Happy Halloween!

Honestly, I’ve been waiting for this post since Organic City Sounds started three months ago. Halloween in Portland is awesome! It combines many of the things that Portlanders love: costumes, big parties, screaming, and heavy drinking lots of candy.

Over the last couple months this project has explored the lighter, less-than-sinister sides of Portland. But this week that all changes! We’ve brought together some of Portland’s creepiest characters for your listening pleasure.

In this week’s portrait, we’ll hear from a local ghost-hunter, a master spooky-story teller, and the man who runs one of Portland’s creepiest Haunted Houses.

So turn out the lights, secure your headphones, and grab your favorite stuffed animal. This week, we’re exploring spooooooooooky Portland.

Thanks to Jefferson Davis, Portland Walking Tours, and Scream PDX for their creepy contributions.

Organic City Sounds is a bi-partisan project…in fact, we do our best to stay away from those prickly issues that might distract you from all the cool sounds this city has to offer.

 But there are certain opportunities that are just too good to miss.

The ‘Occupy Portland’ Rally, part of the larger ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement, has attracted thousands of people to downtown Portland over the last week. Last Thursday, an estimated 10,000 people gathered in the city-center to demand that their voices (and other noises) be heard.

The voices and sounds we collected while at last week’s rally are emblematic of Portland’s passionate, activist spirit. While those you’ll hear from obviously don’t represent all Portlanders, the spirit of social justice and global-awareness certainly runs deep through many of the city’s citizens.

So whether or not you agree with these folks, we hope you’ll agree that they certainly make for some interesting listening!

And for you all of you ‘sound-purists’ out there, here’s this week’s soundscape without any pictures to distract you:

Colonel Summers Community Garden, Portland Oregon                                   

Summer in Portland sure has been nice, but it’s once again time to return to the reality of cloudy days and soggy shoes. Yes, it’s raining again in the City of Roses…but luckily we’re here to provide you with one last spot of summertime sunshine!

This week, we’re exploring local foods, extremely local foods. In our first October portrait, we’ll chat with three Portlanders dedicated to growing food close to home. And we aren’t simply talking about a couple wimpy tomato plants and some radishes (well, in one case we might be…). We’ll talk with folks who use gardening and farming as a means of supporting and deepening the roots of their communities.

Hope you’re ready to get your hands dirty, this week we’re exploring Urban Farming in Portland.

 Explore the pictures below to check out some sounds from the farm!

Zenger farm is located right on a busy street

Zenger’s not only looks beautiful, but sounds beautiful too!

Cockadoodledoooooooo