May Monthly Update: Whirlwinds of Energy

May has brought abundant life and energy to Tryon Life Community Farm. The Earth Activist Training (EAT) brought 20 people to TLC Farm for two weeks to immerse themselves in permaculture design and earth healing. Both the teachers and the students have enriched the land and community here through sharing their experience and wisdom and building a new cob bench and water management system, digging swales, and laying out gardens.

A few days especially teemed with energy, when the EAT students were joined by our regular high school groups from Pacific Crest Community School and Boys & Girls Aid Society. This was TLC Farm at its best: three distinct yet complementary groups sharing the space, immersed in service and the natural world (while the plants and baby goats grow rapidly around them).

This Friday marks the last day of the EAT and the first day of the Village Building Convergence, when TLC Farm will be open to the public 10 days in a row for community work projects (see details below).

This whirlwind of energy brings fresh perspective and welcome feedback. As so many new people engage with this land and project, they share with us that becoming a part of TLC Farm is a transforming experience in their lives, that they have learned so much, and are blessed to share in this community. Yes! TLC Farm is becoming the place we have long envisioned, and we give deep thanks to all of you who make it possible. Happy May!

In this update:

1. Become a Friend of the Farm!
2. Upcoming Events
   • Bird Language with Jon Young: May 19, 8am - noon
   • Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness (RDNA) with Penny Livingston and Jon Young: May 19, 1pm-5pm
   • Village Building Convergence: May 18-27, all day every day
3. Updates
   • Community Watershed Grant
   • TLC Farm Education Update
     • Volunteer Educator Position Description
     • Orientation/Training Day: June 9
     • Farm Camp 2007: July 24-27
     • Kids' Rhythm & Drum Camp: 2nd week of August
     • Materials Wish List
4. Others Materials Needed
5. Volunteer Opportunities
   • Garden Volunteers
   • Resident Volunteers
6. Ongoing Events @ TLC Farm

Become a Friend of the Farm!

Thanks so much to our most recent new Friends of the Farm: Deborah Gant, Joshua Klyber, Shanti Revotskie, Borden Beck and Brian Bontempo! Support from our Friends is crucial to the ongoing operations of TLC Farm.

Becoming a Friend of the Farm is for everyone who has ever taken part in an educational workshop, participated in a community sauna, shared the beauty if this community and land, and is really happy TLC Farm exists to provide this space for the beautiful transformation of the world.

Would you consider giving between $5 to $25 a month to support the good work of TLC Farm? The easiest way is to sign up on our website to make a monthly automatic payment. Please visit http://www.tryonfarm.org/friends to start supporting TLC Farm on an ongoing basis.

If you've been considering becoming a Friend of the Farm, please act now! We're still working to get all the kinks out of our online registration, but we think it's working well now (apologies if you tried earlier when it wasn't, and please contact us if you have any concerns). Become a Friend of the Farm, today.  

Upcoming Events

We are pleased to welcome Jon Young and Penny Livingston-Stark, two of the world's foremost leaders in environmental education, nature awareness and permaculture design to TLC Farm and the VBC. Join Penny and Jon as they weave together the teachings of permaculture design and nature awareness. Through lectures and workshops we discover what makes ecological systems self-sustaining. We learn to apply this functional awareness to family, gardens, energy systems, water supplies, healthy communities, economies and global political movements for change.

Learning the Language of the Birds

Jon teaches a workshop in Bird Language. Learn where the fox is hunting in the forest simply from hearing the alarm of a bird. Jon will talk about this and other feats of animal tracking:

• Hear of ancient Natives who were able to tell of the far-off movements of animals and people without seeing or hearing them.
• See how cultivating your senses by listening to the birds can reduce the stresses caused by our modern lifestyles.
• Learn about how the human mind is designed to understand the language of the birds and of all nature.
• Learn how the birds and animals communicate through easy-to-interpret songs, calls, and body language.
• Discover how to move invisibly through the forest around the alarm triggers of the birds.

Sponsored by TrackersNW. Register online at http://trackersnw.com/html/nw/clm/jonyoung.php or contact them for more information. Children under 13 are welcome at all workshops at no additional charge!  

Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness

Jon and Penny co-teach Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness (RDNA). This is a taste of their year-long program in Permaculture and Ancient Awareness Skill.

RDNA is hands-on skill based training devoted to helping students develop leadership skills necessary to further sustainable & regenerative practices in their personal and professional lives. Weaving together the teachings of permaculture design, art of mentoring, peacemaking and the power of holistic tracking, the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Program offers a comprehensive exploration of where we come from, where we are now and where we are going.

