Hello, and Welcome to The Dirt!

Why bother with cold rain in the middle of May? Soft rain catching on fir needles. Hard rain tearing through green. Rain in the garden, pooled up in the center of a lupine leaf. Rain creatures - kids in yellow rubber rain suits, my kids naked in the mud. Wood ducks and mallards paddling around Oaks Bottom followed by lines of silly little ducklings. Slugs in the lettuce. My lettuce sawed off at the root, covered in slug slime. What will the slugs eat now?

The best fun you can have in rainy May Portland is to stand in the middle to the street, and watch where the rain goes. Watch it run off of the houses, down the driveway. Watch it pour into the gutters and braid through the debris that collects along the sidewalk. Stand on a manhole cover and listen to the buried watershed rushing through the sewer pipes. It is still there. Don't forget.

Cheyenne,
and The Rest of Us
at Spreading Roots, Spring Forth

PS. Dear Folks,
This week's issue perfectly showcases all the many wonderful ways that you can go out, learn about and make a positive difference. From learning about migratory songbirds, speaking out for nature in our neighborhoods, collecting your own rainwater, discovering the earth charter or attending a unique play about breast cancer, where else could you learn about all of it but in The Dirt!?