Have you ever thought about what sort of food grows around your neighborhood? The bounty of edibles found right around the corner, from apples and nuts to rosemary and greens, is astounding. The urban landscape is filled with fresh, free food if you just know what to look for. Plants you might normally ignore, like dandelions or nettles, can be cooked into healthy, delicious meals.

Many people first experienced wild foods in their childhood—learning to mushroom hunt with their grandfather or picking apples from a neighbor’s tree. Looking for wild fruits, veggies, and nuts is a fun family activity that helps teach kids the value of local, fresh food. In addition to having kids help you forage for your own kitchen, you can volunteer to help harvest urban edibles for those in need (see resources below). More...

SHIFT: A Green Salon, Sharing and Inspiring Sustainable Design
AIGA presents 10 five-minute presentations from designers, creatives, and innovators that are making communications more sustainable. Topics include creative print/web challenges, creating energy efficient sites, green office renovations, earth-friendly printing and more. Followed by short Q&A and networking.  Please RSVP, $5 non-members.
Thu, Nov 5, 7-9pm
Pop Art Community Room, 718 SW Alder St

Farm to Table 10th Anniversary Celebration
Celebrate Zenger Farm's ten years of educating youth, farmers and families in sustainable agriculture.  Chef Joe McGarry of Bon Appetit will be serving five delicious, locally grown courses, paired with local beer and wine. Join the silent and live auction and go home with something great.
Fri, Nov 6, Silent Auction 6:30pm, Dinner at 7:30pm
OMSI, 1945 SE Water Ave
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-Sally Bell, Advertising Manager

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s September Bike Commuter Challenge was an all-out success. Thousands of Oregonians made first-time commutes and some committed themselves to more consistent ridership, for the sake of healthy competition, the wonders of bike commuting and good old-fashioned fun. This year’s Brian Reynold’s distance award winner happens to also be my husband, Chris Bell. 

Chris is the most modest super commuter you’ll ever meet and he logged well over 1800 miles in the month of September, making the trek from our home in SE Portland to Salem, every day and back. More...

Portland Fashion Week draws national attention for going green! PFW used a sustainably harvested bamboo stage, eco-friendly soy-based paint, low-voltage LED lights, and corn-based biodegradable drink ware.  Even the use of electric tape was prohibited because it can’t be recycled into to raw materials.

“This is the first and only sustainable production of a fashion week in the world -- not just the United States,” said Tito Chowdhury, the show’s executive producer.  Pretty impressive! More...

There’s a fun new way to stay motivated about recycling, and spotlight your business’s recycling practices. Recycle at Work is a great site sponsored by Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. The City of Portland’s goal is to progress toward a 75% recycling goal, and businesses are being asked to complete a Progress Report to let the city know about recycling practices at work. The Recycle at Work program offers some great advice on how to reach your company’s recycling goals, with everything from how to cut back on waste to green catering. More...

This morning, I took a train to Seattle to teach at a conference. It is one of the joys in life. I bike to the train station, work on a crossword as the scenery passes by, and then bike around Seattle which, by the way, seems to be made entirely out of hills.

Today, I entertained myself with a new distraction, the subtle art of the roll up. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “roll up” is when a cyclist folds, or in some way “rolls” up, his or her pant leg to avoid it getting caught in the chain. Roll means fold. It’s so clear. A thoughtfully folded pant leg is a style I don’t often sport because my bakfiets has a chain guard. However, today I took a commuter bike on my trip to Seattle, and with 3 hours to kill on the train, I mastered some pretty awesome roll ups. Check them out. Let me know what you think.
 
TRADITIONAL: Nothing fancy. Textbook functionality for keeping the pant leg out of the chain assembly. The style most often used. More...