Update on Land Design Project

(Aromatic Aster and Honeybee ~ October 2022)

Last week, Dan, Brennah, and I met with Bridget and Charlie of Garden Juju Collective to receive an update on their progress with creating the design for the Sanctuary land. They are working on taking the plan that we have communicated to them and putting the design on paper using aerial photos, topographical maps, and making multiple visits to observe what’s been happening on the land.

They are currently still in the process of making the drawing as well as being in touch with all the proper authorities to make sure we get the appropriate permits and do everything according to code. But the good news is that we have the majority of the materials already on site for the project, so we won’t have to wait on procuring what we need once we get the green light to go. This has been a major issue for other projects that Bridget and Charlie have been involved with lately, and part of the hold up of getting to ours. The person who will be in charge of the excavation and site work also came out last week to assess the situation, and he is confident that he will be able to make it happen once we have all the plans in place.

Regarding the actual plan, we are still looking at having a series of ponds with various types of land habitats interspersed, and walking trails throughout. We will be creating the trails so that they are raised up, allowing the wet areas to still be accessed at times when we have excessive water in those areas. The section of land that has already been covered with fill is where we will be locating our meeting house and parking area. There may be other grassy areas for parking as well, along with places for rituals, a stone circle, and labyrinth.

The land will be divided into various sections that we can decide how exactly we want to use in the future, whether that be planting food forest and more agricultural intensive uses, or allowing them to be more natural in the vein of rewilding. This will be decided according to what our community has the most interest in seeing happening and the amount of volunteer help we have available. Allowing for this flexibility is also a way of giving more leeway in timing as well, since it will be possible to add more complexity to the design as we go along. Currently we are looking at this as a land restoration design, with a wide variety of magical herbs and trees, native plants, wildlife and pollinator habitats.

We have already done an amazing amount of restoration on this land, as well as creation of trails and areas for community use. We’re looking forward to continuing the next phase of this process! And the addition of a composting outhouse this summer was great progress with making our first actual building for community use!

(Aromatic Aster is one of the native wildflowers we planted last fall, and it is now blossoming this fall. It is one of the latest to flower, giving the bees and other pollinators a source of food in September and October. It’s also very drought tolerant, and can thrive in sandy soil. It’s a beautiful addition to our pollinator garden.)

Thank you all for the support that you have given to help us come this far!

In community,

Jean