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we bought our house 8 years ago with the intention of fully remodeling the house and the yard, and doing almost all the work ourselves.  we ripped up the front lawn, dug out 2 bioswales, added rain chains, and planted drought tolerant herbs and grasses, and many trees (there were none).  we tore out the parking strip grass and planted that with sun loving herbs and trees.  we dug up our back and side yards to make way for a full house reconstruction -- the yard was literally a mud pit in the winters and a dust bowl in the summers.  we've almost completed the house and we just tilled the whole side and back yards, completed lovely hardscaping (a deck and pavers) and laid sod!  we have a vegetable garden, plenty of border beds and a chicken coop, a greywater system, and another bioswale to come.  i can't wait to play with our family in our new yard this summer and feel great about giving our little piece of property in close-in portland a complete makeover, much of it "green" and eco-socially responsible.  rather than ditching a once little house with no landscaping and heading for the suburbs for more living space inside and out for our family (where it's all built new for you in almost wholly irresponsible ways), we reconstructed an existing structure in the city, adding monetary value and reviving personal and neighborhood spirit, with an eye to what needs to happen more in the very near future in both residential and commercial zones.

posted 2 years, 1 month ago
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i would strongly urge you to do a show on the haitian community in portland in the wake of the earthquake right now.  having listened to the BBC show World Have Your Say cover the earthquake from florida for the past three days, versus TOL which has simply been proceeding with its usual shows (today's was on the paper industry in oregon, relevant in a regular news week but likely falling on deaf ears this week), TOL seems really out of touch with the world right now.  the oregonian has been covering this story every day in its hard news articles AND with community driven stories -- local gatherings in support of haitian relatives and friends, candlelight vigils that have been held, profiles of individuals with connections to haiti, relief organizations that are sending support.  where is your coverage of these local aspects of this international crisis?  the world is a village and TOL this week could have helped be oregon's link to that village and i feel like it has failed.

posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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