Culture: Page 263

April’s Cruelties

Vintners lose sleep in this unpredictable month

Drink

Every year, Oregon’s April just hammers me. I’ll toddle briskly through winter’s months, savoring the rains, blissfully indulging an interior life, inside our house and inside my own skull. I revel in the rains, regard them as profound blessings, in their various forms, from the feathermist, so light it won’t dimple the meniscus on a pond but will leave a walker soaked, to the guttergusher that floods fields and leaps river banks. I fret when, as recently, we enter a dry spell. Continue reading →

Why New Trees Fail

Tangled roots and other fatal hazards

Gardening

It’s annoying when a newly planted shrub or perennial dies on you, but unless it was a gift or it’s rare and hard to replace, it isn’t all that serious. Trees are another matter. Young trees can be expensive, and it takes quite a bit of effort to plant one. Most importantly, if the failing tree takes several years to die, there’s precious time lost in achieving the purpose for which you planted it, whether for fruit, shade, a focal point, screening or just a nice, imposing plant companion.  Continue reading →

Cupcake Surprise

Chow

"We take the notion of a cupcake and elevate it to the next level,” says Larry Oswald, owner, founder, baker (and mopper, he adds) at Larry’s Cupcake Café — a new addition to downtown Eugene’s food-scene renaissance.  Continue reading →

Portable for the Palate

Chow

Some food carts create a specific type of cuisine: Mexican, pizza, Southern food, vegetarian. GastroNomad owner Ben Maude reinvents his menu on the regular not by picking a genre, but by running his food truck as some sort of delicious pop quiz. Continue reading →

Word Is

Chow

Local niche catering business Ivy’s Cookin’ is celebrating 20 years in business. Check out Ivy’s vegetarian menu, designed as a convenient alternative to eating out, at ivyscookin.com   Pizza Research Institute is moving just a little farther down Blair, from 530 to 325 Blair Blvd. They’ll still be open until moving day in late April.   Continue reading →

It’s About Time – April 2013

About Time

April is the month we’ll be saying goodbye to most of the wintering waterfowl. I am going to miss the buffleheads. The resident early birds have already started nesting while many migrants are just arriving. They will be checking to see if the old nest is suitable for refurbishing for another season. If it is, they will soon start singing songs of domestic joy. The bushtit flocks don’t break up while nesting and feeding young. They do forage by themselves now, unaccompanied by their usual winter companions, juncoes and chickadees. Continue reading →