“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.”—Charles A. Lindberg










































Friends & Resources

At Pistils, we strive to create an environment — both at our retail store and on our web site — that fosters exchanging information and sharing ideas. Here, we present an evolving collection of on-line resources to assist our customers in getting further info in the areas most near-and-dear. Have a site you think may be of interest to the Pistils’ community? We would love to hear from you. Suggest a link here.

  • Beekeeping

    • Ruhl Bee Supply Ruhl Bee Supply is Portland’s “go-to” for all local keepers of honeybees. Need supplies for your backyard hive? Ruhl’s the place.
    • Backyard Hive You should keep honey bees. It’s not as difficult as you may think and the virtues are too many to count. The “backyard hive” site is an unpretentious and invaluable source for novices and expert beekeepers alike.

  • Chicken Keeping

    • The City Chicken Tons of great down-home info here: thoughtful Q & As, lots of photos and ideas, and many helpful links. A fun and insightful place to explore.
    • Happy Hens Blog This is definitely one of our favorite chicken keeping blogs. A wonderful site for exchanging info and photos and connecting with folks who are sincerely passionate about their backyard flock.
    • Concentrates Concentrates in southeast supports organic agriculture and has a great selection of bulk livestock feeds, pet food, soil amendments and more.
    • Growing Gardens Growing Gardens is a local non-profit that actively supports urban homesteading for a great cause: fighting hunger. On their “chickens” page, you’ll find many valuable resources for chicken keeping.

  • Gardening

    • Organic Gardening This on-line companion to “Organic Gardening” magazine runs the gamut with a massive database of very helpful articles on all things organic.
    • Soil and Health Library You’d be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive on-line source for info on holistic agriculture, holistic health and self-sufficient homestead living.
    • Your Backyard Farmer Too busy to tend to your vegetable garden? The folks at “Your Backyard Farmer” will take care of all of the details for you … and at the end of the day, you’ll have an amazing bounty of fresh veggies grown out your back door.

  • General Interest

    • Mississippi Ave Want to know what’s happening in and around the thriving Mississippi Avenue neighborhood? This is the place … event info, shop info and more.
    • portlandneighborhood.com A great insider’s guide to Portland’s many diverse neighborhoods.

  • Sustainable Living

    • Metro On Metro’s site, you’ll find lots of practical information and resources on sustainable living, geared to our local community. We especially like the “Find a Recycler” function and the “Natural Gardening” pages.
    • NatureScape NatureScape is a local initiative to promote designing (or redesigning) landscapes large and small with sustainable practices that result in an environment where people and nature can peacefully coexist.
    • Portland Office of Sustainable Development (OSD) The OSD web site is a great source of information for all things local and sustainable — from recycling and renewable energy to green building and healthy food production.

  • Water/Rain Gardens

    • Hughes Water Gardens If you live in the Portland Metro area and you’re interested in adding a water feature to your landscape, you should consider visiting Hughes Water Gardens in Tualitan, Oregon. Their demonstration garden is a sight to behold.
    • Welcome the Rain It rains a lot here. We know you don’t need to be reminded of that. But what if you could harness all that precipitation to make your garden more dynamic?

  • Worm Composting

    • The Worm Woman Mary Appelhof is the “patron saint” of vermicomposting. Her site, which is a companion to her amazing book: “Worms Eat My Garbage,” offers tons of info and links for anyone interested in composting with red wigglers.
    • City Farmer Worm Composting Page A great on-line resource for the ins and outs for composting with worms.
    • Savvygarder.com Great start-up information for quickly getting your very own vermi-composting system up and running.