It all began in 2005 one evening as two of the founders, Aliesje King and Brooklyn Birchfield, sat on a porch swing and dreamed up their ideal garden education organization. Several years later Aliesje completed her Master’s of Education in Ecology and Agriculture with a thesis that would be the foundation of Portland Earth Art & Agriculture Project.  In 2009 Aliesje started teaching in the Outdoor Learning Gardens at Atkinson School and in 2010 Brooklyn and Aliesje developed summer camps to sustain the gardens at Atkinson and teach hands-on environmental education. Erin O’Neill joined the summer camp team in 2011. Over the years there were many partners in the evolution of garden education at Atkinson including the Indian Education Academic Cultural Enrichment program (ACE), PSU’s Capstone Project, Janet Cowell, and the PSU Applied Linguistics students, as well as Diane Jacobs and her Story of PLACE project. Grants from the US Department of Fish and Wildlife helped to fund summer camp and other garden education projects during the early years. A sliding scale tuition and a Work Trade component allowed families of all income levels to attend our camps.

 

2011 saw the expansion of Portland Earth Art & Agriculture Project (Earth Art Ag) as Brooklyn joined Aliesje in teaching school-day garden education at several Portland Public Schools.  As the number of schools grew, so did Earth Art Ag. A Board of Directors formed, comprised largely of parents of students from both camp and schools, and in 2014 a partnership was formed with Outgrowing Hunger, a local non-profit that develops and supports community gardens for low-income communities. In May of 2014 Outgrowing Hunger became the fiscal sponsor of Earth Art Ag and in 2016 a formal merger was forged so that Earth Art Ag is now the education division of Outgrowing Hunger.  After the 2014 - 2015 school year Brooklyn, Aliesje and Erin decided to focus on other aspects of their lives, and withdrew as educators from Earth Art Ag.  The organization continues to grow and thrive, now providing academically-supported, hands-on garden education to over 5,000 students in 11 public schools in Portland Public, David Douglas, and West Linn-Wilsonville school districts.  We are so grateful to the many people and organizations who have contributed ideas, time, feedback, seeds, soil, and funds.  A big thank you to the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Bill Healy Foundation, Nike Community Fund, the Oregon Department of Education, and Portland Nursery.  We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Earth Art Ag. Perhaps you will be part of it.

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