Zena Forest Products kiln-dried beer tap handles

Check out this video on urban tree salvage and Widmer Brothers brewing tap handles. The Oregon White Oak blanks are kiln-dried out at our friend Ben Deumling's place -- Zena Forest Products.





Learn more about Ben here or read about the floors he did for us, and some urban forest salvage of our own on page two here. Ben also made some tap handles for Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, also out in West Salem. You can find their cider on tap at Venti's downtown.

Tour de Pringle Creek

What an awesome bike race Sunday! Organized by Capitol Velo Bicycle Club, racers sped through our neighborhood streets (the one and only time of the year when high speeds are ok on our streets) and along Fairview Industrial Drive in hopes of winning cash prizes and notoriety -- riders came from across the state. This was serious intensity circuit racing, high speed over the course of 75 or 90 minutes! Competitors enjoyed the technical cornering and design of our streets, which made their laps way more challenging and interesting than typical circuit speed races. Who needs to go to France when we have the Tour right here? Also great food provided by Minto Island Growers (if you are craving the fresh berry shake, you can go to their stand on River Road S. during the week) and James the Waffle Guy. And the all-natural sports-drink company Orbana provided race fuel and free samples to racers and spectators. Thanks to all of the sponsors, Upper Echelon, Bike Peddler, Scotts Cycle, Santiam Bicycle, Orbana, and Lulay's Car Connection and of course Capitol Velo for all their work, and Oregon Bicycle Racing Association. See photos below and check out the video of what it's like to actually ride in this race...

Racers for the Men's Pro Race blast off

Jackie shows off the incredible menu of Minto Island Growers Farm Food Cart!

Minto Island Growers Farm Food Cart mother & daughter serving it up fresh.

Sage (racer and one of the event organizers) enjoys a well-deserved fresh strawberry shake.

Weeding without chemicals

Paco's strategy for weeding without chemicals includes BBQing them with his flame thrower. A quick blast of high intensity heat literally boils the plant's cells and tap root. It is most effective in gravel or paved areas where the torch won't burn nearby plants that you want to keep. Children: do not attempt this at home!!

Summer is here!

Wow it actually feels like summer!
Today was so beautiful, I thought I'd walk around and take some photos of what's new around here...

Urban Farmers adding to their garden plots and getting ready.

Painters Hall is a perfect place to hang out, drink some iced tea, and get refreshed.

We are pouring the foundation of the Coho cottage today! It's the second house currently under construction.

This Coho is a 3BD / 2BA LEED Gold home, perfect size at 1,300sqft. 

The garage greenroofs are really amazing this time of the year. There are more than 30 different plant species up there! Watch out for bees and ladybugs.

James Meyer & Opsis featured in Portland Architecture

A lean, green studio: talking with James Meyer of Opsis Architecture

By Brian Libby at http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture

Though the Great Recession has not been kind to the architecture and construction industry, Opsis Architecture may serve as proof that the combination of skills - collaboration, innovation, humility, ingenuity - can still propel certain firms to prosperity.

Not among the biggest or smallest firms in town, Opsis remains busy with a host of public and private projects across the region. In particular, the firm - which Meyer formed with Alec Holser and Jim Kalveledge (all were colleagues at Yost Grube Hall) in 1999 - has made its name with several school projects over the years, both K-12 and colleges. Though the firm has yet to design a major building in central Portland, they've long been on the cusp. They were one of three finalists for Portland State University's new building on the Urban Center plaza two years ago, for example, and produced an arguably far more compelling design than the ultimate winner, Yost Grube Hall. But as Meyer notes, the variety of projects, and the future in which they are designed, is what gets him excited.


"We’re doing food service, theaters, basketball courts, media centers, offices. Even as you start thinking about new working environments, we’re intrigued by that conversation related to all of these projects going on."

Among the most recent Opsis projects is the Pringle Creek housing community in Salem. A 32-acre development, Pringle Creek is first mixed-use LEED-rated community in the United States, blending of the residential and commercial communities are developed to enhance livability. The community integrates

Statesman covers Morningside Annual Meeting at Painters Hall

Morningside Neighborhood Association Meeting

31 May 2011

By Cindy Ulshafer from the Statesman Journal

In the renovated Painters Hall in the Pringle Creek Community on May 12, the 35th annual meeting of the Morningside Neighborhood Association was buzzing with lively discussions.

Chairwoman Pamela Schmidling called the meeting to order and introduced the speakers. Angie Hedrick from Salem's police department urged everyone

Spring News & Update

We just released our Spring Newsletter! You can read all six pages here. If you'd like to receive these updates updates automatically, send us an email and we'll get you signed up! (it might go without saying, but we manage our own list, never share it, and you can exit at anytime).