https://fernandfirnatureprogram.com/, https://form.jotform.com/253034886333055, https://pci.jotform.com/form/26073727468

Fern and Fir Nature Camps, Portland, OR (2026)

08/17/2026

🍂 Fern & Fir Fun Fridays are back September 18th!

Join us this fall for hands-on nature adventures, gardening, carving projects, seasonal science, outdoor exploration & plenty of child-led fun!

🌱 SEPTEMBER 18 | ALL THINGS GARDEN
12–5 PM Full Day | 12–3 PM Half Day
Garden tending, our snap pea trellis, fall planting, terracotta irrigation + a walk to Max Patterson Park for leaf ID and fall nature exploration.

🌲 SEPTEMBER 25 | ELK ROCK ISLAND
12–5 PM | Full Day
A fall field trip filled with nature exploration, seasonal science & our “What’s Changing & What Stays the Same?” nature challenge!

Ages: Multi-age, typically 6–10
Full Day: $60
Sibling Rate: $40
Half Day: $30 when available
📍 Gladstone, Oregon

✨ NEW FAMILIES SAVE 10% on their first Fun Friday!
Use code “new” at checkout.

🌿 September sign-ups are now open — LINK IN BIO to save your spot!

Small groups, big adventures & lots of opportunities to explore, create and learn together.

08/16/2026

Fern & Fir Fun Fridays — September Sign-Up

We’re so excited to welcome everyone back for Fun Fridays starting September 18th!

This fall, we’ll continue many of the hands-on activities the kids have loved throughout the summer, including carving projects, gardening, nature exploration, seasonal science, and outdoor adventures. We’ll also be tending to our new garden bed, building out our snap pea trellis, and hopefully getting some pumpkins growing in time for October!

Fun Fridays are a multi-age program, with an average age range of 6–10 years old. Activities are designed to allow children of different ages and abilities to participate, explore, create, and learn together.

Our indoor home base is located at:

290 W Gloucester Street, Gladstone, OR

We have a lovely indoor space with all the amenities we need for crafting, cooking, garden projects, games, and rainy-day activities. From there, we also adventure out to nearby parks and natural spaces such as Max Patterson Park.

Pricing

Full Day: $60 per child
Sibling Rate: $40 per sibling
Half Day: $30 per child when available

New Family Discount

Are you new to Fern & Fir Fun Fridays?

All new families receive 10% off their first Fun Friday!

Use code “new” at checkout.

We can’t wait to begin another season of exploring, creating, growing, and learning together!

SIGN UP LINK -
https://pci.jotform.com/form/260535649832161

07/24/2026

Gotta try this next week with camps! So cool
And simple!

07/21/2026

Childhood isn’t meant to be rushed. 🌿

It’s meant to be filled with muddy feet, belly laughs, campfire stories, climbing trees, discovering new skills, and finding friends who become part of the adventure.

At Fern & Fir, children have the freedom to explore, create, move their bodies, and build confidence through real experiences. Whether they’re learning to safely build a fire, creating nature art, practicing outdoor skills, or simply sitting beneath a tree talking with a friend, these are the moments that shape resilient, curious, and connected kids.

✨ Weeks 5 & 6 are just around the corner!

Upcoming adventures include:
🌿 Eco Printing
🔥 Fire Building Skills
🎣 Fishing 101
🫐 Ethical Foraging & Blackberry Popsicles
🐟 Exploring invasive species and caring for Oregon’s waterways
🌳 Games, movement, creek exploration, and child-led adventures every day.

We’re excited to share that we still have openings for the remainder of the summer!

💚 Save with our flexible bundles:
• 5-Day Bundle
• 10-Day Bundle (our best value!)

Choose the camp days that fit your family’s schedule while enjoying discounted pricing.

📅 Camps run Tuesday–Thursday 9-3pm (8am early drop off available for $15 per family) through August 27.

Several dates are already filling quickly, so be sure to check the registration updates and newsletter to see which days are nearing capacity before they’re gone.

We’d love to welcome your child into the Fern & Fir community this summer. 🌿

Link to register (bundles or single dates) in bio!

07/19/2026

Childhood isn’t meant to be rushed. 🌿

It’s meant to be filled with muddy feet, belly laughs, campfire stories, climbing trees, discovering new skills, and finding friends who become part of the adventure.

At Fern & Fir, children have the freedom to explore, create, move their bodies, and build confidence through real experiences. Whether they’re learning to safely build a fire, creating nature art, practicing outdoor skills, or simply sitting beneath a tree talking with a friend, these are the moments that shape resilient, curious, and connected kids.

No child is left behind - if you need financial support or want to apply for the BIPOC discounts, simply fill this form out and you will receive an email with details on next steps forward - https://form.jotform.com/260945490461057

✨ Weeks 5 & 6 are just around the corner!

