Hungry Times Two

I think I found my happy place. A spot with miles of green cow pastures, cool coastal winds, tasty seafood, and spectacular hikes along the shoreline. And CHEESE. Man, there's a lot of dairy goodness there. I'd been to Tillamook County once before, but a longer return visit this month - a spur of the moment weekend trip (aren't those the best kind?) - secured the place as one of my top getaways ever. Named after the native tribe who occupied the areas around the Tillamook and Nehalem Bays, Tillamook County's tagline on its website,  " The land of Cheese, Trees and Ocean Breeze ," s ays it all. Located 70 miles west of Portland in northwest Oregon, its 75 miles of coastline, four bays, nine rivers, verdant valleys and Coast Range mountain spurs make for gorgeous views. Plenty of rain during most of the year results in the greenest of grass, which turns out to be tasty eating for all the cows in Tillamook County. Outnumbering the locals, the cows are th

Cleaning out our car last week, I decided we're treating our little hybrid hatchback like a haulin' a&# truck for garden duties. There are scraps of bamboo, scrapes from cement-laden fenceposts, and splinters from wood shims scattered around the car's interior. At first I was a little irked at the mess, but now that the garden is producing, I kinda see these things as little signs that we're using what we've got to do something right. In crunchy Earth-friendly and frugal fashion, Scott and I found ways to avoid buying brand-new tomato cages (which can be surprisingly expensive when you need 10+ of them), fancy trellises, potions for keeping insects at bay, and shiny objects to deter birds from tasting our tomatoes before we get a chance. Reduce, reuse, and recycle these ideas for making spare items function for free in your garden: DIY with Bamboo: For once, the site Nextdoor is good for something other than watching your neighbors out-snark and gripe at

64 degrees, friends.  That's the current temperature here in Gresham, Oregon, at 1:30pm PT on Monday, July 2.  This southern-born transplant is in awe. Yesterday while reading on our patio in mid-afternoon, I donned a long sleeve because of a light, cool breeze. If I was back in Charlotte right about now, I'd be removing as many layers as legally possible. It's a transition that's a welcome change. No more sweating off sunscreen or makeup, and goodbye frizzy hair that can claim it's own zip code? (Well, the hair is still kinda big.) I'm in! And Scott is no longer having summertime humidity  Nicolas Cage-style freak outs . Yet when it comes to gardening, the cooler temps and surprisingly dry weather so far are perplexing. After a bit of wrangling, we secured a large 20'x20' plot at Gresham City Hall community garden, which is walkable from our apartment. It took a full day to hack weeds out of the very rocky soil and hand-turn/till with