House of Riona, 2026 performances, garden-and-vintage+ yard stand, and etc.

Greetings Cascadia comrades, I decided to do this a tad differently this year.  My thread about micro homesteading is in the homesteading section, but I decided to divide it and put those general things there, and put specifics here, like when/where I'm performing, when my yard stand for garden goodies and vintage and etc. is open for people to come visit, and any other events I end up hosting here (hoping to eventually host a trade blanket night once a month, etc. but we're not quite there yet)

Its 2026 now, mindblowing I know.
On NYE in the afternoon I busked for tips at Laurelhurst Park, a favourite singing location and made great tips, last chance to sing Christmas songs out and about before people are overtly tired of them haha.

If you live in OR or WA feel encouraged to friend me on facebook, I'm Riona Abhainn there.  I do facebook live concerts on there some times.

I was able to have the garden-and-vintage+ stand open the other day when we had sun, I think neighbours are starting to clue in about the whole thing, because things are starting to be bought, it was my second time being open.  I've sold things in other formats in the past, had a booth at a vintage mall until said mall closed, etc. but I think this is going to be the best formula for me in selling things.  I also occasionally sell larger ticket items on facebook marketplace, but with the way my disabilities work I need my husband to help me with that so we don't do it a ton.  I like doing things I need minimal or no help with.

I finished up with my last Christmas singing on the 5th on facebook live.  Back to my usual repetoir.  I sure love singing the Christmas songs though.

My yard stand will be open on Mon. Jan. 12th, from 1pm until dark, or until everything sells, or until I get too cold haha.
Expect broccoli microgreens that I grow, mini-"boo pumpkin" seeds from my pumpkins, and calendula seeds from my calendulas.  Also a handmade blanket chest from MN, and other interesting vintage and/or cool items.
11714 SE Fuller Rd. Portland OR 97222.

With our sunny couple of weeks it was a good time for having the stand open a bit more than usual.
But I realized that my sign could use improvement so when we went down to see my husband's family my MIL helped me fix it.

Back to my usual singing repetoir, some singing on facebook live and I also busked at the plaza in SE Portland on Hawthorne Blvd and 37th, tips were fine, we'll see what happens this week with things since the rain is here.

Continuing to downsize inventory by taking it to consign at the Village Merchants, my goal is to get down to a small amount of vintage+ inventory so it can live in a corner and not take up a lot of space.  Once I achieve this I can move forward with house concerts, hopefully monthly, and also hosting Sven's Norse trade blanket games periodically (a game we play at faire on some Sat. nights), but I'd love to do it in the off season for people who either can't/don't get to faires or who just want a barter circle more often.
We're not there yet, but that's what's holding me back, keeping old inventory overstock moving.

Feeling better about the garden/vintage+ stand now that the sign is better and more explanatory.  Got all of the calendula seeds I saved divvied up and they're in my selling stuff now with the pumpkin seeds I seed saved.  One of the bags of mini pumpkin seeds I put away in my own seed box but the others I've been selling and now folks can buy calendula seeds from me too.
I've been singing on facebook live the last couple of weeks, if you live in OR or WA and want to be facebook friends I'm Riona Abhainn on facebook.

Tomorrow (Sat. Mar. 7th) I'll be opening up the yard stand around 3:30pm, selling calendula seeds and mini-white pumpkin seeds organically grown and seed saved in my 2025 garden for your 2026 garden.  And also interesting vintage+ finds.
When I have things that are worth more than what is realistic on the side of the road or if I have things that are uniquely specialized, I sell them on facebook marketplace.  I don't do that with most things, because all the posting pictures would be too much to expect my husband to help me with, so I only do it with things which aren't going to appeal to the average passerby due to value or due to nicheness.
I'm Riona Abhainn on facebook.

Lots of good things in March, spring showed up in Milwaukie in early March, I had some good performance gigs in mid March, plus my usual facebook live performances and busking for tips out and about.  I performed for a crew of elders at a retirement community in McMinville, and I performed all weekend at the Irish Fest in the Northwest in Lacey WA, which should really be called the Irish+ Fest in the Northwest because its wide ranging and fantasy-filled.

Lately my biggest sellers at my Pop-up yard stand have been my calendula and mini white pumpkin seeds from my plants last year.  I'm also still consigning at Village Merchants in SE Portland.

In my more general non-local-specific post in the homesteading section I talked about how I'm renting mason bees and leafcutter bees for the first time this year.  From a company up in WA called, simply, Rent Mason Bees.  I'm hoping they'll be happy with my little yard and pollinate everything anywhere nearby.

Aprilness:
I'm thinking about starting some sort of monthly permaculture meetup group in the Portland metro area, if such a thing already occurs please let me know so I can just go, and not set something up.  I've heard  there were things going on in the past but I don't know of a present one.

Singing for tips at a couple of different locations this month enjoying the nice weather, plus some facebook live singing.  If you want to check out the fun we have at faires feel encouraged to check out my youtube channel, RionaTheSinger

Tomorrow I intend to have the yard stand open starting at 5pm for a while, microgreen peasprouts, mini-white pumpkin seeds and calendula seeds from last year's garden, vintage items and a few artist-made items too.
11714 SE Fuller Rd. Portland OR 97222. (in that liminal space where Portland and Milwaukie come together in Clackamas County).

For more general writing about what I'm planting and doing I have a thread in the homestead section.

It's May Time:
I finally have the living room in as good of order as I realistically expect it to be in, which means I can finally get serious about hosting things here.  My plan is to do a house concert once a month in the first half of the month, and a permacultury/barter circly gathering each month in the second half of the month.  I'll be starting with the latter, near the end of May, haven't sorted the date yet.

Continuing to busk at various locations and sing on fb live.  If you've got facebook and live in OR or WA, feel encouraged to send me a friend request on there.

I decided to explore zero waste for my kitchen dish soap for the sink, bought both the reuseable bottle with pump and filled it up with soap at the Mama and Hapa's Zero Waste Shop here in Milwaukie, I think we want to do some things this way going forward, we want to add deodorant next, but some things I realistically won't be able to handle doing this way because of the way my schizoaffective disorder works, I get freaked out about shampoo and laundry detergent so I need the ones that are sealed when I buy them.  But I wanted to at least work on being less waste even if I can't be zero waste, we have to start where we can start.