Embedded Files
5-22-15
Hi Summer Outdoors parents!
We are thrilled that you’ve signed your camper up for our program and want to thank you for your interest and support. Unfortunately, our late entry to the summer camp market has put a cramp in our desire to serve our community through outdoor learning. While we are experiencing a gradual snowballing of enrollments, a few of our sessions are low enough in enrollment that we need to consider whether or not to cancel them. The June session is most at risk and we will need to make a decision on that very soon. But before taking such a drastic step, we thought we’d try enlisting our early adopters by offering incentives for helping to build enrollment. So here’s the deal we’ve come up with:
For every newly enrolled camper that lists your name in the “how did you hear about us” box on the enrollment form, we will give you a $15 credit, up to the value of $225. In other words, if you get 15 of your friends to sign up, you get a free week of camp! With your credit, you can either send your camper to another session or ask for reimbursement of the enrollment fee you have already paid.
We’ve enjoyed every minute that we’ve spent with youth outdoors over the past 3 summers and are really looking forward to doing it again this year. We appreciate any help you can lend towards that goal.
Thanks for your consideration.
Terry O'Dzu
EdenAcres Board Chair
503 352-2765
4-26-15
David Rich <davidcrich@comcast.net>
David:
I imagine that our concerns about insurance costs might make it sound as if our focus is in the wrong direction but I can assure you that we are very committed to our mission of service to our community and to the environment. Our group has put in, literally, hundreds of hours over the past few months to get our organization and programming off the ground and I myself have committed to contributing several thousand dollars of my own money towards start-up costs. While our core group doesn’t ever expect to get paid for their time, we can’t expect volunteers to offer a full summer camp w/o pay, so that means hiring (and paying) staff to deliver the programming. Aside from staff, camp has lots of other costs that need to be paid, one of which is insurance. While we’ve written a proposal for Metro funding to offer a free camp for 3 weeks to low-income students, and we are planning to hold fundraising events to raise money for scholarships, some percentage of camp costs will have to come from fees charged to campers with an ability to pay. Because we want to remove barriers to getting kids outdoors, we need those fees to be as low as humanly possible so that means, not only putting in a lot of volunteer time, but also being very careful about how we allocate our budget.
Aside from the summer camps, we are working with the school district to bring outdoor experiences to students during the school year, most particularly to students at risk, who are known to benefit from the experiential activities we are promoting. As you know, the school district budget is limited so, again, our ability to deliver this kind of programming is dependent on our being financially solvent. (as well as being good grant writers!) so we need to be very aware of our expense/income ratio and work to keep that in a positive balance. As a young organization, that is a challenge because of the many expenses that are part of any start-up. Every dollar counts and we have to make decisions carefully so need full information before making financial commitments.
Connecting to the Lions is attractive to us for several reasons but it will be difficult to commit to becoming a club if it is going to end up costing us more than not becoming a club right off the bat. In order to use Pacific facilities (such as science labs or art studios), we are required to produce evidence of the correct insurance. I’ve asked Pacific’s legal department about whether or not the Lions insurance is adequate. There has been some back and forth but I still haven’t received a definitive answer. If the answer ends up being no, then we will need to purchase additional insurance in order to use Pacific facilities, which will make the Lions club option more expensive and therefore more challenging to commit to in our first year. It may be that we decide that the advantages of being a Lions club far outweigh the value of Pacific facilities. Or we may decide that being a lions club is well worth the extra cost. But, as board chair, I’m responsible for making sure that the financial aspect of our organization is healthy and strong so that we have the best foundation for doing the work we’ve set out to do. Making fully informed decisions is part of that.
Long story short, we are fully committed to our values of caring for the earth and people, equally sharing available resources and the products thereof, and living within the limits of the ecosystems that provide those resources. Our mission is to work through education to support those values within our community. We believe that our values are fully compatible with Lions values and that Lions would be excellent partners in helping us to achieve our goals. But we also need to be fiscally responsible. Our inquiry into insurance costs is just an attempt to cover that responsibility.
I hope all of that addresses your concerns. IF not, I’d be happy to meet to discuss it further. Regardless of whether or not we become a lions club this year, I definitely want to remain on good terms!
FYI, we’ve just gone live with our new website. Let me know what you think!
2-8-15
Elaine Cole <elainecole11@gmail.com>
Karin Pfeiffer-Hoyt <kpfeifferhoyt@adelantemujeres.org>
Forest Grove Serve <servefg@isonrise.com>
Brian Schimmel (servefg@isonrise.com) <servefg@isonrise.com>
All:
Thanks for the information on best procedures for interacting with the FG sustainability Commission. If I have updates to present at this month’s meeting, I will email a brief outline of them to you by February 16 and be present to announce them at 6pm on Feb 26.
Following Elaine-Jane’s suggestion, I’ve listed below (and attached) a brief description of our purpose and goals along with a request for an endorsement from the commission. Should you choose to write one, your endorsement would be posted on our website and listed in alongside those of other supportive organizations and community members in our funding requests.
Thanks again for your time.
Terry O’Day
503 352-2765
https://sites.google.com/site/fgexploratorium/home
EdenAcres Endorsement Request
There are many known benefits to exposing students to outdoor learning environments. Some examples include:
Using the environment as an integrating context for academic material can enhance academic achievement.
Outdoor activities and garden-based learning can encourage students to adopt healthy exercise and eating habits
Place and project-based learning activities such as planting trees or cleaning up a streambed can foster a sense of empowerment, develop connections to community, and promote civically-engaged attitudes for participants
Connection to nature can lower stress levels and induce a sense of well-being
Recognizing these benefits, many states have adopted environmental literacy standards and encourage outdoor activities for students. In 2010, Oregon published an environmental literacy plan and is currently working towards requiring environmental literacy for all students in the k-20 school system. This plan lists five elements of an environmental literacy education and suggests that outdoor learning activities can contribute towards student development in each of these areas:
Systems Thinking
Physical, Living, and Human Systems
Interconnectedness of People and the Environment
Personal and Civic Responsibility
Investigate, Plan, and Create a Sustainable Future
Despite widespread support for the idea of bringing students outdoors on a regular basis, there are significant barriers that work against making outdoor classrooms a reality for most students. These barriers include:
Teacher inexperience with the outdoor environment and with developing curriculum that connects outdoor activities to required academic standards
Lack of transportation to outdoor sites
Lack of infrastructure and programming that supports a diverse range of learning activities at outdoor sites
EdenAcres was formed to address those barriers in a systematic way for all learners in our community. EdenAcres is a learning community that explores sustainability education best practices through the development of model outdoor learning environments. Our mission is to engage participants in active learning to foster transition to a sustainable future. Our goal is environmental literacy for all learners in our community. We aim to be our community’s one-stop shopping center for outdoor education! To achieve our goal, we will employ the following strategies:
Work with site providers to open dialog and to develop infrastructure and use protocols that support outdoor learning activities within the context of site attributes and site provider mission and interests.
Work with educators to develop curricula and activities that integrate outdoor experiences with academic content
Work with both site providers and clients to develop funding sources to cover program costs and transportation
Develop outdoor programming for the general public outside of the K-20 school system and schedule
Work with community partners to develop a stand-alone full-service destination model outdoor classroom
Connect with organizations and individuals to develop a broad base of support for the EdenAcres mission and outdoor education across the community
In order to achieve our mission, EdenAcres needs to demonstrate support from across the community. A brief endorsement from your organization would be a powerful indicator to funders and constituents that our initiative is in line with the best interests of the Forest Grove/Cornelius community. Should you choose to write one, your endorsement would be posted on our website and listed alongside those of other supportive organizations and community members in our marketing materials and funding requests.
2-8-15
jpierce@fgsd.k12.or.us
Ms. Pierce:
Please excuse the cold-call nature of this email. I haven't met you but have an interest in your school, partly because of its proximity to the project we are developing but also because of the age group of your students and size of your school. Together, these three characteristics put you into a category that we are very interested in working with.
To introduce myself, my name is Terry O'Day and I'm a FG resident with a strong interest in education. I teach art at Pacific University and was the originator and a co-founder of both the FG Community School and Pacific's B Street Farm. While serving as the director of B Street, my educator team worked with Centro Cultural to develop curriculum and activities for their outdoor summer camp, now going into it's 4th year. We also worked with many school groups to design engaging outdoor activities to complement the learning goals of each of the organizations that visited. Some included NWRESD-PACE, FG classes of all ages, Roots and Shoots, home-school groups, and more.
My current project is a community-based initiative called EdenAcres. The purpose of this initiative is to facilitate outdoor learning experiences for youth and adults with a goal of developing environmental literacy for all learners in our community. Our methodologies include place, project, and service - based learning through activities in our theme areas of "The Natural World," "Farm to Table," Maker's Workshop," and "Health and Well-Being." Our educators have many years of experience with aligning outdoor activities to state learning goals and have worked across a diversity of age, economic, and learning-style populations. We find that the outdoor, project-based activities engage students and promote academic achievement for every population.
Our group is working with Clean Water Services, Fernhill Council, and the city of FG to identify a home site for our project. Our initial area of interest is somewhere in the vicinity of the Fernhill Wetlands. While a fully-developed home site is still years away, we are working to develop site partners in the region so that we can start developing programming. For example, we have approached Tom McCall with a proposal for bringing the 6th grade class outdoors at the CWS Tualatin River Farm for 3 days every year. We've written a letter of interest for funding from Metro's Conservation Education grants to support the proposal. The proposal is attached as an example of the kind of services we'd like to offer.
I'm approaching you as the lead teacher at CALC to see if you might have any interest in working with us to develop outdoor activities for your students. While our eventual goal is to work through central administration to develop programming and funding sources across the district, we first wanted to contact individual schools to see if there is any interest in this idea. I've attached a summary description of our organization for your review; if what we can offer is of any interest to you, I'd love an opportunity to speak with you at your convenience.
Terry O'Day
PS I just read this article about a project-based high school program I've been following. It describes some projects that are example of the kinds of activities we might develop under our "Farm to Table" and Maker's Workshop" themes.
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2015/jan/31/hands-learning/
2-7-15
Jim Fullmer <jim@demeter-usa.org>
Rudy Marchesi <rudy@montinore.com>
Charlene Murdock <charlene@nanacardoon.com>
Fallon Harris <fallon.harris@gmail.com>
Jim:
I've recently spoken with Rudy Marchesi about the idea of developing a training course for biodynamic certifications and he is interested in working with you to explore possibilities. As I recall, we had talked about a possible format of a series of courses combined with some kind of internship/experiential component, perhaps at a variety of different sites, but I imagine that there might be a variety of formats to consider.
EdenAcres would be interested in offering courses at both a certificate level (for the general public) and diploma level (professional training).
A possible model for both diploma and certificate trainings might be provided by the Permaculture Institute of North America; permaculture and biodynamics are so complementary that it might make sense for their education structures to mirror one another. Info on the permaculture model can be found on the PINA website.
In the best of worlds, EdenAcres would offer both permaculture and biodynamic courses on a regular basis. If the curriculum were to be developed, the EdenAcres role might be to organize materials, schedule activities, secure sites, market the course, collect tuition, and disburse payments to instructors and site providers. We are also considering developing a subsidiary business that might sell associated books and materials as a way to support the education enterprise. There may be other ways that EdenAcres could help facilitate the development and implementation of these courses; we would welcome opportunities to discuss as appropriate.
Let me know if this is something you think you and Rudy can move forward on and, if so, what the timeline might be between now and the first course offering. Also, what we can do to help make it happen!
Thanks for your time.
Terry O'Day
503 352-2765
1-29-15
Carol Murdock <MurdockC@CleanWaterServices.org>
Elysia O'Connor <OConnorE@CleanWaterServices.org>
Sheri Wantland <WantlandS@CleanWaterServices.org>
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis <DennisD@CleanWaterServices.org>
Aside from taking steps to inform various community groups (including the Lions club!) of our interest in developing a showcase env ed center in the FG region, I've also been meeting with various Pacific entities to see if there is any interest in forming a Pacific connection to the project. Lief Gustavson, Dean of the College of Ed has now expressed interest in joining the conversation.
We had talked about setting up another strategy meeting after making the rounds of community stakeholders. Would it make sense to include key people from different organizations in such a strategy meeting? I'm thinking of people like John Hayes and Dean Gustavson, and perhaps Tom Beck and Michael Sykes?
Let me know your thoughts on where you think we should go from here; I'm looking forward to our continued conversation!
Terry
1-28-15
murraylaw@comcast.net
nellie@friendsoffamilyfarmers.org
fallon.harris@gmail.com
Ms Murray:
I represent EdenAcres, an environmental education initiative in the Forest Grove area.
I was given your contact information by Nellie McAdams of Friends of Family Farmers as someone who might be able to connect us to the legal expertise our developing organization needs.
We are currently in the process of building our board, developing our business model, and reaching out to potential clients. We are also writing our narrative for the 501(c)3 application. Most of these initiatives would benefit from input by someone with legal expertise. Unfortunately, while we are passionate and knowledgeable about sustainability education, our connections to the legal profession are few. I'm hopeful that you can help us with that. Our particular needs are HR and insurance requirements and partnership contracts.
I've attached our project summary for your information. I've also included Fallon Harris on this email; she's our candidate for the ED position once we are ready for one. Thanks for any help you can give us!
1-26-15
Gustavson, Leif C. <gustavson@pacificu.edu>
Dean Gustavson:
I wanted to apologize for not being able to attend this afternoon’s meeting; I hadn’t realized that classes were starting this week when we scheduled at the last meeting. I have a class at 3:30 so regretfully will have to miss the meeting.
I did want to take this opportunity to give you a very brief update on our environmental education project. A lot has happened in the past few months:
Met with Clean Water Services, Fernhill Council, and the FG Sustainability Commission to present our idea and ask for support in identifying a site. Response was very favorable all around.
Continued developing the EdenAcres non-profit organizational infrastructure and are in the process of building a board according to our committee needs
Have written letters of interest for funding from Metro’s Conservation Education fund to offer outdoor experiences to 6th graders starting next fall.
I’ve copied the link to our (as yet, very brief) website below and have attached our proposal for a pilot program with Tom McCall 6th graders. I’ve also copied links to Brightwater Education Center and Islandwood in Washington. In our local context, Brightwater would be the equivalent of Clean Water Services and Islandwood would be EdenAcres. Together they provide a model for how EdenAcres and CWS might partner in developing an education center at Fernhill. An important element that we still need to develop is a relationship to a university for the credit courses and teacher training parts of our package. Both PSU and Lewis and Clark have grad programs that are already aligned with our direction but my vast preference would be to connect with Pacific University. I don’t know if that is a direction your college wants to go but, if it’s a possibility, let me know. I’ll be setting up another meeting with Clean Water Services in the near future and would like to include you if you are interested in exploring the potential of community partnerships and environmental education.
EdenAcres
https://sites.google.com/site/fgexploratorium/?pageDeleted=%2Fphilosophy
Brightwater Education Center
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/brightwater-center/education.aspx
Islandwood
https://islandwood.org/graduate-programs
1-26-15
Charlene Murdock <charlene@nanacardoon.com>
nellie mcadams <nellie@friendsoffamilyfarmers.org
Hi Nellie:
Thanks for your interest in our project. We are excited about our progress and eager to share our enthusiasm with others who may share our goals and interests.
Our website is at the following link. You should be able to access our minutes and agenda from this page. If you are interested in joining our group as either a core member or background supporter, we can give you access to the rest of the website, which is basically a workspace for our committees and contains pretty much everything we are working on.
https://sites.google.com/site/fgexploratorium/home
Our next meeting is this coming Thursday (Jan 29) at 6pm. We meet on the Pacific Campus in Walter Annex 105. If you are interested in attending, you can find it on the campus map or I can meet you at the edge of campus at the Studio Arts building and walk you over there.
I must admit that a legal skillset is something we are very much in need of right now. There are several initiatives we are working on that shouldn't go much further without a lawyer's input. If it turns out that you are not interested in joining or advising our group, I'm hoping that you might be able to connect us to someone who can help. As is the usual case with a forming non-profit, we are cash-poor so are dependent on the goodwill of others to get things off the ground. Fortunately we are finding that our project idea is attractive to many and we continue to gain support and interest as we move forward. We would be delighted for you to participate in our project!
1-25-15
jhayes@pacificu.edu
Hi John:
Since you are working with so many of the organizations that EdenAcres wants to connect with, we’ve identified you as a "guy who needs to know.”
