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
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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!
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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
Farm Camp 2007: July 24 through 27
for young people ages 8-11
July 24-27, Tuesday-Friday, 9:00am-2:00pm daily
Our first Farm Camp was a success! Thanks to all the participants and their families for making it such an enjoyable experience. We learned a lot and hope to host more and even better camps next summer. You can read a little about the camp's structure below.
Tryon Life Community Farm is a unique non-profit ecological education center on 7 acres surrounded by Tryon Creek State Park. Come spend four days in this beautiful farm and forest setting while helping in the gardens, tending farm animals, playing games, cooking with fresh ingredients, getting to know insects, building with natural materials, singing songs, meeting new people, and having lots of fun!
Enjoy an outdoor kitchen, covered teahouse, large sloping meadow, gardens, orchard, chickens, goats, and paths leading into the state park.
Themes:
Garden, Food, and Soil; Bugs and Animals; Natural Building and Art; Harvest, Cooking and Celebration.
People who make it happen
TLC Farm runs on love and creativity, with an enormous amount of volunteer energy fueling our projects. Below are the bios of the Board of Directors and key organizers & volunteers (more to come!).
Key organizers and volunteers
Jenny Leis
J. Brush. Brush is a writer, organizer, videographer, and computer consultant, with a long history of participation in cooperative communities. He has spent much of the last five years working with peace and social justice organizations to improve communications, strategic thinking, and coordination. Most recently, he has worked with the Green Bloc to document their direct actions linking global justice convergences with long-term urban permaculture and community gardening. He has also worked in South Africa, building relationships between US activist communities and SA poor peoples' movements struggling for community empowerment and basic services. He has been published in a variety of periodicals, and presented a plenary paper at the 2002 Radical Philosophy Association conference at Brown University. Currently, he is focused on developing TLC Farm's information technology infrastructure and publicity materials.
Brenna Bell. Brenna brings to her work ten years of organizing experience, as well as an extensive background in environmental law and education. She has spent many years in the Tryon Creek watershed: first as a student at Lewis & Clark College, where she self-designed a major in Social Ecology; next as a counselor at the Tryon Creek State Park summer day camp; then as a student at Lewis & Clark Law School, where she was President of the Student Bar Association and received an Environmental and Natural Resources Certificate; and finally as a resident and core organizer with Tryon Life Community Farm. Brenna has worked for numerous non-profits, including the NEDC, the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, and Willamette Riverkeeper. She is also blessed to be raising her children, Ember & Raven, in the strong and supportive TLC Farm community.
Board of Directors
Kate Flanagan (Pres.)
Paige Evans
Tyra
Robert Van Pelt
Borden Beck
Elona Trogub
Past members, Board of Directors
Judy Bluehorse Skelton
Howard Silverman
Naga Nataka
Erico Schliecher
Samantha Backer
Hope Medford
Tod Sloan
Miles Uchida
Oso Martin
Dave Bolger
Jen Seamans
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