The Village at the Pines and Grand Pines Assisted Living Center are Grand Haven’s premier continuum of care senior community. The Village at the Pines is a luxurious senior community catering to those 55 years of age and older, designed for carefree and independent living. When assisted living care is needed, Grand Pines Assisted Living Center is available with a broad range of supportive services.

Grand Pines Assisted Living Center offers residents views of the two LiveRoof® green roofs over the entrance to the adjacent The Village at the Pines and fresh produce from their LiveWall® upright gardens. The culinary staff uses the fresh ingredients from their LiveWall® to enhance the dining options for residents.

Chef Aaron Shapiro has a lot on his plate when it comes to pleasing the palates of nearly 100 residents at Grand Pines Assisted Living Center. So when facility owner Scott Reenders suggested putting in an herb garden, the chef was pretty excited. Shapiro said he’s had gardens at other places where he’s worked since graduating from the culinary program at Grand Rapids Community College. But he’s had to stick with dried product during the time he has been in charge of the food at Grand Pines.

The installation of the upright garden by LiveWall® completed the first sale of the product in May 2012. LiveWall®, from the makers of LiveRoof®, is a solution-focused product invented to solve the issues of plant die-out in green wall systems. The vertical garden promotes healthy growth by allowing the plants to grow upright as nature intended.

The vertical garden at Grand Pines has 32 different planters – either 8 or 16 inches in width to form a brick pattern. This primary herb wall is 40 sf; additional vegetated screens are 24 to 40 sf each. The main LiveWall® has a built-in irrigation system set up on a timer. Chef Shapiro says the wall equals savings in his budget. “I normally spend $24 to $30 a month on herbs,” he said. “With this garden, it will probably cost me that for the whole season.”

The living wall is set on a timer with automatic spray irrigation. During the growing season, the wall is watered for one minute each day. The planters contain everything from chives and parsley to rosemary, lemon balm, cilantro and thyme. Culinary staff heads out to the wall every day to pick fresh herbs to help make tasty meals for the residents who would normally have used salt to bring out the taste in their food. Chef Shapiro’s team cooks all meals without added salt.

Each spring, the wall will be replanted with fresh herbs and produce chosen by the culinary staff. In the fall, remaining herbs will be harvested and dried or frozen for use during the winter months. The staff estimates an average yield of approximately one ounce per square foot per week. At this rate, the culinary staff estimates that the wall infrastructure will pay itself off in a year or two.

The adjacent The Village at the Pines greets its guests with two green roofs by sister-company LiveRoof® over its entrance and another smaller herb garden roof. The green roofs together measure approximately 1700 sf. See The Village at the Pines Green Roofs profile here in The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database. Watch the wonderful 4:05 video The Impact LiveRoof Vegetated Roofs Have on Senior Living Residents from August 20, 2015 by LiveRoof® on YouTube.