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Lost Valley Educational Center

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 1988

What we do

Lost Valley Educational Center is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 near Eugene, Oregon as an intentional community, permaculture education center, and events facility. Meadowsong Ecovillage – the community of residents (some of whom are staff members) who live full time at Lost Valley – is comprised of about 35 adults and 5 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.
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Lost Valley Educational Center is looking for six (6) interns to join our intentional community to participate in a 12 week immersive learning internship opportunity.
This is your chance to learn and work alongside some of the Pacific Northwest’s finest system thinkers. This educational opportunity offers front row seats in observing the process, procedure, and our sociocracy-inspired governance systems that have allowed our community to flourish for over 30 years and gain some experience living in community.
We are looking for 15-18 hours per week with a commitment of three months in exchange for tent camping or dormitory-style housing. This internship does not offer financial compensation. Start date: Mid-May (start date for some roles can be flexible)
If accepted into the internship program, you are temporarily joining our Meadowsong Ecovillage community. This gives you an opportunity to practice Nonviolent Communication, and to study how the principles of Permaculture permeate all areas within the community. You get to attend community meetings, learn how to reduce impact on the land and take advantage of the many trails, fruit trees, creek and sauna on our 87-acres property.
Ideal candidates are self-motivated, responsible, open-minded, enthusiastic to learn, passionate and interested in living and sharing with others. Skill requirements depend on the role.
For more information or to apply go to: https://www.lostvalley.org/internship-opportunity
Available Internship Roles:
1 – Land Tender Intern
2 – Administrative Assistant Interns in Bookkeeping and Education
1 – Maintenance Intern
2 – Kitchen Interns
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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 constructing new eco-friendly housing. We serve organic, vegetarian meals partly grown in our gardens for dinner each weekday. We govern ourselves collectively using Sociocracy-inspired methods. Residents keep their personal assets and pay their own way for rent, meals and minimal fees. We also have a few work-traders on site at any given time.
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.

Our Mission

Lost Valley is a permaculture learning center, educating youth and adults in the practical application of sustainable living skills. We take a holistic approach to sustainability education, engaging students in ecological, social, and personal growth.
Meadowsong Ecovillage provides affordable staff housing, access to land, and facilities for community development in Oregon. We are an intentional community of educators and cultural evolutionaries, committed to creating a life together in a sustainable way.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Sustainability practices
  • Ecosystem restoration
  • Sustainability education and community engagement
  • Permaculture design
  • Activities
  • Property management
  • Farming
  • Education
  • Experiences
  • Networking

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1988
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1989
  • Started living together
  • 37 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
60

How to join

Exploring membership ideally begins with arranging a visit to our community. During your visit, you can get a feel for the community, arrange a meeting to learn about housing, costs, and the residency process, and get a Residential Application, if inspired. See our website for more detail.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Visit our website lostvalley.org, or email vi***@********ey.org.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Consent-Based (Sociocracy)

Decisions proceed unless someone has a reasoned objection.

Governance structure

  • Sociocratic/Circle-Based

Organized in circles or domains with distributed authority.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Join fee: $50
Regular fees: $500
Labor: Encouraged or suggested (2 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
See our website for details about costs: http://lostvalley.org/cost-of-living

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Swimming pond or pool, Outdoor Kitchen, Large Scale Kitchen, Tractor & Farm Equipment, Stage or Auditorium, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Gym or sports area, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • Approximately 1 meal per day

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • School, Educational Institute or Experience
  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
  • Organization, Resource, or Network
  • WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
  • Festivals, Conferences, Events

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Community Land Trust or some other kind of nonprofit

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Community type

  • Ecovillage

    Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.

Sustainability approach

  • Ecosystem restoration
  • Sustainability education and community engagement
  • Permaculture design

Land practices in our community

  • The community practices permaculture

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Greenhouse / aquaponics
  • Land area size
    87 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Oregon, United States

Lost Valley Educational Center

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
  • Events
3 weeks ago

Healing Love Healing Money: Trust As The Foundation For A New Culture

Money, love and power are among the hardest things any community works with, and many of us carry the same fears into both: not having enough, losing what we have, and the sense that if someone else gets money or love, we won’t. Healing Love, Healing Money: Trust as the Foundation for a New Culture is taught by two intentional communities. Karen McAllister and Duncan Cryle are from Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Center, a Buddhist-lineage community in the BC Rockies. Monika Alleweldt and Benjamin von Mendelssohn from Tamera Healing Biotope, a community of about 160 people in southern Portugal that has spent decades studying love, trust and relationship. Clear Sky has spent years working on its relationship with money, and our two communities found surprising parallels in the fears beneath both. Over four sessions we explore the roots of fear around money and belonging, love, possession and power, trust as infrastructure (community as a container for healing), and ethical livelihood. We use short meditations, body-based practices, reflection and small-group conversation. You do not need to be in a romantic relationship or live in community. When: October 27, Nov 3, 10, 17. All four sessions: 12–2pm Vancouver, 1–3pm Alberta, 7–9pm UK and Portugal, 8–10pm Central Europe. Note: US and some Canadian provinces change clocks on November 1, so the US west coast is 12–2pm on October 27, then 11am–1pm for the remaining sessions, and Eastern is 3–5pm on October 27, then 2–4pm for the rest. Cost: sliding scale Details and registration: https://www.clearskycenter.org/event/healing-love-healing-money-online/  
October 27, 2026 13:00 – November 17, 2026 15:00
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Promoted
Need
Need
  • Communities with Openings
4 weeks ago

Heart-centered, nature-loving unschooling family seeking a community to land with for winter 2027

We’re a German-American family who left conventional life about four years ago to live in line with our values: freedom, connection, nature, and spirituality. We started out as worldschoolers, moving every month or two. That taught us a lot, including that too much movement leaves a family rootless. Since then we’ve been looking for the balance between adventure and belonging. We found a taste of it on a multigenerational farm community in Austria, and we’re now living alongside a small community in Norway. For January to March 2027, we’d love to spend a season inside a community that feels like home. What we’re hoping for A community with teenagers and a culture that welcomes self-directed learning, where unschooling is understood and not just tolerated Nature at your doorstep (forest, land, animals, or garden) Some shared meals, perhaps shared rhythms, and real relationships, not just a place to park A spiritual or reflective thread, whatever form it takes for you An opportunity to get to know your community by giving back (although we can’t do a ‘full’ volunteering program as we have the past three years – ie: Workaway- because we have meetings online that take up too much of our time to volunteer full time)  What we bring Resilience and emotional wellbeing. I’m an online resilience coach with a BA in Developmental Psychology, certified in HeartMath®, and an experienced yoga and meditation teacher. I can offer community sessions in nervous system regulation, stress resilience, and meditation, and support for parents and teens. Experience raising three children in a nomadic, family-centered lifestyle, including years of travel across Europe. Open, adaptable, and grounded. We’ve lived in many settings and adapt quickly. We show up as contributors, not consumers. Unschooling and homeschooling know-how. We’re glad to share what we’ve learned, especially for families navigating legal and practical questions in Europe. Many other shareable skills: carpentry, sourdough bread baking, food fermenting, music making, dad-joke-telling, drone pilots, cookie bakers, food preservation and much much more.   We’re looking for a mutual fit, not just a bed for the winter. If our story resonates and you have space or know someone who does, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your community: your values, your daily rhythm, and what you’re hoping for from the people who join you.
Offer

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