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By Ed Murphy
Our guest speaker at our regular lunch meeting onMarch 5th wasTyler Boggs. He was accompanied by his wife,Elizabeth. Tyler is a decorated veteran, fringe-farmer, committed father and teacher, Permaculturist, and dedicated member of his community. For over 20 years, he has dedicated his life to helping protect the environment, and the rights of those less fortunate. Tyler is known not only as an authority in business and finance, but for his extensive knowledge of survival and homesteading, rainwater harvesting, agricultural biodiversity preservation, livestock management, and integrated ecological design. Tyler’s background includes building multiple financial organizations, leading creative educational programs for a wide range of institutions, and consulting on how to apply Permaculture principles to farms, corporations, community gardens, and conservation organizations. Tyler currently teaches Permaculture programs at Pacific University and instructs at numerous courses throughout the region. He and Elizabeth practice Permaculture professionally through Heart 2 Heart Farms, LLC on scales ranging from urban residences to rural acreages, all from their small family homestead in Scholls, Oregon.
Tyler said he grew up in Hillsboro, and joined the service when he was just 17 years old. His wife Elizabeth was also in the service. After she left the service 5 years ago, she started working in an Emergency Room. It was there that she came across a 9 year old girl that was pregnant. Wondering how that is even possible, physiologically, they started researching early puberty in girls, and discovered that BHT in our food products might be one of the causes. Alarmed by what they learned about the food industry, Tyler and Elizabeth started their own farm five years ago near Scholls, with the idea of protecting their family from the hormones, pesticides, and other chemicals in the foods that they and their daughters were eating. Now, Tyler said, they grow their own livestock, dairy, poultry, and even fish. They developed relationships with vendors, which allowed them to pick up left-over fruits and vegetables to feed their livestock. Tyler claimed that he and his family members all experienced an increase in energy, vitality, and overall health as a result of the changes they made to their diet.
Tyler said that one day, while looking at some crates of bananas he obtained from a store, he kept hearing a directive in his head to “feed the people”. He and Elizabeth decided that they wanted to share the food they were able to get from vendors with people who needed it. They began giving away produce a year ago, with events they called “Free Vegetables Friday”. Now they are picking up 15,000 pounds/week, with 6 vendors, including Costco. They also started a “Good Neighbor Family Pantry” – a non-profit food bank – which gave away $40,000 worth of meat in 2014. But they wanted to go beyond just making food available. They decided to teach others about sustainability and how to grow or raise chemically-free food. They also started a program for post-combat vets, who were experiencing challenges with adapting to civilian life (Tyler and Elizabeth are both disabled vets). In addition, they initiated a program using animals for therapy for autistic children.
The general public can visit the farm on Fridays and Saturdays (but he warned that it was a real working farm, where they occasionally butcher animals or feed parts of animals to their dogs…and suggested that it may not be a good venue for people who would find such activities unsettling). Individuals and groups can even volunteer to work on the farm, or donate building materials and equipment. You can learn more about Heart 2 Heart Farms on their Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/Heart2HeartFarms – and also on their website – http://heart2heartfarms.com.
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