Life & Sol is a new student-community garden owned by Pacific University, across the street from main campus in Forest Grove. Robin Johnson, recent graduate and current AmeriCore worker for the school, envisioned the garden's master plan to feature herb spirals, cob benches, an earthen oven, and "rentable" garden spaces, all within a sun-catching microclimate in the cooler months, and shade providing tasty-food-abundance the rest of the year. After a burst of student input, an acoustic performance stage for outdoor concerts and presentations, as well as kiosks and bike racks were also added into the plan as it evolved. Results from work parties we've held this semester currently features the space with fruit trees grafted by the Permaculture class, and vegetable, berry, and herb starts that originated primarily from the Gardening class, student flats, and teacher's backyards. There are apple, black twinberry, cherry, and pear trees, as well as broccoli, tsat soy, rhubarb, blueberries, strawberries, kale, chard, beets, and more plant and herb donations coming in all the time. The site also answers the desire for more student artwork and creative input closer to campus, with one of the designs being a cob-oven-bench looking like a giant snail. A large sundial garden and many keyhole gardens also add interest for the spaces available for growing plants, and there are plans for both potato pillars and worm columns as a demonstration of the use of vertical space. There are also many possibilities for murals on surfaces of kiosks, benches, tool sheds, and more.

For the VBC, we will be focusing on two cob benches that will be facing each other in the northeast quadrant of the lot. Since this will be the first massive project to be put in at the site, we're very excited to put in some hard work and make something solid and beautiful for students to come back to in the fall. All around, students and community members are enthusiastically taking on the project in many ways, and we would love to see you out there designing, drawing, building, or planting with us! We have great cooks in the group, so potluck days are a must to be at, as well as talented musicians, and lots of permaculture knowledge to be shared and gained.