The Garden Program is now in its third growing season on the Siletz Farm! The Siletz Community Health Clinic operates and stewards this 38-acre property as a diversified organic practicing farm that provides healthy food options and cultural opportunities for Tribal members. The Garden Program seeks to improve the health of our Siletz Tribal membership and community by providing access to clean organic produce, outdoor recreation, and culturally congruent activities in a safe space. Along with many other Community Health Departments and CTSI programs, the Garden Program is able to provide a wide variety of healthy food options, outdoor activities, and educational outreach for our Tribal membership and community.
Stay Up to Date on Events!
We will continue to post project updates and future event opportunities on this page, our Facebook, in Siletz News and in our Siletz Community Health Clinic monthly newsletter.
Volunteer Garden Days
Come learn and grow with us!
Held on the 4th Friday of each month.
Contact Jennifer Rackley at JenniferR@ctsi.nsn.us.
The Property
Tel-tvm’ is the name of place for the Siletz Farm in Nuu-wee-ya’/Siletz Dee-ni’. In 2020, CTSI purchased property near the city of Siletz with the goal of serving some of the health needs and food disparity in the community. We will accomplish that by utilizing this land to grow our own foods and medicines and to restore our relationship to the land, animals, and plants.
The stewardship of the land is guided by a Garden Committee, the needs of our community, Traditional Ecological Knowledge pathways, and a variety of internal and external partnerships. Half of the landscape is designated wetlands with wetland meadows, shrub/tree wetlands, and a seasonal creek that is being stewarded to host and enhance habitat for native plants and animals with a focus on Beaver habitat. The front half of the landscape has been historically over-grazed as open pasture which is being stewarded to fulfill the Garden Program’s needs.
The Farm Property (2023)
The Farm Property (2024)
The stewardship of the land is guided by a Garden Committee, the needs of our community, Traditional Ecological Knowledge pathways, and a variety of internal and external partnerships. Half of the landscape is designated wetlands with wetland meadows, shrub/tree wetlands, and a seasonal creek that is being stewarded to host and enhance habitat for native plants and animals with a focus on Beaver habitat. The front half of the landscape has been historically cleared and grazed into open pasture which is being stewarded to fulfill the Garden Program’s needs. The program has installed a rainwater catchment system that will serve vegetable and plant production, a 5-acre garden with an exclusion fence to deter grazing animals such as Elk and Deer, a greenhouse nursery for plant and vegetable production, various facility and access renovations for programming activities, and are creating a Garden Master Plan that will continue to guide the future activities in the landscape.
CTSI Garden Overview – April 2024
Click image to enlarge
The Program
In just two growing seasons the Garden Program has grown exponentially and continues to expand services thanks to the wonderful support of the community, other CTSI programs, excellent staff, and many external collaborations.
Produce Distribution: In 2023 the Siletz Farm produced 6,531 pounds of fresh produce and in 2024 there was 13,146 pounds of fresh produce harvested (101% Increase). All of the food harvested and produced by the program is distributed at no-charge to Tribal members, the Siletz Valley Charter School, other CTSI program collaborations, and on-farm visitors as a preventative health service for our community. Creative collaborations and distribution channels such as Siletz Valley Charter School, Tribal USDA, Area offices, other program distribution, and the Food Sovereignty Box Program have allowed for double the impact of fresh organic food going to our communities in just one year!
On-Farm Attendance: In 2023 the Siletz Farm saw 1,017 visitors and in 2024 there were 2,120 vistors to the farm (108% Increase). The Garden Program staff along with other CTSI programs utilize the Siletz Farm as a safe place for programming activities, education opportunities, community events, and other culturally congruent activities. One example is the creation of a new Agriculture Class in the Siletz Valley Charter School where garden staff teach a weekly class on place-based curriculum about plants, local landscapes, and the cultural traditions that surround them. The Siletz Farm also hosted over 100 on-farm events throughout the year with many different internal and external collaborators often drawing the attention of 20 plus participants. Communication of events is often done through the Siletz Newspaper, Clinic social media, staff e-mails, and the Garden Program’s e-mail newsletter that has over 400 participants. Events such as the annual Plant Nursery Giveaway and the Holloween Hay Rides drew over 100 people!
Program Outreach: In 2023 the Garden Program recorded an outreach impact of 285 individuals and in 2024 the recorded outreach impact was 1,056 individuals (271% Increase). In addition to on-farm events, Garden Program staff extends themselves outside of the Siletz Farm to participate in educational opportunities within the community. Collaborations with other programs extends the garden education and culturally congruent information that the program can provide to the community. Attending events such as Culture Camp, Wellness Carnival, Siletz Night Out, and responding to garden education requests from the Siletz Valley
Charter School and other Lincoln County school districts has allowed the Garden Program to significantly increase the amount of outreach to our community.
