Learn who we are!

Sharon Newman

Garden Educator & Designer

​​Sharon Newman started Passionflower Playscapes LLC to re-ignite the collective memory of our role as stewards of a thriving natural world. She believes in the power of nature to inspire the future generation of scientists, leaders, and sustainability-conscious humans. Rooted in Portland, Oregon, she facilitates the gathering of community around garden play spaces. These spaces provide food, space for relationships to bud and flourish, places children and adults can run barefoot and remember what it feels like to let our imagination unfold.

She has been inspired by the three years she worked for the Vermont Garden Network, planting gardens and watching communities emerge through garden workshops and events she coordinated among eight affordable housing sites. With the Student Conservation Association she gained experience managing a team of interns to provide environmental education all across DC. She also led the construction of an educational garden plot in a food desert area in DC to be utilized by local schools and summer programs.

On top of her experience in landscaping, growing native and edible gardens, she has taught environmental education to preschoolers through college students, from Vermont, to DC, to Colorado, California, and now Oregon. With a background in leading outdoor adventures from preschool to high schoolers, she honed in her lesson planning, communication, and program facilitation skills. She is passionate about the importance of nature play and place-based garden education for people of all ages. She also enjoys writing poetry, outdoor adventures, especially canoe camping and rock climbing, and spending time with her two younger sisters!

Jackson Toole

Designer & Natural Builder

Jackson is a builder and designer with over a decade of experience in the construction and design industry. He currently works with Communitecture Inc., an architecture firm in Portland, Oregon, where he specializes in permaculture design and natural building. Passionate about hands-on learning and environmental stewardship, Jackson is excited to join Sharon in inspiring Portland communities to reconnect with the outdoors.

Jackson's childhood was shaped by constant transitions, moving between parents, towns, and cultures. His early life shifted between suburban neighborhoods and rural towns, between hours indoors playing computer games and days spent exploring fields and caring for goats and bees. These contrasts in experience gave him a deep appreciation for cultivating connection with nature. 

During this formative time, Jackson attended his first cob workshop, an experience that sparked a lifelong love of natural building. This practice uses materials sourced directly from the earth by building with traditional methods, minimizing the embodied energy of the project. Natural building is intuitive, safe, and accessible to all ages; it fosters community by bringing people together through collaborative work parties that blend labor, learning, and play.