Mother Garden at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
The Mother Garden at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) is one of the oldest CCOF certified organic gardens in California. Started in 1974, OAEC’s Mother Garden Biodiversity Program focuses on curating and propagating a diverse plant and seed collection of over 3,000 varieties of heirloom, open-pollinated annuals and over 1,000 varieties of edible, medicinal and ornamental perennials. This plant collection — developed over the past 35 years of intensive horticulture at the OAEC site — emphasizes food crops of special genetic, cultural and historic importance. The gardens also grows organic produce for OAEC's course participants, and for the intentional community living at OAEC.
Some of the OAEC courses that are in part taught in the gardens include School Garden Teacher Training, Permaculture Design Course, Healing Through Food, Gardening, Herbs and Ceremony, and Starting and Sustaining Intentional Communities. We also host a volunteer day every Wednesday from 10-5
The OAEC plant propagation nursery grows starts for OAEC's gardens, and for sale to the public to support our garden program. We have hundreds of our favorite open-pollinated vegetable, flower and herb heirlooms — the tastiest, most beautiful, most interesting and rare, and most regionally appropriate varieties. For plant sale dates, see www.oaec.org/plant-sales.
Also from the Mother Garden plant nursery, OAEC donates seeds and plants to some 50 daughter gardens in Bay Area schools and communities each year, and sponsors annual seed exchanges at the Bioneers and EcoFarm conferences.
For more info, see www.oaec.org/mother-garden.
