Nature immersion Summer Camps
summer camp 2025 registration is now open!
Camp info
Please ensure your camper is dressed properly and brings a water bottle every day. Snack is provided by Willow Creek Forest School and campers bring their own nutritious lunch. Drop off and pick up is at the Tryon Creek State Natural area parking lot. Camps are Monday – Friday, 9:30am – 2:30pm and are $350 a week.
Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information. To secure your camper’s place at our camps, please send a check payable to TLC Farm and send to 11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd, Portland, OR, 97219, after you register your child. Refund policy: We realize that life happens and plans change. 100% refund with 3 weeks notice. 50% refund with 2 weeks notice. If you need to unenroll from a camp after that, please contact the administrator to see what we can work out.
About Our staff
All staff of our Nature Immersion Summer camps are fully vaccinated, have certified state certified background checks and are CPR and First Aid certified. All of our teachers share a love of the outdoors and with working with young people. They integrate enthusiasm and fun with safety, striving to give the campers the best outdoors experience possible.
About the land
Willow Creek Forest School is a program of Tryon Life Community Farm, a 501(c)3 non-profit that runs off the 7.5 acre land. TLC Farm’s mission is to “bring people together to root into relationships with each other and the land, by sharing tools for community-based sustainability and social change, and tending resilient ecosystems.” Along with Willow Creek Forest School, TLC Farm hosts events, classes, workshops and school groups who come and learn about gardening, natural building and more. The Farm is nestled against Tryon Creek State Park, 650 acres of diverse forest with a creek running through it. It is Oregon’s only state park located within a major metropolitan area and is frequented by Portland area residents.
Our 2025 camp offerings
Week 1: June 23rd – 27th
Nature Trekkers
Campers will learn skills for navigating the forest. Learn some survival skills while also discovering which creatures also live in the woods. Most days will be spent in the forest complete with a picnic lunch somewhere in the woods.
Camp runs M-F. 9:30 am – 2:30pm. Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information.
Week 2: July 7th – 11th
Crafting with Nature (Ages 3 – 8)
No need for designer art supplies and expensive classes when we have Nature at our fingertips! Come learn how to turn eggshells into sidewalk chalk, dandelions into watercolors, tree branches into paintbrushes, and many more as we find environmentally-friendly and sustainable ways to create art. Children will learn about proper harvesting procedures and how we can help protect the forest and land in the process.
Camp runs M-F. 9:30 am – 2:30pm. Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information.
Week 3: July 14th – 18th
Forest Adventures (Ages 3-8)
Be a creature expert! Learn about real creatures of the forest and mythical creatures from the past in Tryon Creek State Park and on the Forest Farm. Create your own creatures with nature crafting and your own wild imagination while making friends, hiking through the forest, making awesome crafts and learning forest ecology. Join us for a fun-filled adventure and come play where the wild mythical creatures live!
Camp runs M-F. 9:30 am – 2:30pm. Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information.
Week 4: July 21st – 25th
Farm Camp (Ages 5-8)
Where does all of our food come from? How does a seed grow? What happens
when we compost our leftovers — and what are all those creepy crawlies
doing in there?! These questions and more are answered in this
immersive, hands-on summer camp where kids will be able to see plants in
all stages of growth, watch their very own seeds grow, and harvest their
own snacks from the land. We will make friends with the goats, play with
worms, and learn about how to grow yummy, healthy food sustainably! Come
play with us as we explore the beauty of life and get your hands covered
in sweet berry juice.
Camp runs M-F. 9:30 am – 2:30pm. Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information.
Week 5: August 4th – 8th
Nature Arts and Crafts (Ages 3-8)
Do you love arts and crafts? This camp will be full of creative activities that use natural materials.Children will learn about proper harvesting procedures and how we can help protect the forest and land in the process.
Camp runs M-F. 9:30 am – 2:30pm. Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information.
Week 6: August 11th – 15th
Farm Camp (Ages 5-8)
Harvesting the fruits of our labors is the most exciting part of growing
food! Late summer comes bearing apples, plums, blackberries, and more
for our taste buds and bellies to enjoy. In this camp we will learn
about how seeds grow and what happens to our food scraps to turn them
into delicious soil to nourish our plants, and will have a focus on
sustainable harvest of fruits, veggies, and herbs to feed ourselves!
Making homemade applesauce and staining our fingers with blackberries,
we will enjoy the blessings of the land in summertime. Join us!
Camp runs M-F. 9:30 am – 2:30pm. Available to all that truly wish to participate, regardless of financial situation. Please contact us for scholarship information.