Onward to Oregon!
It was refreshing to have time to touch base in California before heading off on the next leg of our journey. Not only did we get to visit with friends, but we were able to spend some time in the garden as well. In the front yard of Andrea’s parents’ house, is a garden consisting of two spiral beds. It was installed in February of 2015 by students of the Permaculture Design Course that we were taking at the time. We moved something like a ton of soil and concrete with the help of about 15 other students. It was a lot of work but by the end of the day the whole garden had been installed and planted.
Over the last two years we’ve installed ollas to water the soil and worm tubes to deliver kitchen scraps straight to the roots. With those additions, as well as a generous amount of rain this last winter, the garden is flourishing right now. The happiest plants in the garden seem to be the nasturtium which have crawled up the lemon and pomegranate trees, produced magnificent leaves that span the garden, and blossomed an expansive array of beautiful, aromatic flowers.
After sorting out our plans, we bought our train tickets to Portland, Oregon. On April 22nd (Earth Day!) we brought our bikes and gear to Union Station. Neither of us had been to that station and were surprised by how busy it was.
If you ever need to transport your bike farther than you care to ride it, moving it by rail seems to be the best (least expensive / most enjoyable) way to do so. To load the bikes, we simply walked them over to the baggage car and handed them up to the baggage handler.
We found our seats and settled in for what would be a 29-hour train ride. We spent a lot of time just watching the landscape go by. At lunch we were seated with two women who were on their way to Seattle. They were very enthusiastic about being on the train and were a pleasure to talk to. Our lunch lasted about two hours. We couldn’t help but take our time soaking in the coastal scenery and chocolate bundt cake. The scenery was especially verdant in California because of the winter rains. We rode by rolling hills that were completely covered with blossoming yellow wildflowers. It was very pretty.
Sleeping on the train was actually quite easy. The train naturally rocks you side to side which was very soothing. When we woke up the next morning we were already in Oregon. We passed by more beautiful scenery, including a gorgeous lake, snow-capped mountains, and even a snowy forest!
As we neared our stop we contacted the first farm we would be staying at, a small poultry farm in a Southeast Portland neighborhood, owned by an older couple, Steve and Suzanne. It had been raining on and off all day so Steve offered to pick us and our bikes up in their Volkswagen van. On our short ride from the station to their farm, Steve pointed out interesting bridges, new buildings, and a number of things for us to check out while in the area.
When we arrived at their house, we unloaded our things, and then immediately got the grand tour. Suzanne brought us out to their back yard which looked like a village of chickens. From the back of the house the yard slopes down and has 15 coops dotted across it! In addition to chickens, there are also a few ducks and turkeys.
There are a lot of projects here to keep us busy and we’re excited to get more hands-on experience with chickens. We’ll let you all know what we learn and accomplish in our next post.
