The Arbor Institute
An agroecology land arts project and sacred place for growing, connecting, and healing.
Middleway Gardens
In the Spring of 2021, the Arbor Institute will introduce Middle Way Garden; a new agroecology and land arts program alongside Left Hand Creek north of Boulder. It will foster the tenets of interdependency, diversity, and connection through the practice of social permaculture.
Arbor institute will offer a sacred space to grow, to contemplate, to explore, and to heal. In honor of the wisdom and balance of life — recognizing the soil, the sun, the water, and the air as our relatives. By helping the land to regenerate, we are healing ourselves as well.
The Process
Arbor Institute has partnered with DAR to develop a permaculture land arts project and sacred place for growing, connecting, and healing. With diverse goals of having annual vegetable production to feed the community, spaces for meditation and other contemplative practices, event and gathering space, art installations, and a rich natural ecology, DAR has been assessing the site and developing designs to move forward.
The Land Today
Middle Way Garden will be a resource for the whole community. The agroecology garden will grow food for underserved local communities. There will be both outdoor and sheltered places for contemplation, communication and healing. Much of the garden will be accessible to our elder and disabled communities so that they may participate in the joy of growing and allow us to honor and learn from them in this beautiful natural setting. Land art and sculpture will be organically integrated throughout the site.
Middle Way Garden is on traditional, ancestral, unceded land of the Hinono’ei (Arapaho) and Cheyenne People. We will invite local tribal members to join in the creation of the garden. We honor our Indigenous ancestors and their ways and will let their wisdom guide us.