It’s that time again — time to honor the best and most exciting blog posts of the past month emerging from the Salem blogging scene.

Don’t hate me for being the curator. Just do it faster, better, harder!

1. EatSalem. I always tell my journalism students: “You can’t judge the success of a blog by its comments.”

Psshaw!

If your post gets 50+ comments, some level of success must be acknowledged. EatSalem posted this month about some changes to the Salem dining scene and got, in return, a fascinating, interactive conversation about the plight of the restaurateur and some insight into the fickle relationship between the Salem foodies and the businesses that serve them. And it was just a list!

2. Poetry and Popular Culture. Professor Mike posted what is perhaps the most interesting preview of the first-ever Salem Beer and Cider Festival. Far from just a be there, do this, see that kind of preview, his post was a homage to the natural connection between beer and poetry. And he makes the case for why Salem is actually reclaiming its beer culture mojo (with special thanks to Capital Taps for scaring up some of the history).

3. Creative Concepts and Contracting. If you are knew to the intricacies of selling real estate — or if you don’t watch HGTV — you will want to read this local business’s excellent blog about what it does to make messes into eye candy. Even better? Start with the recent post on stripping. That’s right, I said stripping. Margaret gets this month’s vote for “Post Most Likely to Be Read by New Readers.”

4. The Pringle Creek Community blog. If you’ve been following the news about Solarize Salem, you definitely want to check out this preview for the Salem Green + Solar Tour 2010. Among the projects featured in the tour, happening this Saturday, is Oregon’s first Passive House. This is something to be actively excited about.

5. Salem Treasure. Stuck in an office? The rainy season has started? Need some mid-day Zen but can’t get out? When the walls start to close in, turn to Salem Treasure for a play-by-play of a walk along Mill Creek. With ducks.

I’m kind of a newsletter junkie, but I’ve noticed that if your newsletter sucks, it just gets deleted. Here are some local ones that always get read.

Salem Cinema: Loretta’s nostalgic-looking, gentle reminder of the power of cinema is a noteworthy heads-up about the latest must-see independent films.

Tigress Books: JoAnne Kohler sometimes breaks national news with her occasional e-newsletters about happenings at her downtown shop. Her notes to her customers are frank and lovely in a way that rarely gets used in the form. Roar!

Minto Island Growers: An always satisfying menage of home recipes, insider’s info about the farm and cultural-historical information about the great stuff in their CSA baskets, the Minto Island Growers newsletter, put together by Elizabeth Miller, is a must-read for home cooks with a love of the local.

E.Z. Orchards: The farm stand newsletter is mostly product updates about what’s available at the farm’s darling store on Hazel Green and Cordon roads. But who doesn’t need a little gentle nudge to be reminded of a MIXED BERRY SHORTCAKE BIGGER THAN YOUR BABY’s HEAD.

The Salem Public Library: Sonja Somerville puts together a fantastic, multi-page pdf newsletter of events at our local library. She might illuminate the best DIY car repair books in the library’s collection or remind you about the almost daily book-related happenings there. Adult story time? Snuggle up!

Life Source Natural Foods: Don’t just eat food. Meet the people who make it! Or learn about one person’s journey through a gluten-free diet! It’s a little text-heavy, but if you’re a reader and you like food connections, check it out.

Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Exclamations! Shout it out! The man behind Breakfast on Bikes has excitement for the the lifestyle practice of biking that just bleeds off the screen. Even better? He uses ample links to make sure we will never lose our way to the Monster Cookie. Sign up by contacting: Salembikes [at] gmail.com

A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village: Quite possibly the best laid-out e-newsletter in town (color is not just for kids!), A.C. Gilbert’s flagship news vehicle is an inspiration to keep facilitating those experiences for your children. Get out of the house!

Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center: Proof every time that a city like Salem has a lot of country to explore and learn about.

Friends of Salem Saturday Market: The sheer bulk of this immensely readable newsletter is a testament to the huge and positive role the market has in this community. Also, a heads up about visiting baby goats.

Ok, so I know that mine lean heavily towards food news.

What ones have I missed?

I love interacting with the vendors at the farmer’s markets in Salem because it gives me a good idea about which way the trends are trending. All I need is to stand there for a few moments and listen to the conversations and I get a good idea what is drawing people to more authentic, locally-produced, extraordinary products.

For me, farmer’s markets are all about connecting my pride of place with my raw Lebenslust. I can’t help but feel closer to the Willamette Valley by drinking it in.

Glub glub glub.

But it is easy to see that farmer’s markets are also places where people in the know live out their food trends and consumer fashions in a ridiculously public way.

So yesterday I finally made it to the Wednesday farmer’s market that takes place downtown on Chemeketa Street. My companion and I were sharing a mind-blowing vegetable quesadilla from Canby Asparagus Farm. I ran back to ask the cook for an extra tenedor and swung by a stand I haven’t seen at the Saturday Market – Hot Lips soda. As I stood there, it became very clear what is so hot about hot lips.

