The North Portland Farm

The North Portland Farm of Project Grow is a .75 acre (1.5 acres beginning Summer ’11) urban farm.  The North Portland Farm runs a bike-delivered CSA, raises chickens and ducks for eggs, goats for fiber, vegetable starts for sale and for the farm, provides community garden space for rent, hosts workshops, and participates actively in the small/urban farm community in the area.  Farmers and artists in Project Grow are invited to work on the farm, earning minimum wage, learning, harvesting, working, playing, teaching, delivering, washing, building, cleaning, selling, tending, planting, clearing,  and the myriad activities that are part of the reality of urban agriculture.  The North Portland Farm is a functioning and productive farm, as well as a community resource and research tool into the development of an integrated urban food system.  We use all organic techniques, use as much salvaged materials as possible, and maintain several concurrent styles of cultivation on our separate plots.  We focus on plant nutrition before output, employing large spacings, water-wise gardening, and non resource-intensive but nutritious fertilization techniques.  Volunteers are invited to join us while we’re out in the field, planning, building, and delivering, sharing in the process and joy of the North Portland Farm.  Come learn and share.

Central Lot

Shed Kiwi Arbor Aquaponics Bioshelter Vegetable Trellis Chicken Run + Compost Chicken Coop Raised Beds For Greens Community Garden Beds Blueberries Asparagus Annual Vegetable Beds Perennial Herbs Vegetable Washing and Packing Annual Vegetable Beds Raspberries Manger Goat Rocks Goat House and Climbing Structure Climbing Structures Goat Window Project Grow Studio

The Central Lot  abutts Port City/Project Grow between Tillamook and Thompson Streets. The lot was developed in 2009.  This site had formerly been an EPA Brownfield, the result of the former owner, Wagstaff Battery’s lead-acid battery production.  The site was remediated by a brute force method of deep excavation of the offending soil 8 feet deep, capping deeper soil with packed gravel and backfilling with clean fill.  While the soil as it stands tests free of lead, we choose to primarily plant in raised beds above ground in soil mixes from trusted sources.  The wheelchair-accessible raised beds for the farm are on automated drip irrigation, and primarily used for greens and for isolating varieties for seed saving.  The shed provides vegetable processing and packing space, as well as tool/feed storage, an in-progress aquaponics bioshelter for tilapia and fertilizer production, and trellising space.  The chicken coop has an attached run that includes a three-bin composting system.  We compost our chicken bedding, goat bedding, vegetable waste, as well as the community’s.  The Bridge (aka “Food Church”) provides several cases of undesirable (for humans) vegetables and fruit per week for our chickens, who promptly convert it into manure and fantastic compost.  This compost is used for amendments, growing our own vegetable starts, and making compost tea.  The lot offers 5 keyhole-shaped raised beds, oriented to the magnetic north for community gardeners.  Community gardeners can expect mentoring, free starts, fertilizer, and cover crop.

Annex Lot

Annex Lot Greenhouse (Peaches, Starts, Winter Veggies) Yurt Cherry Tree Espalier Apple and Pear Trees Urbanite Retaining wall and Berry Garden Perennial Garden Apple Trees Annual Vegetable Beds Annual Vegetable Beds Fruit Trees Fruit Trees

The Annex lot consists of 3 lots just south of Tillamook Street in NE Portland.  This site had previously been illegal dumping grounds, destructive illegal encampments, and host to several hundred cubit yards of opportunistic plant debris.  Thanks to the generous access to the land by smart development/transportation champion Jim Howell.  After initially clearing the land by hand, machine, goat, and thousands of volunteer hours, we tilled the soil, removed blackberry roots and concrete chunks of former sidewalks, and tested the soil.  The soil is clear of lead and other heavy metals, and has since been entirely sifted through one-inch mesh to remove any bits of glass, rocks, or more blackberry roots.  We reused the concrete to build a retaining wall around the centerpiece choke-cherry trees, now planted with dozens of blueberries.  The lot is 1/2 acre, and now houses a large hoop-house (generously donated by Pistils Nursery), new perennial food plants, one of the larger sheet-mulch endeavors in Portland, and a yurt for and artist in residency program and outdoor workspace.

North Lot

Annex Lot Cob Shed/Oven/Mushroomery Espalier Apple Trees Annual Vegetable Beds Raspberries Chicken Coop Herbs (Rosemary, Lavendar, Borage) Rose Hawthorne Tree Perennial Herbs Apple Tree Red d'Anjou Pear Apple Tree Cherry Tree Compost Grape Arbor

The North lot of the farm is a unique situation in the city: inheriting a piece of land that is not only not neglected  or disused, but one that has actually been stewarded and planted in food plants.  Formerly the school garden for the fantastic Trillium Charter school (now located at Killingsworth and Interstate), the garden contains established and productive raspberries, grapes, apple, pear, and cherry trees.  There are vegetable beds, a cob shed and oven, and a second chicken coop and compost.

Future Lots

We are working to develop a new lot for community gardening and farming alongside some wonderful neighbors.  More on this as details are finalized.  We’re always interested in land for cultivation, but at the present we are happy to stay at 1.5 acres and concentrate on efficiency before expanding further.

Login