Tag: Siskiyou
At long last, the work to widen Siskiyou Street between 84th and NE Fremont has begun. Plans were submitted over two years ago, and we’re just now finally, fully checked off and cleared for takeoff. Yesterday the fence and vegetation along the street was removed, and it looks very different now. That stretch of Siskiyou… Read more »
Work practice for last week’s sesshin included putting irrigation pipes into the trenches dug the previous weekend. These connect with new standpipes that will make it much easier to water the gardens. Yesterday’s work party saw 20 people from Great Vow Zen Monastery come out to tour and then contribute labor to the property. One… Read more »
This week has seen the arrival our new power pole, which will deliver electricity to our property very soon (we hope!). The Wednesday work project this week brought in Groundwork again to work on completing the ravine path. They’ve even put some rocks artistically on the borders of the path in places, and it looks… Read more »
About 50 people showed up on a very hot 4th of July for our neighborhood picnic – DRZC members, neighbors, family members and friends. Lots of good grilled food and potluck items, cold drinks, and good conversation made it a big success. Bits and pieces of work continue inside the Sodo. The latest is a… Read more »
While Lotus Blooming – our fundraising campaign to Plant Zen in Siskiyou Square – is about money, our vision and aspiration for Siskiyou Square is about the Dharma. So, why does Lotus Blooming matter? “Dharma Rain has been a fundamental part of who I have become, or at least many of the aspects I am… Read more »
Today they are cutting down trees along Siskiyou Street in preparation for the eventual street widening. Kakumyo and Fujaku work together on cutting trees. North West Tree Specialists donated a chipper and crew to take care of the remains. After all the trees we’ve been planting, it’s sad to lose trees this way, but it… Read more »
Wednesday’s (June 10, 2015) celebration of the $200,000 grant from the EPA for brownfield cleanup and mitigation included speakers saying wonderful things about the project at Siskiyou Square. Speakers included Kakumyo Lowe-Charde; Representatives from EPA Brownfields Program, DEQ Brownfields Program, City of Portland, Senator Ron Wyden’s office, Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s office, Business Oregon, and Metro.… Read more »
Last Sunday the Columbia Land Trust sent a bunch of their Young Ambassadors to work in the ravine pulling weeds and planting mushrooms. Some of our younger members joined them for the first Zen Adventure Club outing. During the afternoon, someone discovered a nest with baby birds in the ravine. Good times! We have work… Read more »
Here’s a photo of the path, much of the work accomplished last week. A great advancement over what was there before – see the May 1 photo. This week the canopy got put back up. Last year it was torn down by ferocious wind storms, and required repair and patching to put back up for… Read more »
This week we are on Sesshin, silent retreat. While some work practice happens every day, what we are planting primarily is bodies on cushions, benches and chairs. We allow our Zen practice to infuse the land, while at the same time we allow the land’s energy to infuse us – changeable light during the long… Read more »
Did you know that we have a City Park on Siskiyou Square? The path that begins on 82nd Avenue and goes along the road, through the garden, through the orchard, and out onto the street leading to Russell Place, making Rocky Butte accessible from 82nd Avenue, is being funded by Metro. When completed, it will… Read more »
On Wednesday, April 22, lots of volunteers from Friends of Trees came in to do weeding and mulching. Teasel, blackberries, and more were removed and cut back, and many areas were mulched to help them survive dry weather. We have work parties every Wednesday on the property from about 9:30am to about 3:30pm. Come in… Read more »
Yesterday’s work party saw the kitchen floor and other areas in the Sodo painted. Most of the Sodo floor has now been painted, so we can more easily keep it clean and don’t have to put rugs down on dusty bare wood. See the photo of the sanzen room inside the Sodo. Volunteers sheet-rocked the… Read more »
This last week, Friends of Trees and Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors (ECO) teamed up with our sangha to plant 400 native shrubs and trees along the pathway in the oak savanna area. Six different classrooms of fourth- and fifth-graders came to the site to take part in habitat restoration and nature/science exploration activities. ECO… Read more »
We now have a tree-lined street, with a graveled sidewalk alongside. Our wonderful volunteers have worked hard planting many trees, with more still to go in the ground. The photograph shows Uji (the closer, light-colored double-wide portable building) and the Sodo (past Uji). We also got beautiful black dirt put into the light-pole base holes,… Read more »
During last week’s retreat, we were able to sit in Uji, the portable double-wide on the land. It was sweet to sit with the frogs’ chorus after dark and in the early morning. The photo shows the building, and in the foreground the lamp poles for the street lights. The concrete mounting posts for those… Read more »