Family-owned company + carbonation +pulpy  local and regional fruits + Portland marketing aesthetic =

Seven different flavors of awesome!

I tasted the raspberry which is sweet but not cloyingly so. For someone who just might move 2,000 miles away to reap the fruits of a berry-growing region, a real berry soda is like my own kind of happy pill. Also, most of the sugar content in the soda comes from the actual berries, making this a pretty healthy sody pop.

Suck it, Orangina, I’m buying Oregonian.

Give a neighborhood a boost, give it a new name. It’s worked for SoHo, and the Pearl, so why not for Salem’s burgeoning neighborhood to the north? You know, the little area north of downtown that is now becoming the Bermuda triangle of hipsterdom?

1. Salem Cinema’s new digs
2. Boon’s Treasury, one of our two McMinnamin’s
3. The Space. Enough said.

I have no idea what this area is called among the people, other than “that area north of downtown,” so I propose the following. How about putting together some ideas for renaming this area into something that speaks of its coolness:

Here are a two ideas:

The Carpet District (isn’t there that carpet place right near here?)

NoBro (as in, Northeast Salem on Broadway)

Put your suggestions in the comments section and we’ll do a contest to select the winner. Or, as it actually works in the great marketplace ideas, perhaps people will just start calling it that.

Oh, and if you’re a trendy wine bar or soap shop or combination cheese store/yarn store, there is an open storefront across from the Salem that is for rent right now. Get in before you can’t afford the rent, yo.

It is a fairly well-known quandary that items at the end of the to-do list stay at the end of the to-do list.

Well, not today.

Today, I started my novel — a story that has been brewing within me for a few months now and which I have been telling  myself in the shower, when I go to bed, when I’m watching Highlander, when I’m supposed to be working on other things.

Here’s the thing: I do not see myself as a novelist. I read a lot of novels, and I review them, but I haven’t tried to write fiction for about five years. The leap from nonfiction to fiction requires something of an adjustment, and I’ve been breaking my head over how to do it.

One solution is to see it as an experiment. One best catalyzed by some major caffeine-infused coffee drinks.

Back in Iowa City, I used to frequent this place called Tarrapin, which was owned by these two humongous, sweaty brothers. They made great coffee, no one knew me there, and I could write for hours without being distracted by news.

I’ve found I do some of my best writing in coffee shops, but haven’t yet tried to write often in downtown Salem. So today marked day one of Operation Caffeine-Fueled Debut Novel. And at least today, it was a success!

I got about 600 words laid down today at the Beanery, the first Salem coffee house I ever visited. My plan is to put down about 500 words every day and just see what happens.

Get a load of that glowing screen! To me, that means some god-gifted inspiration, right? not the harrowing challenge of the blank page?

The first time I visited the Beanery it was November 2008, the rain was coming down to welcome us to Oregon, we had just driven from Portland for one of my husband’s interviews, and we were about six hours away from the next.

We ordered a 20 oz. latte and shared it while watching the passers-by duck and cover from the storm.

We congratulated ourselves for having chosen the Beanery over the two Starbucks that bookend the same street. (Good job! Way to consume! Sleep well tonight!)

We leafed through apartment guides and imagined our lives here. Then we went to see Madagascar 2 at the downtown movieplex.

Five months later, here I am, at the Beanery, writing, drinking, listening to conversations and wondering why all rooms can’t have 20+ foot ceilings.

I’m not sure if I’m set on the Beanery yet for this work-in-progress. Hopefully I can try out a handful of other coffeehouses downtown and see what fits best.

Then someday, when someone is interviewing me for a change, maybe I’ll tell the writer that I wrote the novel at the Beanery, or the Coffeehouse Cafe, or the Governor’s Cup, and the place will become a stomping ground for all levels of lit fans. Salem will rise in the hearts and minds of book-lovers as myths are created around the places where people in town create works of art.

How’s that for counting your beans before they’re roasted?

I’ve found the key to passing yourself off as an Oregonian! You don’t have to wear Columbia sportswear, or sip Pinot, or bike to work, or keep chickens, or brew your own beer.

All you have to do is support Sen. Rick Metsger’s new proposition to bring back the Pacific Wonderland license plates that make you look like you’ve been here since 1959!

That’s longer than most other Oregonians have been here…

Fittingly, news of this development comes directly from the Oregonian itself, though the reporter didn’t catch on to this secret reason people might want these plates: Passing ourselves off as locals.

Also not in the article: hipster cred!

Rep. Terry Beyer, who called the retro-fitted tags “still another license plate,” obviously doesn’t get it. People have enough time while sitting in the DMV to contemplate picking the perfect tags to fit there Oregon identity.

And while I’ve never heard of anyone making an extra trip to the DMV for a license plate, I imagine this might just be the plate that inspires  just that.

When we moved to Salem, we thought long and hard before choosing the purple mountain motif for our hatchback.

But my husband insists he would have taken the yellow on navy plates in an instant. With cars, and with us, nostalgia always wins.

We didn’t want to cook your family dinner either.