My friend LeLo (a Master Gardener, don’t you know) sent along the following information in hopes that those interested in traveling to the Seattle for the Garden Show would rather travel by bus with a bunch of fellow local gardeners.

The Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle is the kick off for spring for many of us gardeners. Don’t sweat the drive when you can ride with fellow Portland area gardeners on a comfortable restroom equipped bus. For $60 you get the roundtrip transportation and a ticket to the show. You will have close to 8 hours to see full size gardens, stroll the vendors market and take in a seminar or two. Cameras are allowed. Bonus? Any purchases can be stored on the bus for the trip home.

Multnomah County Master Gardeners have been organizing these bus rides for at least 15 years, and this year is no exception. Why worry about the weather when you can relax the whole way to and back from Seattle?

What: Northwest Flower and Garden Show, Seattle Convention Center. Bus transportation from Portland.
Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Time: Loading of bus begins at 5:45 AM, leaves at 6:00 AM (Fred Meyer, Hollywood: 3030 NE Weidler). Arrive in Seattle by 9am. Reboard bus at 5pm, return to Portland by 9pm.
Cost: $60, includes transportation and show entrance
How: Reserve your seat ASAP: Contact Evelyn at (503) 777-6771

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• October 11, 2008 -- I’m Now a Baby Locavore (8)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for January 7th:

• Lelo in Nopo: Sweet!

  LeLo's over the moon 'cause The O's FoodDay put her on their '100 things we absolutely love' for her canning label creations. LeLo, being LeLo, passes the love right along…
  "And can I just say? You food preservers who are ordering these custom labels amaze me with your products. From pickles to spiked caramel sauce to fruit concoctions that blow me away: keep on cannin', keep on cannin'." (Note to self: order these when canning season kicks in again already!)

• Dave Knows Portland: A Rose Quarter Roller Coaster? – Wouldn't *that* be cool? Dave reports: "One proposal for the Rose Quarter is to transform it into Memorial Park.

  The boring part: an Imax theater, a House of Blues, and a Gameworks.

  The interesting part: A roller coaster!"
  To that we can only add 'AIIIIEIEIEIIIIIIIII!'

• Portland’s Best Cocktails « My Life On The Rocks – Lance Mayhew has made the move from Blogger over to WordPress – hooray! And while the decor is a little spare (someone help the man implement a rockin' theme already), you don't care so much about the surroundings – just tell me about the drinks already. Lance does with aplomb in this stellar roundup of just where to get the best drinks in PDX.

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Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for June 13th:

• Lelo in Nopo: Happy Pride to you and you and you

  Lelo tells the story of her first time witnessing the Pride parade 10 years ago, and what it means to her now: "But G taught me it’s about our history, about connecting with our family, and celebrating who we are. For so many of us we hide parts—or all—of our authentic selves, being queer in a straight society. Pride, historically, has been about letting that go and being true to ourselves. And seeing the thousands of others around us who are doing the same. We're not alone."

  Happy Pride day!

• About | Where in Portland?

  Food Dude's got a new endeavor: "The purpose of this site is to raise awareness of some of the interesting places around town, give you a challenge and a chance to win some money. Several times a week, I will be posting pictures taken in Portland. Your job is to guess where they are. Some will be very obvious, some will be pretty obscure. They may be fountains, buildings, statues, public art, historical places… whatever catches my eye."

• Oregon Media Insiders – Welcome to the new OMI

  The new OMI admin writes: "Welcome to the new OMI. I wanted to continue OMI so we can still have great conversations about Oregon media. The rules and the way the site works is pretty much the same as the old OMI. Unregistered users though are able to comment but have to wait for approval."

  We're glad to have the site back!

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Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for April 1st:

• Powell’s Books – Read It Before They Screen It: The Catcher in the Rye, Gravity’s Rainbow, and The Satanic Verses – From the Powell's blog: "J. D. Salinger will finally let Hollywood get their grubby little hands on his classic work. Zac Efron is in talks to portray Holden Caufield in the feature film adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye."
• Open Source Bridge gives all of you slackers more time » Silicon Florist – Deadlines that were 3/31 are now 4/10. So if you're a slacker like yours truly, you still have time!
• Lelo in Nopo: This year my garden goes high tech – LeLo writes: "Instead of pests, I'll reboot my garden after resetting my cache, and I'll be good to go. Birds will be replaced with Twitter, and then we'll all kill ourselves." Um…oKaaay.
• Oregon and Portland-area florists, floral arrangements, and flowers » Silicon Florist – Rick's branching out a bit. Or is he?
• Goodnight Portland | An Exploration of Portland Food and Drink – Food Dude says goodbye and good night. Or does he…?

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Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for March 21st:

• Get your veggies on! | Sassy Gardener – Leann Locher — better known to many of us as LeLo (@lelonopo on Twitter) — is a passionate gardener who's now studying to become a master gardener, no less. She shares her five tips for first-time vegetable gardeners in her latest column on the Just Out site.
• Geek Bat signal: Oregon entrepreneurs need to act now! No, really. I mean right now. » Silicon Florist – Rick needs YOU to read this post. Yes, you.
  

  So how about this? How about you take a few seconds to provide some details about one, two, or 12 of your current side projects? Take a moment to reflect on what you could do with $250,000 in the next year, to help bring your product or idea to fruition.

  Don’t think you’re worthy? Not interested in getting funding? I’d still encourage you to take a few moments to respond. Really, what could it hurt?

  The point is this: rising water floats all boats. And our state treasurer needs convincing that we have a viable entrepreneurial environment filled with viable startups just waiting to take form. What’s more, if these folks can pull off putting together a $100 million fund for Oregon startups, it’s going to help all of us.

  (Yes, this means I'll be over there as well talking about what a cash infusion might mean for OurPDX!)

• Open Source Bridge: Open Source Bridge 2009 proposals – You have from now until March 31st to submit proposals for sessions at Open Source Bridge, happening June 17th-19th here in PDX at the Convention Center.

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I’ve always been a decent cook and provider for my family, but the abrupt season change has me contemplating a different path: Making more food myself all of the time (not just some of the time), and using local ingredients to do so.

Sure, I’ve always been a Farmer’s Market fan, and I do shop at New Seasons—from time to time, that is. But while I know (and agree with) the benefits of buying local, sustainable, organic food—well, the spirit is willing but the flesh is often weak. More accurately, I don’t often find the time, energy, or copious disposable income to always buy local, to always cook for the family instead of grabbing something to go on the way home from work.

But I’m now taking my lead from Tricia. I’m getting inspired by people like Audrey, my friend LeLo (who’s been canning and preserving all summer) or that whirling dervish of energy, Sarah Gilbert.

And I now have my very own sourdough starter sitting out, beginning the fermentation process & capturing the wild yeast from the air. I’ll get my crockpot started on some homemade applesauce and apple butter tomorrow (after a visit to the Portland Nursery Apple Tasting, that is.) And I’ll figure out if it’s possible to buy local and sustainable *without* going bankrupt, or spending all of my time in hunter and gatherer mode.

What advice can you offer me about how to make the changes I seek without losing my mind in the process? And—what changes are you making in your lives as the world turns chilly?

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