Growing Spaces
A Place to Grow
The Garden of Bliss Growing Spaces are designed to reflect and enliven our students' growing inner peace and joy. We have four Garden of Bliss Growing Spaces: our 4100 sq. ft. greenhouse, various gardens, an orchard with over twenty-five fruit trees and a food forest.
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Greenhouse
Our three season teaching greenhouse is entered from the East by passing through a vine-covered arbor built by local craftsmen. An added sustainable component of our greenhouse facility is the rainwater catchment and solar-powered drip system used to water the plants throughout the year. The greenhouse staff uses double tunnel growing and cold frames to extend the growing season of the unheated greenhouse and allow vegetables to be grown as late as December and seeds planted as early as February.
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Gardens
Many organic gardens surround the greenhouse. They include the Tulip Rainbow "Peace garden", the Veggie Tunnel (red runner beans this year!), the Butterfly and Hummingbird gardens and the Strawberry patch. On the south side of the greenhouse, we grow squash, cabbage, beans, peas, potatoes and pumpkins in our large outdoor vegetable garden. There you will also find the ever-popular Pizza Garden, which is home to several varieties of basil, peppers and tomatoes.
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Orchard
The central campus courtyard or Brahmastan is located to the East of the greenhouse. It is filled with a variety of fruit trees including pears, plums and several varieties of apples. Students are taught when and how to harvest the fruit to insure the continued health of the trees. The orchard is also a great place to relax. It creates a magical experience for students who pass through it on the way to class as they get to snack on fruit picked fresh from the tree. Of course, the orchard also provides the key ingredient needed for delicious apple pies baked in our Edible Schoolyard Kitchen.
Food Forest
Part of the landscape in front of our school includes a food forest which is managed by the middle school students. This permaculture garden includes three layers: an overstory of deciduous and fruit trees, an understory of berry bushes including gooseberries, currants and beach plums, and a ground cover of hyssop, strawberries, lemon balm, comfrey and sage.