As the lucky recipient of that designation, I’ve given you full access to our website workspace so that you can inform yourself of our progress should you feel the need. (the public section is limited to the agenda, minutes, and calendar). Just keep in mind that this is very much a workspace and most of the pages are in draft form (or, in some cases, just a collection of notes.
https://sites.google.com/site/fgexploratorium/?pageDeleted=%2Fphilosophy
I’ve also attached our letter of interest and budget for the 6th Grade Outdoors! project we’ve been talking with Tom McCall about. If our letter is successful, Metro will invite us to make a full proposal, which will be due in March. We also turned in a proposal for working with the Centro summer camp, but it looks like Centro may be supplying its camp instructors internally this year so we probably won’t end up working with them. We are looking at developing another partner for a summer camp if we are asked to submit a full proposal for the camp funding.
As a quick outline of where we are, we are currently working though the organization-building process. We have a strong core group and a diverse background supporter group. We’ve written our bylaws and are writing our narrative for the 501(c)3 application, which I hope to send in by the end of February. Our next few meetings will be focused on building the board according to the committee areas we have identified. Now that we have made our presentation to the Fernhill Council and the FG Sustainability Commission, I’m expecting to schedule another meeting with the CWS group to discuss next steps as far as potential site development at Fernhill.
In the meantime, we are continuing to inform and connect with a diversity of community groups and organizations as potential partners, site providers, or clients (I’m attending Lions lunches!) The school district is obviously an important one; do you think a presentation to the school board is warranted? I still haven’t contacted Connie Potter; I was wanting to be a little more firm with the organizational stuff before jumping into that one. Any advice you might offer on how to approach her would be appreciated. Maybe you’d be willing to send a letter of introduction?
Anyway, thanks for your time and also for all the work you are doing to promote sustainability in FG. You have quite an amazing tolerance for meetings!
1-14-15
to Fallon, Jose, Dagoberto, Carol
Hi Jose, I’m wondering if we can meet sometime to discuss the latest information from CWS. Given that you were thinking about a 7 week program and CWS is only available for 2 of them, it seems that there might be a need to find other sites to work with. While there are lots of options to explore, I want to be clear about our role with the summer camp to avoid stepping on toes and contributing to confusion.
What we are looking for is a contract with you to plan and deliver the summer outdoor camp. We have access to a variety of site options and would be willing to work with you to plan programming at different sites over the 7 weeks. We would work between your teachers and the site providers to develop program that addresses your goals within the parameters set by site providers. To avoid confusion, we would serve as the Centro contact to the site providers and negotiate the details of curriculum and activities between the site providers and your teachers. You and the site provider tell us what you need and we provide a package that serves both your interests.
Of course you are certainly free to plan and deliver the outdoor camp internally. In that case, we are happy to step back from the summer camp and turn our attention to other clients. Tom McCall is just one of many we are talking to; our goal is to be a one-stop shopping center for outdoor environmental education experiences so we are developing many clients, as described in our prospectus. Eventually we’d like to have a home site to support our full program but, in the meantime, we are working with multiple site providers to deliver programming that fits our client needs. I’ve attached both the Tom McCall proposal and our organization prospectus for further information. Our website link is below.
https://sites.google.com/site/fgexploratorium/?pageDeleted=%2Fphilosophy
Let me know if you’d like to meet for further discussion. Tomorrow (Thursday) is not good for me but later today and most of next week work well.
Carol Murdock
Jan 14 (6 days ago)
to jerivera, me
Jose,
Thank you for your proposal. We appreciate Centro Cultural’s interest in providing education programming at TRF. Since we also received a proposal from Terry O’Day regarding programming with Tom McCall upper elementary, I wanted to make sure we understand what you are proposing with regards to scope. When we met at the Farm last month, we discussed Centro Cultural using the site for its summer STEAM-ECT program and utilizing Terry O’Days’ team as a partner that would work with you to provide education programming during the summer months. In addition, Terry has also submitted a proposal to work with teachers/principal of Tom McCall to develop environmental education curriculum that would be implemented during the school year also at the TRF site. Our understanding is that the EdenAcres model would be used to develop curriculum for both the STEAM-ECT programming and Tom McCall. Is this correct?
As we discussed during your visit to the Farm, The intent of CWS is to implement education programming at TRF incrementally. Our interest is in providing opportunities for a variety of community-based organizations to participate in the provision of environmental education programming at the Farm. We also need to respect the zoning/conservation easement restrictions that exist on the property and ensure that the on-going agricultural activities (farming and plant propagation) are not hindered by the education component.
Current resource limitations at the farm include:
· Infrastructure is limited to outdoor picnic tables; one source of potable water; and two porta-potties.
· The conference room is not available to serve as a classroom but the older classroom is available for use. Otherwise, all educational activities and lunch breaks would have to be staged outside and away from the agricultural fields / plant propagation areas (unless otherwise agreed to by CWS staff)
· The lower bench portion of the property (the entire portion of the property below the conference room) will be undergoing extensive site-prep /revegetation this summer which will include the use of herbicides and contracted services. Any planned visits to the Farm would need to be coordinated with district staff about ongoing revegetation contractor presence on site, including herbicide use.
Our understanding of the scope of what is proposed for the STEAM-ECT is:
Reach:
Mon-Thursday 10am to 3pm each week; June 29-August 13, 2015 @ 35 students per day (7 weeks total). Students would be accompanied by 1 instructor, and two aides along with 1 volunteer (all of who will be provided by Centro Cultural, no CWS staff time is being requested). In addition, you are requesting transportation to and from the Centro Cultural offices to the TRF site each day.
The scope of what is proposed for Tom McCall is:
Reach:
3 days a year X 4 classes = 12 days (year one)
3 days a year X 12 classes = 36 days (year two)
What we would propose
In order to assess the carry capacity of the site; the need for additional infrastructure (that is aligned with the CE and zoning requirements) and goodness of fit, we have been working with our partners to develop ‘pilot projects’ that span one (1) year and can be evaluated at the end of that year to determine what worked and what didn’t.
Given this, we would propose the following as a pilot project:
1. STEAM-ECT would utilize the farm for a total of two (2) weeks during the summer (June – Mid August) Mon-Thurs 10am to 3pm with no more than 35 students per day participating.
2. Tom McCall school participation would be initially limited to one (1) school year: 3 days a year x 4 classes – 12 days per school year.
3. Centro Cultural would provide instructors, aides, and volunteers
4. At first glance, it appears that activities related to EdenAcres program theme “The Natural World” are most in-line with District/TRF education programming goals and objectives.
5. CWS would need to review the content of the proposed curriculum in order to determine whether or not it meets District education goals and objectives and is in-line with the Districts’ purview as a water resource management agency.
6. CWS staff can assist in designating areas on the property that are appropriate for the specific activities proposed.
7. CWS can provide funding up to $3000 per year for transportation to and from the Property for each program proposal that is accepted and agreed upon by all parties.
8. Any planned visits to the farm would have to be coordinated and scheduled through CWS staff well in-advance in order to ensure that the site is available on the proposed dates/times.
Please let me know if our proposed changes to the scope will work for you. We look forward to your response.
Please call if you have any questions or concerns.
Carol Murdock
Water Resources Program Manager
Clean Water Services
2550 Southwest Hillsboro Highway
Hillsboro, Oregon 97123
Monday, January 12
crista.gardner@oregonmetro.gov <crista.gardner@oregonmetro.gov>
Fallon Harris <fallon.harris@gmail.com>
charlie graham <cgraham@teleport.com>
Jose E. Rivera <jerivera@centrocultural.org>
rmartinez@fgsd.k12.or.us <rmartinez@fgsd.k12.or.us>
OConnorE@cleanwaterservices.org <OConnorE@cleanwaterservices.org>
MurdockC@cleanwaterservices.org <MurdockC@cleanwaterservices.org>
Crista:
Please find attached our letters of interest for Metro Conservation Education funds. Budgets are attached as well.
Please let me know if I need to do anything further to submit our letters of interest for Metro Conservation Education Grants funding.
