2025 Recap!
After a few quieter years, the Pringle Creek Sustainable Living Center (SLC) had an exciting 2025! Below is a recap of some key milestones and activities. We are planning some exciting things for 2026 and will share more about what we're planning later this winter😊
The biggest milestone of 2025 was the SLC's purchase of a 3/4 acre fir grove property in the Pringle Creek Community. We are so grateful and excited to have this property to expand efforts to promote sustainability, accessibility, and community education - but we still need to raise funds to pay off the remaining mortgage and eventually make improvements to the property to protect the fir trees long term and create community spaces for learning and gathering. Please consider supporting our fir grove campaign:
SLC Director Katie Bonham coordinated the enlightening Willamette Valley History Series, hosting 8 presentations from March through November that educated us about the history of Pringle Creek, Salem, and Oregon. We believe understanding the history of our living laboratory is important to better achieving our mission. We are working to get summaries of these presentations posted to our website, but in the meantime you can learn about our amazing presenters by scrolling through our past events.
We hosted the Mother Earth Fair on Mother's Day in the fir grove, which included a plant sale, live music, a scavenger hunt, and items from local vendors. Despite the rain, many of you showed up and we had a great time!
The SLC completed work on the Pringle Creek Community's urban farm improvement project, generously funded through a grant from the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). Volunteers contributed hundreds of hours of time to transform the space, and community members of all ages planted and tended the new raised beds throughout the year, growing hundreds of pounds of produce. The pollinator hedgerow we planted alongside the raised beds added beauty and important habitat to the garden.
Also funded in part through a grant from the SWCD, SLC Director Sara Olsher designed 8 signs and a walking tour of key conservation and sustainability features of the Pringle Creek Community. If you’d like to learn more about the urban farm, riparian habitat, rain gardens, and more in the community, stop by any time and take this self-guided tour!
The SLC collaborated with the Pringle Creek Community Association and its residents to help establish the Garden of Gratitude, a project generously spearheaded by the amazing and inspiring Margaret Manoogian, a neighbor who passed away earlier this year but had and will continue to have a profound impact on the community and SLC. The revitalized orchard, berries, pollinator-friendly plants, calming labyrinth, and benches and arbors for resting transformed the existing space into a park that will be enjoyed for many years to come.
