Tomorrow we have a workshop with Portland Bureau of Emergency Management discussing Emergency Preparedness. Learn how to be prepared for emergencies like severe weather events and earthquakes. We'll discuss: 👉 Making plans for home, work, and school 👉 Creating go/stay kits; storing water and food; home retrofitting; emergency sanitation; and more May 22nd, 5pm-6pm 14127 SE Stark St Registration is required! Register here: https://airtable.com/appVo0OcJBEu9nia7/pagZnOrqTKHHis0Mn/form (fb)

Last week we hosted a team of volunteers from Keller Williams Realty Portland Central on site for their Red Day initiative. They volunteered for our annual Spring Refresh event, which spurred the largest change our food forest and garden space has seen yet! Having such a large and energetic group of volunteers because it allowed us to get so much planting and clean up done in just one day - Thank you Keller Williams Portland Central! The event this year was truly a community-supported effort, with Cultivate Initiatives lending a hand in demolishing an old shed and hauling away debris, Rockwood Tool Library Rockwood Common supplying garden tools for the volunteer team to use, and East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District donating native plants and volunteering to provide guidance on plant placements. A total of 250 plants were planted, including 14 fruit trees, 32 species of perennial fruit-producing trees and shrubs, 14 medicinal plant species, and 28 native plant species. That's a 6x increase in the biodiversity of the site compared to 2 years ago! We are excited for these plants to continue growing and flourishing into a food forest that will eventually produce food for community members. In addition to the plants from EMSWCD, we also received free medicinal plants from Baylasan Botanicals and Mariquita Medicinals - thank you!! A huge shoutout to Portland Clean Energy Fund for funding this project and coming out to volunteer with us as well! It was such a beautiful day and a reminder of how much can get done when a community comes together. We are grateful for everyone who took time to be a part of it! The last two photos are before and after photos taken from the same spot - amazing to see the changes that have occurred in the space over the last few years. Stay tuned for updates as we continue this work! (fb)