The Florida School of Holistic Living is proud share an educational, community-driven garden with our community in Downtown Orlando. To date, hundreds of students and volunteers have contributed to making this sacred space a reality.
What is a Community Education Garden?
A Community Garden is a green space whose work and bounty is shared by all who contribute their time and energy to the creation and maintenance. Some models of Community Gardens involve individuals purchasing or leasing a designated plot and maintaining only that plot. Our Garden offers a different, collective model, where volunteers share the maintenance of the overall garden, and share the harvest collectively of the herbal plants within. The primary purpose of the garden is to offer both ongoing educational opportunities for those who visit our school and neighborhood, and also a dedicated space to commune with nature, reconnect with the plants, and create a sacred space as a community.
What educational opportunities does the Garden provide?
Our school offers organic gardening, herbalism, and sustainable living curriculum using the garden as our classroom and model. We offer both extended courses and one-time workshops - on topics such as gardening practices, plant life cycles, and sustainable technology. In addition, everyone has an opportunity for hands-on education through internships and our volunteer program (see here for more info). Students at the school also use the garden for educational research on growth rates using different organic fertilizers, herbal treatments, and seed stock. Finally, anyone who visits our neighborhood has the opportunity to enrich their experience by wandering through the garden and learning more about individual plants through educational placards.
What plants are in the Garden?
Medicinal and culinary herbs are the focus of this educational garden, coupled with sacred trees and native, drought tolerant butterfly plants. Visit this page often for the upcoming launch of our educational portfolio of the current plants we steward. We are also using a rainwater catchment system, compost technology, and recycled plastic lumber (from milk jugs) to lighten our footprint.
How is the Garden's harvest be used?
As an educational garden, each harvest is carefully scheduled based on earth, lunar, and garden cycles. Garden classes and volunteers are coordinated to facilitate all harvesting. We focus our harvest on educational activities & on propagating new plants to distribute in our community. We are proud to have distributed over 250 plants to members of our community through harvests from our garden in the form of seeds and propagated seedlings. Volunteers and students in the garden also have an opportunity to take home freshly harvested herbs according to the harvest schedule.
When was the garden planted?
Phase One of the Garden began in June 2007 with construction of the garden beds, and culminated on September 11, 2007, a new moon, with a Peace Planting Ceremony where all the plants were introduced to their new home. A garden is an ongoing project, allowing for continued evolution & creative input, so our canvas is also transforming. It is a natural art form, and we invite you to share in its continuing growth for years to come! View photos of the progression of our garden here.
How can I get involved?
Your sweat equity is a valuable contribution and highly educational! Visit this page to learn more about current opportunities to get your hands in the dirt. We also gratefully receive tax-deductible monetary donations, as well as in-kind donations of plants, tools, and garden technology.
Do I need previous gardening experience to participate?
Nope! As this is an educational garden, we invite those with little or lots of garden knowledge to get your hands in the dirt and join us in learning by experiencing!
What about your other garden projects?
We work with neighborhoods, community organizations, and individuals to offer gardening programs for your school or group, and to create more family and community gardens in Central Florida. Contact us for a packet of information and an application, so we determine how we can best partner with you or a better organization to refer you.
- 2010 Community Garden Partners
- Orenda Herbal ( www.orendaherbal.com )
- Our Vital Earth ( www.ourvitalearth.com )
- Annie's Naturals ( www.annies.com )
- Eco-Action ( www.eco-action.net )
- Crumpins Insurance
Add your company or organization's name to the growing list of Central Florida folks supporting sustainable gardening in our urban metro. Contact us for more details.
