Partner Spotlight: Zenger Farm

Meet Zenger Farm. Tall stalks of kale, onion, and garlic push up from the soft earth. Chickens happily scratch at a new patch of land. The wind rustles the leaves of a line of plum, pear, and apple trees separating farmland from protected wetland along the edge of the Springwater corridor. And a little red farmhouse sits on the hill above the green slope, its rooftops decorated with solar panels and its pipes connected to a cistern full of collected rainwater.

An idyllic spot for learning, eating, and volunteering, Zenger provides a beacon of green amidst the gas stations, car lots, and convenience stores that dot the busy thoroughfare of outer SE Portland’s Foster St. Once a working dairy farm, the land is now protected by the Bureau of Environmental Services and leased to Friends of Zenger Farm, the non-profit that oversees the farm’s educational and volunteer components. Through educational classroom tours, kids from kindergarten through high school come to the farm to get their hands dirty, learn where the food comes from, and farm their own children’s plot. The interactive tours include lessons on sustainable farming practices, healthy soils, wetland ecology, and environmental stewardship.

Friends of Zenger Farm also offers a number of other community programs, including:

An immigrant/refugee farmer training program which provides technical, educational, and linguistic resources to immigrant and refugee growers and market vendors.

An Eastside Egg Coop and Community Bee Project, sponsored by Heifer International

The Lents International Farmer’s Market, at SE 92nd and Foster, which will kick of the 2008 season on Father’s Day (June 15).

As with most nonprofits, volunteers play an important role in keeping the projects of Zenger Farm afloat. However, Zenger does an especially good job making sure volunteers have fun and get fed! Sign up to feed the chickens and you’ll take away some fresh eggs. Become an education volunteer and munch on home-grown Kale while engaging the kids in a hunt for creepy crawlies. Help out at the Farmer’s market and get a taste of East Portland’s international culture.

After Zenger’s Earth Day work party, one volunteer wrote: “This was my first day volunteering and I am so excited to do it again. Time flew by. It was nice to meet people with "like minds" and to participate in something as a group… It provided a sense of community which is what I was looking for as a volunteer. I'm also very impressed with the work that has already been accomplished at Zenger Farm and hope to be more a part of it in the future.”

According to Jackie Fuller, the organization’s Community Outreach Coordinator, “Zenger Farm’s volunteer program is a wonderful way for the community to get involved with all aspects of the farm. I believe that our program provides volunteers a place to learn, grow and connect with other community members. We appreciate every minute that volunteers are able to spend out at the farm with us.”

Want to get involved?

Check out the Hands On Calendar to get involved with Zenger Farm’s up-coming May 24th Cob-Bike-Shelter project in collaboration with the annual Village Building Convergence.

Join in on one of their Friday afternoon work parties by contacting Jackie at Jackie@zengerfarm.org or 503.282.4245.

Visit their website to learn more about everything they do: www.zengerfarm.org