Food Sovereignty Box Program: In 2023 the Garden Program distributed 446 Food Sovereignty Boxes and in 2024 there were 591 total FS Boxes distributed (33% Increase). The Food Sovereignty Box Program is a service that works directly with Tribal members and their families. Each week during the growing season, the Siletz Farm harvests, washes, and packs fresh produce boxes that include seasonal availability of fruits and vegetables. Each box includes 5-10 different items produced on-farm as well as recipes and information relevant to items in the boxes. Tribal members work directly with farm staff to sign up and pick up boxes each week as boxes are available. During the summer months, TYEE youth participants help operate the program learning how to plan operations, harvest a wide variety of produce, and interact with individuals that are picking up from the Siletz Farm.
Additional Gift Value: In additional to growing and distributing fresh organic produce, the Siletz Farm also produces a variety of products that are used by Tribal members, programs, and our community. Items such as plant starts for gardens, vegetable and flower seeds, dried herbs for the Clinic apothecary, preserved foods, flower bouquets, and other deliverables identified as important. These products are all grown, harvested, processed, and packaged by program staff as a created value using sustainable resources from the Siletz Farm often up to a year in advance. In 2023 the Garden Program distributed an additional $47,732 in value of gifts produced on-farm and in 2024 there was an additional $73,931 in value of gifts produced on-farm (55% Increase).
Location
5213 Logsden Rd. (Second drive past mile marker five)
Events
Join our email list for information of events and special opportunities the program has to offer by emailing JamesM@ctsi.nsn.us.
- January – Planning Season
- February – Wetland Habitat Restoration
- March – Spring Preparation
- April – Strawberry Planting and Spring Nursery
- May – Annual Plant Nursery Giveaway
- June – Planting Season
- July – Summer TYEE
- August – Berry Season
- September – Season of Abundance
- October – Harvest Hayrides
- November – Holiday Harvests
- December – Winter Arrival
CTSI Garden Details – April 2024
Click image to enlarge
Property Features
Several improvements and construction projects have been accomplished in order to fulfill the needs of the space including installing a new well and extensive rainwater collection system that will serve as our irrigation for plant production. Two greenhouses on the property help extend the growing season and all gardens are enclosed in a 5-acre exclusion fence. A Garden Master Plan has been created in order to guide future improvements and activities in the landscape.
- Event Parking
- Open Vegetable Harvesting
- Greenhouses
- Vegetable Gardens
- Rainwater Collection System
- Wash Station
- Medicinal Gardens
- Berries and Orchards
- First Foods Gardens
- Walking Paths
- Pollinator Gardens
- Herb Drying Facility
- Seed Storage
- Picnic Areas
- Teaching Kitchen
- Staff Offices
- Seasonal Disc Golf Course
- Cultural Landscapes
Growing Plans
In addition to providing health prevention services for the community, the Garden Program is continuing to enhance education outreach, vocational skill-building for youth, and access to cultural materials and services for Tribal members. A recent
structural remodel of the on-farm building includes new office space for staff, a teaching kitchen, and long-term seed storage (seed bank). A proposed pavilion will provide additional produce washing capacity and provide enhanced community gathering space for Tribal members and other CTSI programming. Also completed in Jan. 2025, was a new drying facility to assist in curing medicinal herbs and cultural materials
Staff
Raven Hatfield
Facilities and Maintenance Technician
Daniel Alvarez
Nursery and Field Assistant
Vacant
Garden Steward
Vacant
Produce Distribution Assistant
Vacant
Orchard Steward (Fall Seasonal)
Volunteers Needed!
We are currently seeking volunteers to help us at the Garden Program! We need some extra assistance with gardening, landscaping, habitat restoration, planting, harvesting, event support, education, brush removal, and more! If you would like to support our efforts in restoring our relationship to the land and serving the community, please reach out!
Please read this flyer and contact Zeph Mullins for additional information, questions, and to get started in the volunteer process!
JamesM@ctsi.nsn.us
Gallery
Click through the gallery to see our progress!
Garden Progress
March 2022 – Progress on the Garden: Using black plastic tarps to solarize and kill the grass. These are left on for about a month to three months depending on the season and can be planted into almost immediately after moving. This allows us to plant without tillage or heavy machines in smaller spaces.
Tree Saplings
March 2022 – tree saplings for the tree and shrub guild: These grafted trees were purchased from Agrarian Sharing Network’s (ASN) Spring Propagation Fair. See their 2023 schedule here https://agrariansharing.net/ The fruit trees consisted of over 30 apple, plum, and pear trees that were grown in pots for a full season before being planted in December.
Garden Post
The first post set for the smaller front garden back in May 2022. Jonathan Duarte helped tremendously in creating the deer exclusion fence for the front garden that will be dedicated to growing flowers and serve as pollinator habitat. You can see the fence and garden from Logsden Rd when you pass by the farm. Keep an eye open for beautiful sunflowers and zinnias each year!