Thanks
Terry O’Day
Board Chair
EdenAcres Environmental Education
503 354-2765
12-15-14
Carol Murdock <MurdockC@CleanWaterServices.org>
Elysia O'Connor <OConnorE@CleanWaterServices.org>
Sheri Wantland <WantlandS@CleanWaterServices.org>
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis <DennisD@CleanWaterServices.org>
All:
Thanks for the info regarding cooking and animals. While I've amended the paragraph for our upcoming presentations, I wanted to let you know that both are important elements in a permaculture demonstration site and are prominent in our curriculum so I'm hoping for an opportunity to further discuss your concerns about these elements to see if there are ways to address your concerns while accommodating our needs.
Briefly, animals of all sizes play an important role in recycling nutrients. They are also solar collectors that can convert non-digestible plant material to forms of energy that are more digestible by humans. Finally, animals are enormously attractive to youth and can provide many engaging opportunities to connect learners to different aspects of food, water, and energy systems. Our primary animal interests are chickens, guinea pigs, and rabbits. Adding small ruminants would give us the opportunity to demonstrate polyculture pasture management and improvement.
Cooking is often an important step in the transition of food from farm to table. In addition to providing a strong incentive for working out in the garden, constructing cooking appliances, such as pizza ovens, solar cookers, insulated hot-boxes, and rocket stoves all provide design/build opportunities as well as lessons on basic physics principles. Our primary cooking activities consist of pizzas and breads baked in an earth oven using freshly harvested vegetables and wheat (with grinding powered by a converted bicycle); hard-boiled eggs in a solar cooker; and beans and rice boiled on a rocket stove and then left to cook in an insulated hot-box.
Having said all that, we are creative thinkers and will be able to find ways to work within whatever constraints are necessary!
As far as site design, I've attached two very preliminary drafts of some our ideas. We were ambitious and designed to serve 100 students on a continuous basis. But we would start small and scale up over time. Neither of these plans is connected in any way to an actual landform and are intended to initiate discussion rather than state requirements. We expect that the plans will be modified in many ways through the design process. Included in both are:
Approx 8-10 acres
10 classroom gathering areas (possibly yurts or defined by willow hedges and pop-up shade canopies)
market/annual gardens
perennial/ herb/ food forest gardens
grain trial areas
4 acres pasture
chicken house and enclosure
rabbit house
bees
water treatment demonstration
outdoor kitchen (storage, earth oven, rocket stoves, bicycle grinders, etc)
table seating for 100 (lunch and classroom activities)
barn and workshop buildings
greenhouses
game/playground area
On another note, our program committee is working on a proposal for an in-service day-camp scheduled for district in-service days at the Tualatin Farm site. I should be able to forward that document to you after our meeting next Thursday. If the program is agreeable to you, our next steps would be to start laying out the garden in the area suggested during our last visit there. We will also need to secure insurance so will need to know what coverage you require.
I should let you know that our group has decided on a name for our project; henceforth we will be known as EdenAcres.
I'm looking forward to continued discussion at the upcoming Fernhill Council and FG Sustainability Commission meetings!
Terry
11-24
Dean Gustavson:
Thanks for taking the time to meet with me this morning. I’m looking forward to exploring the possibility of some kind of partnership should your faculty be interested in the direction we are going. Keep me posted!
Potential areas of partnership might include:
Pre and post service trainings and certificates
A practice-based undergrad program
Assessment protocol
FYI, I’ve attached:
Our project summary
The Sustainability Education undergrad major proposal. Karen Timmermans was a co-developer of the proposal so would be able to give you more information on the process it went through. Kevin Carr, Donna Phillips, Mark Bailey, Anita Zijdemans Boudreau, and Mike Charles contributed as well.
If you are interested in talking with other education professionals about the idea of developing programming in partnership with our organization, I can recommend the following people. Each would be pleased to meet with you at your convenience.
Tim Taber
Consultant with the Waters Foundation: http://watersfoundation.org
Works with schools (k-20) to develop systems thinking programming
Has taught a winter term “Intro to Systems Thinking” for Pacific for the past 3 years
Dilafruz Williams
Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy at PSU
Co-founder Sunnyside Environmental School and PSU's Leadership for Sustainability Education program
Greg Smith
Professor, Education, Lewis & Clark
Author of several books on place-based education
Facilitator, Place-based education in the Northwest learning consortium (PBENW)
Thanks again for your time.
Terry O’Day
Art Department
503 352-2765
Soria, Andy <jasoria@pacificu.edu>
Andy:
To (re)introduce myself, I met you on what I think was your first visit to Pacific a couple of years ago. I founded the b street farm project and I gave you a quickie tour to show you what we were doing out there. Since then, I’ve left B Street and have started working on a new project that is more focused on education and k-12. I’ve attached the project description for your review. We are making good progress in developing partnerships for our site and program and things are looking good!
I’m contacting you in your capacity as Director of the Berglund Center, which, according to the website, “is the place where innovative thinking, entrepreneurship, and multidisciplinary teamwork comes together to launch new products, services, and ideas within a vibrant learning community”
As such, I’m wondering if there might be a way to connect students to our organizational development team. In particular, we are interested in building a viable business model that will allow us to deliver our services to the community while providing a good livelihood for our staff. As is common with new non-profits, we are up to our ears with skilled people in our area of service (education) but are maybe not as robust in the areas of finance and business. As well, I’d be very interested in finding ways to connect Pacific students to what I see as a great opportunity for applying theoretical concepts to real-world problems.
Let me know if you are interested in following up with this. Once classes are out (December 3) I’m pretty available if you want to get together to explore possibilities.
Terry O’Day
Art Department
503 352-2765
11-24
Fallon Harris <fallon.harris@gmail.com>,
Marcia Wilcox <marciawilcox1@gmail.com>,
Charlie Graham <cgraham1227@gmail.com>,
Charlene Murdock <charlene.nanacardoon@gmail.com>,
Erin Morgan <erin3morgan@gmail.com>,
Terry O'Day <terryodayfg@gmail.com>,
Don Schweitzer <dons@pacificu.edu>,
Greg Kriebel <grkriebel@gmail.com>,
Rudy Marchesi <rudy@montinore.com>
Hi all:
This email contains the work group mail list. I'm still working on getting a listserve address that doesn't list names for the background supporters. I think I have to learn about "google groups" to do that. In the meantime, you can "reply all" on this email to get the work group.
If any of you are on this email that want to get fewer mailings (just the agendas and minutes), please let me know.
Minutes from thursday's meeting should be forthcoming sometime today.
Anyway, while in the car driving to Seattle yesterday, I tried out an idea for a site layout. Attached are both a pdf and a sketchup file
2 greenhouses
Chicken house (and pasture)
Rabbit house
20 beehives
4 covered cooking and washing areas
20 covered 3x10’ work/eating tables
45’ square courtyard
7 classroom spaces (30’x30’)
5 garden spaces (total area is about 30.000 sq ft. or .7 acre, so slightly larger than the b street market garden half)
Water treatment
1 barn/dairy (1/2 equipment and 1/2 animals)
1 workshop (with bathrooms)
4 1-acre fields (2 mini jersey cows, several shetland or babydoll sheep)
Several circular scampering tracks (twice around the perimeter =.9 miles. 6 times around the circle = 1 mile) Paths range from 10' - 15' wide. The driveway is 30' wide plus 12' deep parking spaces. There are 16 parking spaces.
The whole thing is about 8 acres. This is an idealized plan with no reference whatsoever to an actual landform. Just trying to get a sense of sizes and elements.
Yes, it's ambitious but I'm thinking 100 + students at a time here. We can start with pop-up canopies and go from there...
Thoughts, comments? Should things be bigger or smaller? What’s missing?
Carol Murdock <MurdockC@CleanWaterServices.org>
Elysia O'Connor <OConnorE@CleanWaterServices.org>
Sheri Wantland <WantlandS@CleanWaterServices.org>
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis <DennisD@CleanWaterServices.org>
cc
Fallon Harris <fallon.harris@gmail.com>
Erin Morgan <erin3morgan@gmail.com>
Charlie Graham <cgraham@teleport.com>
Charlene Murdock <charlene@nanacardoon.com>
Marcia Wilcox <marciawilcox1@gmail.com>
Diane, Carol,Sheri, Ely:
This is a follow-up to our meeting last Tuesday to confirm my understanding of next steps. First, I've listed upcoming meetings where we will present our project idea to receive input and gain support:
Wednesday, Nov 19, FG Community Garden Steering Committee
Monday, Nov 24, Dean Gustavson, Pacific College of Ed
Tuesday, Dec 16, Fernhill Council
Thursday January 22, FG Sustainability Commission
As far as what we are presenting, I've written below some statements describing my best understanding of what was discussed. Please edit as necessary:
General audiences:
Clean Water Services has reviewed our project description and is open to exploring the idea of partnering with us to develop the project at the Fernhill site. We are looking for input from the community to determine whether or not this project serves a need and will be supported to the extent that it needs to be in order to be successful.
