Communities Directory: Lost Valley Educational Center

Formed: 1988 Established: 1989

Lost Valley Educational Center

Dexter, Oregon,

United States

Lost Valley Center is entering its 20th year as an intentional community, permaculture education center, and events facility. Our full time residents number around 30 adult and child members, and include permanent community members, interns, work traders, and other residents. We live and work together on 87 beautiful acres of gardens, meadows, forests, and a creek, 18 miles southeast of Eugene, in the foothills of Oregon's Cascade mountains.

Our dwellings are rustic cabins, yurts, and a six-plex; we are discussing creating a Community Land Trust and possible housing cooperative and constructing new eco-friendly community housing. We serve organic vegetarian meals partly grown in our gardens, on neighboring farms, or purchased bioregionally.

We run a nonprofit retreat and conference facility with dormitory housing and camping, and offer a certification program and workshops in Ecovillage and Permaculture Design which includes an eight-week summer course, four-week fall course, and two-week winter course. We have a Nature Center, featuring interpretive trails, educational materials, e-newsletters, conservation and restoration projects, walks with local naturalists, and larger events such as the Native Plants and Permaculture Gathering held in May, 2007 (see www.lostvalley.org.nature). For eight years we published Talking Leaves: A Journal of Our Evolving Ecological Culture (see www.talkingleaves.org).

We offer longer-term work/living/learning experience in our various departments (including garden, land/permaculture, events, maintenance/sustainable building, vegetarian cooking, service and sacred space, tech. support, and others) through our internship program.

Some adult members work as Lost Valley staff; others work independently on- or off-site. Members keep their personal assets and pay their own bills, including a monthly room-and-board fee.

One of our unique gifts is to create and offer a balance between a strong ecological focus and a deep commitment to communication and to the functional extended family that we are cultivating. We strive to be creative, caring, embracing of change, eclectic in our approach, and open to diversities in age, race, spirituality, and sexuality.

Website: http://www.lostvalley.org

Contact:

81868 Lost Valley Ln
Dexter, Oregon 97431-9743 United States
Phone: 541-937-3351

Links:

Lost Valley Educational Center: Links to membership info., intern opportunities, tour dates, programs, and much more.

Talking Leaves: Lost Valley's online journal, featuring both new postings and back issue excerpts from Talking Leaves magazine

Former/Other Names: (LVEC)

Last Updated:10/21/2008

Visitors Accepted

Visitor Process: Check our website for a schedule of tours, visitor days, and Community Experience Weeks. You might also consider attending another on-site program. Contact us if none of the available dates work for you; we may be able to arrange something else.

Network Affiliations:

Fellowship for Intentional Community

Population Adult Members: 10 Child Members: 2 Non-member Residents: 25 Open to new adults: Yes Open to new children: Yes Gender Balance: 50% M 50% F Open to which gender(s): All genders welcome Age Focus: No Focus Age Restrictions: No	Government Decision Making: By consensus Identified Leader: No Leadership Core Group: Yes (Core group membership rotates.)	Labor and Money Financial Style: Other Open to Members with Pre-existing Debt: Yes Labor Contribution: Expected (8-10 hours/week--includes kitchen shifts, meetings, chores) Join Fee: Yes ($1,000 during first year of membership (per adult) ($250 on acceptance, $750 at end of year)) Regular Fees: Yes (Monthly food, rent, and membership fees--for staff members, these are offset by a portion of one's salary.)
Land and Buildings Rural Area: 87 acres (35.2 hectares) Land Owned By: Another form of Non-profit Number of Residences: 13 Cohousing: No	Food, etc. Percentage of Food Grown: 6-20% Share Community Meals: Nearly all meals Dietary Choice or Restrictions: Diet is up to each individual Dietary Practice: Primarily vegetarian (Wide range of choices honored; main certified kitchen is vegetarian-only.) Alcohol Use: Seldom used (We have an agreement that we will have no public alcohol consumption except on pre-approved special occasions.) Tobacco Use: Prohibited (Heavily discouraged--limited to one spot on the land.)	Social Factors Open to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and/or Transgender members: Yes Shared Spiritual Path: No Which Spiritual Path(s): Ecumenical (includes "all religions") (Members vary widely in specific approaches; we share a spirituality related to our land, and also highly value our community relationships and shared understandings related to communication and personal/cultural evolution.) Educational Style(s): Home schooling :: Public schooled

Become an Editor Current editor(s): talkingleaveseditor, LostValleyOutreach

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Comment from on 7/8/2007 (Reader Rating: 6)

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Community collaboration is an interesting topic which deserves discussion.

Active listening

Recently I spent a week learning how to listen. I'm a type A and traditionally feel that I contribute most when I talk. My Community Education Week spent at Lost Valley Intentional Community and Educational Center, Dexter, Oregon, was quite different from my usual type of encounter group.

We spent many hours seated in a yurt, exploring one subject after another - a kind of face-to-face and heart-to-heart experience. At first, I said plenty, but as the week wore on, I realized that my really, really important contribution was active listening.

Active listening is not "Yes, uh huh". It is drawing out the knowledge and feelings of others so that what they say is given value -- to me and the other in the group. If I were Lt. Spock, I'd call it a group mind-meld.

I welcome the different approach to my contributions by using active listening.

Jim Miller

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