--An invitation to support Try/on Life Community Farm--
http://www.tryonfarm.org

The Farm, a new community resource, is in danger of being bulldozed. We have to demonstrate financial and community support by early January to impress the landowner into giving us more time. Your help is urgently needed!

Try/on Life Community Farm
11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd.
Portland OR 97219

December, 2004

Dear Friend,

We invite you to learn more about Try/on Life Community Farm, an exciting new center for urban ecological agriculture education and sustainable community development in Southwest Portland. As we celebrate the holidays, we need your help. In the next few weeks we are entering into negotiations to protect these seven acres. We need your loan pledges, letters of support, donations, volunteer participation, and networking referrals.

BACKGROUND:
TLC Farm is tucked into the forested hills of southwest Portland: a unique realm of cliffs and sloping meadows, verdant gardens, orchards and groves, two large houses and a great old barn. Tryon Creek State Park, 650 acres of mature second-growth forest protected from development, surrounds the property on three sides.

As an incorporated non-profit organization, we have transformed this land over the last year into an inspiring demonstration of how we can sustainablylive the edge between wild and urban. Our projects include beautiful additions to the land such as a new orchard and permaculture garden, a cob saunaand benches, and a functional outdoor kitchen with a cob oven and two rocket stoves. We have drafted plans for stormwater bioremediation and graywater treatment, food forests and native plant restoration, and green construction retrofitting.

We have assembled an education program that has brought classes to the land from PSU, Lewis and Clark, Sunnyside Environmental School, and Friendly House. We also have a rapidly growing, regular workshop series; our list of distinguished, interested presenters expands by the day. TLC Farm has begun to successfully function as a laboratory and a classroom for numerous communities to learn with and from each other and the Earth.

But our vision is threatened. A developer who wishes to bulldoze the property and build 23 luxury homes has purchased an option to buy the land. Influential community opposition is fierce, but the landowner sees this development as his only chance to recoup the investment he has made. He is asking that we leave the land within one month.

We offer an alternative. We have developed a solid business model that clearly demonstrates our ability to pay off loans for the full amount of the land. Now, in the next two weeks, we must turn that promise into tangible proof of our community support. For that we need your help, and we need it right now.

HOW TO HELP:
You can participate in bringing Try/on Life Community Farm into being in any of the following ways:

**Letters of intent (ie. pledges) for those interested in giving us low-interest loans (up to 5%) or donations for $500 - $50,000+.

**Letters of support from individuals and organizations: why you endorse our project. This could include specific assistance you may be able to provide, such as in-kind labor or materials, professional advice, or financial assistance. Sample letters are available on our website at tryonfarm.org/letters.php

**Direct action! We have five different working groups, and a variety of ways to plug in, from bottomlining a specific project to showing up at our Saturday work parties.

**Friends of the Farm sustainer program: Any amount of donation from as little as $10 a month. This verifies our ability to depend on regular community support, a key element of our budget.

**Networking references: Do you know further contacts that may be able to help, practically, organizationally, or financially? Think broadly!

We're already well on our way, with key organizations (such as The City Repair Project, Lewis & Clark College's Environmental Studies Department, the local Neighborhood Association, and the Board of the Friends of Tryon Creek State Park) all expressing encouragement.

We are a fledgling organization, and your help and support now will make all the difference in our future. We'd love to show you this amazing place. Please contact us to schedule a tour. Thank you, deeply, for your time and interest. Together, we can change the world.

Yours in commitment,

The Farm

p.s. While physical letters are preferred, individuals may also add themselves to our online letter of support database at tryonfarm.org/letters.php.

Note: please contact us with any assistance or suggestions! Emails are: finance@tryonfarm.org, outreach@tryonfarm.org, or volunteer@tryonfarm.org, asappropriate. Also check out our website, at www.tryonfarm.org.

Ultimately, the fate of the earth rests in hands like ours.