Welcome Back Woods, Oregon

We moved to this land in 2015 and named it Welcome Back Woods. To us, Welcome Back Woods is all about the idea of coming home; grounding ourselves in nature, reconnecting with our soul selves, connecting with the local flora and fauna, and creating a safe space that we can share with others for recreation, organic food, restorative agriculture and recovery from the busyness of our day-to-day lives. 

This property is located on the traditional land of the Molalla People of Clackamas County and had more recently been loved by the same family for the past 100 years. In 1920, the family built a tiny cabin. As the story goes, the grandmother got fed up with the tiny home living, so her husband built her a larger house in 1973, which Will and I now reside in. The cabin was renovated in 2019.

There are dozens of apple trees, cherry trees, plum trees, one walnut and one pear tree, which we suspect were mostly planted in the 1970s. They all still producing fruit but are very overgrown - some nearly 30 feet high. A seasonal creek runs through the bottom of the property and through the 11 acres of woods. 

When we moved here in 2015, half of the property was in the last two years of a 10-year commercial Christmas tree lease. The town of Colton was a Swedish logging town, that is now Christmas tree farms everywhere. Christmas trees are magical but hard on the land, with sprays and acidic soil from all the pine needles. In 2017, we started a regenerative program to restore the fields with oats and red clover to dump hundreds of pounds of nitrogen back in the soil. What was once Christmas trees, is now a lush rolling field that we enjoy as much as the local elk and deer herds. 

We are cultivating our permaculture paradise and have lots of fun projects in store. We have two flocks of chickens (and some free rangers that fly the fence), a few ducks, and pets. In 2019, we built a large greenhouse where we grew all the organic garden produce from seed. In 2020, we are building a large pole barn to support the farm. We hope to host volunteers and educational workshops in the future. 

We welcome you to enjoy unplugging, stargazing and movement at Welcome Back Woods!