Programs
TLC Monthly Workshop Series
Welcome to our schedule of monthly workshops. We endeavor to be well-rounded in our exploration of what it takes to create a sustainable world, and hope that you will find both what you're looking for and what you never expected to find.
September 9-11
Plant Medicine & Disaster Herbalism
Come join us on the land for a weekend of learning about plant medicine, community building, and emergency preparedness. Friday will present several workshops with local herbalists, ranging from hands-on medicine making to plant meditation to facilitated conversations about herbalism, dynamics of privilege, and efforts for healing both people and place. Saturday & Sunday will be a two-day intensive, called Community and Herbal Approaches to Disaster Situations, with Leah Wolfe.
September 18, 10am-4 pm
Food Preservation
Just in time for harvest! Learn about and practice various methods of food preservation, including canning, freezing, drying and long-term produce storage. Using TLC Farm's garden, orchard and outdoor kitchen as a classroom, this class will involve both discussion (your ideas, thoughts and wisdom invited!) and hands-on engagement with food preservation. Sliding scale fee of $15-50, with worktrade options available. Kids welcome!
Please register for the class (and contact me early if you are interested in work trade) at brenna@tryonfarm.org.
October 8-9
Natural Building
Get your hands dirty working with light/straw clay and earthen plaster to insulate & plaster our beautiful old barn. Class will be taught by expert earthen plasterer, Joshua Klyber (visit http://www.livingwallspdx.com to view Joshua's work). Contact brenna@tryonfarm.org to register.
November 12-13
Human Resources for the Revolution!
Apply Permaculture Principles to social relationships, from individual, to group to the ecosystem of movement of movements. Learn practical skills and share reflective, interactive experiences for exploring our social ecology.
Unless otherwise noted, workshops have a sliding scale fee of $20-60/day, with worktrade options available.
Many of our workshops are family-friendly, with children's activities included. Start and end times vary - please check this website for details about each workshop closer to its date.
Community Sustainability Intern Blog - its awesome!
TLC Farm just completed its first Community Sustainability Immersion Program - and it was a fantastic success. Seven amazing people from all over the country came to TLC Farm to learn, play and grow together.
They created a fantastic blog of stories, facts, pictures, and poems, and we invite you to see for yourself the impact of this program. Visit www.tryoninternship09.blogspot.com and enjoy!
Community Workshops
To see an up-to-date list of scheduled workshops, see our workshop calendar. From there you can also register.
TLC Farm is an amazing place to learn ideas and practices for growing sustainable culture. We host a wide variety of experienced practitioners who teach in their fields of expertise. Past workshop topics have included:
- Earthen plasters
- Wild fermented foods
- Medicinal plant identification
- Introduction to Bonsai
- Basic Gardening
- Permaculture Design
- Carpentry for women
- Primitive Skills
- Cheesemaking
- Chickens!
- Needle Felting
- Bird language and tracking
- Earth Activist Training (a permaculture design course)
- Plant wisdom and earth songs
- Zen meditation
- African drumming
- Food forest design
- Indigenous lifeways
- and many more!
Most workshops ask for a donation on a sliding scale or offer work-trade, to assist in paying for the presenter, facilities, and materials.
Want to present a workshop? email workshops@tryonfarm.org or call our office at 503-245-3847.
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 studentsof all ages to come and learn about applied sustainabbnility 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, sheep, 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.
Want to volunteer? We are now recruiting volunteer teachers to help lead youth field trips and activities at TLC Farm for Spring/Summer 2011. contact brenna[at]tryonfarm.org if you are interested in volunteering with the education program.
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!
Recent 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
Herbalism for Intentional Communities
This six-weekend program is designed for members of intentional communities to learn the skills for sharing herbs and addressing the health needs of the collective experience with plant medicines.
The goal of the course is to bring herbal medicine back to its function as a group activity for communities to use to engage fully in sustainable relationships with the plants of their bioregion. The skills taught in the course are intended to be shared amongst all community members in such a way that taking care of each other can be a collective activity: making medicines together, taking herbs together, gardening and harvesting together, and healing together. We are seeking to generate the tools for off-the-grid health care that moves beyond the practitioner-client relationship, restoring the tribal method of healing as a community endeavor.
We are restoring herbal medicine as a collaborative act of promoting community health from within. Off-the-grid healthcare that everyone in a community can participate in. “Healthy communities take care of community health.”
Taught by local herbalists Erico Schleicher, Rebecca Reeder, and others
Curriculum is oriented towards community herbalism, including classes in botany of Northwest medicinal plants, harvesting and gardening, therapeutic actions, cooking with herbs, herbal first aid, medicine making as community ritual, and taking herbs as a shared experience. We will focus on identifying needs of community that can be addressed with plant medicines, such as first aid, shared emotional stresses, communicable illness, seasonal conditions, local toxins, and specific work-based issues.
Course Details:
- Class size: 10-12
- $900 if registered before Dec 15, $1000 after Dec 15.
