The Campus Center: The Garden

The Garden is the place we regularly commune with Mother Earth. Through the process of planning and creating a species-diverse, productive garden on the school campus, students and teachers will acquire extensive, first-hand knowledge of all aspects of gardening, including: soil preparation, water and nutrient requirements for specific plant species, insect identification and ecologically sound deterrents for those that are harmful, while producing attractive gardens and nutritious foods.

The curriculum will include the study of the nature of living forms and the planting of shade trees (cottonwood, pine, cedar, willow, birch, almond, walnut, etc.), fruit trees (apple, quince, cherry, pear, peach, etc.), extensive berry producing bushes, a variety of healing herbs, root and leaf vegetables, and beds of flowers, spaces for wild plants and grasses, bee colonies for pollination of plants and the production of honey. The garden is the center around which our community revolves, our safe place where we connect daily with plant life. Its continual living processes connect learning and studying with regular community activity and integrate our need to nurture life with the energy of sunlight, water, and air and spirit. Gardening activity thus reflects and symbolizes our conscious, deliberate communion with life and the Creator of life.

Our campus will also feature a menagerie of animals (not to be slaughtered for food but to serve as helpers, teachers and companions). The manure of chickens, milking cows, sheep, and mules is used for fertilizer. Eggs and milk provide food. Chickens, turkeys, and geese help control insects that are harmful to garden plants. A living pond supports wildlife. There are open studios and workshops for creative endeavors; a greenhouse; a cold cellar, a cote for carrier (rock) pigeons, a sweat lodge for purification of body, mind, heart and spirit while giving thanks, all built by our participants. Our campus is in close proximity to a river that flows year round and a genuine wilderness millions of acres, each serving as living areas in which to romp, explore, and learn, an extended campus provided by nature herself, featuring a variety of life forms, our sisters and brothers in creation.