Cultivating Community, Connection, and Sustainability at TLC Farm

We are a community place in Portland fostering sustainability and connection to the land.

Nov 1

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rain's private ancestor feast

Sun, Nov 1 · All day

Nov 2

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TLC Farm Closed

Mon, Nov 2 · All day

Nov 2

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Volunteer Orientation

Mon, Nov 2 · 4:30 PM–5:30 PM · 11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd, Portland, OR 97219, USA

Curious about volunteering? Join us to learn more about our volunteer teams and the wide variety of ways you can be involved, as suits your schedule and interests.  We'll meet at the farm's outdoor…

About Us

Beautiful Farm

Make a Difference in the Community

Hands in soil

Fostering Connection to the Land

“TLC Farm is exactly the kind of 'third place' my life has been needing, where I can connect with the earth and reconnect with myself. It's a beautiful piece of land with caring, friendly, and dedicated people. The blackberry work party fed my spirit, with really rewarding physical work and a super fun basket weaving class that taught me a skill I've been curious about since I was a little kid. In the modern industrial world of grinding and stress, TLC Farm is exactly the kind of thing people need right now, because we need the earth as much as it needs us and this is project committed to fostering that symbiotic relationship.”

-Corryn Tomlinson, volunteer

“I started coming to work parties to learn about gardening and stayed for the people. There is something grounding about sharing a meal after stacking wood or weeding the beds — you leave tired, fed, and more hopeful about what neighbors can build together.”

Jordan K., monthly volunteer

“Our school group visited for a field trip and the kids still talk about the goats, the composting toilets, and the forest trail. TLC Farm makes sustainability feel hands-on and joyful instead of abstract.”

Elena M., Portland educator

Join Us in Fostering Connection to the Land

Volunteer with our community or book your next event of field trip.

Supporting a more just future for the peoples of this land

Not so very long ago, the land we now call Tryon Life Community Farm was the hunting grounds of  the Tualatin Kalapuya and the Clackamas Chinook.

For thousands of years they thrived, until 200 years ago devastating diseases swept through their villages severely reducing the population. Before they had a chance to recover, waves of Euro-American colonization hit the land we now call Oregon. Years of struggle to retain tribal autonomy followed, as did many promises made and broken by the United States government. Mounting pressure for more land by white settlers led the federal government to extinguish all native claim to land in the Willamette and Tualatin valleys and forcibly remove the tribes to the Grande Ronde and other reservations in 1855.

The government then set about giving the land away to Euro-American settlers, including Hotchkiss Socrates Tryon who claimed the valley which is now his namesake park. His name is well known, even included in the name of our land project, while those from whom the land was stolen have been forgotten by many.

Why do you need to know this?  Learning and sharing the history of this land, and that of all western Oregon, is key to understanding why those who visit, volunteer, come to classes, and enjoy events here, have been predominately white. And why this needs to change.

Over the past few years, TLC Farm has been actively reshaping itself to counter this legacy of colonialism.  To do so, a new collective created by and for people of color has taken root on this land.  The Sacred Lands Alliance is working with TLC Farm volunteers to make the land and programs more accessible for frontline communities who have been alienated from their lands. 

We can't undo the past, but we can absolutely shape the future.

Thanks for your part in making the future more just and equitable, here at TLC Farm and in all the places we collectively strive for justice.