🌿 Spring Plant Sale — May 16th, 8:30am–4pm  ·  $4 each or 3 for $10 See what's available ↓
Portland · Small batch · Grown with intention

Awkward Acres

A micro nursery for people who want to grow things without pretending they know what they're doing.

🪴 Replace with img-patio.jpg The patio shot with all the pots
Awkward Acres plants ready for sale
💡 Replace with img-growroom.jpg Grow room under lights
Grow room
🌸 Replace with img-cottage.jpg The cottage garden
Cottage garden
🪑 Replace with img-yard.jpg Blue chair garden
Garden with blue chair
🌱 Replace with img-starts.jpg Starts under grow lights
Plant starts
Coming up
Spring Plant Sale 🌱
May 16, 2026
Saturday
8:30am – 4pm
$4
each
3 / $10
mix and match
Cash · Venmo · PayPal  ·  No minimums · No reservations needed
What's available
Beavercreek/Beaverlodge TomatoStart
Geranium Kiss TomatoStart
Cubanelle PepperStart
AlyssumStart
CalendulaStart
BasilStart
CilantroStart
German ChamomileStart
Red Glacier Gladiolus BulbsPropagation
Blue HydrangeaPropagation
White PeonyPropagation
Native AsterPropagation
Alexandria StrawberryPropagation
Start seedling ready to transplant
Propagation division or cutting
📍 Portland, OR — address sent when you reach out
Get the address →
Free tool from Awkward Acres
What the Frond?! 🌿

Not sure what's growing in your yard? Upload a photo and get one honest answer — scientific name, regional common names, toxicity info, and a personality line for every plant.

🌿

What the Frond?!

From your windowsill to the woods — houseplants, garden plants, wild plants, identified.

Personalize your results:
📷
Tap to add a photo
Up to 3 photos · Different seasons or angles welcome
The people behind it
Meet the Team
🌿
Cynthia and Count Beso
Cynthia Vahtel
Gardener
I understand gardens by paying attention to patterns, pressure, history, and need. People make sense to me the same way — as individuals carrying stories, habits, overwhelm, and potential. I work by listening and looking, not by imposing rigid plans. I tend gardens and people with the same approach: steady pace, clear steps, and room to be human.
🐕
Count Beso
Customer Relations
Morale officer, squirrel monitoring, and quality assurance. He enjoys carrots, peas, zinnia leaves, and naps. He stares at people until they give him what he wants. Excellent strategy. No notes.
🗺
Fella (Erik Vahtel)
Map the Land Guy · Not Pictured
He figures out the lay of the land and where I left my garden shears, which is apparently a full time job.
Awkward little tomato
🍅
Why we do this
Tending plants tends to people.

Gardening has measurable benefits. A 2025 review of horticultural therapy research found consistent improvements in mood, stress, life satisfaction, and overall wellbeing for people who garden regularly.

Source: Systematic Reviews (2025), horticultural therapy and gardening outcomes review.

In plain language, tending plants tends to people. Awkward Acres helps you build steady, livable outdoor spaces that support your nervous system as much as your plants.
How we see gardening
Organic methods that focus on soil health first
Stability is in the soil — a strong base before the beauty
Working with who you are today, not only your aspirational future self
Turning mistakes into compost — in both the literal and metaphorical sense
Guidance for masked and unmasked brains that is clear, kind, and pressure-free
Growing what you love rather than what a trend or catalog pushes
Clear next steps so overwhelm drops and confidence rises