On tuesday, the fifth of September, we left Eugene and headed up to Portland, where the freeway system is dazzling in it's complexity. You've got bridges going over water, over highways, over buildings, all looped together like spaghetti. Somehow we found our exit, crossed over the Ross Island Bridge, shouldered our way through heavy traffic and made the turn onto SE 21st Avenue.
Within two blocks we were greeted with the gorgeous cob structures of People's Coop and a beautiful residential neighborhood full of BIG beautiful old houses, cafes, coffee houses and astonishingly huge trees.
I fought the urge to pull over, leap out of the car and start photographing like mad. We were on a mission to find the City Repair offices. We actually saw several beautiful cob benches and a kiosk just driving around a few blocks. We were clearly in the green epicenter.
Walking in, the office seemed uninhabited. There was an amazing 'birds nest' up above the front desk. Big. Really big. Big enough for three or four people to....nest in? A hallway led us back to a huge room with many tables, displays and Erica--who gave us a map of this year's Village Building Convergence projects and then closed the office to give us a walking tour of the neighborhood! What a great welcome!
It was rather hot and sunny and we hiked for blocks, seeking out benches, kiosks and ending up at People's Co-op. Eden was a trooper and never complained once. In fact, she seemed delighted by the benches and enjoyed them as much as anyone. And she got a popsicle out of the deal.
At People's we said goodbye and thanks to Erica and made the strategic decision to go find Tryon Life Farm, just outside of town, to be in time for dinner. We would sleep there that night in their "Tea Whale", a whimsical structure that had been built in Portland and then moved to the farm.
Eden was absolutely delighted with the tea whale, it was like sleeping in a playhouse. A very dirty open-air playhouse with lots of traffic noise and a sloping floor and a very cold September midnight. It was an adventure.
Tryon Farm was a stark contrast with White Oak, which has two people definitely in charge and directing things, and a number of dedicated, hard working interns. Tryon, I guess, is more of a concensus run place, with residents who have outside jobs and contribute sporadically to the farm.
Unfortunately, the gal who'd invited us to stay was away at a meeting and no one else seemed to know we were coming or especially cared to make us welcome. Apparently they have droves of visitors coming through on an almost daily basis. We never did get a "tour", but what we saw had a sad air of things incomplete, tools not put away, leaking hoses left on all night. And the kitchen and dining room were very dirty. Nevertheless, we joined the somewhat chaotic dinner around a big round table, and had a nice conversation with a fellow name Matt. Matt kindly offered to watch another resident's twins (I think they were about 7 months old) so that she could go to the meditation group. One of these kids spent most of dinner on Krista's lap. We both saw him standing, edging his way along the platform where the woodstove was and we both saw him start to grab the very sharp looking scythe and knife someone had carelessly dropped there. Krista got to him first. It struck us that 16 other people, mostly young men, hadn't noticed. It felt like the worst of the 60's to me: 'hey man, chicks take care of the kids, dig?'
When Krista came back up to the house, after we got our tea whale set up for sleeping, she found Matt holding one of the babys and the other sitting by the five gallon compost bucket. On closer look he was actually eating cat food and compost off of the filthy floor. Matt was gamely trying to keep the one kid, who was wet and hungry, from screaming. He ultimately failed.
Krista ended up holding the screamer for almost an hour, getting soaked with pee. The mom, who was supposed to be gone only twenty minutes, hadn't left any diapers or food. While Krista tried to calm the poor baby I scrubbed the big dining room table and did the huge pile of pots and pans left from dinner (and perhaps other meals?).
We never did see the mom again. I really hope she reached nirvana through her meditation. Another resident (to be fair, he was a guy) showed up and relieved Krista of her miserable charge and we fled.
We decided not to stay for breakfast.
We were there at Tryon for only a short time and who knows how typical the scene we saw really was. I probably shouldn't write about it. I don't want to bad mouth the place, but it was a potent part of our tour, so there it is.
We had a nice breakfast back in Portland near the City Repair office and set out for our tour.
We pretty much started with the rebuilding center and it really was worth the trip across town. The little 'forest' courtyard they put together is gorgeous. Really, the whole place is inspiring. They have crews that will go out and take down a house slated for destruction--mining the lumber, windows, fixtures and all, instead of the conventional wrecking ball and dumptruck route. They had beautiful doors and windows and sinks and tubs. It was great.
Near the end of our tour we hit Share-it Square, where City Repair really began. All four corners have great features--the tea station, the kids' playhouse, a book sharing kiosk, nice benches. We had thoroughly enjoyed it and were about to leave when I decided to ask for a lunch recommendation from some men who had wandered out to look at a pretty red scooter.
When I explained we'd come just to see their intersection and were on a City Repair tour, one of the fellows, Pedro (who was holding his baby son in a sling) asked if we'd like to see the Sanctuary where the Village Building Convergeance began. Hell yes!
So he led us a block or so away to an old funky house he'd bought with a friend. It was meant to be a community house and they were experimenting with all sorts of green techniques, like rainwater catchement. The garage and back patio were all cobbed out. Very pretty. And in the back they'd built (with the help of our own Joe Kennedy) a sweet little cob building--a sanctuary. It was beautiful, tiny and Pedro said it only took about two weeks to put up, with maybe 15 people helping. Wow!
When they were done, they said "we should do something like this every year" and viola! The Village Building Convergance was born.
What a nice stroke of 'luck' to meet Pedro and get this behind the scenes tour. I actually considered asking if we could stay in the sanctuary that night, just because it was so cool. He probably would have said yes, but Eden wasn't feeling so well and we were feeling like getting back to Eugene and Nancy's comfy house.
We saw many projects that day, some rough, some polished. It was all so inspiring. And Portland itself was unlike any city I've encountered. There seemed to be street after street, neighborhood after neighborhood, filled with big beautiful old houses. Two or three stories, four or five bedrooms, funky or all fixed up. Almost every house on a street would be big and interesting. With big beautiful trees to go with. It really blew my mind.
In Santa Rosa we really just have one street with big homes, The McDonald Mansion area. And those houses are all precious and fancified and only the richest folks can live there. It seems like half of Portland, at least, lives in these wonderful old houses. And you can tell there's a real mix of income levels. It was truly homey. When we were headed down the freeway, we realized we'd never taken photos of these amazing streets full of amazing homes. Maybe next time.
