Gardeners gather at dawn amid steaming cups of tea while the harvest leader reports the requests from the kitchen for lunch and dinner. By the time they've paused for breakfast, the harvest will have been washed and moved to the kitchen's cooler.
The five acres that comprise the Farm and Garden at Esalen produce hundreds of varieties of vegetables for the kitchen. Blessed with a rich soil and abundant water, the area has an ideal climate for cool season crops. Add to this the care of gardeners who simply love what they are doing, and the results are gardens that feed us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Vegetables produced within a stone's throw of the kitchen mean more than freshness. Since the Garden is part of a main footpath through Esalen, our visitors see how their food is grown, and the gardeners know who they are feeding. Colorful lettuces seen growing in garden beds at dawn have by nightfall become the bodies of the children and adults who visit and live at Esalen.