Author: Erik

Last spring I spent working with my dad and brother on the family tree nursery. Then on April 21st I set out in my new camping van towards the Midwest. I arrived in good ole GF, ND on April 22nd. I visited good friends and attended Pi Kappa Phi’s Roseball Formal on April 23rd. After spending a few days with my friends Dr. Read, B.J., Mr. Schell and Matt in GF I decided it was time to cruise down to Edina, Minnesota to visit my dear friend Jack Kennedy for a few days. I departed back to the west through South Dakota and visited Mt. Rushmore and the Jewel Cave. In Wyoming I visited the Devil’s Tower and then tried to drive to Yellowstone but when I arrived in Cody I found out the roads were still snowed in. So I diverted up through Montana and then through Idaho and into SE Washington on home to Troutdale, Oregon. A few days after I returned home I moved out on my own first to a house of my grandparents and then to my moms for a few weeks and then finally to my own home that my father sold me in South East Portland. It is very nice! I spent the summer remodeling the kitchen and bathroom with the help of my brother and father.

Over the summer I also sold hemp jewelry at the Gresham Farmers Market and also a few other places. I visited the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington lots and had lots of fun over the summer camping in my van. I also went to a few motorcycle hill climb events to watch my brother race.

Then we all worked really hard in the fall and the wreath shop went very well.

So it’s December first. I’m a working away organizing the office for my parents Christmas Wreath Shop for another season. I’ve learned that the Christmas wreath business is ever changing…

My home remodeling went very well and the kitchen is all done and the bathroom is done minus some painting. It of course took much longer than I anticipated to finish the bathroom and I ended up working on it on and off until the beginning of October.

The scumbags who organized the Shakedown Music Festival and accepted my $500 Vending Fee have decided to wallow in their scumbagness and the two parties involved blame each other for the failure of the festival and refuse to return any of the vending fees to anyone.

I’ve got a few more weeks of work and then who knows???

I moved into my house about a month ago and living there is very nice. I have been working on my bathroom remodel recently. I tore everything out and am building a walk in tile shower. I think it will look pretty sharp when I am all done, which will hopefully be within two weeks.

Last weekend I headed up to Washington for the Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheater and the Seattle Hempfest. This upcoming weekend I am headed back to the Gorge again to watch Pearl Jam and Tom Petty.

Erik as a strolling hemp vendor at the Seattle Hempfest.

Vending has been going ok at best. At the Seattle Hempfest I only broke even on buying my vending pass when I sold the pass to a guy as I was leaving. I was supposed to be at the Shakedown Music Festival this weekend but I found out it was canceled as I showed up to it. Supposedly I am going to get a refund of my quite sizable vending fee, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for now. But I did well at the Gresham Farmers Market yesterday and my brother helped me built a great huge display rack for all my jewelry.

I turned twenty six years old a few days ago, Yee-Ha!

Work at my house is going well and I am almost ready to move in. I have put in a new slate floor in the kitchen along with new tile counters and a new sink and a dishwasher, which required some cabinet re-modification. It looks pretty sharp now. I will be done with the kitchen tomorrow probably and then put a new coat of finish on the hardwood floors, wait a few days for that to dry and move in!

Besides working at my house whenever I get a chance I have been making it to a few farmers market days to try to sell some hemp jewelry and to a few other fun events like the Widespread Panic concert at the Gorge Amphitheater, the Oregon Country Fair and the amazingly cool Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals concert last week.

I bought a small brick house in South East Portland yesterday. I am doing a few projects with the kitchen and bathroom and painting everything before I get completely moved in.

Thank You to my brother Lars for helping me work and to my dad Frank for selling me the house and for his advice.

Two Thousand and Five has been a pretty relaxed year so far. I have been working on my family’s tree nursery part time and having good times with my brother Lars the rest of the days.

I bought a Ford E-150 Van to replace my long time faithful friend the Green Ford Ranger. Old Ford Ranger is still around and has lots of good miles left on him, but was getting kind of worn out and uncomfortable to drive around in. The van just has the two seats up front, with the back containing a bed and plenty of room for camping gear.

So far the only definite trip I have planned is to drive to GF, ND towards the end of April. I am still thinking of a Northern Europe trip this summer, but nothing planned yet.

Well it’s 2005 and the Christmas wreaths and trees are all behind me now. I have just been taking it easy and trying to sort out my plans and hopes for the upcoming year. My only real plans so far are to travel to Northern Europe this Spring or Summer, check the 2005 Journey page for updated plans.

Until then I am working a little bit now finishing up some paperwork from the Wreath Shop and am working on my next venture, which is making Macramé (Hemp Jewelry). My plan is to support myself as a traveling artisan this summer. We shall see…

Last night I went to sleep with my candles still lit on the windowsill next to my bed. I was sound asleep at 5:30am having some fantastic dream when I suddenly felt like my hair was on fire! I leapt out of bad frantically patting my head and turned on my lamp. What I saw before me was a huge oozing stream of hot green wax all over my windowsill and pillow and in my hair! One of my candles had burned a hole through the side allowing for a nice steady stream of wax to come pouring out of. Luckily there was no permanent damage to my mop of hair and after picking and combing the wax out of my hair and then cleaning a lukewarm lake of wax off of my windowsill I was able to catch a few more ZZZ’s.