With an emphasis on building meaningful relationships we move into understanding our role within our community as an integral part of the natural world for 7Generations and Beyond.

Sponsored by TrackersNW. Register online at http://trackersnw.com/html/nw/clm/jonyoung.php or contact them for more information. Children under 13 are welcome at all workshops at no additional charge!

About the Teachers:

Jon Young was inspired by his childhood mentor, tracker Tom Brown, Jr. Jon has passionately researched and put into practice the techniques used by native cultures to mentor their children as naturalists, trackers and valued community members. With permission from his Elders, Jon has gathered the teachings of many native cultures and combined them with the tools of modern field ecology, creating a powerful medicine bundle of native approaches that trigger our natural blueprint for learning. Jon founded Wilderness Awareness School in 1983.

Penny Livingston-Stark has been working professionally in the land management and development field for 25 years and has extensive experience in all phases of ecologically sound landscape design and construction. She specializes in site planning & design of resource- rich landscapes, integrating rainwater collection, edible landscaping, pond and water systems, habitat development and watershed restoration for homes, co-housing communities, businesses and diverse-yield perennial farms.  

Village Building Convergence

The Village Building Convergence (VBC) is upon us! This marks TLC Farm's fourth year participating in the VBC and it is always one of the highlights of our year. Throughout the 10 days, the farm will be filled with diverse groups of people learning, sharing, working, eating and playing together. You are all invited!

This year's VBC project at TLC Farm is Integrating the Village Green (the entrance area with the T-Whale, Sauna, Toilets and Outdoor Kitchen). We have a number of projects planned to make the elements in this space more connected and integrated with each other, including moving pathways, digging swales to infiltrate stormwater into the soil and irrigate new landscaping/garden areas, putting in a rainwater catchment system, finishing the bench on a rocket stove heated cob bench, and planting a fruit tree / food forest orchard. Come help to make the Village Green truly alive!

Workparties run from 10am-4:30pm daily, with lunch provided (please bring your own snacks). The TLC Farm daily schedule (including several daytime workshops) and Village Green site design are available on our website at http://tryonfarm.org/gen.php?file=showwiki.php&id=schedule.

Each day during the VBC, sites all around Portland will host hands-on building projects and every evening VBC participants gather in the evening for dinner, speakers and music. The (mostly local) organic, vegetarian community dinners run from 5PM-7PM, and visionary presentations, music and dancing will begin at 7PM. All evening presentations take place at Disjecta, 230 E. Burnside. To purchase advanced tickets, please visit http://vbc.cityrepair.org/tickets or call 1-800-838-3306. Tickets are $15-25/night sliding scale at the door and are available for as little as $10/night in advance.

This year's evening line-up is amazing, including Rabbi Michael Learner, Kim Stafford, Starhawk, etc., not to mention exhilirating music from The Everyone Orchestra, Foghorn Stringband, March Fourth and more. For more details about the evening schedule, click here: http://cityrepair.org/wiki.php/projects/vbc7/speakers. We hope to see you at the Farm and learning & dancing in the evening.

TLC Farm has very limited parking so we encourage biking, bussing, shuttling, and carpooling. An on-demand shuttle will run from City Repair to the Farm at 9:45am and leave the farm around 4:30pm returning to City Repair. Please check in at CR headquarters (2122 SE Division, 503-235-8946) by 9:30am and tell them you want the TLC Farm shuttle.  

Updates

Community Watershed Grant

We just received word that TLC Farm was awarded $3,500 from the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services' Community Watershed Grant Program for educational land signs. We will begin construction of four educational kiosks in early fall in collaboration with the Pacific Crest Community School. Thanks, Portland!

Youth Education Program Update

Hello! Here is an update to let you know how our "Hands-on Sustainability" youth education program is going. We are having a busy spring with many school and youth group visits, including regular visits by Pacific Crest Community School, Boys and Girls Aid Society groups, a Trillium Charter School class, and a Cedarwood Waldorf school class. We've also hosted many one-time visits from diverse groups such as an all-German preschool and a group of youth from an apartment complex in NE Portland. We are also gearing up for our first "Farm Camp," a day camp for 8-11 year olds (see below for more info.)

First-time field trips to TLC Farm usually take a thorough interactive farm tour which introduces them to the farm's demonstrations of ecological living, after which they can jump into hands-on activities on subjects from ecological gardening to natural building, restoration to the arts.

TLC Farm was also blessed with an excellent environmental education graduate student intern for 11 weeks this spring. Alycia Bouyounan, from the Audobon Expedition Institute, led field trips, refined and organized our curriculum activities, and conducted an inventory of medicinal plants in our gardens for a future educational activity. Thanks Alcyia!