Selected audiences:
Clean Water Services is willing to consider a proposal for land use in the areas designated "agricultural demonstration" adjacent to the Fernhill Wetlands. Proposal should include input from community stakeholders that are aligned with the CWS and the FG Environmental Education non-profit vision and mission.*
Proposal may include elements such as gardens, gathering areas, water features, small tool sheds, outdoor cooking and eating areas, domestic animal areas, and wildlife areas. A first draft list of elements and "bubble diagram" of relative size and location of elements will be ready to present to CWS in early January.
To give you a glimpse into the directions we are thinking about, I've attached a few drawings and photos of some of the elements we've developed for the B Street site. I've also attached the report that Communitecture produced for Pacific in 2009. As I mentioned, the direction described in the CSE document is no longer a primary focus for b street due to changes in interest and also to the limitations of the site; b street just is not able to support the scope of youth activity that we envision. Which is why we are so excited about the potential of working with CWS!
Please let me know if I am off track with any of the above.
Thanks
Terry
*CWS
Enhance the environment and quality of life in the Tualatin River Watershed through visionary and collaborative management of water resources in partnership with others.
*NPO
To engage students and teachers in active learning for transition to a sustainable future
11-16
jim@demeter-usa.org
Jim:
To introduce myself, I'm the person who is spearheading the environmental education project that Charlene Murdock has roped you into. I'm writing because, in my latest conversation with Clean Water Services, I was given permission to develop a land-use proposal for the areas designated "agriculture demonstration" that are adjacent to the wetlands. I was wondering if you would be willing to meet with me sometime in the next few weeks to go over some ideas regarding relative sizes of acreage needed for different types of agricultural activities according to biodynamic best practices? For example, how many acres are needed to keep 2 dairy cows in pasture and hay? Would that need to be doubled for fallow rotation?
Let me know if you'd be willing to help with this. Right now I'm in the end game of my classes at Pacific but after Dec 5, I'd be happy to come to your place at your convenience.
Thanks
11-12
bcooke@adelantemujeres.org
atecum@adelantemujeres.org
Alejandro and Bridget:
I'm writing to let you know of a new project we are working on in FG. As you might expect, given my involvement, it revolves around youth and education for sustainability. We plan to serve the community by offering after school, day school, summer camp, youth work and other programming that connects youth to the outdoors.
We've been talking to Clean Water Services at Fernhill as a potential host for the program. So far, talks have been going very well and I've been asked to put together a package describing how we might use some of the agricultural land that is adjacent to the Fernhill site. On their current maps, those acres are marked as "demonstration agriculture" and they are very interested in permaculture and other forms of sustainable agriculture.
I'm not sure of the status of your agricultural program but I'm wondering if you might be interested in a conversation about how the site might serve your program needs? I've also spoken to Ellen Hastay about the community garden needs. There is quite a bit of land out there and, given our community's interest in sustainable farming and food, it seems we could create some synergies by putting some of our activities into close proximity.
I've attached our program description for your information. Let me know if you are interested in getting together to talk about how we might be able to work together through this initiative.
Thanks for your time
Terry
11-10
Andrew Millison <amillison@gmail.com>
Mark Lakeman moontrout@gmail.com
Marisha Auerbach queenbee@herbnwisdom.com
"Leonard E. Barrett" <leonard@barrettecological.com
Hi All:
This is just a quick note to let you know about a new project I'm working on in the FG community. I've attached the project description for your information. We are in the process of meeting with civic and community stakeholder organizations to identify potential sites and get their input and support. I've also been in contact with Jude Hobbs about potential connections to the CPI. So far all has been very positive and we are excited about the potential scope of this project, especially in connection with one of the sites we are looking at.
At some point, we will be working with a partner to design a facility on their site and I will encourage that partner to bring in some experienced permaculture design professionals. Hopefully I'll be contacting you then with a proposal for working with us. In the meantime, I hope all is well with you and your various projects!
11-10
"Gustavson, Leif C." <gustavson@pacificu.edu>
Dean Gustavson:
To introduce myself, my name is Terry O’Day and I teach in the art department of CAS. I also have a strong interest in education for sustainability and have been involved with several projects along those lines. I was a founder of the Community school and served as board chair for 2 years after it opened. I also started the B Street farm and was the acting director until it was recently absorbed by the Center for Civic Engagement. A few years back, I worked with a coalition of CAS and ED faculty members to propose an undergrad Sustainability Education major but the mechanics of a cross college partnership became too complicated and the major was not approved. All of these projects were directed towards bridging the gap between youth and the outdoors though designing learning supportive learning environments.
I’m writing to let you know of a new project involving environmental education in the Forest Grove community. I’ve attached the project description for your information. So far, response from the community has been very positive and we are in the process of scheduling presentations for city, government, and community organizations that are in alignment with our goals and mission.
While I understand that environmental education is not a central focus of the COE, I believe the project could present a variety of opportunities for the college should there be an interest in this direction. If that’s the case, let me know, I’d be happy to meet with you to discuss ideas for productive partnerships.
Thanks for your time
Terry O’Day
Art Department
CAS
503 352-2765
Frech, Lisa Jo <ljfrech@pacificu.edu>
Hi Lisa, I think Marcia and Fallon have already mentioned our new project but I wanted to send you a formal notification as well. The project description is attached for your information. We are making good progress with gathering input and support from civic and community stakeholder groups and things are looking good so far.
Let me know if you'd like me to add you to our mailing list so you can get updates on our progress as we go. I'm also happy to meet in person if you are interested in hearing more. It would be fun to catch up , I haven't seen you in awhile!
I'm glad to see you mentioned so often in the spring course schedule, our students will benefit from all your teaching activity.
Terry
11-6
DeMoss, David J. <demossdj@pacificu.edu
Anderson, Douglas K. <danderson@pacificu.edu
David:
This is to officially inform you of a new project I’m working on in the community. The project description is attached for your information. In addition to informing, I’d also like to clarify and define the boundaries between my work on this project and my work at Pacific.
I’ve already set up a separate email and phone and will work on the project primarily on the evenings and weekends. However, given that the project is aligned with my scholarly interest in designing learning environments, I also plan to designate a “studio day,” (Friday) to this project, following the common practice in the art department.
I’ve already spoken with Doug about this and he is in agreement with what I’ve stated above. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding my work with this project.
Thanks
Terry
11-6
Carstens, Lisa <carstens@pacificu.edu>
Johnson, Kevin E. <johnsonk@pacificu.edu>
Phillips, Sarah <phillips@pacificu.edu>
DeMoss, David J. <demossdj@pacificu.edu
Anderson, Douglas K. <danderson@pacificu.edu
Hi all:
This is to officially inform you of a new project I’m working on in the community. The project description is attached for your information. Doug and I have come to an agreement regarding boundaries between my work on this project and my work at Pacific and I’ve informed David of the terms of that agreement.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding my work with this project.
11-6
Stokamer, Stephanie T. <stok@pacificu.edu>
Phillips, Sarah <phillips@pacificu.edu>
Sarah and Stephanie
This is to officially inform you of a new project I’m working on in the community. The project description is attached for your information.
So far, the response from the community has been very positive. We will be formally presenting the idea to community and city organizations with an eye towards forming productive partnerships over the next few months.
As you know, I feel there is an unmet need for a stable bridge connecting youth to the outdoor environment. In my view, restrictions to both site and programming at b street preclude it from ever becoming that bridge. Because of that, I’m hopeful that you will view this initiative as complementary to the b street program rather than as being competitive with it. I continue to fully support b street as a school farm that fills an important need in the Pacific community.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding my work with this project.
11-6
Gundersen, Deke T. <deke@pacificu.edu>
Van Buskirk, Rich <vanbuskirk@pacificu.edu>
Ilea, Ramona C. <ramona.ilea@pacificu.edu>
Sanders, Douglas T. <talsanders@pacificu.edu>
Ruder, Phil <ruder@pacificu.edu>
Johnson, Kevin E. <johnsonk@pacificu.edu>
Hi all:
Given our shared interest in sustainability, I wanted to let you know about a new project I’m working on in the community. The project description is attached for your information.