Upcoming adventures include:
🌿 Eco Printing
🔥 Fire Building Skills
🎣 Fishing 101
🫐 Ethical Foraging & Blackberry Popsicles
🐟 Exploring invasive species and caring for Oregon’s waterways
🌳 Games, movement, creek exploration, and child-led adventures every day.

We’re excited to share that we still have openings for the remainder of the summer!

💚 Save with our flexible bundles:
• 5-Day Bundle
• 10-Day Bundle (our best value!)

Choose the camp days that fit your family’s schedule while enjoying discounted pricing.

📅 Camps run Tuesday–Thursday 9-3pm (8am early drop off available for $15 per family) through August 27.

Several dates are already filling quickly, so be sure to check the registration updates and newsletter to see which days are nearing capacity before they’re gone.

We’d love to welcome your child into the Fern & Fir community this summer. 🌿

Link to register (bundles or single dates) - https://pci.jotform.com/form/260737274682162

07/13/2026

🌿 By Popular Request… Summer Bundle Savings Are Back! ☀️

The second half of our summer is packed with hands-on outdoor adventures, and we’d love to have your family join us!

📬 Sign up for our newsletter to receive:
• Weekly activity previews
• Location updates & what to bring
• Nature study highlights
• Special bundle savings
• Camp announcements
• First access to openings and limited spots

Upcoming Weeks Include:
🌿 Eco printing art
🪨 Starting our rock tumbler
🧭 Navigation skills, maps & treasure hunts
🦪 Quagga & Zebra Mussel study
🎣 Fishing 101 & fish identification
🫐 Berry identification
🪴 Building our indoor garden box & planting pollinator-friendly flowers
🌱 Ethical foraging
🔪 Whittling & carving
📚 Library adventure
🏞️ River play, wildlife observation & agate hunting

☀️ Summer Flex Bundles are Back!

5-Day Bundle
• First Child: $270 (10% off)
• Siblings: Regular rate of $50/day

10-Day Bundle
• First Child: $540 (10% off)
• Siblings: Regular rate of $50/day

✨ Choose the dates that work best for your family!

Summer discount dates have officially ended, making our bundle packages the best way to save for the remainder of the season! If you’re planning to join us, we recommend reserving your dates soon.

The following dates are close to reaching capacity: July 16, 21, 22, 23, & 30, and August 18, 20, & 26. Currently full: August 25 & 27 (we’ll keep everyone updated if any openings become available).

Our camps are intentionally capped at 12–13 children per day, and several dates are already close to full.

If you’ve been thinking about joining Fern & Fir this summer, now is the perfect time to reserve your favorite adventures before they’re gone!

📩 Sign up for our newsletter today to stay up to date on locations, activities, bundle specials, and weekly camp updates! Click the links below to register and join!

Summer Camp Sign Up- https://pci.jotform.com/form/260737274682162

Newsletter Sign up - https://form.jotform.com/253545389626166

07/02/2026

🌿 NEW DISCOUNT DATES ADDED! 🌿

Summer adventures are in full swing at Fern & Fir Nature Camps, and we’ve opened a few more $50 camp days!

☀️ Discount Dates
💚 July 8th
💚 July 9th
💚 July 28th
💚 July 29th

(Plus July 1st & 2nd still have 3 spots left!)

Choose the Discount Date payment option on the registration form and simply list the date(s) you’d like to attend.

✨ What we’ve been up to…
• DIY natural bug spray
• First-time wood carving
• River exploration & water play
• Learning about Oregon’s fascinating wildlife
• Beginning our study of native vs. invasive species, including the Barred Owl and our native Spotted Owl

Over the next few weeks we’ll continue exploring:
🌿 Plant identification
🦉 Native vs. invasive wildlife
🌱 Making our own Plantain healing salve
☁️ Cloud studies & weather observation
💧 Splash pads, creeks, beaches & outdoor adventures
🎨 Nature-inspired crafts, games, and child-led exploration

Every camp day is intentionally designed to spark curiosity, build confidence, encourage friendships, and help children develop a deeper connection with the natural world.

📍Ages 5–10
📅 Tuesdays–Thursdays through August 27
🕘 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
🌿 Small group sizes
💚 RBT-owned & neurodiversity-affirming
💵 Sliding Scale & BIPOC scholarships available
👫 Refer a new family and receive a $10 camp credit!

⚠️ Dates filling quickly!

• July 14 – 3 spots left
• July 15 – 2 spots left
• July 16 – 2 spots left
• July 21 – 2 spots left
• July 22 – 2 spots left
• July 23 – 1 spot left
• July 30 – 2 spots left

August is filling, but most dates are still available! (August 20, 25, 26 & 27 are full.)

