsterilized dogs and cats without a breeding license.

It is pure and simple cruelty to keep an unsterilized pet, and it ought to be against the law. Anyone caught with an unsterilized pet without a breeder license should be sentenced to a year of weekends of community service at one of the many shelters where the victims of this callous disregard for common sense and compassion wind up being euthanized.

(And those are the lucky ones, who don't die as roadkill, coyote food, or of the many diseases that prey on domesticated animals gone feral.)

Two resolutions to consider: A Movie a Week and Six Pints a Year

Salem Cinema is not out of the woods yet.

It never will be.

An indy theater that shows great documentaries, foreign films (in, gasp!, foreign languages), plot-driven dramas, and quirky films that would never draw the megastudio backing will ALWAYS be in dire need of community support. And that means you, you who appreciate what a rare gem we have, three screens for intelligent and beautiful films, easily a rival (and probably outdoing) every other theater from San Francisco to Vancouver BC.

All you have to do to keep this treasure in your life is to enjoy it. So make your 2011 resolution: A movie a week at Salem Cinema. We'll all be the better for it.

And when you're not enjoying the fine offerings at Salem Cinema, consider going to any of these. In the coming hard (and getting harder times), we are all going to have to depend on each other a lot more. And there's nothing more essential to community-building than providing for our own blood supply. Most healthy adults can donate six pints a year (every eight weeks). Takes about an hour, and makes a world of difference.

It literally SAVES. LIVES.

Think about that. YOU can SAVE LIVES. TODAY, while relaxing on a couch. Not an exaggeration. Not hype. People in accidents, people getting tumors removed, people fighting cancers and cancer treatments, people with infections, people whose blood doesn't clot properly, and on and on and on. All of them die unless there is an uninterrupted supply of blood available for them.

Likely you'll be one of those people some day, you or someone you care about. So make and keep the resolution: Donate your six pints a year if you are eligible to donate.

Just to point out how easy it is to donate blood, your editor just finished his 80th donation here in Salem, on top of another 70 or so elsewhere over the years. Of all the charitable gifts we've given over the years, these have been the most satisfying. LOTS of people can write checks, but no amount of checks will keep someone alive if what they need is blood. Especially important if, like me, you're blood type O- (universal donor).