Culture: Page 265

Bridging Design and Community

The UO student organization designBridge offers low-cost, sustainable design in Eugene

Culture

Everyone crowded around the new “playscape” at the Co-op Family Center on Patterson Street, not far from the UO campus, on a crisp February morning; hugs were exchanged, parents, teachers and college students chatted, kids were zooming around the new sustainable gravel bike path and bellies filled with pancakes and orange juice kept everyone warm. It was the Family Center’s 18th Annual Pancake Breakfast, but it was also the playground dedication — a playground designed and constructed by the UO student organization designBridge. Continue reading →

Take Your Temperature

Planting vegetables before May

Gardening

Until this year, a month-by-month portion of Eugene Weekly’s annual vegetable planting guide began in May. In a way, that’s logical — May is about when our heavier valley soils become workable. These days, however, with many people building raised beds and all-season gardening becoming ever more popular, lots of gardeners know that the planting year can start a lot earlier.  Continue reading →

EW’s Planting Guide 2013

Gardening

Asparagus Cultivation: Plant 1- or 2-year-old crowns during March, spacing them 12 inches apart in trenches 8 inches deep. Hold off on harvesting spears during the first year for stronger plants the following year. Soil/Sun: Loose, rich, well-drained soil with a high pH. Full sun to partial shade. Suggested Varieties: Mary Washington, Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight Purple Passion.   Arugula Cultivation: Sow March through June, and in fall.  Suggested Varieties: Sylvetta; Roquette   Continue reading →

Winter at Silver Falls

Waterfalls and icicles abound

Outdoors

Silver Falls State Park is Oregon’s largest state park, with more than 9,000 acres to explore. The early American history of the area included private ownership of South Falls. The owner pushed old cars into the canyon and charged 10 cents to see the falls. Thankfully that insane use of such a fantastic area has ended. Early logging removed much of the massive trees that once surrounded the incredible falls in the area. American activity around Silver Falls in the early years of settlement was based primarily on exploitation. Continue reading →

Readers love Love & Sex issue

Culture

EW reader Leah Chava of Imagine Salon was kind enough to email us this photo with the title "We Love you too! Eugene Weekly" Ahh shucks, you're making us blush, we do love our readers. Keep the pics of readers reading our rag acoming! Email to alex@eugeneweekly.com.     Continue reading →

Love Issues

Culture

Valentine’s Day. One of the many holidays that started as a mix of a pagan festival (Lupercalia, a fertility festival) blended with a day in honor of some dude (St. Valentine) who died in an unpleasant way for the Catholic Church. No one runs through the streets anymore gently slapping women with the blood-dripping hide of a sacrificed goatskin to ensure fertility, but some of us would probably rather get hit with a dead goat than be subjected to the Hallmark cards and pink candy hearts of our modern Valentine’s Day celebrations. Continue reading →

It’s About Time – February 2013

About Time

Why do mosses and lichens fall out of the trees in winter? Close to the end of every year, clumps of moss and lichen appear around almost every oak and maple tree in town. These are the branch species, different from terrestrial mosses and lichens. It is most prominent in parks where the lawn hasn’t been mowed since late fall. For years I attributed the lichen rain to wind storms, but that never struck me as the whole story. A comment in the Mount Pisgah Arboretum newsletter by its caretaker made a light go on in my head. Continue reading →