Urban Farmer Certification

Our educational objective for the Conservatory is simple: teach people, particularly children and young adults, how to grow their own food. In response, we started the Leslie Middle School Learning Garden to encourage students to explore the connection between the classroom and the natural environment. Now we are excited to debut our newest Conservatory program geared toward people in their 20s and 30s, the Urban Farmer Certification.

Developed in partnership with Friends of Salem Saturday Market and the OSU Master Gardener Program, the Urban Farmer Certification will allow you to learn valuable gardening skills while cultivating your own healthy, organic fruits and vegetables. With a monthly class taught by OSU-Extension Service Master Gardeners and local farmers, the course curriculum will include garden planning, seed starting, beneficial insects, composting, and chicken keeping, among others. Classes will include both a theoretical lesson and a hands-on component that takes place in our greenhouses and community garden. As a participant in the course, you may utilize a portion of the community garden for your own cultivation space. All participants will apply their acquired knowledge in their personal garden space in order to obtain the Urban Farmer Certificate.

Schedule: the last Saturday of the month, January-October 2011

Cost: $60

scholarships available and a 20% discount for FSSM members

Sign ups begin December 1st! Please call 503-315-1055 or email shannon@pringlecreek.com for more details or to sign up!

Chemical-Free Weed Control

Sustainable landscape management is an important value in our community. We were recently recognized as the first residential development to be Salmon-Safe certified, and as part of our commitment to protecting biological diversity we choose to eliminate and control invasive species using manual methods instead of herbicides.

Last weekend a group of Willamette University students participated in a creek restoration work party to tackle the Japanese knotweed growing along our stretch of Pringle Creek. Japanese knotweed is a highly invasive species that devastates natural riparian areas because it spreads rapidly and prevents the propagation of native species. Here's what the site looked like before our work party:

Our strategy for knotweed removal without chemical agents follows the guidelines devised by the King County Noxious Weed Control Program. The students carefully cut the stems close to the ground and dug up as much of the root system as possible.

The plant matter must be quarantined until it completely dies, and then we can compost it. After the students dug up the roots, we covered the site with overlapping thick canvas fabric and several yards of mulch to suppress any new growth. Here's what the site looks like after all their hard work:

We hope that our efforts will demonstrate the feasibility of herbicide-free eradication of invasive species. Japanese knotweed is a particularly resilient weed, and total eradication will likely take years of manual control. However, the hard labor is worth it because it means we will not cause further harm to the creek and surrounding riparian area. It's really easy to use an herbicide and consider the weeds "taken care of", but to consider the long term environmental impacts of weed control is a much more rewarding task.

Thanks to the Willamette University student volunteers! Also thanks to the City of Salem for their generous Watershed Protect and Preservation grant!

Salem Green + Solar Tour 2010

Be inspired by your neighbors!

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

9am-4pm

This year's Salem Green + Solar Tour offers an incredible lineup of nine cutting-edge projects: the first Passive House certified home in Oregon; the first net-zero energy commercial building in Oregon; an existing home solar remodel in McNary Estates; downtown's newest green commercial-retail building, WaterPlace; the first home to receive a Solarize Salem Co-op installation; the green update to Frank Lloyd Wright Gordon House; and ABC Extreme Makeover's newly-completed LEED Gold dormitory at the Oregon School for the Deaf, among others.

Architect Nathan Good will begin the event at 9am with a preview of the tour sites and a presentation on building and design -- key terms, costs, features and benefits. Tour sites across town will be open 10am to 4pm.

Each site will be hosted by an owner, architect and/or builder who will explain the green features of the project, and benefits, costs, and lessons learned. Tour participants will have the opportunity to learn about energy efficiency, passive and active solar systems, daylighting, on-site energy generation, rainwater harvesting, innovative construction systems and building materials, and a lot more.

Registration: Begins at Painters Hall at 9am, Pringle Creek Community Click here for a map & directions http://tiny.cc/paintershall or go to http://www.pringlecreek.com

Cost: $10 per car, carpooling encouraged. Bicyclists free. Organized ride leaves at 10:15am.

Special thanks to our sponsors!

Pringle Creek Community, Salem AIA (American Institute of Architects), Marion County Environmental Services, Nathan Good Architect, Wild Pear, Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center, Tanner Creek Energy, Zena Forest Products, Solarize Salem, Lifesource Natural Foods, Barnwood Naturals, Mahonia Vineyards & Nursery, Bilyeu Homes, Spectra Construction, and City of Salem.

Hey bicyclists! what better way to travel to Green + Solar Tour sites than by bike, especially when it's free! If you're ambitious, visit all the sites. We've also put together a shorter route that focuses on sites within the City of Salem. Bicyclists can take a self-guided loop or let Patrick and Jenny lead the way with a group tour. Group tour departs Painters Hall at 10:15am.