Willow Harvest
Processing wild-harvested willow for basketry materials. The Garden Program will be growing and tending a wide variety of willows for basketry materials, restoration projects, and cultural activities. The program is planting new willow species this Winter and within two to three years the plants should be mature enough to begin harvesting annually.
Front Garden Progress
Progress on the front garden early Spring 2022. Looking down to Logsden Rd and the Siletz River from the front garden, this will be part of the flower garden and pollinator habitat in the Spring of 2023. Notice the grass has been killed from the use of the black plastic tarps. We use these to solarize the grass and then plant directly into the ground.
Camas Seed Planting
Camas seeds being planted: The Garden Program was gifted Camas seeds from the Eugene/Amazon Creek area. Camas was stored in cold moist soil over the Winter and then spread into trays to sprout and grow for a full season before being planted into raised beds. The Garden Program is working to restore historical Camas that grew on the landscape at the Garden site and are seeking additional sources of seeds and bulbs to be stewarded.
Water Collection Tank
One of the water collection tanks used to fill up in the Winter/Spring months so that the shallow water well does not become overburdened in the Summer. Helping to conserve water for our neighbors and the garden.
Garden Progress
Garden progress in June 2022 shows the rows in the front garden taking shape and the elk and deer exclusion fence installed. This 8 foot fence was constructed with poly rope electric fence and can easily repaired and is extremely effective against critters that want to eat in the garden too.
Beaver Dam Analogs
There are 20 acres of wetlands, including Beaver Dam Analogs, on the property. These are built by had by removing dead limbs and overgrown areas that are then installed into the seasonal creek. The intention is to encourage prolific wetland functions in the landscape and to help Beavers move back into the area creating habitat and shelter for other wetland species.
Foundation Pad Water Prep
Thomas Knight preparing a foundation pad for one of our water collection tanks. The water collection tanks act as a reserve for when the dry season comes.
North-Side Overview
Overview of the north side of the property: There have been many changes to the landscape to prepare for the Garden Program to grow amazing food, medicine, and materials for Tribal members. We are glad to have some of the first photos to show the various stages of progress in the landscape.
Compost Collection
Americorp Vistas and Garden Manager Zeph Mullins collecting donated compost resource from a local wild stallion and burrow rehabilitation farm.
Mugwort Gathering
Mugwort grown and gathered on the property. We hang in bundles to dry then gift the plant to be used in medicines, smudges, teas, and other preparations. Our Community Health Department uses a variety of herbs grown by the Garden Program for medicines, tinctures, and other gifts.
Garden Growth
July 2022: Here is a patch of our “Seascape” Strawberries growing with Oregano, Sage, and Mint. The Garden Program will be growing a few types of ever-bearing and June-bearing strawberries in the years to come. Keep an eye out during berry season for harvest gatherings at the garden. Fresh strawberries and blackberries from the Garden Program will be distributed throughout the community and used in other Health-related events.
Seed Starts
August 2022 –Starting seeds to be grow in the garden: Onions, Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale, Swiss Chard, Beets, Turnips, and many others. Notice the flowers in the front garden starting to bloom around July. We use a method of starting seeds in soil blocks that uses less plastic and requires no additional pots to store the plants. The light and air prunes roots that grow and when plated there is less transplant shock allowing plants to grow more vigorously in the field.
Beginning of the Rainwater System
September 2022 – Beginning work on the rainwater catchment system. This is 40,000 gallons of potential rainwater storage that will be filled from rainwater that hits the roof on the housing structure at the property. We will then use the water for irrigating crops and watering plants in the Summer months when there is no available water.
Raised Beds
September 2022 – Raised garden beds being used to grow a variety of vegetables such as bunching onions, Camas, beets, turnips, cabbage, and broccoli. The Garden Program is using raised beds to grow out many different herbs and perennial plants from seed to make sure we have enough plants to provide ourselves and the community with plant starts.
Potato Harvest
October 2022 – Thomas Knight harvesting potatoes that were distributed directly to families at the Siletz Tribal Health Clinic. We were able to grow potatoes without any supplemental irrigation, saving water resources and contributing to the nutrient density of the food we are able to distribute. All the food from the Garden Program is distributed through a variety of community-based efforts with our Community Health Program and other administrative partnerships.
Fall Crops
October 2022 – Fall planted Cabbage, Broccoli, Kale, Turnips, Sunchokes, and other crops that will thrive overwinter and be harvested as needed through the Winter and into the Spring. Overwinter crops are often grown in the Pacific Northwest to take advantage of our mild Winters and exceptional amount of rainfall.
Barn Gutters
October 2022 – Working on installing gutters on to the barn at the Garden property. Rainwater will then be diverted and collected into a series of holding tanks that will serve as the irrigation and water system for the property.
Greenhouse Posts
November 2022 – Setting the posts that will serve as the foundation for the Garden Program’s greenhouse structure. The greenhouse will be the center of plant nursery production for the property as well as community efforts to distribute and share gardening resources.