July 15th Update - due to the air conditioning not functioning in our venue, we have to postpone this event until a later date. Please stay tuned for more details! We will let all those who RSVPd as well as subscribers to our email newsletter know once we have our new date. Thanks for your patience!

The SLC’s mission is to provide a unique living laboratory that educates and encourages sustainable practices in daily life, and we believe that understanding the history of this living laboratory is important to achieving our mission.

The fourth presentation in this series will be on Oregon’s cultural landscapes, presented by Laurie Matthews, M.A., Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture & Historic Preservation at the University of Oregon.

Laurie Matthews, FASLA, is a nationally recognized expert in cultural landscapes. She will share her insights on some of Oregon’s diverse cultural landscapes focusing on what opportunities they invite and what challenges they present, contextualizing them within the broader framework of the practice of cultural landscape preservation and management in the US and internationally. 

Laurie is Director of Preservation Planning + Design at MIG and an adjunct professor with University of Oregon’s landscape architecture and historic preservation departments. Her exceptional accomplishments and contributions to the field of landscape architecture have earned her the designation of Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FASLA). Her work on cultural landscapes helps maintain and manage some of the most iconic historic places in the country such as Yosemite National Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Crater Lake National Park. She is fascinated by the complexities and stories associated with landscapes and the history they reveal, and her work is guided by the principle that landscape preservation requires managing rather than halting change. Laurie has an M.L.A. and B.L.A. from the University of Oregon, a B.A. from Lewis & Clark College, is former president of the American Society of Landscape Architects Oregon chapter and serves on the board of Restore Oregon.

The SLC appreciates any help we can get to continue hosting events like this! A $10 donation would be greatly appreciated, but feel free to donate what you are able to. You can donate online or in person at the event.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

Join on Zoom

We are still finalizing details for other presentations in the Willamette Valley History Series; in the meantime check the SLC events page for updates and sign up to receive email updates

Want to help us promote this event? Here is the Facebook link.

Debra Irizarry (MA, ATR-BC, LCAT) is a full time art therapist at the Chemawa Indian school in Salem. Originally from Puerto Rico and NYC, now living in Salem, Oregon. Debra has exhibited around the Southwest, the East coast and at the Biennale in Florence, Italy.

This presentation details the immense benefits of art therapy, as it facilitates the expression of difficult to express emotions in a visual way without needing words.

The SLC appreciates any help we can get to continue hosting events like this! A $10 donation would be greatly appreciated, but feel free to donate what you are able to. You can donate online or in person at the event.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

Want to help us promote this event? Here is the Facebook link.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

The SLC’s mission is to provide a unique living laboratory that educates and encourages sustainable practices in daily life, and we believe that understanding the history of this living laboratory is important to achieving our mission.

The third presentation in this series is “Fairview and Oregon’s Radical Eugenics Program in the Twentieth Century”, presented by Dr. Kimberly Jensen, Professor of History and Gender Studies at Western Oregon University.

The Oregon State Institution for the Feeble Minded (OSIFB), renamed Fairview in 1933, was at the center of the state’s eugenic sterilization program in force from 1917 to 1983. This presentation will provide an overview of eugenics in Oregon and the nation and Oregon’s broad eugenic categories related to “feeblemindedness” and “degeneracy” that targeted people of color, gender nonconforming people, people who challenged social norms, and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We will consider how state-coerced sterilization impacted OSIFB and Fairview residents, including policies about parole and discharge, and how the institution’s hospital became a destination for dozens of girls and young women who were inmates of the Oregon State Industrial School for Girls (later Hillcrest) for their own coerced sterilizations between 1926 and 1951.

Dr. Jensen received her Ph.D. in U.S. and women’s history at the University of Iowa and is professor of history and gender studies at Western Oregon University. She is the author of Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War (University of Illinois, 2008), Oregon’s Doctor to the World: Esther Pohl Lovejoy and a Life in Activism (University of Washington, 2012), and Oregon’s Others: Gender, Civil Liberties, and the Surveillance State in the Early Twentieth Century (University of Washington, 2024) and a number of book chapters and articles. Several articles have been recognized with awards including the Charles DeBenedetti Prize in Peace History, 2019-2020 and the Joel Palmer Award from the Oregon Historical Quarterly in 2008 and 2018. Dr. Jensen works to make history accessible to diverse and broad audiences as a member of the executive and editorial boards of the Oregon Encyclopedia.

• Personal webpage https://kimberlyjensen.net/

• WOU webpage https://wou.edu/wp/kimjensen/

• Oregon’s Others: University of Washington Press https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295752587/oregons-others/

The SLC appreciates any help we can get to continue hosting events like this! A $10 donation would be greatly appreciated, but feel free to donate what you are able to. You can donate online or in person at the event.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

Join on Zoom

We are still finalizing details for other presentations in the Willamette Valley History Series; in the meantime check the SLC events page for updates and sign up to receive email updates

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

The SLC’s mission is to provide a unique living laboratory that educates and encourages sustainable practices in daily life, and we believe that understanding the history of this living laboratory is important to achieving our mission.

The second presentation in this series on the history of the Willamette Valley, including Pringle Creek and Chemeketa (now called Salem), is by Cara Kaser, M.A., member of the City of Salem’s Historic Landmarks Commission. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Kaser served as an Architectural Historian with the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. 

