Portland Homestead Supply
8012 SE 13th Ave., 233-8691, homesteadsupplyco.com. This extensive store seeks to revive a lost spirit and hardiness for those who would re-create
Little House on the Prairie
if broadband weren't so difficult to hook up out there. Homestead
Supply understands, however, that the wonderful thing about urban
homesteading is that one can choose exactly how much
Prairie
to
bring home. And why not do it beautifully? Whether it's jam-making in
stylish Weck jars ($2.30/pint and up), pickling in lovely Ohio Stoneware
crocks from 1 to 10 gallons ($24-$98) or spoiling your chickens with
five-grain organic scratch ($2.40), Homestead Supply makes the
connection between design-conscious urbanist and rugged pastoralist.
Those wanting to further channel the Ingalls family can find supplies
for making soap and washing laundry by hand, attractive Aladdin oil
lamps ($110) for stormy winter nights, or the preferred amenities of
backyard goats (two of which live behind the store). Classes in a
variety of homesteading topics are also offered.
Buy this: The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan ($18.95).
Bee Thinking
1229 SE Nehalem St., 770-0233, beethinking.com. Close to Homestead Supply, this clean
space behind Grand Central Bakery attracts swarms of backyard
agriculturalists who find chickens âare just a gateway drug,â as owner
Matthew Reed, a wiry young IT manager who stumbled into beekeeping with
his wife, Jill, puts it. Reed is eager to share his extensive knowledge
of apiarian topics, from the most sensible hive designs to the
suitability of Portland neighborhoods for the Apis genus. The store,
which also ships worldwide through its website, describes itself as the
worldâs first beekeeping supplier specializing in foundationless top-bar
and Warre hives ($280-365). No idea what that means? Hereâs what you
need to know: these hives are gorgeous, built by hand in the shop and
are as effective conversation starters as the bees themselves. Bee
Thinking also offers classes and accessories to promote healthy bees and
happy beekeepers, from books and videos to smokers, brushes and other
honey-procuring devices.
Buy this: Beekeeping for All (handbook, $20).
Camp Hollyhock
8235 SE 13th Ave., No. 14, 914-7636, camphollyhock.com. âIâm just trying to save these sweaters
from their ugliness,â says Camp Hollyhock owner Marcee Whaley-Melton on a
rainy Saturday in her cute boutique. Indeed, every item in the store
represents rescue and resurrection of one form or another in the
re-creations of Whaley-Melton, her daughter Katie and several other
local designers. The fabric is obtained from estate sales and donations,
and reinvented just enough to keep a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor in
the new item, like seeing one of Dadâs old shirts or Grandmaâs lace
tablecloth reincorporated into playful aprons, dresses and baby clothes.
It may be excessive to call this more evidence of Sellwoodâs
homesteading spirit, but one might imagine the Ingalls wearing similarly
repurposed (if considerably less chic) clothes out in Indian territory.
Buy this: Vintage nighties ($30), spruced-up vintage sweaters ($34 and up).
Farmhouse Antiques
8028 SE 13th Ave., 232-6757.
Until recently, Sellwood glorified the
past as much as it sometimes seemed to be stuck in it. A day there meant
rifling through the wares of a dozen antique shops, some with
specialties like furniture and fixtures, and others gloriously jumbled.
As the neighborhood has changed, many smaller antique shops have left.
One of the fortunate survivors is Farmhouse, a classic
poke-around-and-see-what-you-find kind of place featuring a wide variety
of dealers, where green Depression-era glass (prices vary) attracts one
set of eyes while vintage postcards from Oregon to the Orient ($1-$8)
attract another. Itâs not a big place, but looking through the old
prints, cast iron, vintage appliances and textiles, it can feel
enormous. Also check out Unique Antique and Unique Antique Too (7908 and 8315 SE 13th Ave., 232-5865 and 233-3344, 1uniqueantique.com) and 1874 House Antiques (8070 SE 13th Ave., 233-1874).
Buy this: Vinyl recording of play-by-play from the Trail Blazers' 1977 NBA championship season, $50.
Cloud Cap Games
1226 SE Lexington St., 505-9344, cloudcapgames.com. Deep in the midst of the post-PlayStation
era, thereâs been a quiet but remarkable resurgence in imaginative,
social-interaction-required board games. One-year-old Cloud Cap is
quickly establishing itself as Portlandâs premier source for these
pioneering games. These arenât the color-coded Candylands and play-money Monopolies
that distracted you as a kid, though; those are only here as used
titles ($10-$20). Organized thematically from fantasy to âresource
management,â these games are more intelligent and complex, from Pandemicâs cooperative fight against a global contagion ($40), to Merchants and Maraudersâ
simulation of pirate culture ($65). âWeâre here to help you put play
back on the table,â Cloud Cap promises. With a knowledgeable staff,
inviting interior (complete with a comfortable âtest playâ area) and
some imagination, the possibilities are endless. Not sure if you want to
commit to a more expensive game? Many titles can be rented overnight
for just a few bucks.
Buy this: FastTrack, a simple puck-shooting game, $20.
Branches: An Uncommon Card, Gift and Paper Store
6656 SE Milwaukie Ave., 235-7124.
Itâs unfortunate that âuncommonâ must be
the modifier for a shop like Branches. Just as itâs increasingly
uncommon to receive greeting cards that donât involve pop-up windows and
Flash animations, itâs also rare to find a card-and-paper-focused shop
that doesnât peddle in saccharine and sentimentality. But at Branches,
the cards for all occasions run the gamut, from raunchy and silly, to
political and strange, to simply beautiful and refreshingly devoid of
prepackaged emotion. Itâs a collection clearly curated by a person who
knows her community, not some middle manager in Kansas City (where a
certain other card company is headquartered). The store also stocks a
respectable variety of fancy gift paper to upgrade any gift, large or
small. And hereâs the thing about giving a box of cards as a gift:
usually, you can expect to get something in return.
Buy this: Most 12-card greeting
card boxes run around $10. Check out the $1 "gently-used" box outside
the door, always helpful when you need just one good card to send.
WWeek 2015
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