- plus $50 materials fee
- Location: Tryon Life Community Farm in Southwest Portland
- Option for out-of-town participants to stay at Tryon Farm overnight with slight extra cost
- About 100 hours of study
- Dates and times: Six weekends, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm
The 2011 dates are not set in stone, but with only slight possible adjustment they are:
- February 12-13
- April 2-3
- May 21-22*
- September 10-11
- October 15-16
- December 3-4
*subject to possible change
For more info about the course, follow this link to our webpage: http://communityherbalism.com
Or feel free to contact the instructors:
Erico 503.473.3899 paradoxrainbow@yahoo.com
Rebecca 510.495.4494 tidewalker@wildmail.com
Application available for download below.
Job Posting - Youth Education Coordinator
Tryon Life Community Farm Hands-on Youth Sustainability Program
Program Administrator and Volunteer Coordinator Job Description
Application Deadline: Sept. 15th
Responsibilities Include:
- Outreach for and promotion of TLC Farm's Youth Education Program,
including updating outreach materials and distributing to schools and
youth programs
- Scheduling field trips, via phone & internet
- Recruiting, training and scheduling volunteer teachers (training
materials already exist)
- Maintaining & updating education program supplies and curriculum
- Some fundraising for the expansion and continuation of projects.
Note: this is not primarily a teaching position. The coordinator will only teach classes when other volunteers cannot be scheduled.
October– June, with December and January off
10-15 hours a week, $15 an hour. Hours are flexible, with mandatory meetings every other Wednesday niaght from 7-9.
Ideal applicants will have a background in sustainability education with significant experience with volunteer training and management. Applicants should also have experience in self-motivated work environments, must be very organized and be good communicators.
Please send a cover letter and resume with three references, preferably with two that can speak to the applicant's previous experience in education and volunteer coordination. Send your application materials to apply@tryonfarm.org. Please visit www.tryonfarm.org or call 503-245-3847 for more information about the positions and programs.
About TLC Farm's Hands-on Sustainability Program
TLC Farm is a very unique educational site: 5 acres of farmland surrounded by the 700 acre forest of Tryon Creek State Park, with a residential farm community that tends chickens, goats, sheep & bees and upkeeps the land. The entire farm and forest are the classrooms for field trips, and TLC Farm's educational programs are almost entirely taught outdoors, except in inclement weather when we use our historic barn as classroom space.
TLC Farm staff and trained volunteers lead field trips from schools and youth organizations, providing creative, hands-on educational experiences for students. Not only are participants in the field, each trip involves hands-on projects. Activity themes are flexible based on the group’s interest and need, and fall into these categories:
1.Farm Tour: a general overview of demonstration projects at TLC Farm including natural building, gardening, water and waste management, habitat restoration, and community. development.
2.Natural Building: building with cob, a traditional structural material of clay, sand, straw, and water.
3.Ecological gardening: includes activities on soil, food systems, medicinal plants, and permaculture, along with hands-on gardening tasks.
4.Watershed Restoration & Ecology: includes a variety of restoration techniques, plant identification & uses, the water cycle, and human influences on watersheds.
5.Art & Craft of Sustainable Living: including activities on making food and other environmental arts & crafts.
Land Projects
At TLC Farm, Portland's sustainability movements are creating one example of how urban density human habitat can coexist with thriving food systems and native ecologies. Our demonstration projects, all of which are workshopped and volunteer-run, illustrate how specific technologies and practices work, and how they can interconnect.
Mother Earth School
Mother Earth School is a year-round, all-outdoor preschool and kindergarten for children ages 3-6 years old. We offer summer camps for children ages 4-12, including a rite of passage program for pre-teens. We also offer adult educational opportunities throughout the year.
All of our programs honor the inherent connection that the human being has with the rhythms of the natural world. In holding true to the Waldorf philosophy, each student is honored deeply as a unique being with important work to do in their lifetime. Using permaculture principles, children participate in gardening, food preparation & preservation, caring for farm animals, natural handwork & crafts and forest exploration. These experiences teach sustainable practices as the children learn to care for themselves, each other, and the world around them. The seasonal cycles are celebrated through storytelling, puppetry, songs, verses and forest exploration. By learning traditional skills and natural crafts, children grow to understand their capabilities, feel empowered, nourish their imaginations and cultivate reverence for the Earth.
Please visit MotherEarthSchool.org for more information about our programs and philosophy.