Our program is growing and that means we have more volunteer opportunities than ever for you to plug in and help discover with the next generation how to live sustainably. Read below for details on volunteering. Many thanks to our education volunteers Megan Humphreys and April Sarowski who have gone on to new adventures! Finally, I'd like to thank Spirit Mountain Community Fund for helping to fund TLC Farm's youth education program.

Read on for more details.  

VOLUNTEER EDUCATORS NEEDED!:

Volunteer Educator Position Description (possible internship or independent study credit available):

Volunteer Educators lead youth field trip activities at Tryon Life Community Farm using activities from TLC Farm's curriculum. Training for each volunteer teacher includes a day-long orientation, observing at least two classes, and co-teaching two classes before being the primary teacher for visiting students. Each volunteer teacher will then lead at least one field trip per month for at least 3 months. Field trips are usually scheduled during the daytime on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Each month, TLC Farm will provide volunteer teachers with at least one knowledge and skill building training. For more information, please contact Matt Gordon, Education Coordinator, at mattg@tryonfarm.org or 503.245.3847.  

SAVE THE DATE: Next Volunteer Educator Orientation & Training

If you want to get involved working with youth in TLC Farm's Hands-on Sustainability Education Program, please come to this day! We'll get an in-depth look at the "Farm Tour", talk about working with youth of various ages and backgrounds, learn games & team-building activities, and learn how to teach some of our basic hands-on lessons on soil, gardening, cob and watershed ecology. We'll provide a vegetarian lunch! PLEASE RSVP TO mattg@tryonfarm.org or 503.245.3847.  

FARM CAMP 2007! -- SIGN UP NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT!

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.

Daily Themes:

• Tuesday - Garden, Food, and Soil
• Wednesday - Bugs and Animals
• Thursday - Natural Building and Art
• Friday - Harvest, Cooking and Celebration (parents invited for pizza lunch from our earthen oven at noon!)

KIDS' RHYTHM AND DRUM CAMP

Ages 8-13, August 7th-11th, 1-4pm
$20 a day, $85 a week, or only $70 a week if pre-registered by July 1st.
Please contact commonrhythms@yahoo.com or call 503-752-2560 for more information.  

EDUCATION MATERIALS WISH LIST:

• metal cabinet with shelves that could live outdoors to store education program materials
• garden tools appropriate for kids (trowels and other hand tools, watering cans, gloves, etc.)

Other Materials Needed

• Alder logs (for mushroom propagation)
• Sand
• Clay
• Gravel
• Cedar shingles

Volunteer Opportunities

Garden Volunteers

Get involved with our expanding vegetable garden. Learn ecological growing techniques as you contribute to TLC Farm's educational garden. Take home produce at the end of your session. Contact garden@tryonfarm.org or 503.245.3847 (Matt or Bonsai).  

Resident Volunteers

We are looking for motivated folks who want an intensive community and work experience to camp at TLC Farm during the growing season. We are asking for 6-week minimum commitments to work 25 hours / week in exchange for a camping spot and beautiful experience working and living in community. For more info and application, please contact pond@tryonfarm.org.  

Ongoing Events at the Farm (FREE!)

On Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays we are open for the public to come enjoy the land, volunteer (Thurs & Sat), & take self-guided tours. We are closed on Mondays. If you'd like to stop by another time, please make an appointment.

• Land & Building Workparties

Saturdays: 11am-3pm

Join in with the latest building or land project. This could be finishing or maintaining an existing structure, starting something new, or working on another land project. Come for as long or short as you like. Contact: russ@tryonfarm.org

• Garden & Landscape Workparties

Thursdays: 11am-4:30pm

Come help in our annual veggie garden, the permaculture polycultured beds, and the food forest. Learn new techniques as you go and share your own gardening knowledge with others! Drop in for an hour or all day. Contact: mattg@tryonfarm.org

• TLC Farm Non-Profit Spokescouncil Meetings

Every other Wednesday: 6pm

If you want to participate in the coordination of the exciting things this non-profit is doing, these meetings are the place to be. Dinner included if you RSVP! Contact: Brenna@tryonfarm.org

"Tryon life it fits like a glove
and feel what it's like to be free.
Try breathing and seeking to be an instrument of love
and encourage one another on the journey.
Give thanks for the land and the sky up above
and pour your energy into building a community."
--from our songwriting friend, Jes Karper

TLC Farm, 11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd, Portland, OR 97219
.:: www.tryonfarm.org .::. 503-245-3847 ::.

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