Explore the critical role rain gardens can play in urban stream restoration, and learn how to construct your own! You’ll learn how to:

• assess your site to decide best location and size
• calculate impervious surfaces
• determine soil suitability
• choose appropriate plants for and how to maintain your new rain garden

Participants will receive a comprehensive manual to help them get started. Space is limited and advanced registration is required. Register online at www.emswcd.org. Information: 503.935.5368.

Saturday, February 25 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at Portland Expo Center, 2060 N Marine Drive, Room D202, Portland.

Northeast Portland Tool Library is like a traditional library, but with tools instead of books.  It’s great for people who don’t want to buy or rent tools they are only going to use once in a while.

They lend out home-repair and gardening tools to Northeast Portland residents and community groups.  It’s located in the basement of Redeemer Lutheran Church at NE 20th Avenue and Killingsworth (entrance is on Killingsworth).

NEPTL membership is free.  Open for borrowing on Saturdays 9am–2pm and Wednesdays 5:30pm-7:30pm. Click here to for more information.

Friends of Trees still has trees available for the planting scheduled for February 4th. Contact them asap to find out if your planting strip has space for trees, and for best selection! Trees cost 70% less than retail, and include delivery and hole digging.

Volunteers are also needed to help with the planting.

Get started here.

The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon is soliciting applications, due December 14, from school and not-for-profit groups  for their 2012 grant program. The HPSO is dedicated to helping “special gardens of botanical, horticultural, or historic interest,” including community gardens, and awards funds to qualified groups. To learn more, call the HPSO office at 503-224-5718 or visit their website.

Many neighbors lost plants last winter due to the cold temperatures. You can help protect your plants once they’ve become dormant by adding mulch to keep your garden stable and cool.  And we don’t mean bark dust!

Learn about this mulching technique, plus how to prepare new beds now for spring planting, by clicking here.

Friends of Trees invites you to help rake leaves for elderly residents between November 10th and 13th. The Portland Leaf Harvest is encouraging individuals and groups to help each other out with fall cleanup. When you sign up as a group with FOT, they’ll provide leaf bags, tips, and waivers for disposal at city leaf depots.  You just need to find the people in need in your community, and rake their leaves.

Contact Brighton West to get started, or visit Portland Leaf Harvest and click on “Join the Harvest.”

In partnership with Friends of Trees, the Woodlawn neighborhood is planning a tree planting project for February 4th, 2011! Join us to help plant trees and create a healthier community.

Planting a tree in your yard or parking strip creates long lasting benefits enjoyed by everyone. Did you know that trees remove pollutants from the air? A typical tree absorbs 10 pounds of pollutants, cleans 330 pounds of carbon dioxide, and creates 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Having cleaner air in your neighborhood has all sorts of health benefits, such as reduced asthma rates. Trees also help intercept and retain 760 gallons of rainwater each year, which help keep our rivers clean and help save us money on stormwater fees.

Trees can cool our homes in the summer and shade our city which helps us stay cool all summer. Trees raise the property value of your home by up to 20%. Also, unlike many other things, trees appreciate in value each year. And by planting trees now, we can keep our city green into the future.

This fall, the Woodlawn Neighborhood and Piedmont Neighborhood volunteers are teaming up with Friends of Trees to offer homeowners trees for their yard or parking strip for $35. The cost will include a site inspection by the Urban Forestry Department, hole digging, help with planting your tree, stakes, mulch, ties, labels, follow-up monitoring, and information on proper tree care techniques. For more information on purchasing a tree, available tree species, and volunteering, please visit www.friendsoftrees.org.

With best wishes,

Tim Bonnin, Neighborhood Coordinator

Friends of Trees Woodlawn neighborhood planting

Ph: 503.953-5658, Email woodlawn@plantitportland.org

Here’s the latest from FOT:

Hi tree lovers,

This is Tim & Josh, your Woodlawn neighbors and Friends of Trees neighborhood coordinators. We just wanted to check in with you as we noticed that you are now eligible to order street and/or yard trees.

You can order trees online here and simply log in beneath were it says, “Select Your Tree,” or by calling me (Tim) at 503-953-5658, or by sending us an email. And the great news is, because of a computer glitch, FOT is offering a 15% discount if you order by September 28th! Just use code P-GLITCH15 when you checkout.

Just be sure to order by January 16, 2012, as that’s our neighborhood’s tree order deadline, but the sooner you order, the better the tree selection!

Thanks so much for signing up with FOT; we’re really excited to see more trees planted in our neighborhood this year!

Information about this project will be presented at next week’s general meeting.

Environmental Services, the Bureau of Transportation, and the Regional Arts and Cultural Council are planning a green street facility on the southwest side of NE Durham at the corner of Dekum. The project will incorporate a landscaped area, bicycle parking on a concrete pad, and an art installation mounted on the bike parking structure. They are just about ready to get started on this project.

The soil and plants in green street facilities filter pollutants from stormwater runoff and reduce stormwater volume in the city sewer system. Portland is building green street facilities throughout the city to manage stormwater.

Normal work hours are 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The project will take three to six weeks to complete.

Read all the details in the PDF file. >>

Believe Movement studio says “Did you know that several of your neighbors are instructors at Believe Movement Studio?”.  No, I did not!  Check out their class offerings, more are being added all the time,  and sign up for email updates to get information about new classes and specials. Laura says “rates are the lowest in town.  Many discounts available for seniors, students, volunteers and non-profit employees.   We look forward to seeing you soon!”

New business alert: you’ve probably seen the progress that has been made at the soon-to-open Breakside Brewery.  Word is they will open their doors May 1.  Read more about the beer and the food.

Classic Foods recently had a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the opening of their new facility in Woodlawn.  Look forward to the smells of pasta being made in our neighborhood, and keep an eye out for them at local farmer’s markets!

Auntie Kelly’s Hawaiian Plate Lunch food cart will debut at the Woodlawn Sunday Parkways (coming up May 16!) and has invited Woodlawn neighbors to a tasting party, May 2 from 2-4 at 1724 NE Dekum Street. Enjoy teriyaki chicken, world famous “Maui style” kal bi ribs, mac salad, peanut ginger noodles, sticky rice, and organic greens.

There’s not a grocery store in Woodlawn (yet!) but if you are looking for a way to get your weekly fresh vegetables from a local farm, the Dancing Roots Farm CSA (community supported agriculture) is still taking members for this year.  They will have a pick-up site in Piedmont on Thursday evenings, very close to Woodlawn.  Contact Shari at 503.695.3445 or shari//@//dancingrootsfarm.com for more information.

Want more play by play of local businesses and Woodlawn happening?  If you are on facebook, many of our local businesses have a “fan page” and Sarah Bott at the Dekum Street Guest House is running a lively page called “It’s happening on Dekum Street” with up-to-the-minute news and happenings in the Woodlawn area.