Prince of Turbulence

Well, that was fun. Who knew that greenhouse construction was a complete pain in the ass (well, except most nursery folk and such). But, it's done, we're excited, and you can see it unfold:

Hole Digging - using a 2-man auger, shovels, picks and gloved hands to get 2 feet down into this rocky, missoula flood soil:






























Setting and Cementing the Posts - mixing quick dry cement, then staking the greenhouse support posts:

































Leveling:
































Setting the Arcs:


































Completing the Frame:































Stretching the Poly:
































Installing & Cutting the Corrugated Plastic:































Hanging the Sliding Door:































Finis!




































Oh and Hey: Happy Birthday to Us (10.19.2007)!

Tennessee's Not the state I'm In

so, greenhouses ain't so easy to construct

well, at least and for sure, digging 2 foot anchor holes in rocky NE Portland/bretz flood soils really sucks, even when you use a 2 man auger, also known as the back killer, according to reputable industry sources:
but, it was fun and exciting, there's no doubt about that. we worked all day, ate some good food per our usual wednesday routine, and were greatly energized by the late afternoon arrival of our greenhouse, and by some hands-on training provided by their driver/installer. like always, we took a lot of pictures, so we'll let them do the talking...





















nice, huh? more to come...

your hand in mine

[I'd say don't ask, but it doesn't really matter (nothing's gonna change...)]

the greenhouse is coming! the greenhouse is coming. hold up one lantern because it's coming by land.

so, Oregon Valley Greenhouse is going to deliver our courtyard greenhouse tomorrow, Wednesday September 26th, and we'll spend parts of tomorrow and Thursday putting it together. It'll start with a good ol' fashion hole-diggin' (well, 6 hole diggins, actually), followed by equally exciting adventures with quick-dry cement, levels, and such.

and then, on Thursday, the fun really begins. we've to let the cement dry, and then we start sticking pipes into cement, drilling holes in metal, bolting stuff, stretching opaque plastic - the works. we love to take pictures, so we'll post 'em next week.

we're going to put this greenhouse (but smaller) right here:

oh and hey: last week, we had a board meeting. 2 community members, Maria (the mother) and Brenda (the daughter) attended. Long-time residents and leaders in Hacienda CDC's resident community, they're interested in joining our board of directors, which would be a major good thing for Verde and for our outreach and education activities.

other than that, not much to say, lots going on, scientific progress goes bonk (bw's c&h)

-alan

jailbird crossing over

happy monday(s)...

You know, if we don't succeed, it won't be for lack of trying - or, well, lack of sorta trying.

Last week, we put in 2 grants and 2 bids, tho, thankfully, ProLandscape and the Latino Network did much lifting on the heaviest bid and heaviest grant, respectively. But, it was an interesting and busy time, 4 real/sure, and it reflects this goofy-ass blend that is Verde and its Verde Native Plant Nursery project.


With ProLandscape, we responded to a Request for Proposals from Hacienda CDC, an RFP to install a new plaza for the Clara Vista Townhomes (a property we already maintain, so we've a pretty good idea of the site's needs and challenges). It's a great site, oriented around a central courtyard, and with numerous environmental attributes, and also with somewhere north of 3o kids beating the crap out of the grass on a regular basis.

It's been planted twice, a change is needed. Hopefully, we'll get this gig, rotate a couple of guys through a 4 person combined Verde-ProLandscape crew, build some new skills in paver installation, irrigation, planter boxes, and drainage. And, do a project in our home community, providing great opportunities for outreach and education because we'll be there all day, every work day, for 2 weeks.



On that note and with Latino Network, we submitted a grant proposal to the City of Portland's Diversity & Civic Leadership Organizing Project, part of a broader Office of Neighborhood Involvement effort - spearheaded in part by Jeri Williams, former Ass Kicker/Exec. Director of the Environmental Justice Action Group - to connect low income and people of color communities to City decision-making. Well, Portland's an environmental/sustainability town, so if you're not participating in the City's environmental decisions, then you're missing out on a pretty fundamental aspect of civic engagement in these parts. So, this opportunity was a natural for us, and we'll see what happens.

In the shell of a nut(case), that's what we'd like to do: earn money from customers so as to put our constituency to work protecting the environment while earning a good living and benefits, then use that income and grant income to take that story - "there are good jobs in the environment, but mostly this low-income Latino community ain't getting any of 'em so what are we going to do about that?" - out to our vecinos...



