Lost Valley Education Center

Lost Valley Education Center is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 as an intentional community, permaculture education center, and events facility. Meadowsong Ecovillage – the community of resident-staff who live full time at Lost Valley – is comprised of about 50 adults and 10 children. We live and work together on 87 beautiful acres of gardens, meadows, forests, and a creek, 18 miles southeast of Eugene, in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains.

Our dwellings are rustic cabins, a six-unit apartment, tiny homes, RV sites, private dorm rooms and camping. We are evolving into a Community Land Trust with intentions for a staff-housing cooperative and constructing new eco-friendly staff housing. We serve organic, vegetarian meals partly grown in our gardens at lunch and dinner each weekday. We govern ourselves collectively using Sociocracy-inspired methods. Staff members keep their personal assets and pay their own way for rent, meals and minimal fees.

Lost Valley is also an event center, hosting retreats and conferences in our dormitories, dining lodge, classrooms and other facilities. We offer education programs in sustainable living skills, including our Holistic Sustainability Semester – a 3-month immersion experience where students earn a Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) and an Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) certificate.

Our year-round Visitor Program offers flexibility and a myriad of experiential options for short to medium-term stays and is an ideal first step to exploring a well established ecovillage and getting to know our community. Most of our land is an undeveloped nature sanctuary with interpretive trails. There are a variety of activities throughout each month, such as meditation, work parties, song circles, discussion groups, movie nights and governance meetings open to observers.

We endeavor to offer the unique gift of balance in ecological responsibility and personal well-being. We hold a deep commitment to authentic, compassionate communication with the functional extended family that we are cultivating. We strive to be creative, caring, embracing of change, eclectic in our approach, and open to diversities in age, race, spirituality, and sexuality.