Permaculture Design Course at TLC Farm
TLC Farm will be hosting a full 72-hour Permaculture Design Course this summer. This course will be a two-week intensive that will meet from June 11th to 27th. The course can be taken as residential, or not. The fee for the non-residential option is $1000 - 850 sliding scale. The fee for the residential option is $1300 -1100. Limited work trade may be available. More about the course: A Permaculture Design Course explores sustainable human habitation. We begin with the ethics and principles of permaculture which support a philosophical reverence for life and provide a framework for making healthy choices. The objective of a Permaculture Design Course is to provide a comprehensive overview of sustainable futures, based on permaculture philosophy, techniques, and strategies that one could incorporate into their everyday life, or enhance their career. These courses provide hands-on experience. The intention is to facilitate a systems approach to thinking about different issues, encouraging care for the earth and its inhabitants as a diverse community. Topics Include: * Permaculture Philosophy & Ethics * Permaculture Principles * Concepts and Themes in Design * Permaculture methodology * Pattern Understanding * Reading the Landscape * Climatic Factors * Edible Landscaping & Organic Gardening * Trees and their Energy Transactions, Tree Crops * Water, Water Harvesting * Soils & Composting * Earthworking and Earth Resources * Natural Building * Animal Husbandry * Urban Permaculture * Appropriate Technology * Intentional Communities * Sustainable Forestry & Agroforestry * Ethnobotany/ethnoecology * Plant Propagation * Ecosystem & Native Plant Restoration * Mycology * Permaculture Networks * Bioregionalism * Local Economics * Ecological Design * Ecovillages * And more.. Instructor Bios: Marisha Auerbach will be the lead instructor of the course. Marisha has been practicing, studying, and teaching permaculture in the Pacific Northwest for the past decade. She encourages sustainable futures through sharing knowledge with others on a variety of topics including: permaculture, polyculture gardening, seed saving, flower and gem essences, local economics, community building, ethnobotany, herbalism, edible landscape design, and organic gardening among others. Matt received his Master's Degree in Education with a focus on Leadership in Ecology, Culture & Learning from PSU in 2008 and is also a certified Permaculture Designer and Teacher. For more information about this course, please email perm...@tryonfarm.org or call Matt Bibeau at 503-245-3847. To be considered for this course, please fill out the questionnaire below and send to perm...@tryonfarm.org. TLC Farm PDC Application Full and Preferred Name: Address: Phone: Email: 1. What is your experience with permaculture? What do you hope to do with this certification? 2. Do you have any dietary restrictions or allergies that we should know about? 3. Do you have any medical conditions or physical limitations that we should know about? (TLC Farm is not currently an ADA-accessible site, so any alter-abled students should let us know about their needs and concerns). 4. Are you applying for the residential (camping) or non-residential (commuting) option? 5. How did you hear about the course?
ReCode
Welcome to ReCode!
Launched by TLC Farm, Recode is now a semi-autonomous project with its own website: http://recodeoregon.net, office space, and organizer - Melora Golden - who can be reached at: melora[at]recodeoregon[dot]net
Read on for a brief summary of Recode's goals, and see bottom of page to sign up for email announcement list, and download relevant files.
Portland is an amazing place, with thousands of people and dozens of organizations working hard at creating a more sustainable urban future. It's great, but it can often be difficult for everyone to be in touch with what others are doing, and for newcomers or grassroots group to be involved in the process. That's why ReCode Portland is so exciting.
We are a campaign bringing together citizens, planners, builders, activists, and other stakeholders in developing, coordinating, and building the movement for regulations that support grassroots sustainability. We
- facilitate collaboration among the existing organizations and people doing various aspects of the work;
- create space for grassroots groups in the discussion; and
- specifically advocate for acting within a strategy of systemic change.
We're also a work in progress, and invite you to join us in adapting to an ever-changing context. Email recode@tryonfarm.org to get involved.
TLC Farm is currently facilitating the campaign, and we are using this site to collaborate. We're using a working group approach to divide the work:
- Practices and goals.
- Code research and development.
- Networking group.
- Public education.
- Government Relationships.
What are the technologies and practices that we'd really like to encourage? Specifically oriented around grassroots, bottom-up change: how can we unleash the innovation and creativity of inventive people, while ensuring that community values and safety are protected? Let's focus on identifying the details!
Coordinate existing research and materials on regulatory obstacles to sustainable practices. Identify various approaches to changes in code, from overall strategy to detailed written form. Coordinate with "Practices and Goals".
Keep in broader context, bring people in, cross-pollinate, contact allies. Get stakeholders on opposite sides, facilitate roundtables, understand the heart of issue. Networkers talk to people with concerns, not just ready-made allies. Also regionally and nationally, to bolster effort.
Public education through film, web, print media, etc. Create public awareness of the issues and garner support for regulatory change. Also, make easily accessible info about what the current codes are and how to navigate new ones.
Develop relationships with officials and bureaus at all levels. What concerns do they have, what are the hold-ups? Give public support to the many public servants that are working hard to make change; keep the awareness and political strength focused.
For some additional background information, see the documents below. For an introduction to code barriers specific to TLC Farm, as an example, go to Amy Tyson's TLC Farm case study. We are planning on creating space for collaborative work on all the building and zoning approaches we're working on; to see how we're beginning that, go to Technical Research Notes. This site remains skeletal; the networking working group is focused on helping get more information into the public domain here.
ReCode Portland in the blogosphere:
- EcoSpace
- WorldChanging Portland (by Ethan Timm of SERA Architects)
Feedback and participation welcome! Please send bug reports to web@tryonfarm.org