We also put in a bid for wetland restoration, including annual maintenance, for the Blue Heron Park Home Owners Association (they paid for revegetation about 5 years ago, but haven't done adequate maintenance so the site is about to tip to the invasives, and it looks like this/that/that thing over there to the left:




Lastly, we've applied to the City's Watershed Investment Fund to expand our work at Smith & Bybee Lakes, restoring Columbia Sedge meadows (I know this picture used to be at the top of the blog, but it's so good - you can see the trees across the lake).



by4now

way down the river (where the blues began)

Well, it's been a while, and we've been busy working and playing (and a-playing and a-working...)

another couple of weeks, and - fortunately - another thing we wanted to do that kinda worked out. last week, we visited OR Valley Greenhouses in Aurora, OR, so we could learn how to assemble the Verde Courtyard Greenhouse (funded by a grant from Metro's Nature in Neighborhoods Grant Program). We hope to grow 500 native plants per year, providing the Crew with their first lessons and experiences running a plant production facility, lessons which will still apply as we move to larger-scale production in the next fiscal year.

Nursery Crew Members had many questions about greenhouse construction, and we took many photos of a constructed Quonset-style greenhouse, so we can use them as a reference for this or that aspect when we construct our own greenhouse in the next few weeks (today, the Crew is preparing the courtyard). Thanks to OVG's Jenny for her time and consideration.

Recently, we also moved a little further in our goal to be the contractor-of-choice for the many Portland-area groups active in wetland restoration, watershed protection, and the like. We did our first project with the Johnson Creek Watershed Council - an invasives removal project at Lovena Farms, an urban farm adjacent to Johnson Creek. Here some before and after photos:

















and, please, be kind enough to check out our front page, because we've posted a new photo there, too (can you tell we got a new memory card for the camera?), an installation we did for the city of portland, where we were able to - get this - put 6 people to work...

yep yep

hiding on the staircase

last night, my good friend proffered the notion that blogs (and video games, and creating a persona, for that matter) offer a person a sense of achievement - even if nobody reads their blog (and they are well aware of this likelihood whilst typing away), or if they never win the video game, or if their persona is annoying/inconspicuous

[let us here put aside the brief follow up conversation we'd about subprime lending, hedge funds, tightening credit, The Rebel, Ghost Wars, the connections between jacobins-decembrists-other revolutionaries and osama bin laden, smart people, and BBQ]

boring...















__________________________________________________________________

Last week, at our Weekly Classroom Training, we began planning the next few month's training topics, because we'd pretty much come to the end of the February planning we'd done in-house, as well as with Technical Assistance for Community Services, Black United Fund, Mercy Corps, and the Rebuilding Center.

The Crew is particularly interested in our marketing; that is, how do we develop new customers. So, they've asked for trainings which describe our different customer bases, and from that discuss how we access and build relationships in those areas. Yesterday, the Board felt it was time to have this conversation again at the Board level, particularly as we add new Board members from the community and from private businesses. So, good news for you, a brief "who does Verde sell services to?" rundown, at least for the next couple of years:

• Environmental Groups and Agencies. The Portland Region is home to many nonprofit groups and government agencies concerned with stormwater management, wetland restoration, invasives removal, and streamside revegetation. In the aggregate, these groups spend significant money annually. For environmental groups, our goal is to be their contractor of choice whenever they pay money for native plant installation or invasives removal. For government agencies, we want to be competitive (skill-wise, cost-wise) with other contractors active in government contracting opportunities.

• Affordable Housing Providers. Similarly, many Portland area nonprofit groups plan and construct affordable housing. Some of these nonprofits are focused on specific demographic groups, like Hacienda CDC or Low Income Housing by Native Americans in Portland Oregon, and some are focused on specific geographic areas like Peninsula CDC or ROSE CDC. In the aggregate, their individual efforts result in new affordable housing construction, construction which requires landscape installation. We want to be their contractor of choice.

wasn't that fun?

bye bye bye bye

boomslang

Happy tuesday...

(a scandalous lack of capitalization, certainly)

What now, just what are we doing here (where there's nothing to do)?

Another week, another thing we're trying to do, in our relentless and dreamlike quest to check as many boxes as we can. This week, civic engagement/community organizing/empowerment - nothing new there

well, maybe a little new, because this community, these mostly low-income, mostly latino are like their brothers and sisters in other Portland neighborhoods, and other neighborhoods in other USA cities; when we dole out the environmental goodies, they don't get 'em. they don't get the clean air, the clean water, the uncontaminated land, the environmental jobs.

many times and too often, environmental engagement happens because these communities want to stop the bad stuff - the landfill, the lead, the mold, the bus depot, the brownfield.

For us, it starts with bringing environmental assets (jobs, projects) to these communities. Last year, we built 3 stormwater management projects on Hacienda CDC properties, training opportunities for Nursery employees, and an outreach and education opportunity for residents, especially children.
now, we're returning, using the installations as the basis for an 8 hour watershed curriculum for participants in Hacienda CDC's Expresiones program, an after school program for middle school students. we'll also upgrade the installations themselves, and - like last time/above - Expresiones students will help with the installations.

So, on monday, we met with folks from Hacienda CDC, from the Columbia Slough Watershed Council, SOLV, and the City of Portland's Clean Rivers Education program to start designing the curriculum, the next step in our goal to bring culturally appropriate, accessible environmental education and other benefits to Hacienda CDC residents and other disadvantaged communities.

we're very excited...