home & garden… the portland way

“It seems to me that our three most basic needs for food, security and love art so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love.” -M.L.K. Fisher

While we were without a home (for 11 months), certain things came up, things that made us excited for our next home, and bread and beer were two major points in those discussions. So when we baked bread & made beer on a recent Sunday, I knew I was home. Gavin has been brewing (very tasty) beer for some time now but I had never made bread. I’ve been a very enthusiastic baker for a long time and have baked a myriad of other occasional, and often sinfully sweet, treats but somehow I’d never made oh-so-useful, everyday, hearty bread. I decided to start with an Irish Potato Bread recipe from The Easy Way to Artisan Breads & Pastries by Avner Laskin, my Valentine’s Day gift from Gavin this year. It was delicious. And now that I’ve done it, I fully plan to make it a habit. Because we should always have bread on hand, it makes the house smell good and it really does taste best right out of the oven. And, as it turns out, it’s more or less just like baking anything else! Oh, and you do not need a Breadmaker to make bread. If you have an oven, you can have homemade bread.

One of the many things I found attractive about Portland when we were thinking of moving here was this city’s apparent affinity for gardening. And I have found it to be doubly true now that we’re here. In our own home, we are coming up with creative ideas for creating as much growing space as possible. We don’t have a huge backyard so things will soon be growing in our front yard (a common thing for “close-in” Portlanders), on windowsills and on our front stoop.  I must say, it is fun coming up with creative solutions to sustain my desire for home-grown veggies. I’ve already got a bundle of stuff on that stoop (including chives which are just about the best thing to have on hand at all times), which makes walking up to my front door as lovely and comforting as I can imagine. I discovered some strawberry plants out front and after giving them some much-needed TLC, they are now flourishing and seem to be eager for their summer fruit. I also planted a friendly cabbage right next to ‘em and we’ve got some hops growing (very quickly) along our front path! And since Portland seems to be notorious for late frosts, I’ve started a couple seedlings inside. I am most excited about my tomato sprouts, which are doing very well right on our bookshelf under the biggest, brightest window in our house.

So… the moral of this story is that if you are interested in growing edibles in or around your home, you can do it. Watch your outside space and indoor window spaces for a few days and try to pick out the spots that get a substantial amount of sun, then plan how, what and when you can plant there. Don’t be fooled by a lack of dirt, there are tons of easy plans for planter-box gardens out there and lots of free wood to make them with (try craigslist). A great reference for gardening in small spaces is a book called Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler, a very successful urban gardener. So find that window in your house and plant some seedlings to put in the ground or in your boxes – just make sure they stay relatively warm. I assure you it’s very exciting to wake up to new sprouts in your living room! I’ve also been taking advantage of Portland Metro’s free gardening classes to learn more about gardening at home (I still have a lot to learn). The teachers are very knowledgeable, it’s free and it’s amazing how much you can learn in an hour! If you’re looking to add to your gardening knowledge, try finding gardening classes in your city or town at nurseries, community gardens and schools nearby. And start gardening! You’ll probably love it, especially when you come home to herbs on your front porch or find yourself eating home-grown tomatoes in a few months.

When I looked up home in an Oxford American Dictionary, I found the following definition among many less interesting ones: “A place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.” I really like the first part of that definition.