John Eads Morning Workshop

John is from the prairies of west Texas, where he was surrounded by millions of acres of ten-foot tall shin oaks, and so he says ‘his formative years were spent with little trees’. His background is in small business development. The numbers of beings at the studio residence will swell with the addition of this family of four, including his wife Leah and children Amos, 11, and Clara, 7. I hear the kids are particularly excited about the cats.

Additionally, John has expressed interest in making a development nursery for bonsai—setting young plants on the road to aesthetic brilliance—which will continue to build the local bonsai community in unique ways (John plans to stay in Portland). I’ll keep everyone up to date on that and of course any new developments on the dark paths.

John's first farm-based business was in middle school, raising and selling water lilies out of a pond that he built in his family's front yard in West Texas. He moved with his wife to Portland in 2007 and their family soon grew to include two kids and several food carts.

After many successful years of serving wood-fired pizza, a new interest was sparked when the family visited the Japanese Garden and there happened to be a special bonsai event. John has been down many rabbit holes on YouTube related to various crafts and hobbies, but this one was truly captivating. He began to acquire trees and volunteer, learning all he could about growing and refining bonsai. Eventually the family moved to Milwaukie, OR and John apprenticed for two years with Michael Hagedorn to prepare for the launch of his own growing operation.

In 2021, the family moved on to the farm in Gales Creek, about an hour west of Portland, where John grows many species of bonsai material and teaches a variety of classes and workshops. He also travels to teach growing bonsai study groups, speak at clubs around the country, and occasionally vends at events.