Nathaniel Nordin-Tuininga was born into the Intentional Communities movement in the late 1970s. He grew up in the ‘80s learning from the land alongside his parents and fellow communitarians. In the early 2000s he moved to Lost Valley to begin a formal study of Permaculture and connect with Native teachers and practices which eventually led him to the Amazon Rainforest where the vision of Nature’s Mystery Awareness School was born. In March 2020 he returned to the land, parking the tiny house he’d designed and built with the help of natural builders Micah Camp and Seth Casson and friends on the edge of the meadow at the Lost Valley Ecovillage.
Lost Valley Education Center was founded in 1989 when a group of aspiring ecovillagers moved out to begin restoration on 87 acres of timberland (half of which had been recently clearcut) and oak savanna. One of the first communities in the US to experiment with permaculture practices and begin offering classes, they created ponds and swales to redirect water through the property, enhancing a process of natural regeneration. Selective planting and thinning of forests and controlled burns to improve the health and restoration of meadows and grasslands have been carried forward, as current residents continue to heal themselves and the more-than-human world through direct relationship with the land.
Today, the property has gone from the once dominant monoculture of Douglas fir to a rich variety of conifers, oaks, and other deciduous trees. Organic Gardens, a Native Plants Nursery, and maturing Food Forests now provide sustenance for human and non-human residents and surrounding community.
Nordin-Tuininga spends his days loving the land and creating opportunities for others to connect more deeply with nature at as many nerve endings as possible (he also still enjoys climbing trees and strolling barefoot through the woods). His tiny house is not just off-grid, but unelectrified so he can follow the natural rhythms of the day. He cooks with fresh produce from the gardens as much as possible and uses a cooler and a community kitchen as a backup. Though into a more simple lifestyle, he remains grateful for many of the miracles of modern technology, including refrigeration!
The ecovillage has about 30-50 residents at any given time and the Education Center offers Permaculture Design Courses, Social Forestry Camps, Internships and other learning opportunities throughout the year including a “Holistic Sustainability Semester,” for anyone interested in integrating in the community for 3 months while learning about regenerative agriculture, permaculture, medicinal and edible wild plants, rewilding, and the teachings of the natural world.
* Nathaniel adds that he wants to offer his gratitude to all Indigenous peoples and those who are choosing to listen more deeply to the stories, songs, and other teachings and continue to pass teachings forward. Lost Valley Education Center is in active partnership with members of the Kalapuya and other Native teachers to support this process.
www.lostvalley...
Thank you Chien Escalera Duong for the drone and other footage: www.HeyItsChien.com
Thanks also to Paul Deering and Jacob Welsh for their footage of the meadow burn and the Maypole dance respectively.
Thanks to Nomadic LLC and Binah Joy for Tiny Home Inspirations
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