For more information:

Call 503-315-1055 or info@pringlecreek.com

Salem Green + Solar Tour is part of a state-wide tour in 14 communities across Oregon, all happening on the same weekend. According to Solar Oregon, which oversees state-wide coordination, "the Oregon Green and Solar Tours are one of the biggest events of their kind in the nation" and "each tour reflects the unique interests of the community, yet all share a common goal: to educate the public about green and solar strategies." You can also read about the National Solar Tour overseen by the American Solar Energy Society.

Hope to see you there for this great event!

Recent events at Pringle Creek were great success

Thanks everyone who helped with last week’s events! Eric Corey Freed’s presentation was both entertaining (he has a hilarious and sarcastic sense of humor) and chilling (we were floored by the scientific evidence of human impact on the world). Thanks to the Salem Chapter of the AIA!

The workshop put on by the Natural Step was in-depth and very sophisticated. There were 35 professionals, ranging from the Executive Director of the Salem Art Association to the Green Building Coordinator for the Oregon Homebuilder's Association, all interested in incorporating principles of the Natural Step framework for sustainability into their business and personal lives.

The Oregon Environmental Council workshop on low-impact development had 40 attendees, mainly public works officials, city planners and local developers and contractors. Incredibly informative and engaging. Afterwards we had a tour of Pringle Creek, which was great. After spending hours talking about concepts, it’s great to step outside and experience the concepts in practice.

For last Saturday’s Salem Green + Solar Home Tour, we had 130 people, which was a pretty solid turnout. It was inspiring to see the things homeowners in Salem are doing, from ultra-airtight low energy construction to solar hot water systems to interiors finished with materials either FSC-certified, reclaimed, or made from recycled content. These homeowners are the pioneering leaders and visionaries of today, they are way ahead of the curve, and are inspiring others to do the same. Great event, all education-based, it’s our pleasure to host it each year. People really get a lot out of it. Thanks everyone!

santiago

The above-referenced events were held in the recently retrofitted Painter's Hall. Attendees were very impressed. Anyone interested in holding an event here should give a call to Sarah at the Pringle Creek office, 503-371-3790.

Below are some very recent photos showing some of the new construction.

Upcoming events include Green and Solar Tour

Some great events coming up! Pringle Creek Community is “showing off” its newly remodeled community center, the net-zero-energy Painter’s Hall, by hosting five special events.

Monday, September 28, 2009, 7pm-8pm

The Salem Chapter of American Institute of Architects presents a talk by Eric Corey Freed, "Detroit, Dallas & Despotism: a 3D view of Sustainability." Freed is a green architect. He will take us through his creative world of sustainable design, including the decline of Detroit, MI; building a net energy sustainable block in Dallas, TX; the strange forces plotting against greening our country, and more. Part stand-up comedy and part Ph.D. lecture (web interview with Eric here). For more information, please visit http://www.socialzr.com/event/694429230 or contact kristi@studio3architecture.com Update: Here is a large pdf of the slides from the presentation.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009, 8:30am-12:30pm

The Natural Step Network presents Training by Duke Castle, “The Natural Step for Sustainability.” This workshop will provide an understanding of the factors that have created our current unsustainable practices, an overview of how The Natural Step reverses that trend and insights on how to apply Natural Step principles. Mr. Castle has delivered hundreds of Natural Step presentations, including training Oregon state leaders as part of Governor Kitzhaber's sustainability executive order. He has studied how Swedish companies successfully applied Natural Step principles.

Cost: $95 ($70 for TNS members). To register, please contact April Knudsen at april.knudsen@thenaturalstep.org or 503-224-1140.

Wednesday, September 30th, 8:30am-1pm

Oregon Environmental Council presents a presentation by Steve Fancher and Ed MacMullan, “Making Low-Impact Development a Reality in Your Community.” Steve Fancher is implementing LID and sustainable stormwater management in Gresham, Oregon, where he is the City's Watersheds Division Manager. Ed MacMullan is an economist with ECONorthwest who authored the report, "The Economics of Low Impact Development: A Literature Review." Event includes panel discussion with local builders, designers and planners followed by optional tour from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm.

Cost: $35 for general public, $20 for HBA members. To register, visit http://www.oeconline.org/stormwater

Saturday, October 3rd, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Willamette Valley Green + Solar Home Tour begins and ends at Painter’s Hall (as it did in 2007 and 2008). Visit with homeowners, green builders, contractors and architects that have incorporated green and solar techniques & technologies into new and newly remodeled homes around Salem. Check out a 1,500sqft greenroof, a German Passive Haus certified home under construction, and a solar hot water system that provides hot water year round.

Buy your ticket the day of event. Cost is $15 per car -- carpooling is encouraged. Bicyclists free! For further info, contact santanaj@pringlecreek.com

Friday, October 30th, 2009, 8:30am-5pm

Oregon Environmental Council presents Training by Rob Emanuel and Derek Godwin, “Rain Gardens.” They are with OSU Extension Service and Oregon Sea Grant and authors of the forthcoming Oregon Rain Garden Manual.
The rain brings many benefits, but it can be a bane if it carries pollutants or excessively floods our local streams. Capturing, controlling and filtering some of this stormwater runoff in rain gardens helps beautify our landscapes and improves watershed health. The training helps gardeners learn to design, build and maintain rain gardens.It will include an indoor and outdoor component. Seating priority will be given to those willing to work with OSU as rain garden representatives and provide assistance to local communities in which they live.

Cost: $50. Scholarships are available, contact teresah@oeconline.org or call 503-222-1963 x112. To register, visit http://www.oeconline.org/stormwater

Goodall students at Pringle Creek for annual stream health analysis

Update: On Dec. 24 the Statesman Journal ran an article on this, "Students helping study water quality."

Students from Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School and Karen Hans from Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife came out for their annual fish and macro-invertebrate count. These students are comparing stream health & fish population in various waterways throughout the City of Salem. The big catch of the day was a very large cutthroat trout!

Students set up nets upstream and downstream, then wade through the creek catching fish.

Then they identified and documented each species before setting them free.

They also went through to catch insects; there is a significant correlation between the number of insect species and the presence of fish in any stream. Here they are dividing the macro-invertebrate water samples and identifying them.

They captured a good sized cutthroat trout! Pretty amazing given that we are just three miles from downtown.

Group photo under the Pacific Yew.

--santiago

Home tour great success, thanks to sponsors, homeowners

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s Green + Solar Home Tour a success!

In particular, thanks to our homeowners for opening their doors, showing everyone the ecologically-friendly designs and products in their homes, and sharing their knowledge and experiences.

And many thanks to the sponsors. This event would not have been possible without their support and participation: Marion County Public Works Environmental Services, Energy Trust of Oregon, Earth Advantage, Portland General Electric, Straub Environmental Learning Center, Pringle Creek Community, Nathan Good Architect, Salem AIA, Lifesource Natural Foods, Neil Kelly, DeSantis Landscapes, Taylor Metal, BAM Agency, Wild Pear, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Black’s Construction, Bilyeu Homes, Spectra Construction, Glen Rea Construction, City of Salem, Shelterworks, Solar Oregon, and Oregon Department of Energy.

--Santiago

Morning presentation by Andrew Shepard from Earth Advantage, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Green Remodeling”Two of the five “Homes of the Future” currently on display at Pringle Creek (created by 5th Graders from Wilsonville-West Linn School District after visiting Pringle Creek
Tour-goers visiting the cottage
Nathan, Larry, and Jackie admiring April Waters’ most recent painting

The house-designers of the future

You might recall a previous item in which Santiago told us about West Linn fifth graders that visited Pringle Creek. They were working on a project to design "the house of the future." The kids' efforts have gotten some coverage in the Wilsonville Spokesman. The article, "Building spaces," talks about advantages of the project-based learning method--and the visit to Pringle Creek:

. . . Over 100 students in all are currently engaged in the research, mathematics and problem-solving skills required to design and construct a house with a footprint no bigger than 2,000 square feet.

The students are not designing and building just any homes, either. Instead, the project is inspired by the Pringle Creek Community, a sustainable planned development currently being undertaken in Salem by a team of designers and architects from Salem, Portland and even Vancouver, B.C.

The project integrates the latest green building technologies, with at least some of the homes being so-called net-zero dwellings because of their capacity to produce more electricity through solar panels than they consume.

Students visited Pringle Creek to examine what a green community actually looks like. Afterward, they began viewing their own homes and communities with the same issues in mind.

“The kids really got into the research as they’ve seen these issues in a personal way,” Locke said.

Earth Day '08 at Pringle Creek

Earth Day was a great event! Local school groups displayed their environmental study and service projects--we were really impressed. We had a singing performance by the HOPE Team Choir. The workshops on Bamboo, Worm Bin Composting, and Urban Chicken Keeping were all great – thanks to Dain, Sally and Jim for presenting. Thanks also to Larry, Blake and Phil for being on hand to answer all questions on green building. And a big thanks to everyone that made the event a success: Deborah, Becky, Jackie, Tony, Elizabeth, Don, Joe, Luca, Dan, Robbie, Marie, Sally and Bill, and especially all the teachers that took time out of their Sunday to support kids helping the environment.

Santiago

Below is a 25 second video from the festivities

Pringle Creek hosts 5th graders designing house of the future

Below are some photos from yesterday’s visitors--125 fifth graders from West Linn working on a long-term project to “design the house of the future.”

We divided into five stations: Rainwater, Food & Agriculture, Forestry, Fish & Wildlife, and Energy. The questions we asked were, “How will the design of your house impact the world around us? Can your house be restorative, can it actually improve all the other systems we rely on? How?”

Partners that helped with the stations were Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Marion Soil & Water Conservation District, Marion-Polk Food Share, and OSU Extension Service Sustainable Living Project. Evann Remington from Organic Fresh Fingers arrived at noon to provide organic snacks for the kids.

A special thanks to the volunteers from these organizations for taking the time to help, and to Organic Fresh Fingers for the healthy snacks.

We asked if we could display the concept designs and scale models that the kids create as soon as they are done – probably this summer. The level of sophistication of the curriculum and the kids’ understanding of sustainability was very impressive!

Santiago