Exploring the connections between healthy land and healthy people

Youth education at Zenger Farm provides hands-on educational activities in a natural environment, focusing on students from the outer southeast Portland neighborhoods that the farm strives to serve. Students who come to Zenger Farm learn that carrots grow in the ground, apples come from trees, chickens lay eggs and bees make our honey! Youth Education encompasses multiple activities: Farm School, field trips, camps and after-school programs. Many students who participate in these programs come from our local school district, David Douglas, where 63 native languages are spoken and 24% of students are English-language learners. Our experiential and science-based programs teach kids of all backgrounds about food, farming, wetland conservation, and environmental stewardship.

Zenger Farm’s experiential and science-based programs teach youth and adults the importance of food, farming, wetland conservation and environmental stewardship. Participants learn that healthy food comes from healthy soil. Zenger Farm provides opportunities for community members to get their hands dirty and learn where their food comes from!

Education Programs in 2021

With all of our usual youth education programming on hiatus due to covid-19, our team has gotten creative to find ways to engage youth in a pandemic. Here’s a few highlights of our current work:

At home Activities: we are developing weekly activities that kids can do at home including recipes, crafts and outdoor adventures. We are distributing these weekly at a few food pantries in our neighborhood. Find them on our blog to try them out yourself.
Wild X Partnership: We are excited to be partnering with Wild X this spring to bring a small group of Black and Brown youth to the farm regularly for outdoor learning and exploration.
Open Farm Days: we are opening the farm a few Saturdays/month to families to come explore, learn and taste with us, all in a covid-safe way. Learn more here.

Farm Camps (Currently on hiatus)

We are not running camps in 2021. Please visit our events page to find other ways to visit the farm. Thank you!

Farm Camps offer an unforgettable opportunity to explore, eat, and play in our beautiful urban educational farm and wetland throughout the seasons. We offer Spring Break, Summer, and Winter Camps. Campers tend to vegetables and farm animals, harvest produce, craft with magical plants, participate in farm scavenger hunts, and develop chef skills during cooking challenges.

Field Trips (Currently on hiatus)

Through our Field Trip programs students learn about sustainable farming practices, healthy soils, beneficial insects, and wetland ecology. By participating in Service Learning projects, they have the opportunity to be farmers and stewards of the land.

Workshops

Attend a workshop at our beautiful urban farm and go home with new skills and a hefty dose of inspiration!