Tryon Life Community Farm

You are invited to BLOOM at TLC Farm!

Bloom 2009: Tryon Life Community Farm's 5th Annual Spring Benefit - - - - - - - THIS SATURDAY, May 9th, 1:00pm-MIDNIGHT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Music - Workshops - Food - Community - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - www.tryonfarm.org/share/bloom-2009 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -THIS IS A BENEFIT FOR TRYON LIFE COMMUNITY FARM - - - - - - Join us on THIS Saturday May 9th at Tryon Life Community Farm for an all day benefit celebration! At the forefront of turning vision into action, we will educate, celebrate, demonstrate, and co-create in this Permaculture haven and seven-acre preserved green space within the city of Portland. This is a No Alcohol Event Sliding Scale: $10-$30 (worktrade available-chad@tryonfarm.org) Biking & Carpooling strongly encouraged. Shuttle Provided: Please Park @ Riverdale High School - 9727 SW Terwilliger-PDX-97219.

**MUSIC Schedule**

• 1:00- Doors 2:00 - Childrens-Sing-A-Long with Omiza River - www.omizariver.com/
• 3:45 - 4 On The Floor - http://www.myspace.com/4onthefloorsb
• 5:15 - Myshkin - www.myshkinsrubywarblers.com/
• 6:30 - * Break *
• 7:00 - SaraTone - www.ssearthcollective.org/saratone
• 8:30 - Medicine for the People - www.myspace.com/nahko
• 10:30 - Off The Grid - www.myspace.com/offthegridportland

**Workshops**

• 2:30-3:30pm Backyard Chicken Workshop with Sue Romas: Been thinking about getting chickens? Now is the perfect time! Find out the basics about backyard chicken keeping and get your questions answered. We'll visit all of TLC Farm's awesome DIY chicken set up, from homemade incubator to chicken tractor to layer-house-on-wheels.
• 3:45-4:45pm Medicinal Herb Walk around TLC Farm and Tryon Creek State Park, with Judy BlueHorse Skelton: An acclaimed native educator and herbalist, Judy will introduce many native and cultivated herbs and discuss their healing qualities.
• 5:00-6:00pm Educational Tour of TLC Farm with Jenny Leis: Our most enthusiastic and informative tour guide, Jenny will teach about TLC Farm's history, education programs and innovative approaches to sustainable building and community.

**Plant Sale** The Portland based non-profit, The American Center for Sustainability's Plant Project will be supporting Tryon Life Community Farm this Spring at Bloom! For the past two years, the ACS Plant Project has supported garden sites throughout the Portland community and surrounding areas by providing over 50,000 free plant starts. In 2009, the ACS Plant Project has expanded our region of service to include garden sites throughout Oregon. In neighboring cities and rural communities, from Portland to Medford and out to Pendleton, ACS has the privilege of supporting projects who are committed to achieving sustainability through healthy food production. ACS is excited to grow our partnership with Tryon Life Community Farm at this year's Bloom event. Please come and support the farm and ACS through a bountiful Plant Sale filled with 50 varieties of herbs, flowers, and edible plant starts! **Event Sponsors** KBOO - www.kboo.fm Earth Abstract Project - www.aep.com Tastebud - www.tastebudfarm.com LuLu's Raw Chocolate Alchemy - www.luluschocolate.com The American Center for Sustainability - http://sustainableshift.org This is a family friendly / alcohol-free event; food and drink not included in admission price. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Special Thanks to Rob Pellicer for design and love. – robpea.com) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Earth Magic Skillshare at TLC Farm:  bring your magic to this co-created event!

Skills to be shared: dance, circle and coalesce around themes of ritual, rewilding, spellwork, plants & medicine, storytelling, divination, political actions, food, directions & elements, rites of passage, trade blankets, altars, songs, and whatever land-based magic you have to share.

We will gather at 1pm on Saturday, July 24th, and disperse at 5pm on Sunday, July 25th.
This is an experiment in gift economy: all kinds of donations welcome (money and other).  please bring food to contribute to our community kitchen!

limited camping available.  please inquire beforehand.
e-mail to let us know you are coming, and what skills you might care to share: prie...@tryonfarm.org
call 518.567.9044 or 617.406.8299 with questions
www.tryonfarm.org to learn more about us!

transportation:
ride your bike to the Farm!  we're at 11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd.
or: take the #12 to the Barbur Park and ride, 9712 SW Barbur Blvd.  A shuttle bus will greet you there and bring you to the Farm. (you can carpool there too and park your car.)
the shuttle will leave the Park & Ride at 12:30pm on Saturday, and return at 5:30 pm.  on Sunday, it will leave the P&R at 9:30 am, and return at 5:00pm.

TLC Farm is a place to connect. As a forum for community sustainability, opportunities are endless!

A meeting, retreat, celebration, private class, spiritual event or other gathering at TLC Farm is something special. Here, the life of nature is woven into human experience: this place merges indoor and outdoor, living and artificial, wild and domestic. This program supports our work in bringing various communities and organizations into deeper relation with this beautiful place of the earth, and through it, each other.

You are welcome to hold your own event at TLC Farm; by bringing your own group here, you contribute to the fabric of the farm—sustainability to us is linking the many networks and threads of our social, ecological, political, economic and cultural ecology. Each group brings its own story, sometimes transforming a piece of TLC Farm, sometimes leaving information, sometimes getting others involved.

We are particularly interested in hosting multiple groups at the same time that can informally interact with each other, or gatherings that are focused on bringing different constituencies into closer and more meaningful interconnection. Let us know your ideas and needs!

Below is logistical information about sharing TLC Farm. Please contact the Forum Working Group at 503-245-3847 or forum@tryonfarm.org if you are interesting in hosting an event.

Spaces

Village Green: On the north end of the land is our lovely Village Green. This sloped, grassy area is surrounded by the sauna, fire circle, composting toilets, T-Whale, Outdoor Kitchen and stage. It's a great spot for picnics and games.

Sauna: A beautiful, handmade earthen sauna, this sacred space fits 15-25 people. Wood must be provided by event host, or otherwise arranged. The sauna takes about two hours to heat (and it does get hot!); a farm host must be present. The sauna can also be used as a "cave room" -- a cozy space without lots of light, great for healing practices or meditation gatherings. It naturally stays wonderfully cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Outdoor Kitchen: Facilities include an earthen, wood-fired oven (perfect for pizzas and other baked goods); a two wood-fired, super-efficient "rocket stoves"; another rocket stove built for a large pot; a two-burner propane stove; running water and sink; various counters; and electricity. There is also a heated earthen bench, and picnic tables are nearby. We have a stack of washable plates and cups available. Wood must be provided by event host, or otherwise arranged. Depending on the amount of propane you use, we may ask for reimbursement. The Outdoor Kitchen will be undergoing improvements throughout the fall of 2008, and at times may not be available.

T-Whale: This whimsical teahouse was originally built for the Earth Day Celebration at Sunnyside Elementary School, and was soon thereafter adopted by TLC Farm. Made into the shape of a whale, the body provides an organic space for 10 people to sit and the tail is a fun spiral tower, great for kids! Between the body and tail is a small tea serving area.

Stage: Our 144 sq. ft. carpeted and covered stage is the perfect place for bands, theater, or just a nice flat spot to sit!

Yome: This rustic yurt/dome (16-17 ft. diameter) is nestled into the forest on the west end of the land. It comfortably holds 10-20 people for a gathering, and is a versatile space that can be set up to fit many needs. There is electricity and a wood stove; wood must be provided by event host, or otherwise arranged.

Barn: Built in the 1920s, this rustic space provides a covered, versatile area for many activities. The barn has electricity. In the fall of 2008, the barn will be undergoing remodels and may not be available. Afterwards, however, the barn will be insulated for winter gatherings.

Maple Grove: Eight big leaf maple trees in a circle form this sacred space, and a wonderful spot for intentional conversations, meetings or ceremony. Bring special items for the two alter areas.

Lower garden areas/edge of forest: The eastern edge of the land is the wild boundary between farm and forest, and contains many niches for gathering.

Forest: TLC Farm is surrounded by Tryon Creek State Park, with 700-acres of secondary forest and miles of trails. TLC Farm's trails connected directly into the Park.

The residences and other structures on the land are not available for use (they are part of Cedar Moon, the intentional community at TLC Farm). Composting toilets are available in the Village Green.

Services

Services are offered by our talented community members based on availability, and therefore may not be available at all times. We pay our service providers a living wage stipend of $13/hour, and ask that you cover this cost.

The following are typical services we offer, though we are also open to new ideas!

Building/maintaining fires for the yome, sauna or outdoor kitchen: Please provide your own wood or reimburse us for ours.

Making pizzas in the earthen ovens: We can help with the logistics of baking the perfect cob pizza! We will teach you how to build the fire, bake the dough and cook the pizzas, or we can do it all for you and your group.

Catered Food: We have a variety of on-call cooks who can create fabulous menus for your group. We specialize in vegetarian, vegan, raw, or local/in season meals. And/or, we can arrange to have your event catered by local restaurants in our community.

Childcare: We have a group of on-call childcare hosts and lots of fun places for children of all ages to play! We even have a pack of small children (under ten years old) living at the Farm who are often welcoming hosts for other kids.

Meeting facilitation: Our facilitators specialize in consensus-based processes and can facilitate groups of all sizes.

Shuttle driving: See the section on transportation for details.

Publicity: If appropriate, you are welcome to post your event on our online events calendar and/or list it in our monthly update, going out to 3000 people. (free)

Farm Tour: Guided tours are a great way to learn about TLC Farm's sustainability demonstrations, inspiring history, and ongoing community success stories. Tours can be from a half hour to two hours in length; recommended time is one hour. (free)

Workparty facilitation: If your group wants to get down and dirty, we can facilitate workparties in the garden, native habitat restoration or a building project.

Educational Programs: TLC Farm offers a variety of educational opportunities -- please see our website for details.

Farm Host and CoCreated Agreement

Your link to TLC Farm is the Farm Host, and is coordinated through the Forum Working Group. You and the Farm Host will work out all necessary details for your gathering. If your event is ongoing, than your host might only need to be there just the first few times, or until you “learn the ropes”. Alternatively, we can train you to be your own Farm Host.

The CoCreated Agreement is a written document that outlines the details of the event, our agreed upon exchange, and TLC Farm’s guidelines. We will ask you to sign this (we will too).

Parking and Transportation

Parking provides us with our biggest opportunity for creative fossil fuel independence. We encourage people to get to TLC Farm via bikes, public transit, hikes through the park or carpooling. As an incentive, we will reduce the per hour rate of using the farm by $5/hour if you use zero or one parking spot! Directions for bus, biking, hiking and driving are on our website.

Bike: Definitely the most fun way to get to TLC Farm, biking takes about 45-55 minutes from downtown and only 30-40 minutes back!

Hike: During the day, you can park at Tryon Creek State Park Visitor’s Center on Terwilliger Blvd. and hike 15-minutes across to TLC Farm. Beautiful!

Bus: The #38 bus has a stop at our doorstep, but only runs M-F during rush hours. The #12 bus runs up Barbur Blvd, within two miles of TLC Farm. And the #39 runs from the #12 to Lewis and Clark College, a 25-minute hike through the woods from the farm.

Cars: We have four parking spots for visitors, and if your gathering will require more parking areas then we suggest carpooling or shuttling. Want to know our secrets for these successful car dances? Read on:

Shuttles: Have people park in a nearby lot and then jump into a shuttle vehicle (usually someone’s personal car or van). The shuttle can drop of/pick up at the top of the driveway. We like to think of the shuttle as a great way to begin and end a gathering–an enjoyable few moments to make new friends and prepare for or relax after an event. You can run a shuttle throughout the event or set specific times. Riverdale High School is 3/4 mile away and if your event is large (20+ cars) we can help you arrange a permit to use their parking lot; otherwise, we would suggest using the Barbur Transit Center.

If you want us to run a shuttle for you, we would charge the cost of a van rental (we rent from a partner group that provides a veggie-oil powered vehicle), plus $.45/mile, plus a stipend of $13/hr for the driver.

Carpools: Arrange to have your group meet at someone’s house or the Barbur Transit Center (two miles away) and then share cars. It’s fun to carpool!

Absolutely NO ONE should park in our neighborhood or in the State Park parking lot. We are very respectful of our impact in the surrounding area and ask that you be as well. As an event host, we will expect you to ensure that your event participants respect this request.

Guidelines

Animals: Friendly dogs are allowed but must be kept on leash at all times (we often have children, chickens or goats browsing the land).

Cleanup: All cleanup from should be done immediately following the event. The Outdoor Kitchen sink may be used to wash dishes. Recycling and compost containers will be provided by TLC Farm; please plan to carry out your trash.

Noise: Part of TLC Farm’s work is to be a good neighbor, and as such, we do not allow extended drumming or amplified music without prior consent of our closest neighbors. Quiet hours begin at 10pm.

Smoking: There are two places to smoke cigarettes at TLC Farm: at the top of the driveway and at the bottom of the driveway, in the parking lots.

Alcohol: If kept to a central area, alcohol can be consumed in a respectful manner (and of course, for over 21 only). Alcohol cannot be sold without an OLCC permit.