Note: This is your opportunity to settle into the facilities and become acquainted with your fellow participants.

Arrive To: Registration and check-in begin at 4pm.

Dinner: Welcome dinner. Food Service at Tilikum: We strive to present our guests with outstanding customer service and top-quality food. We make this possible by preparing our food from scratch, utilizing the freshest local ingredients and herbs picked fresh from our garden. We are happy to accommodate your special dietary needs with advance notice. Meals will include homemade bread, from scratch pastries and desserts, local & freshly roasted coffees along with a variety of menus.

Evening: Program orientation and introductions

Lodging: Tilikum Center for Retreats

Meals Included: Dinner

Chinese Classical Garden, International Test Rose Garden, Japanese Garden

Note: While exploring these three distinct world-class gardens of Portland, you will evaluate the purposing and design of each garden and reflect on your personal preferences among them.

Breakfast: In the dining room. Fresh coffee available around 6:30am. Breakfast typically includes a starch such as honey wheat pancakes or French toast, Scrambled Eggs, Local Peppered Bacon, Fresh Seasonal Fruit Platter, Cereal Bar* & 100% fruit juice along with coffee, tea and cocoa beverages. *Includes a variety of cold cereals and our famous seven-grain hot cereal

Morning: Field trip to Portland Classical Chinese Garden and lecture regarding Garden Designs and Purposes

Lunch: Picnic Lunch at Rose Garden

Afternoon: Tour of Rose Gardens and Japanese Gardens - A Portland Highlight!

Dinner: Food Service at Tilikum.

Evening: Flora & fauna lake walk at Tilikum.

Lodging: Tilikum Center for Retreats

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Oregon Garden and driving tour of Willamette Valley, organic fruit farm

Note: A tram ride through the Oregon Garden introduces you to the 20 speciality gardens which you will then explore according to your interests. From the bus windows you will observe the richness of the soil deposited by the Great Missoula Flood that makes the Willamette Valley a gardening paradise. Interacting with 85-year old heritage farmer, Glen Mills, is certain to entertain and stimulate your interest in challenges farmers face.

Breakfast: In the Tilikum dining room.

Morning: Field trip to Silverton and The Oregon Garden: a success story of symbiotic development of waste water management and beautiful commercial gardening displays. Enjoy one of Oregon's most popular destinations, where thousands of plants are displayed in more than 20 specialty gardens. Explore amazing water features, the Conifer garden, garden art, wetlands, the Rediscovery Forest, a playful garden just for kids, and the 400-year-old Signature Oak. Discover how easy it is to relax and be dazzled at The Oregon Garden, located on 80 acres in Historic Silverton.

Lunch: Picnic lunch at the garden

Afternoon: Heirloom Roses features hundreds of varieties of their own root-stock miniature, hybrid, heritage and climbing roses, grown under meticulous care. Glen Mills' organic fruit farm delights every visitor with stories of innovation and change. The driving tour of the Willamette Valley showcases the richness of agricultural and forest resources that make it famous.

Dinner: Served by the Tilikum staff in the dining room.

Evening: Musical performance by a local artist.

Lodging: Tilikum Center for Retreats

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Roaming through the thirteen acre Elk Rock Garden exposes you to hundreds of varieties of labeled trees, shrubs and flowers, carefully landscaped to set off the Manor House and its expansive lawns. Later in the day, your experiences will be contrasted with efforts of local gardeners and orchardists.

Breakfast: In the dining room.

Morning: Field trip to Portland--Bishop's Close/Elk Rock Garden and lecture. In 1957 upon the death of Peter Kerr, original owner of the Manor House and creator of its extensive gardens and woodlands, his daughters gave the home and gardens to the Episcopal Bishop of Oregon together with an endowment for the care and maintenance of the garden, with the stipulation that the garden be open to visitors. Your instructor will assist you in identifying the many species and growing habits of the garden's plantings.

Lunch: Lunch in Tilikum's Dining Room

Afternoon: Tour of local community and private gardens in the Newberg area and hazelnut orchards. Western Oregon has been a leader in organic growing, community gardening and eco-friendly innovations you will observe during this afternoon field trip.

Dinner: Served by Tilikum's chefs and hosts.

Evening: Hops growing and processing presentation. Grafting demonstration. Your instructor will guide you through the process of turning hops into beer. And then round out your knowledge with a hands-on experience of the world of plant grafting.

Lodging: Tilikum Center for Retreats

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Red Ridge Herb and Olive Farm, Durant Vineyards, local orchards and Feller House farm for apple cider pressing.

Note: Along with the world-famous vineyards of the Willamette Valley you will engage in conversation with the owners of one of the few commercial olive orchards and olive oil presses in Oregon. Smell, taste and savor these fresh oils. Sid by side you will be delighted with the fragrances of many varieties of herbs used in cooking, medicine and landscaping. Finally visit the instructor's own community garden and press fresh apple cider.

Breakfast: In the dining room.

Morning: Red Ridge Herb and Olive Farm and Durant Vineyards. Looking for an unusual herb or specialty plant? Stop by Red Ridge Farms to add variety to your garden. You’ll find more than 300 varieties of herbs, including 100 types of lavender, and many other culinary, medicinal and landscaping plants that flourish in the Northwest. Most of the plants are grown right here in the Red Hills of Dundee, where the Jory soil is rich and deep. Wine grapes have been growing here for more than 30 years. Red Hills has long-term familiarity with the growing conditions of this region and plant species that do well here, striving to use organic, sustainable farming methods to keep plants and soil healthy. As pioneers in the Oregon wine industry, the Durant family has focused on producing premier Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. They recognized early on the distinctive character of wines produced in the Dundee Hills due to the unique soil types and climate conditions.

Lunch: Lunch in Tilikum's Dining Room

Afternoon: Visit to a Community Garden for demonstrations and apple cider pressing.

Dinner: Enjoy in the Tilikum dining room.

Evening: Special dessert-varies seasonally: Oregon Berries & ice cream; apple & cheese tasting

Lodging: Tilikum Center for Retreats

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Before your final farewells, a quick trip to the neighboring Beaux Freres vineyard and winery rounds out discussions with local viticulturists. Mike Etzel's speciality is top quality, world-class Pinot Noir produced from their small, select vineyard.

Breakfast: In the dining room.

Morning: Class discussion and Wrap-up, and Beaux Freres Vineyard Tour with proprietor, Mike Etzel. Since the first vintage in 1991, the Beaux Frères philosophy remains the same; to produce a world-class Pinot Noir from small, well-balanced yields and ripe, healthy fruit that represents the essence of their vineyard. In pursuit of these goals, the Beaux Frères Vineyard is planted with tightly spaced vines, and yields are kept to some of the lowest in the industry. Etzel's winemaking philosophy is one of minimal intervention with clean fermentations utilizing indigenous yeast. Previous vintages demonstrate that these methods also allow Beaux Frères to develop significant perfume, weight, and texture in the bottle.

Lunch: Box lunches and check out by 12pm

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch