Thursday, April 2, 2015

My trip to Portlandia

-posted by Jayne

Sometimes it's just too busy to get that blog post done.   I told Isaac two weeks ago that I would do a blog.  He knows I don't like being nagged, so thankfully- he's left me alone.

First, a few pictures from my trip to Portland, Oregon.   Have you been there?  Have you watched Portlandia?  This little skit pretty much sums it up (And often reminds me of the attitude at the Columbus Farmer's Markets):



Such a dynamic city- I am fortunate to have a best friend (since Kindergarten!) that lives there and happily welcomes me to visit.  As a mother of 4 young kids, it certainly is nice to wake up every morning as a guest in someone else's house and have someone cook you a made-from-scratch breakfast, complete with freshly ground and brewed coffee.

Portland has beautiful wall art on the sides of many of it's buildings.  Simply not enough time to see it all.  Here was my favorite:



When I am away, I love to hit up the local farmer's markets and stores to see how beekeepers in that area market their products.  I found a beautiful handmade candle label.



And of course, a crowded honey tent (the samples drew them in).  They had blackberry honey, raspberry honey, and even carrot honey (which didn't taste that spectacular to be honest.)  The blackberry honey was very good, and I brought some back for Isaac to sample.



I got some new ideas and inspirations for new soap scents.  I really must start experimenting with clay more often.


But my favorite part was the abundance of spring flowers.  Cherry trees in bloom!



Lots of daffodils and tulips.  For the most part, the people of Portland really take pride in beautiful landscaping.  


When I returned to Ohio, things were still dull, brown and gray.  But Maizy was undeterred.  On the first warm day, she insisted we plant this "garden" in our sandbox.


We got busy planting some seeds for our real garden.  Lettuce, spinach, kale, even some tomatoes and peppers.  I am so thankful my kids like to help me play in the dirt!



Maizy has also been helping us clean pollen.  


And serving as our new training manager.  "Now Bridger, this is how you put your hair net on!"


Pollen cleaning superstars!


Isaac took Maizy to the Westfall Father Daughter Dance.  Check out that tie.


We promise we'll start posting about bees again here soon.  Isaac has been really busy checking out hives, and has been very happy with their health and vitality.  I'll let him fill you in on that in the next blog post.  But for now- some upcoming dates of interest:

Saturday April 11th at 9:30 am, I will be hosting a talk at the Rhoad's Garden Center in Circleville about creating a bee-friendly garden.

Saturday, April 18th, we will be at Chillicothe's annual Earth Gathering.  Come see us there!


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