So far, the response has been very positive. We will be formally presenting the idea to community and city organizations with an eye towards forming productive partnerships over the next few months.
As you know, I feel there is a launmet need for a stable bridge connecting youth to the outdoor environment. In my view, restrictions to both site and programming at b street preclude it from ever becoming that bridge. Because of that, I’m hopeful that you will view this initiative as complementary to the b street program rather than as being competitive with it. I continue to fully support b street as a school farm that fills an important need in the Pacific community.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding my work with this project.
11-6
Hallick, Lesley M. <hallick@pacificu.edu>
President Hallick
I just wanted to let you know of a new project I’m working on in the community. The project involves building a youth-focused environmental education center and we’ve been talking with Clean Water Services representatives about the possibility of the Fernhill Wetlands as a potential site. Diane Taniguchi-Dennis mentioned that she had spoken with you about a possible Pacific partnership so I just wanted to make you aware of what we are doing for your information. To be clear, though I see much potential in developing a Pacific –CWS partnership, I’m working on this project as a community member rather than as a representative of any Pacific program.
To guard against any conflict of interest problems, I’ve notified my department chair (Dough Anderson) and school director (David DeMoss) of my work with this project. I’ve also notified the other school directors, the Dean, and Stephanie Stokamer.
The project proposal is attached for your review. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding my work with this project.
11-5
Greg Smith <gasmith@lclark.edu>
Hi Greg:
This is a note to make you aware of a new project I'm working on. (description attached). We are taking what we've learned from working with youth at b street and expanding to include a much larger scope. If we can find the right partner to provide the site we are hoping to serve 100+ students/day through the year with a permanent staff.
So far, our talks with Clean Water Services about the Fernhill Wetlands site have been positive. City and community organizations also seem excited about the possibility of a destination env ed center at the edge of town. We are building an amazing core work group (including Charlie Graham, of course) While it's still early days, things are looking good so far.
Because I can't seem to get much traction with these ideas at Pacific's College of Ed, I'm wondering if you might help me with some suggestions about how to connect this project to an academic Ed program that is more aligned with these ideas? I think the scholarship of teaching and learning pieces really need some kind of disciplinary oversight. I'd welcome any thoughts or suggestions you might have about how to find an academic partner to work with on this.
Pacific does have a social work program that might fit but, since our programming would need to support state standards, I'm not sure that would work as well as it would need to.
Anyway, I hope all is well with you these days. Thanks again for all the support you've given over the years, it's been very much appreciated.
Terry
11-3
Tom Gamble <TGamble@forestgrove-or.gov>
Tom:
I was wondering if I could come by your office sometime for a quick chat to update you on our progress with the environmental education project? Briefly, I've had meetings with CWS representatives and am working towards giving presentations at upcoming Fernhill Council and FG Sustainability Commission meetings. So far, response has been positive and things are moving along.
If you are interested in hearing more details, I'm available most of Friday but Wednesday morning would also work. Just let me know what works best for you.
I've attached the latest version of our project description.
Thanks again for your time
Terry
11 - 3
Schweitzer, Donald D. <dons@pacificu.edu>
Hi Don:
As you know, I'm no longer associated with B Street but, you know me, I don't sit still for long, so I wanted to let you know about the new project I'm working on. Not surprisingly, it has to do with youth, education, and sustainability. I'm working on this as a community member rather than a Pacific employee and right now we are in the process of identifying a site, informing stakeholders, and exploring partnerships. So far things are looking good for a potential partnership with Clean Water Services at their Fernhill site but it's still early days so no guarantees on that yet.
I've attached the project description FYI. One idea that has come up is a youth jobs program similar to some of these:
http://www.youthfarmproject.org
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/urbanagriculture/youthfarm
http://seattletilth.org/sygw
Given your interest in youth empowerment, I was wondering if you might be able to direct me to someone who might be interested in working with us to develop such a program? If the Fernhill site works out, there might be quite a lot of land available and I think a jobs program for the high school students would be a great way to approach programming for that age. I'd love to hear from you if you have any ideas along those lines.
I hope all is well with you and that your sabbatical is being productive!
Terry
11-3
O'Driscoll, Brian P. <odriscob@pacificu.edu>
Hi Brian:
As you may know, I'm no longer associated with B Street but, you know me, I don't sit still for long, so I wanted to let you know about the new project I'm working on. Not surprisingly, it has to do with youth, education, and sustainability. Right now we are in the process of identifying a site, informing stakeholders, and exploring partnerships. So far things are looking good for a potential partnership with Clean Water Services at their Fernhill site but it's still early days so no guarantees on that yet.
I've attached the project description FYI. I'm working on this as a community member rather than a Pacific employee but, if we are successful, I'm sure we will eventually be making internship opportunities available to Pacific students. That's a ways off though. In the meantime, I just wanted to make you aware of the project.
I hope all is well with you and yours these days. It's been awhile since I've seen you!
Terry
11-2
Carol Murdock <MurdockC@CleanWaterServices.org>
Elysia O'Connor <OConnorE@CleanWaterServices.org>
Sheri Wantland <WantlandS@CleanWaterServices.org>
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis <DennisD@CleanWaterServices.org>
cc
Fallon Harris <fallon.harris@gmail.com>
Erin Morgan <erin3morgan@gmail.com>
Charlie Graham <cgraham@teleport.com>
Charlene Murdock <charlene@nanacardoon.com>
Marcia Wilcox <marciawilcox1@gmail.com>
Amy Smetana <asmetana3@gmail.com>
Hi all:
This is a note to inform you of the steps we are taking to raise awareness of our project within the community. Our current activities are primarily related to informing the community of our project, taking input from stakeholders, and exploring partnerships. We are also working to formalize our non-profit status and plan to submit the paperwork for that in late December or early January. Our work group meeting this Thursday will cover both of those areas. (work group members have been included in the cc of this email)
I’ve listed below some of the primary organizational relationships we are developing along with our contacts in those organizations. We welcome your comments and suggestions about others we should be talking to.
Potential partners:
Facilities/Site
Fernhill Council (Tom Beck, John Hayes, Eric Brattain)
City of Forest Grove (Tom Gamble, Tom Beck, John Hayes, Elaine Jane Cole)
Adelante Mujeres(Bridget Cook – demonstration orchard?)
Community Garden (Ellen Hastay – community gardens spaces?)
Programming
Forest Grove School District (Yvonne Curtis, Connie Potter, John Hayes, Fred Marble, Lonnie Winkler, teachers)
Forest Grove Community School (Vanessa Gray, Karen Torry, Erin Morgan)
Centro Cultural (Jose Rivera)
CALC (Jessica Pierce)
Future Farmers of America (Jamie Duyck)
Stakeholders
Dairy Creek Food Web (Robin Lindsley)
Pacific University (many)
Tom McCall PTO (Julie Van Bemmel)
We hope to be placed on the agendas of both the FG Sustainability Commission and the Fernhill Council to discuss the project in the next month or two. So far, response has been very positive. People seem excited about the idea of having a destination outdoor learning environment in their community and have been very helpful with suggestions and advice.
In closing, we have a few questions (see below) that it would be helpful to have answers to sooner rather than later. I’m wondering if I can schedule a phone appointment or face to face meeting to get some clarity in these areas before we progress much further? I’m generally most available on Fridays but MW mornings are also possible.
Outdoor School?
Is outdoor school a possibility? There seems to be very strong interest in developing a formal outdoor school facility but this would require dormitories of some kind. There are lots of pros and cons to developing outdoor school. Our group leans toward the yes side because of strong interest, funding potential, ability to attract groups from across Oregon, and to work with longer program time-slots (a full week instead of a a few hours here and there). But we can see many reasons why CWS might not be interested in developing facilities to support overnight visits. We’d like to clarify whether or not outdoor school is an option from the CWS perspective as soon as possible.
Timeline?
Do you have a timeline for facilities development? Our programming and partnership agreements are all contingent on having a site available to work with. It would be helpful to have some sense of your projected timeline and process for facilities development to guide our planning process so we can be in step all along the way.
Thanks again for your time.
