CORI LONGSTREET
All-Ages Education and Edible Playgrounds

“Does anybody know how many hearts a worm has?” Cori Longstreet asks, as she holds a handful of wormy compost out to five rapt children. Guesses come in from “none” to “about 500.” She smiles and patiently explains the workings of the five hearts of worms. The gardening day continues on the 2.7-acre plot of land she shares with ten others on Johnson Creek as the group retrieves still-warm eggs from the chicken coop, throws rocks into the creek, and tastes spindly yellow kale flowers.

It’s all in a day’s work for Longstreet. “I grew up on a farm in Idaho where my mom grew our food, so this is coming full circle for me,” she explains. After getting a degree in Sociology and Social Work from the University of Idaho, she landed a job with AmeriCorps at the East Bay Conservation Corps in Oakland, where she earned her teaching credentials instructing ESL (English as a Second Language) students using projects like a seed-to-farmers’ market garden.

Soon after, Longstreet went to Portland to visit a friend and landed a job as a teacher for at-risk youth through the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement, where a coworker told her about the PIIECL program. Curious, she attended an informational session where former director Pramod Parajuli’s speech made her sit up and take notice. “He talked about how we need to start change within ourselves, then bring the change out to the community. I was a newly single mom and I was nonstop running. I needed change, and the program just felt like home,” she reminisces.

Longstreet’s thesis included work on JEAN’s Farm garden education project, now run by Oregon Tilth. “We looked at the meaning of stewardship, not just for our kids’ kids, but seven generations from now. There’s been a huge disconnect from the land. Kids can name 100 logos but can’t name ten native plants. If our kids forget how to live with the land, how will we survive? Education about ecology and food security is key.”

Longstreet now teaches as an adjunct educator for PSU’s Capstone Program at the Learning Garden Laboratory, a community-based education program, and is a faculty member at Sunnyside Environmental School, where she teaches Spanish and garden-based education. Her curriculum includes weekly nature walks with first graders, a salad growing project with middle school students, and a hunger-service program where the kids make lunch for a local relief kitchen on a weekly basis.

Back at her home on Johnson Creek, Longstreet and her cohabitants are creating a community farm where week-long garden-based summer camps and family-centered activities will be offered. “I love working with families because they can take the experience of gardening home with them. I want to create a place for families to come and play with their kids and take away memories of doing something meaningful. That’s what I’m all about.”

Ivy Manning is a cooking instructor and freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Sunset Magazine and Food & Wine. Her book, The Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally (Sasquatch, 2008), explores the edible joy of CSA membership and farmers’ markets.