Corned Beef, Bikes and Plant Sales

Yesterday was St. Paddy's Day and I decided to celebrate the old fashioned way (no, not by getting snot-dripping drunk) by cooking up some corned beef and cabbage. I was very nervous because I had never attempted this before. But with good corned beef from New Seasons and a pressure cooker, about 90 minutes later we had silky smooth and almost sweet cabbage with tender, falling apart, succulent beef and broth infused potatoes. We really want to do this next fall with our own potatoes, cabbage, carrots and onions.

I got up this morning and retrieved the newspaper from the front porch (yes, I am an old school dinosaur that reads the paper version of the daily newspaper). I noticed that it was comparatively balmy and dry with some blue sky peeking through. I then checked the weather forecast for the day and found it was going to be dry and even in the upper 50s this afternoon. So I made the snap decision to ride my bike into work. After scrambling to get something in my tummy and work clothes packed into the backpack, I took off for my 10 mile hilly commute. I am so glad I was able to do that.

And finally I wanted to give a plug to a Portland Public Schools program plant sale taking place this week. Here is the text of the email announcement:

"Hello plant lovers!

Join Portland Public School's Community Transition Center for our Early Spring Plant Sale. The sale runs from March 16th-20th from 8:30am-3:00pm daily. We are located at 6801 SE 60th Ave. in Greenhouse #1. We are a half of block south of Duke St. and across the street from Brentwood Park.

We have a wide variety of plants for sale including:
-organic vegetable starts in 6-pack trays: broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards, kohlrabi, cauliflower and more
-indoor house plants
-lupine, hostas, bamboo, violets, ornamental grasses
-and much much more

The Community Transition Center is a PPS program for young adults that emphasizes vocational experience and life skills. Students in the program are responsible for starting, caring for, and maintaining the plant stock in the greenhouse. Your purchases return to our greenhouse program to support student learning.

Hope to see you all at the plant sale!

Sarah

********************************
Sarah Goforth
Greenhouse Coordinator
CTC Greenhouse Enclave
sgoforth@pps.k12.or.us
503-916-5817 ext. 71124
*********************************"

I'm thinking about sending April over on Friday to pick up some inexpensive starts in the optimistic hope that I can get some into the ground this weekend or next week.