She has worked on various historic preservation projects throughout the west coast, including the Ernest Bloch House (Newport), Joseph Jacobberger Country House (Portland), Weston School (Weston), the Roba Ranch (Paulina), the Egyptian Theatre (Coos Bay), and Sacajawea State Park (Pasco, Washington).

Ms. Kaser will be presenting on New Dreams in Old Buildings, a focus on early building practices in Oregon.

The SLC appreciates any help we can get to continue hosting events like this! A $10 donation would be greatly appreciated, but feel free to donate what you are able to. You can donate online or in person at the event.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

Join on Zoom

We are still finalizing details for other presentations in the Willamette Valley History Series; in the meantime check the SLC events page for updates and sign up to receive email updates

Join us for this family friendly event on Mother’s Day in our newly acquired fir grove! We are partnering with other local businesses and groups to make this a fun day for everyone in the family. Make sure to stop by Prismatic Coffee and Root Cellar Market while you’re at the fair!

Activities include:

• Vegetable seedlings for sale in partnership with the Pringle Creek Community’s Urban Farm

• Perennial plants for sale by Edible Oregon

• Cut flowers for sale by Flowers on Quince

• Family partner yoga with Chantal Barton of Resonance Yoga Collective - free but donations in support of the fir grove are appreciated! Chantal will host one 20 minute session at 11:30 and another session at 12:30. These sessions will be great for parents and kids under 12, and we encourage bringing a blanket and yoga mat. Chantal will have some mats available to borrow.

• Baked goods from Ember & Whisk

• Kombucha from Rhythm Craft Kombucha

• Samples and info from Willamette Local Food Connection

• Sustainable nature crafts

• Fir grove scavenger hunt with fun prizes provided by the Marion Soil & Water Conservation District

• Live music by Ric Trauernicht

We are hoping for sunny weather but the fair will go on rain or shine!

We encourage walking, public transport, or carpooling if you are able. If you drive, there is limited parking at 3911 Village Center Dr SE as well as street parking. When parking on the street, please only park on one side of the street and avoid parking on the grass.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

Update! If you are not able to attend in person, you can view the lecture via this Zoom link. You do not need to RSVP unless you will be attending in person.

The SLC’s mission is to provide a unique living laboratory that educates and encourages sustainable practices in daily life, and we believe that understanding the history of this living laboratory is important to achieving our mission.

The first presentation in this series on the history of the Willamette Valley, including Pringle Creek and Chemeketa (now called Salem), is by Dr. David G. Lewis, member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

Dr. Lewis is an assistant professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University, who in 2001 began publishing his extensive research on the Tribal histories of the Northwest Coastal peoples, specializing in the Western Oregon Tribes. 

While most publications and stories omit over ten thousand years of human history in the region, Dr. Lewis’s most recent work, “Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley,” focuses on the region’s First Peoples and their experiences as their homelands drastically changed in a short amount of time. We hope you can join us for this presentation on a part of the past that most people are unacquainted with.

You can find more information about Dr. Lewis and the book here, and more of his work can be found here. Books will be available for purchase at the event, and Dr. Lewis will be signing copies.

This is a free event, but we welcome donations to help support events like this and the ongoing work of the SLC. You can donate online or at the event.

Capacity in the hall is limited, so please RSVP by submitting this form.

We are still finalizing details for other presentations in the Willamette Valley History Series; in the meantime check the SLC events page for updates and sign up to receive email updates.

Fall Gardening:  Extending Your Harvest & Winter Cover Crops

What to Do With Your Harvest:  When to harvest, how to harvest and using your vegetables.

Using Organic Fertilizers & Pesticides & More Hands-On Gardening

Vegetable Gardening & Starting Seeds -  Hands On 

Beneficial Bugs for Your Garden & Companion Planting

Starting Seeds Organically/Navigating Seed Catalogs. All participants will select free seeds from SLC’s donated seed.

Soils:  The Foundation for a Great Garden

Intro to Urban Farmers:  Planning a Vegetable Garden

If you are interested in enrolling for the eight-class program or have questions, contact our fabulous Urban Farmer Colleen Owen: colleen@pringlecreek.com or call (503) 315-1055

This free, educational event open to the public, where experts and lovers of mushrooms will be displaying a variety of fungi found in the Pacific Northwest. Come and explore the fascinating world of mushrooms through special presentations and workshops led by our local mushrooming society!

The event will take place at the SLC’s Painter’s Hall.

Join us on the beautiful grounds of Pringle Creek Community for an afternoon of food, family, fun and... foraging! Learn about some of the edible plants that grow wild in our area—and even taste a few along the way—during an expert-led forage walk. Local vendors will also be on hand with samples of tasty foods and products created using fresh and locally harvested ingredients, as well as some delicious local items for sale. We’ll have information on food preservation, art activities for the kids, and more. Come and enjoy all the fun!

What should we look for during a solar eclipse? How do eclipses effect the plants and animals around us? How do we view an eclipse safely? Have your questions answered and learn how to make the most of the Solar Eclipse taking place on August 21st, with a presentation by Jed Rembold Ph.D, professor of physics at Willamette University! This hour long presentation and Q&A session will teach you everything that you need to know about this rare natural phenomenon. The first 20 people will also get free eclipse glasses!

Admission is free but we suggest a donation to help us continue putting on events!

The presentation takes place on August 7th from 6:00pm-7:00pm in Painter's Hall at Pringle Creek Community 3911 Village Center Drive SE, Salem, OR  97302 

View the Facebook event here!

Any questions can be emailed to slcpringlecreek@gmail.com or call (503) 315-1055

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