The Garden at Esalen

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.