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The Vedic City Health and Wholeness Botanical Gardens is planned as an integrated series of organic medicinal herb and vegetable gardens and orchards, nature trails, wildlife habitats, and educational programs that, in conjunction with an internationally renowned facility for natural medicine, will produce a world-class site appealing to visitors from a wide variety of cultural and social backgrounds.
Winding through two miles of Iowa’s most beautiful prairies, woodlands, and wetlands, the educational nature trails will acquaint locals and tourists alike with the medicinal and edible herbs and wildflowers that are native to this region. Fully wheelchair accessible, and illustrated with informative path-side displays, these trails will be the only ones of their kind within a hundred miles. Other features of the Gardens will include a 1000-square foot energy-efficient year-round greenhouse attached to a multipurpose barn; two acres of herbs, perennial and vegetable gardens encircling a 1.4-acre swan pond; an orchard of 600 trees on 1.5 acres, with an attached nursery specializing in indigenous, exotic, and heritage species; the establishment of 2 acres of natural prairie; bird habitat and observation huts; and a butterfly habitat and bee hives.
Besides being a beautiful and enchanting tourist opportunity, this will be an excellent teaching tool for schools. The Gardens will feature a monthly lecture series—serving as an inspiration and information resource for a new generation of Iowa farmers, with a permaculture design focus on low maintenance, high yield, and the use of sustainable technologies to preserve our soils and environment. Networking with the local University (Maharishi University of Management), and its already established and rapidly expanding Sustainable Agriculture programs, as well as other interested educational institutions, will not only allow the Health and Wholeness Botanical Gardens to offer on-site educational internships in the propagation and use of medicinal herbs, but also facilitate the organizing of monthly and semi-annual conferences at the Center in all aspects of healthy living.
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