Tag: Siskiyou
Summer’s bounty is coming on, with this donation gracing our counter top this morning. In addition, fresh tomatoes, basil, mint and other herbs, potatoes, beets, plums and berries have been coming from our own gardens. Yesterday the Oregon Tradeswomen were back for their fourth and last round of framing in the workshop/barn. Our own trusty… Read more »
Last week’s Genzo-e was the biggest ever. Highlights included sitting out on the engawa, and a walk in the ravine on the last day. Yesterday the Oregon Tradeswomen were back for their third round of framing in the workshop/barn. Groundwork was here as well, continuing to work on a community garden. Yesterday’s work party did… Read more »
This week we are on sesshin, with at least 20-30 people participating. Work practice includes gardening, sewing, putting up shelves and the kitchen door, watering, picking fruit, and of course making delicious meals for everyone. Yesterday the Oregon Tradeswomen were back for their second round of framing in the workshop/barn. We sit on the engawa… Read more »
Yesterday we had two different non-profit groups working side by side on the property. Groundworks made raised beds for a community garden space that they will administer. And Oregon Tradeswomen is framing inside the Workshop (also known as the Barn). They will be coming one day a week for a month. Wednesday’s work party saw… Read more »
At long last, we now have our own mailbox on the property and have notified the post office to begin delivering and picking up mail from that box. We are beginning the process of updating our stationery and web site so that mail can come directly to us on the property. We will likely keep… Read more »
Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a bird! It’s a – uh – helium balloon??? Yes, it’s a helium balloon. It’s green, and floating high above Siskiyou Square, with a camera, attached to a tether held by PSU Geology students. They are studying GPS mapping, and are using our property as a training project. We… Read more »
We are finishing this stage of the “barn” (workshop) this week. All of the pieces are up, and Wednesday the repetitive “brrrrrrp, brrrrrrrp” went on all day long as volunteers tightened nuts and bolts. Kakumyo and Fujaku removed supports and scaffolding, and you can finally see how big it really is. In a few weeks,… Read more »
We are having a quiet week, as one of three summer vacation schedule weeks during the summer. No morning program this week. This last Sunday, we had our annual Dharma School skits. For the first time ever, the parent groups also presented a skit. Wednesday work parties have resumed, and are a great way to… Read more »
We are reaping the results of past planting, as well as planting new things this year. This time of year everything turns green, sprouts, sends out new growth, and otherwise just looks beautiful. We are eating lettuce, peas, and some berries from the garden, and enjoying the many flowers all around us. Walking outside is… Read more »
Among the many wonderful dharma events we’ve been enjoying this month was Diana Keishin Saltoon’s sharing of The Way of Tea last Sunday. Even though the Sodo is “finished,” and we are pausing to sit still and enjoy the beauty of the building and grounds, there is still some work going on. The geo-mats for… Read more »
Among the many wonderful dharma events we’ve been enjoying this month was Robert Archer’s presentation of a particularly Japanese style of archery that is based in meditation. He set up his target in the zendo, and began with two slow, formal shots from about where he is standing in the photo, proceeded to some discussion… Read more »
Even though the Sodo is “finished,” and we are pausing to sit still and enjoy the beauty of the building and grounds, there are still some pieces being worked on. One of those pieces is the three folding doors that will help divide our spaces and reduce the sound spillover from kitchen and dining room… Read more »
Ongoing finish work inside the Sodo is taking care of things like the trim in the back of the zendo and into the entry and dining hall, mounting fire extinguishers, signs and doorknobs for the bathrooms, laundry area in the kitchen, towel racks, fixing the doors so they all work, mounting that beautiful cedar plank… Read more »
On Saturday, April 16, the Friends of Trees and FedEx volunteers worked on various projects on the land. In particular, we had to remove all of the recently-planted trees along Siskiyou Street because they didn’t meet code. We planted most of them elsewhere on the property, and those we couldn’t use Friends of Trees took… Read more »
Our fancy new trash / recycling building is coming along. These photos were taken last Saturday, and the roof is still in process. Eventually there will be gates so that we won’t be staring at trash containers from the Sodo and the courtyard. This building is required as part of our Certificate of Occupancy, so… Read more »
This last Saturday, April 2, something like 100 people showed up for a good old-fashioned barnraising, as we worked on the new workshop. The weather was perfect, and though we had more trouble than anticipated getting up the first arch and keeping it up, we recovered on the second by getting a scissorlift to provide… Read more »