Mission

School of Ranch hires skilled community members to teach heritage skills to newcomers and curious locals. Our mission is to educate, to keep heritage skills alive and vital, and to help people discover common ground regardless of politics, age, background or beliefs.

Nurturing Our Living Culture

School of Ranch is dedicated to passing on the heritage skills central to Oregon’s cultural identity. But we’re also preserving something just as essential: the process of how our culture is passed on. That process—learning by doing, teaching by sharing, gathering across generations—grows the roots that anchor the soil of community. It’s a living process, always evolving, always welcoming new voices and ideas. At its heart, this is about keeping heritage know-how alive by keeping people connected—to one another, to the land, and to the heritage we’re still shaping together.

Our Partnerships

We can't do all this alone. Fortunately, we're blessed to have developed a rich set of partnerships with like-minded organizations, including Oregon State Extension, The High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, The Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation District, The State Parks and Forest services, The American Legion, The VFW, Central Oregon Locavore, the COIC, and many others to whom we owe our eternal gratitude.

HISTORY

Chainsaws and YouTube Don't Mix

I'm Mark Gross, founder of School of Ranch. After a life in cities and the burbs, I found myself living on a ranch in Central Oregon. First thing I did...bought a chainsaw and went to YouTube to learn how to use it. Mistake! Chainsaw + Video = Major Potential of Missing limb!

School of Ranch is Born

I ran an ad on Craigslist, "Idiot Needs Help with Chainsaw." Kaleb Watson showed up at my door, and despite having zero in common, we bonded over the experience. I said, hey, let's start School of Ranch! We can hire people like you to teach people like me. And better, we can help everyone discover common ground. After all, we're not going to fight while working together to learn to use a chainsaw.

Building Bridges While Mending Fences

While our product is education, and our purpose is to keep heritage skills alive, our passion is for community. We help people discover common ground regardless of politics, age, background or beliefs by getting them together around a topic like carpentry, or canning, and putting them in a collaborative learning environment. It's hard to fight when eveyrone is having fun carving sppons!

A Volunteer-Led, Student-Run 501c3 Nonprofit

Today, School of Ranch serves thousands of people each year in Central Oregon with its workshops and programs like School of Ranch Extend. We are a volunteer-led nonprofit. There is no paid staff. We do pay our high school interns, who run all our marketing. Thanks for all your support.

PARTICIPANT BILL OF RIGHTS

Interactive Experiences. The right to workshops that are hands-on, use engaging demonstrations, or create problem solving experiences.
Passionate Coaching. The right to coaches, not professors, to guide exploration.
Collaboration. The right to meet new people, and to learn from one another.
Takeaways. The right to leave with practical skills and knowledge we can apply.
To Be Met Where We Are. The right to the same opportunities to learn and participate regardless of knowledge or skill level.
Fun. The right to experiences that engage and delight us.