lecture

The 2014 Rural Living Field Day is set for Saturday, August 23, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Howell Territorial Park on Sauvie Island.  To register, just visit the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District website at www.wmswcd.org and click on "Events." The cost is only $15 per person or $20 for families.  Morning beverages and snacks will be served as well as a fully catered lunch! 

Rural Living Field Day is a fun event for rural landowners and this year the event is sponsored by West Multnomah, Tualatin and Columbia Soil & Water Conservation Districts and the Oregon Small Woodland Association.  Our partners include the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council, the Oregon Forest Resource Institute, the Skyline Ridge Neighborhood Association and the Sauvie Island Community Association. The event features speakers addressing a wide variety of issues that face rural homeowners, farmers, and land managers every day.  Topics include wildlife, forests, pollinators, invasive weeds, orchards, riparian restoration, crops and soil health, and manure composting. 

Speakers include:

Tonia Lordy, Home Orchard Society
Mike Cloughesy, Oregon Forest Resources Institute
Michael Ahr, West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District
Chas McCoy, Scappoose Bay Watershed Council
Roslyn Gray, Natural Resource Conservation Service
Chip Bubl, OSU Extension
Liz Ruther, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife
Dean Moberg, Natural Resource Conservation Service
Megan Denton, Able Farms
Evan Gregoire, Boondockers Farm
Amy Love, Love Farm Organics

The location of the event will give participants the opportunity to visit a stream riparian area, a woodland stand, an orchard, a working organic farm and barn.  Folks will participate in some hands-on demonstrations and will be able to ask the experts about specific concerns during the break-out sessions.  Whether you're a seasoned landowner or just starting your own farm, this is the event for you!

Rural Living Field Day is also a great time for landowners to meet each other and share concerns and ideas about their properties and operations, and make valuable professional and personal contacts.

Making sense of "Cathlapottle": How Chinookans made (and said) names on the land
Special Guest Presenter Henry Zenk

May 11th, 2014, 2pm.
Cathlapotle Plankhouse at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge:  28908 NW Main Ave; Ridgefield, WA 98642           

Join us as at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse we explore how geographic names are formed in the Chinookan languages. The NW is covered in place names that come from local Chinookan Native American languages, and words like Memaloose, Skookum, Ilahee, and Tilikum continue to dot the landscape of our area. Henry Zenk, consulting linguist with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde will summarize what we know about how Chinookans themselves constructed and pronounced the names they bestowed on their lands and on its original inhabitants. He draws especially on records left by linguists who worked with some of the languages' last fluent speakers. Many of these sources remain unpublished to this day.

This event is part of the Cathlapotle Plankhouse's Second Sunday Series of events.  Children's activities will be available from 12-4pm as well as guided Plankhouse tours, and information on International Migratory Bird Day.  For more information contact Sarah Hill at Sarah_Hill@fws.gov or call 360-887-4106.   

The Cathlapotle Plankhouse is located on the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, 28908 NW Main Ave, Ridgefield WA 98604.  There is a $3.00 entrance fee per vehicle visiting the Refuge. To arrange wheelchair access to the Plankhouse, please contact Sarah Hill at Sarah_Hill@fws.gov or call (360) 887-4106.

Join wild food expert John Kallas and get hands-on experience on how some wild plants are processed for grain, flour, and essential oils. We'll see how to shell, grind, process and leach acorns so that they transform into wonderful additions to breads, muffins, pancakes, and pudding. By the end of the workshop we'll have gone from bitter acorns in the shell to a sweet acorn pudding that any normal human would enjoy. Also learn how to make a distillation setup from simple kitchen ware. We'll make a distillate from mint that you could use to flavor teas, use in cooking or aroma therapy. For information or to register visit the Wild Food Adventures workshops page.  Enrollment Limited! - Advanced registration reserves you a place in the workshop.

Join wild food expert John Kallas to investigate wild foods from marshes, fields, and woods -- including wapato or Indian potato, elderberry, wild cherry, and many other plants. This island was originally called Wapato Island by the Lewis and Clark expedition for its abundance of the plant. Wild blackberries should be ripe for picking while we are there, so bring some gathering containers if you wish to pick them after the workshop. For information or to register visit the Wild Food Adventures workshops page.  Enrollment Limited! - Advanced registration reserves you a place in the workshop.

Join wild food expert John Kallas to identify gather and eat many of the plants seen in the book: Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt to Plate, which John wrote. Visit an organic farm and make a delectable wild gourmet salad on the spot with other participants. We'll harvest traditional European edibles (growing as weeds) that the farmers would be pulling. Learn how to identify common, plentiful, nutritious, and flavorful wild vegetables in this adventure. Get real hands-on experience with plants you'll see on a farm and in your own garden. Take advantage of these readily available sources of nutrients, and dietary variety. Traditional wild Eruopean edibles (gourmet greens and vegetables) plant themselves, enjoy the rich moist growing environment of the garden, and provide many seasons of foods that can add meal options you never dreamed of before. Once your learn these wild foods you can change from a "weeding" to a "harvesting" mentality in your own garden, yard, and neighborhood. Watch a news short on "Edible Weeds" by Garden Time TV series here. For information or to register visit the Wild Food Adventures workshops page.  Enrollment Limited! - Advanced registration reserves you a place in the workshop.