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William McClenathan

 

 Episode 61
September 1, 2007

 

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Judy Alleruzzo


Welcome to the Labor Day Weekend, the traditional end to the summer.  But the calendar is telling us that we have around 3 weeks of summer left.  In the rush to get everyone back to school, don’t forget to get your garden ready for fall.  It is only a couple of weeks until the Le Tour des Plants.  This is a 9 day festival of fun (and savings) at your local garden center.  Get out and survey where you have bare spots in your garden and see if you can fit in a couple more plants.  We have heard there may even be some free plants available with your Le Tour bracelet.

This week we featured...

Red Pig Tools

A couple of months ago we visited with Bob Denman at Red Pig Tools (503-663-9404) to watch him make a garden trowel.  Bob’s tools are well made and built to last and sometimes they are designed from tools that have been used in the past.  Bob brought out a few of his unusual long handled tools to show us. The first one was a mangle cutter.  This tool was used by pig farmers to cut up corn pieces into smaller chunks so the pigs wouldn’t choke.  It is great for local gardeners that want to cut their compost into smaller bits for quicker composting.  Bob also makes a weed fork for those tough to get weeds, a ridger that helps in planting seed crops, and a half-moon weeder/cultivator.  Our favorite was the blackberry hoe.  This tool, which Bob designed himself, has edges that let you easily get the small plants with one side and the large tap roots of the old plants with the other side.  If you are interested in unique tools for tough jobs, check them out when you are in the Boring Oregon area.

Nature Journaling

Enjoyment of your garden can manifest itself in many ways.  Recently, we talked about garden photography as a way to capture the beauty of your garden.  This week we found a Timber Press (1-800-327-5680) book that took our creativity to another level.  Author, Jude Seigel, gave us some instruction in Nature/Garden Journaling.  With garden journaling you can put your thoughts and impressions of your garden down on paper with pen and paint.  The best thing about journaling is that it takes you out into your garden and you have to slow down and observe your garden to capture your thoughts and feelings.  To get started all you need is a pen, paper and a small paint set.  Write your own thoughts about what you see and feel and then illustrate those thoughts.  Try your hand at journaling and if you need a little help, check out the book! 

Aquarium Butterfly Garden

What kind of plants can you use in your garden to attract native butterflies?  That is a question that the Oregon Coast Aquarium (541-867-FISH) had to answer when they decided to build a new butterfly garden a few years ago.  There are more than 22 species of butterflies and moths listed as threatened or endangered, so the aquarium decided to do something about it.  Our guest, Bob Llewellyn, the head groundskeeper, told us about how they picked plants that would not only attract adults, but also feed and protect the larva also.  Some of those plants included; Blackeyed Susans, Various Daisies, Indian Blanket Flower, Golden Rod, Wild Milkweed, Monkey flower, and Coast Penstemon.  After a couple of years they have found that the butterfly garden has become a pollinator garden!  Not only does it attract butterflies, it also is home to bees, flies and birds.  It trying to help butterflies, they have created a home for many species.  If you visit the garden, don’t forget to check out this ‘multi-use’ garden.

Hop Harvest

It is time to crack open a cold one as we showed you how a perennial vine gives your beer its bite.  We went to the Goschie family farm to check out the annual hop harvest.  This is a family farm that has been in business for over 100 years.  Gayle Goschie took us from the field to the baling room to show us the process of getting hops from the field to the brewer.  In the case of the Goschie family that brewer is Budweiser.   She showed us how this prolific vine is cut in the fields, how the cone is separated from the vines and leaves and then dried to be used by the brew-master.  Hops are used to flavor beer and also as a preservative.  So the next time you left your glass in a toast, you could be toasting with an Oregon grown product.

Labor Day Grilling

The best part of a big holiday weekend is the food.  We all look forward to that unique ‘taste of summer’ that we get when we fire up the grill.  To get another grilling idea on what to prepare we dropped by to visit Jerry Yost from Gartner’s Meats (503-252-7801).  Jerry pulled out a flat-iron griller.   This is a great piece of meat.  We heard how easy it is to grill.  Jerry put it on the grill and turned it every 5-7 minutes.  In 20 minutes it was done.  What made this taste so good was the marinade.  Gartner’s makes their own special sauce that just knocked our socks off.  If you get a chance stop by and see them at 7450 N.E. Killingsworth and make a huge impression at your next barbeque.
 

 
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