Terry
503 352-2765
11-1
v.gray@fgcschool.org
k.torry@fgcschool.org
Hi Karen and Vanessa:
I'm sure you've been hearing the buzz but I wanted to send you official notification of the new project we've been working on. I've attached the latest version of the project description for your review. As you will notice, we haven't named our baby yet so it is stuck with a generic "Non Profit Organization" title for now. (we figure it doesn't hurt to leave things open in case we run into a wealthy patron looking for a way to immortalize themselves).
In real life, we are currently in the process of looking for a site, making connections to stakeholders, and exploring partnership possibilities. We obviously will be interested in working with you as we get closer to developing actual programming. In the meantime, Erin is doing a great job with representing your interests as a member of our core working group. She will be meeting with a CWS representative (Ely O'Connor) and other members of our group later this week to explore curricular directions. (Fernhill is our top candidate for a site. Nothing definitive yet but looking good so far)
I'm excited to be working on something for youth in the community again and look forward to working with you again in the (hopefully) near future. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions, I'd enjoy the opportunity to touch base with you.
Terry
10-31
Eric Brattain, chair, Fernhill Council
e.brattain50@gmail.com
Eric:
You may remember me as being involved with the Community School and B Street Farm projects. I’m representing a group that is working on a new initiative that could potentially interact with the Fernhill site so am writing to let you know about the project and ask if I might present our idea to the Fernhill Council at an upcoming meeting.
I’ve attached the project description for your review. I’ve already spoken with Tom Beck, John Hayes, and Tom Gamble about our ideas. I’ve also had a meeting with CWS representatives. (Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, Sheri Wantland, Carol Morgan, and Elysia O’Connor) about possibly siting the project on the Fernhill site. So far everything has been positive. As a result, we are expanding our outreach to stakeholders. The Council is at the top of our list so we are hopeful that you will be interested in speaking with us. Please let me know if that is a possibility.
Thanks for your time
Terry O’Day
503 352-2765
11-3
Eric:
I once enjoyed a day-long conversation once with Chet Bowers at a conference and his books are at the top of the reading lists I give to students interested in a different view of education. He's not widely read so it's wonderful to hear of someone in the area who appreciates his work. You are lucky to have worked with him!
As far as presenting our idea to the council, any of the times you mention would work for me. Because of my class schedule on TTH, the 5:30 time works better than 5 for me. I'd also be happy to take a time slot later in the meeting if you want to cover other business first.
Given our group's eagerness to move ahead with this project, we'd definitely prefer sooner then later but I've learned patience over the years and will wait for a later date if it means better attendance and focus on our proposal. Until then, I'll be content with the knowledge that you personally are supportive of the idea and have agreed to put us on the agenda of whichever of the upcoming council meetings works best for your group.
Thanks for your positive response and I'm looking forward to working with you to develop this idea for our community. Exciting times ahead!
Terry
Elaine Jane Cole, Chair, FG Sustainability commission
elainecole11@gmail.com <elainecole11@gmail.com>
Hi Elaine Jane:
It’s been awhile since we’ve talked but it sounds like you’ve been busy with good things on the FG sustainability council! I also have a project I’m working on that I’d like to share with you. Not surprisingly, it has to do with youth, education, and sustainability. The summary is attached for your review.
We have a great core working group and I’ve had a few interesting meetings with CWS and FG reps about potential locations for the project. Right now we are in the phase of informing potential stakeholders and partners to get input and advice and the FG sustainability commission is obviously on that list. I’d love an opportunity to meet with you to tell you all about what we are doing and to see if there are productive connections that could be formed.
Let me know if you are interested in meeting; I’m available weekends and evenings and also usually on Fridays. It would great to check in with you; I’m sort of amazed that it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!
Terry
10-27
Carol Murdock <MurdockC@CleanWaterServices.org>
Elysia O'Connor <OConnorE@CleanWaterServices.org>
Sheri Wantland <WantlandS@CleanWaterServices.org>
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis <DennisD@CleanWaterServices.org>
Thanks for the info on the site and education strategy. It’s amazing how your documents line up with what we are thinking…
I’ve listed below the things I’m working on right now:
Drafting a “next steps” outline that I should be able to send out in the next few days.
Scheduling a meeting between our curriculum developers and Ely to go over the educational strategies
Collecting bios from our core group so you know who we are. In the meantime, here’s a link to both my website and the inspirational website I had been building for b street. B street is going in a slightly different direction now so many of the education aspects are moving into the new non-profit.
As promised, info on the books I mentioned:
The Beauty of Craft
http://www.amazon.com/The-Beauty-Craft-Resurgence-Anthology/dp/1903998425
The Third Teacher
http://thethirdteacherplus.com/resources
Also on Michael Becker in Hood River (regarding the building)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2014/01/less-than-net-zero-hood-river-middle.html
I do have one idea that I’d like to throw out there regarding the facility. I don’t know if you are aware of Chris Higgonbottom’s Viking House program at the Forest Grove High School. Each year, he and 16 students build a house from the ground up. It is a remarkable hand’s-on program that has been going since 1975. In recent years, Chris has been working to incorporate green building technologies and processes in the projects. It occurs to me that there would be huge community support if there were some way to connect his program and those kids to some part of the infrastructure development at Fernhill.
http://www.fghsvikinghouse.com/Pages/aboutus.aspx
Thank you again for your time on Friday. I enjoyed the company of others with shared interests and philosophies and am looking forward to seeing where this goes!
Terry
10-26
NPO group
Hi all:
This is a report on the meeting I had this morning with the CWS consortium. Before I get into detail, I’ll say that the meeting was pretty great. It seems like there is a definite possibility of us working together. So yay! Ok, now for the gory details:
At the meeting:
Diane Taneguchi-Dennis, vice project manager
Ely Connor, outreach/education
Sheri Wantland, public involvement coordinator
Carol Morgan, water resources
Proposed program:
Everyone liked it, there were lots of comments about good alignment and excellent timing. We seem to have hit all their chords with our description. They liked the 4 categories and mentioned how big food is in FG (I think because of the success Robin is having on the FG sustainability committee) They liked the health and well-being because one of their marketing angles is the healing of nature and also the healing Japanese garden they are installing. They were interested in the "slow making" aspect as a partner to the slow food. Diane especially is very big on the permaculture and the systems thinking. She has books by Capra* and Senge in her office so we are reading all of the same stuff. They agreed with my suggestion that their focus was managing water and that we could help them by providing the education piece in partnership with them.
Classroom:
They are getting ready to sit down with architects to start figuring out what kind of facility they want to build. But before you get too excited, it will be awhile before an actual building goes up – maybe a couple of years. But they have a new farm outdoor classroom space along the Tualatin in Hillsboro where they said we might be able to host the Centro camp next summer. I've attached a map that shows the proposed site for the building and have invited me to visit the site with them to get a better idea of what they are thinking.
Next steps:
They like us because they see us as a potential in-community networking contact. They said they sometimes have difficulty coming into a community and building a consensus for partnerships and would really like it if we could help with that. They’d like us to pitch our idea and get the input and buy-in of the different stakeholder organizations in town. (such as the FG sustainability committee, Adelante, the Fernhill Council, Friends of Fernhill, the school district, Ginny Garcia, Centro, etc.)
They’d like us to meet with Ely (education and outreach) to go over the curriculum they are already developing to see how we can complement that. I’ve attached the info that Ely sent me. I think it would be good if Charlie and Erin (and Fallon if in town) could also be at that meeting. I will send out a scheduling note to set it up; Ely says after 3:30 during the week would be fine.
They asked about Pacific, thinking that the college of Ed would be a natural partner. I pointed out that the focus of the college was primarily technology and now going towards speech and communication so the environmental ed angle might not be of interest. But I think it’s worth a conversation with the new dean to see if there might be potential for an opening in this direction.
They want me to sit at the table when the architect meetings start (Diane thinks maybe in about a month or so). Woo hoo!
They want to know who we are so I will need short bios of everyone who is willing to have their name associated with this initiative. If we can show them we have a strong group they will be more willing to believe we can deliver our idea. They want to work with people they can believe will get things done; showing that we have a track record of that (both individually and collectively) will go a long way to persuade them that we are those people. Our diversity of experience will also be a plus.
