Category Archives: Nature

Grape Harvesting for Wine Making

Oct 21, 2021 Editorial, Nature, Play
Grape Harvesting for Wine Making

A few weeks ago, a group of Cascadians took a field trip for the grape harvest. Our resident winemaker took us out to Courting Hill Vineyard where we picked over 500 pounds of pinot noir, pinot gris, and chardonnay grapes. It was a beautiful fall day, full of picking, de-stemming, juice pressing, and camaraderie.

Beautiful Pinot Noir Grapes – notice the pine cone shape, hence the name

Next, the fermentation takes place over time. You’ll see casks and barrels in the workshop as our winemaker prepares the batches. Our winemaker also includes the children in the laboratory work. The kids have learned all kinds of cool chemistry lab stuff such as titration and pH testing, as well as practical stuff like how to record measurements in a lab notebook.

Finally, when the wine is ready, in 1.5 to 2 years, we will bottle it. That’s a big job but always fun to work together. That’s when we get to taste the wine, which is the best part!

Our Cascadia Uncommon wine is quite delicious. If you get an opportunity at a gathering, try some! And be sure to tell our winemaker, “Thank you for sharing your hobby, knowledge, and interests with the community!”

The Mystery Cascadian at work, harvesting grapes

Snow Day at Cascadia

Feb 13, 2021 Creativity, Editorial, Nature, Play
Northside Courtyard in the snow

It’s a beautiful, snowy day here in Portland. While some of us were slumbering or sipping cocoa, someone was out making snow sculptures. I’m not sure which of my neighbors is the sculptor but they are talented! Here are some pictures of the creatures I spotted. I encourage you to go out and see if you can find any more on the grounds.

Cascadia Snow Bunny

Thank you to the mystery snow sculptor. I was already enjoying my time outdoors in the fresh snow, but it was a real treat to stumble upon these and other creatures. I really appreciate the creativity of my neighbors!

Comfy Cascadia Snow Cat

My summer vacation

Sep 25, 2020 Editorial, Nature, Travel
My summer vacation

As is typical during the first few days of school, the teachers asked the students about their summer vacation. Usually, there would be stories about the amusement park, the swimming pool, or traveling across the country. Because of the pandemic, I can’t imagine anyone had a typical summer vacation. We made occasional trips around town for hikes, but there were two camping trips we took with neighbors that were really bright spots in an otherwise unusual and lonely summer.

Enjoying a campfire

Cohousing is great for sharing resources. Since I don’t have a tent, I was able to borrow a tent and sleeping bags from one of the neighbors. The group that went camping is very skilled, so they helped me figure out how to set up the borrowed tent. They also made the reservations, planned the hikes, and brought all the other necessary supplies. I just had to show up! We were careful with physical distancing protocols and wearing masks during the trip. We took separate cars and had separate campsites, but we were still able to do activities together.

Sharing a meal

The highlights of the two trips were the hike to a waterfall, and watching the sunset on the beach. Sitting around the campfire, sharing meals, and playing games were also great memories.

My kids and I enjoyed the trips and are grateful we have neighbors who are willing to teach us how to camp and make the experience more enjoyable. We are also lucky to live in such a wonderful location with beautiful campgrounds a short drive away.

Is it the apocalypse yet?

Sep 11, 2020 Editorial, Nature
Is it the apocalypse yet?

If you were looking for proof of the apocalypse, look no further. We have a pandemic, the sky is on fire, and I am actually contributing to a blog! Was all that part of the prophecy?

I’ve been on the editorial team for months and though I’ve had ideas for posts and taken plenty of pictures, I haven’t contributed yet. At our editorial team meeting, I decided and was encouraged to post once a week- what’s been going on at Cascadia Commons Cohousing Community.

So here’s the big thing going on right now- THE SKY! This photo was taken by neighbor, Pat, and there was no color filter used- the sky is the orange hue and haze due to the nearby wildfire smoke. The angry red sun didn’t photograph as well, but it’s quite a fantastic sight.

So that’s why I’m indoors, posting a blog entry. I’m waiting to find out if there will be evacuation orders in the next few days. But I’ll enjoy looking through my window at this surreal, other-worldly, sci-fi, dystopian view while it lasts.