🍃 Whether your child loves climbing trees, creek exploration, wildlife, STEM, herbal crafting, or simply making new friends outdoors, we’d love to have them join us this summer.

Registration in bio!

06/30/2026

Every engineering tradition has a quality standard.

Structural engineers test for load-bearing capacity. Software engineers test for performance under stress. Electrical engineers test for efficiency of energy flow.

For most of the last two centuries, the quality standard in the design of human systems — cities, buildings, economies, organisations — has been a single question: does it work?

We are now learning, at significant cost, that this was the wrong question. Or rather: an incomplete one. The full question is "does it work in a way that maintains the conditions for it to keep working?" — for the people inside it, for the communities around it, and for the living systems it depends on.

This is what sustainability actually means. The redesign of systems around a different quality standard: one that asks whether the things we build restore or extract the conditions that make life possible.

🌱Regeneration goes further still. Where sustainability asks "how do we take less?", regeneration asks "how do we give back?" It draws on the most sophisticated engineering model available — biological systems — which have been solving the same problem for 3.8 billion years. Every healthy ecosystem is regenerative by design. It produces no waste. Every output is another system's input. Diversity is built in as a resilience mechanism. And the whole operates within the energy budget available to it.

🧠The human brain is itself a model of regenerative design. It consolidates during sleep. It prunes unused connections to maintain efficiency. It redistributes function after damage. It learns from error without being destroyed by it. These are the design principles of a system that has survived and adapted across evolutionary time.

Systems that extract their own foundations eventually fail — regardless of how efficient or profitable they are in the short term. Systems that regenerate their foundations become more capable over time. The distinction is a question of time horizon.

Richard Rogers — one of the architects most committed to this vision — spent his career arguing that the quality of the built environment directly shapes the quality of human life. That cities, buildings and public spaces are not neutral containers for human activity but active participants in it. That design is always, already, a political and ethical act.

He was right. And the neuroscience agrees. The environments we build shape the brains, the nervous systems, the social connections and the collective capacities of the people who inhabit them. Designing those environments for regeneration — rather than extraction — is the most rigorous form of long-term engineering available. 🔩

❓What would it mean to apply regenerative design principles to an environment you are responsible for?
------------
For more curious:

McDonough, W. & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. North Point Press.

Eid, A. et al. (2024). Sustainable development through biomimicry: enhancing circular economy practices for environmental sustainability. Sustainable Development. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sd.3010

Rogers, R. (1997). Cities for a Small Planet. Faber & Faber.

Gazerani, P. (2025). The neuroplastic brain: current breakthroughs and emerging frontiers. Brain Research, 1858, 149643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2025.149643

06/30/2026

🌿 NEW DISCOUNT DATES ADDED! 🌿

Summer adventures are in full swing at Fern & Fir Nature Camps, and we’ve opened a few more $50 camp days!

☀️ Discount Dates
💚 July 8th
💚 July 9th
💚 July 28th
💚 July 29th

(Plus July 1st & 2nd still have 3 spots left!)

Choose the Discount Date payment option on the registration form and simply list the date(s) you’d like to attend.

✨ What we’ve been up to…
• DIY natural bug spray
• First-time wood carving
• River exploration & water play
• Learning about Oregon’s fascinating wildlife
• Beginning our study of native vs. invasive species, including the Barred Owl and our native Spotted Owl

Over the next few weeks we’ll continue exploring:
🌿 Plant identification
🦉 Native vs. invasive wildlife
🌱 Making our own Plantain healing salve
☁️ Cloud studies & weather observation
💧 Splash pads, creeks, beaches & outdoor adventures
🎨 Nature-inspired crafts, games, and child-led exploration

Every camp day is intentionally designed to spark curiosity, build confidence, encourage friendships, and help children develop a deeper connection with the natural world.

📍Ages 5–10
📅 Tuesdays–Thursdays through August 27
🕘 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
🌿 Small group sizes
💚 RBT-owned & neurodiversity-affirming
💵 Sliding Scale & BIPOC scholarships available
👫 Refer a new family and receive a $10 camp credit!

⚠️ Dates filling quickly!

• July 14 – 3 spots left
• July 15 – 2 spots left
• July 16 – 2 spots left
• July 21 – 2 spots left
• July 22 – 2 spots left
• July 23 – 1 spot left
• July 30 – 2 spots left

August is filling, but most dates are still available! (August 20, 25, 26 & 27 are full.)

🍃 Whether your child loves climbing trees, creek exploration, wildlife, STEM, herbal crafting, or simply making new friends outdoors, we’d love to have them join us this summer.

Registration & discount dates: ⬇️
(https://pci.jotform.com/form/260737274682162)

Fern and Fir Nature Camps

08/17/2026

08/16/2026

07/24/2026

07/21/2026

07/19/2026

07/13/2026

07/02/2026

06/30/2026

06/30/2026

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