Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City BY KELLY COYNE & ERIK KNUTZEN This celebrated, essential handbook shows how to grow and preserve your own food, clean your house without toxins, raise chickens, gain energy independence, and more. Step-by-step projects, tips, and anecdotes will help get you started homesteading immediately. The Urban Homestead is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics. Written by city dwellers for city dwellers, this copiously illustrated, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. By growing our own food…
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How I Upgraded My Electric Mower
My introduction to cordless mowing was a Black and Decker “ factory reconditioned” CMM 1000, which I babied well past its expected lifetime. I had promised myself that if I could get it through until the end of its last summer, the long winter would give me plenty of time to research a replacement. A very helpful article in Green Living Journal (*) came just in time to greatly aid me in my search. I know that lawns and mowing are not appropriate in many places. Here, where we live in a pine forest, we keep a circle of mowed lawn around our modest home as a fire-break. We also…
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Solar Oregon Presents Passive House 101
Solar Oregon and Passive House Northwest present: Passive House 101 July 9, 2019 – 6 – 8 pm Shine Distillery – 4232 N Williams Ave Portland Join Solar Oregon for an evening discussion on how Passive House– the world’s most energy efficient building certification– and solar PV can be the easiest path to healthy, comfortable, and durable Zero Energy buildings. Joshua Salinger, CEO of Birdsmouth Design/Build and board member of Passive House Northwest will discuss what Passive House is, it’s history, it’s methods, and why it matters. 40% of the energy used in the U.S. goes towards our buildings – this is more than the energy used in transportation and industry combined! Learn…
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Portland VegFest
October 5 & 6, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Exhibit Hall A Join 8,000+ people of all ages and 180+ vendors at Oregon’s premier plant-based food and lifestyle event. The largest vegan food festival in the Pacific Northwest, Portland VegFest celebrates its 15th year with 180+ food vendors, favorite veg restaurants all in one place, cooking demos from top vegan chefs, talks from leaders in the vegan movement including doctors, lawyers, activists, business owners and environmentalists, a fitness stage, activities specific to kids and teens, and more. For more info and to apply: portlandvegfest.org
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5th Annual Pacific Women’s Herbal Conference
September 20-22, 2019 Vashon Island, WA Herbal Roots Ancestral Wisdom Over 40 Workshops & HerbWalks Featured Teachers Harvest Moon, Quinalt Elder and Thea Summer Deer, Herbalist A Lively MarketPlace Engaging social time 400 Acre Forest reserve 1.5 miles of beach on the Salish Sea An inter-generational, nourishing, engaging, integrated weekend For more info: www.pacificwomensherbalconference.com/
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National Drive Electric Week
September 14- 22, 2019 A nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today’s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more. They are fun to drive, are less expensive and more convenient to fuel than gasoline vehicles, are better for the environment, promote local jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Are you considering going electric? Come talk to owners who have successfully done so. For more info: driveelectricweek.org
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Mother Earth News Fair
Aug. 3-4, 2019 Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Sunday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Linn County Expo Center 3700 Knox Butte Rd. E, Albany, OR The Mother Earth News Fair is your passport to money-saving hacks, health-boosting remedies, and environmental strategies from leading experts and entrepreneurs around the country. In addition to presentations and hands-on workshops, you’ll encounter a vast marketplace abounding with innovative resources and products to enrich your life. For more info: www.motherearthnewsfair.com/oregon
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Western JUNIPER: Wood that Checks all the Boxes
100 years ago, walking across the expanse of Eastern Oregon would have revealed sprawls of sagebrush and native grass, pockmarked with the occasional juniper tree. Fast forward to today, and those picturesque western landscapes have become overgrown with juniper trees. Due largely to modern day fire suppression, junipers, a “native invasive,” have expanded from one million acres at the turn of the 20th century to a staggering 10 million acres today. Junipers are a thirsty tree, drinking up to 35 gallons of water per day in a high desert ecosystem that is already plagued by drought. As the trees expand, they push out sagebrush and grass, which affects vulnerable species…
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TOP TEN Clean Energy Developments of 2018
2018 showed that clean energy is becoming more and more the norm. And we’re not just talking about Bradley Cooper standing in front of a field of wind turbines in the hit movie, A Star is Born. In spite of the lack of action from the US federal government, the world is moving forward on clean energy. From India to the Caribbean to businesses and cities in the United States, 2018 was a great year for energy efficiency, electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, and more. Here we list our top ten clean energy developments of the year. 1. Carbon-Free Electricity is All the Rage Xcel Energy committed to supplying…
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Worms:
A Solution for Improving Garden Soil & Saving the Planet Are you seeking a way to keep your garden plants healthy without harming the environment? Conventional fertilizers aren’t going to cut it, as they pollute the planet and don’t provide long-term benefits. A better option is to create fertilizer at home with worms by setting up a personal vermicompost that turns your wasted food scraps in plant energy. Why is homemade worm compost so beneficial? It adds essential nutrients back into the soil, plus worms have the potential to make it easier to reduce your household trash. And, as you’ll learn next, that’s no small matter. Compost: Reducing Waste One…