The networking will need to be a primary focus for us right now. As a public organization they can’t play favorites and have to let a community process play a part in determining what happens at the site. They need large-scale community buy-in, not just one or two special interest groups. So we need to sell our idea to the community; I think if we are successful with that, CWS will be our good friends.
To that end, I’ve started a list of organizations with potential contact names. Please add names and organizations as needed. If you want to volunteer to make any of these contacts, please do so. But lets wait to make actual meetings until we get things sorted out in written form; it would be uncomfortable if different members of our group unknowingly contacted the same person. We also need to be really clear about how we will represent the project so people hear the same message from different group members. Of course if you run into someone and the project naturally comes up, don't hesitate to share what we are working on.
So send me names of people you personally would be willing to contact or meetings you’d be willing to attend as an influencing representative of our group. Once we get a good list, we can go out and get ‘em/ We might also consider holding a public forum or two to see if we can get input and support from the community at large.
FG Sustainability Committee – Robin Lindsley, Deke Gunderson
City of FG – Michael Sikes, Tom Gamble, Tom Beck
Friends of Fernhill – Victoria Lowe? Rich Van Buskirk?
FG School District – John Hayes (board). Teachers and staff names?
Adelante Mujeres – best contact?
Ginny Garcia – anyone know anyone?
Pacific University? COE – Leif Gustavson
FG newspaper John Schraag,
???
Finally, I think we do need to get moving on setting up as a non-profit. Being an actual organization will give us more credibility so we should get that going right away.
Our next meeting is Thursday, November 6. Our agenda will be to strategize the networking and outreach and to get an outline and timeline for the NPO application.
Very exciting!
Terry
*I think it would be good for us to read the new Capra book, all at the table were enthusiastic about it in relation to their education programming:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Systems-View-Life-Unifying/dp/1107011361
<Fernhill DRAFT concept, 10-14.pdf>
<Student Education Strategy.pdf>
10-25-14
Hi Tim!
I’m checking in to inform you of a new project I’m working on. I’ve decided that PU is too thick and slow so am stepping outside of the university and working with the community on this one. It’s the next iteration up from the charter school and b street and we are looking at Clean Water Services at the Fernhill Wetlands as our primary partner. I had a great meeting with the CWS Fernhill project managers yesterday and it looks like we are off to a good start with that partnership idea.
It turns out that Diane Taniguchi-Dennis (project director) is a huge systems thinking fan and, when I mentioned your work, she expressed interest in meeting with you to explore ideas for including systems thinking in the program development. I said I’d get in touch with you to see if you’d be interested in an introductory meeting. So here I am, asking if you are interested.
I’ve attached a description of our project. We are at the beginning stages of forming the non-profit but the group we are working with is very well-connected to the community and to education. It’s a nice mix of energetic young-uns and experienced elders (argh!)
I was sorry to hear that checked the systems thinking class wasn’t being offered this year. I will miss touching base with you in January. But I trust you will be enjoying warm weather somewhere instead!
Terry
Terry
10-4-14
Jude Hobbs, Cascadia Permaculture Institute, PINA board member
Jude:
First, I wanted to thank you for your work with setting up the Permaculture Institute of North America website. It is a terrific resource for educators wanting to uphold the best permaculture teaching practices as they create their learning environments. I very much appreciate the clarity and comprehensiveness of the information you’ve presented on the website. Even though some of it is still in draft form, it’s already very been useful as a way to share thoughts about what a permaculture learning environment might aspire to.
Speaking of which, I wanted to give you an update on my current project. Under new management, the B Street site has become much more secure as a university entity but, in order for that to happen, compromises were made that make it less useful for those of us who were using the site to explore our interests with sustainability education and permaculture. So we are starting a new initiative, as described in the attached document. We've already identified some good prospects as far as site and organizational partnerships that take advantage of both our proximity to population centers and natural environments. So far, it looks like things are off to a great start.
In the attached document, I listed PINA and the Cascade Permaculture Institute as potential partners with the idea that instructors in the region might utilize the site to teach courses. I’m more interested in providing a site in our area for experienced teachers to use than setting up a competitive situation between new instructors and existing ones. In particular, I’d like the input of experienced instructors (maybe the PINA?) when we get to the design phase – what are the ideal site elements and conditions for supporting permaculture instructors and courses? I’d welcome your thoughts on how best to address that dynamic.
To help us with our background R&D activities, I was wondering if you would be willing to share a list of permaculture projects and institutes across the country that you feel are good models for the kind of thing we are describing. I think a few road trips might be in order…
Thanks again for your lifetime of work in promoting permaculture teaching and learning and also for your support for my particular efforts in that direction.
Terry
10-2-14
Victoria Lowe, FG Commissioner; Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, Project Mananger, Clean Water Services
Victoria and Diane:
I’m contacting you on behalf of a group of educators and community members who are interested in developing environmental/sustainability programming for adults and youth in the Forest Grove region. Our initiative grows out of the B Street project as described below:
Background
The B Street Living Museum has been in development for a decade. This partnership to steward Washington County acreage by Pacific University faculty, staff, and students has evolved to feature an organic annual market farm and a variety of other garden and landscape elements. This site has been well utilized to provide fresh vegetables to Pacific University food services. It has also served the community through offering educational summer day-camp opportunities for youth, a place for after school programs and field trips, and a community gathering space. As the value of youth and adult programming to the community has expanded, the need arose to establish an independent non-profit to directly serve the learners in our community.
Our group is especially interested in the areas near Fernhill Wetlands because the combined proximity to natural areas and population centers seems an ideal fit for the programming we envision. I’ve had conversations with Tom Beck and Tom Gamble about potential options for a site to host our program. Both suggested that we talk with you as stakeholders with a shared interest in environmental/sustainability education. I’ve attached an initial draft of the ideas we are discussing for your review.
Our group has many years of experience with experiential learning in outdoor environments. We are committed to serving our community through developing educational opportunities that capitalize on our natural surroundings, our rural heritage, and our engaged citizenry. Based on my experience with working with youth and adults at B Street and the Community School, I believe there is strong support for the kind of programming we envision. Please let me know if you are interested in a meeting to discuss ways we might work together around these ideas. I look forward to hearing from you.
Terry O’Day
9-29-14
Tom Gamble, FG Parks and Rec
Hi Tom:
I’m working with a community group that is interested in developing environmental youth programming for after school, weekends, and summer. We are looking for a location to set up operations and the area across 47 is an area of interest because of proximity to the AT Smith house and Fernhill wetlands. I know the city has purchased land there and is planning to develop that area over time. I was wondering if you ‘d be willing to meet with me to talk about the possibility of including a youth education center somewhere in those plans. I’ve already met with Tom Beck and am setting up a meeting with Diane Morris to talk about partnerships with the other community organizations that are involved with that area.
If you are willing to meet, I’m available Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays before noon.
Thanks
9-26-14
Murdock, Harris, Harrison, Masterson, Wilcox, Graham, S. O'Day, Hastay
Just to let you know that, after the advisory council meeting, it seems clear that the independent non-profit is not an option. As you know, that was the only option of the four given that allowed my continued involvement with b street over time.
There was no discussion of the ideas presented in our proposal but there were statements that b street would exist as a sort of “multi-purpose” facility that would change according to interests rather than hold to a particular arrangement or format over time. Though I disagree that multi-use is incompatible with sustained inquiry, I have been unable to convincingly convey that thought to management. Because my interest is in the iterative long-term development of learning environments according to particular learning goals, the two options that outline limited involvement for set time periods aren’t viable alternatives for me. So I’m choosing the fourth option that was given, which is to discontinue my involvement with b street immediately.
It may be that management is willing to consider youth programming as an initiative developed through the academics committee on the advisory council. I’d encourage those of you who are interested in this idea to work through the council to achieve that goal. Another option would be to consider finding another site and to develop the non-profit as described in our document. I think the idea we presented is sound and that our community would truly benefit from such an initiative. Metro and clean water services own a lot of land around here and I’m sure there would be willing organizational partners. I think the past week has shown that this group is capable of impressive output over a very short timeline. Something to think about...
Finally, I’d like to thank all of you for your support and commitment to the youth in our community. So many have benefited from your work with b street and it has been such a pleasure working with you over the years. I look forward to continued growth towards sustainability in our community, whether through our individual efforts or as a group. I wish all of you the best of luck with your endeavors and look forward to crossing paths with you in the future.
Terry
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse