Our Niche
TLC Farm facilitates a diversity of movements, communitiues and individuals in the metropolitan Portland region to: educate ourselves and each other regarding skills, values, and paradigms for holistic human integration into our ecosystems; experience a sustainable urban ecology as possible, practical, and desirable; and emerge as empowered co-creators of a well-functioning network of cultures, economies, and polities of deep change. Program Goals: Within 15 years, we will accomplish these purposes by coordinating programs and projects in the following areas: Education: Provide learning opportunities for replicable skills in permaculture, natural building, community collaboration, earth arts, sustainability life skills, wilderness awareness, etc. 4500 participant-hours/mo, grossing $9300/mo, with 5-10 intimate partnerships, and coordinating 60 consistent volunteers Forum: Host events, meetings, retreats, and performances so that aligned organizations can gather in a restorative space supporting transformative values. 1920 visit-hours/month, grossing $2680/mo, 10 intimate partnerships and 40 volunteers. Demonstration & ecological design: Visitors of all ages experience a set of functioning systems that illustrate integration between human and non-human habitats, including food production, dense residential communities, water management, energy cycles, construction, native habitat, transportation, etc. 50 full-time residents, 50% food production for 50, no personal vehicular use, energy independence, infrastructure visited by all other users, grossing $10,000/mo, 5 intimate partnerships, 40 volunteers. Healing & Spirituality: Create healing resources integrating various modalities, accessible regardless of income, by which body and soul can relax into a wiser appreciation of the many relations that make the world. These include ecotherapy, body and energy work, food celebrations, spiritual practice, cottage agroindustries, etc. 600 person-hours/mo, gross $9000/mo, 15 intimate partnerships, 30 volunteers. Social Ecology: Support the network of relationships within and between working groups, intentional community, partner organizations, neighborhoods, etc. Provide an experimental testbed for empowering transformations of personal, social, economic, legal, and other interactions. 200 person-hours/mo of support, gross $2000/mo, 5 intimate partnerships, 20 volunteers. Research and Assessment: systematic protocols for data gathering, analysis, documentation, and dissemination regarding progress towards sustainability goals regarding all projects above, as well as skills acquisition, value shift, psychosocial wellbeing, etc. 5 peer-reviewed articles per year, 5 informational pamphlets per year, acquired by 200 people per month, $1000 per month gross, 5 intimate partnerships, 20 volunteers.
Urban Ecology
TLC Farm exists because of the commitment and energy of Portland's broad network of organizations, movements, and citizens committed to a transformation of our urban ecology. It is already living proof of the potential we hold when we work together. Now, we have an opportunity to actualize that potential, to use this place and project as a catalyst for the emergence of deeper and more collaborative relations among varied communities with a common goal for sustainable urban density to become more than a slogan: a living ecosystem of change. In our six-month strategic planning process – of which we near the mid-point – we have repeatedly used the symbol of a forest. Forests are chaotic, decentralized, unplanned – and yet also deeply peaceful, efficient, and resilient; the complex interweaving of mutually interdependant relations makes them beautiful. Unlike monoculture crops, forests require little or no energetic inputs other than the sun's light, and produce no waste products other than air and water. And especially during the mid-successional phase characterizing moments of change, they are among the most bio-productive ecosystems on the planet. Portland once was a forest, and in more ways than one, it can be so again. On the one hand, this means developing experience laying the groundwork for urban ecosystems that support habitat for all our relations: native species, food and fiber sources, ourselves. It means learning how to invite the wild back into our neighborhoods, our daily lives, our self-identity. It means inhabiting a living forest of trees and shrubs and roots, of birds and voles and salamanders – at urban densities. But it also describes a network of social relationships, a way of understanding the economy of our movement as complex and interwoven, yet evolving agilely and coherently. This is the grassroots momentum that saved this land when it seemed impossible. And it is this work that we are continuing with our strategic planning process: non-linear, iterative, and as broadly-based as possible, designed to invite and support cooperation in imagining and accomplishing the [im]possible.
Mission
TLC Farm brings people together to root into relationships with each other and the land, by sharing tools for community-based sustainability and social change, and tending resilient ecosystems.
TLC Farm is a unique community-created venue for public and private events -- great for workshops, retreats, weddings, birthdays, meetings, parties and more.
We also teach workshops and lead educational field trips, and host regular workparties and community events.
Our Willow Creek Forest School is an outdoor, place-based farm and forest kindergarten for children ages 3-5, from September to June.
TLC Farm programs and land tending is completely community created and run by volunteers and donations. Thank you for your participation!
Economy
TLC Farm as a non-profit organization has accomplished a great deal with very little operating income. At the same time, we have raised a very large amount of money in order to protect the land we occupy from development (see our history). An important part of our "open source" approach to this project is making the accounting for our operations as accessible as possible.
See below for IRS 990 returns for 2006 - 2022.
History
Once upon a time, the land of TLC Farm was slated to become a housing development. The journey to protect the land and transform it into a public resource has inspired many, and we invite you to read about the campaign to "Save the Farm" is this Farm Story written in 2007 by our writing intern, Emily Aronowitz, from Green Mountain College in Vermont.
If you want to get more into the nitty-gritty of how we accomplished the task of saving the land, here is a technical overview of the land acquisition. Enjoy!
Do you want to see how the land has changed and been used over the past many years, please view the 10 years of photos.
Click the photo to go to our Flickr page for the TLC Farm Story photo album!
Partners
An overview of some partners with our organization, and how we work with them.
- Cedar Moon
- An ntentional community that co-manages the land with TLC Farm. Currently has about 12 adult and 4 children members.
- Sacred Lands Alliance
- A residential collective that co-manages the land with TLC Farm. Currently has about 5 adult and 1 teen members.
- OSALT
- The land trust that leases the land under a 99-year ground lease that requires the land to be used sustainably and educationally.
Organizational Structure
TLC Farm's organizational structure is designed to empower people to become part of the decisions and actions of embodying a new world.
Participants
Working groups
Spokescouncil
Board of Directors
Join TLC Farm's email update list
Monthly Updates
TLC Farm sends out regular monthly newsletters, which contain information about upcoming events and opportunities at TLC Farm. Check out this month's update!
To receive these updates over email,
Hands-on Sustainability Education
Hands-On Sustainability Program
Tryon Life Community Farm provides students of all ages with opportunities to connect with the natural world and each other to create a true sense of place and community. Our goal is to encourage people to develop a lifelong appreciation of the processes that support life, and to offer wisdom on how to steward them sustainably. To do this we offer this space for collaborative learning about social and ecological responsibility.
The Hands-On Sustainability Program offers one-time and multiple visit field trip experiences for students of all ages to come and learn about applied sustainability and creating community in a participatory way.
Activities include an interactive farm tour and seasonally appropriate hands-on activities and lessons on specific sustainability and ecology themes in these areas: ecological gardening, natural building, restoration and watershed ecology, and ecological living skills. We also offer service-learning projects.
Facilities include:
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"Village Green" open gathering area
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Outdoor kitchen (with earthen ovens)
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Ecological Living Demonstration Projects (gardens, animals, naturally built structures, etc.)
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Trail leading into Tryon Creek State Park (650-acre forest)
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Large organic garden to nibble at and work in
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goats, chickens, and bees
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and much more!
Bring your group out to the farm!
Field Trip Scheduling: TLC Farm offers field trips Tuesday through Saturday. We are an all-volunter program, and will work with you to coordinate a time that is good for your group and our volunteers. The farm is open to the public Tuesday-Sunday between 9-6pm for self-guided tours, and it is closed on Mondays.
Cost : TLC Farm runs on donations, and requests that visiting classes donate $10/visit plus $5 or more per student if at all possible.
Contact us: For further information or to arrange a visit, please contact our education coordinators, at edu[at]tryonfarm.org or by calling 503.245.3847.
Groups served include: Portland area schools, Boys and Girls Aid Society of Oregon, Girl Scouts, Portland Impact, Head Start, YMCA, Pacific Crest Community School, Waldorf schools, International School, charter schools, Lewis and Clark College PSU, PCC, and homeschool groups. Click here www.tryonfarm.org/share/calendar for our calendar to see who's visiting us!
Recflections about the program:
"Many of the students were totally new to the concepts of intentional living and, during discussions, expressed that they got a lot out of what they experienced at the farm. We would like to (endlessly) thank you for your patience with everyone. Earthen building was their favourite activity, but canning and making cheese was also a highlight for many people during reflections throughout the rest of the trip - as well as learning about the edibility of plants like fennel & broccoli leaf. The space was excellent for the students to open up to each other." - Hannah, coordinator of a New Student Orientation group from Pacific University.
Resource Links:
Other local educational farms:
Zenger Farm - located in SE Portland in the Lents neighborhood
Sauvie Island Center - located north of
Organic Education Center at Luscher Farm - located outside
Feedback and participation welcome! Please send bug reports to web@tryonfarm.org
