The Grizzly Getaway is the primary learning garden at Grafton Bethel Elementary School. The space functions as an outdoor learning lab for the students to document and observe the wildlife they encounter. The Grizzly Getaway consists of an alphabet garden, a wildlife habitat, a shape garden, a shade garden, and numerous places to sit and relax. Also on the school grounds are a wildlife meadow, a kitchen garden, and a butterfly garden. 

The garden is maintained by volunteers from the PTA and from the Virginia Master Gardeners and the Virginia Master Naturalists through the 4-H Schoolyard Habitats Outreach program. We are always welcoming new volunteers to donate their time to our gardens. 

Summer 2023 we were the grateful recipients of a generous donation from Vego Garden. They donated 4(!) of their modular raised beds to our school habitat gardens.  Because the raised beds are modular, we were able to perfectly size them to our space. In front of our school we placed the 11 inch 9 in 1 in British green and we planted black eyed susans to mimic our school colors of green and gold. 

In the back of the school, on the former tennis courts, we placed the 32 inch 9 in 1. This site is hot and dry so we are pleased that the large size will help our plants with water retention. We planted milkweed in the large planter to expand our monarch program in 2024. 

The beds came flat packed in compostable materials. They were super easy to put together, and take apart when we changed our minds on layout. They were also light weight enough for 1 person to move them into the perfect position. We are already planning to place more of these beds around our school grounds.