Situated in the floodplain of Bear Creek, WellSprings
features mineral-rich, river bottom, sandy loam which
facilitates the cultivation of nutritious vegetables
and medicines. Seven acres were recently awarded “organic
certification” by Oregon Tilth. Two acres are
currently under intense cultivation and furnish most
of the restaurant’s food and culinary herb requirements.
In addition, a hortus medicus - or educational, medicinal
herb garden - features the botanical species that have
served mankind in health over the last several thousand
years. The gardens are supplied by two clean, fresh
water sources: a hillside spring and a surface creek
that flow throughout the year along the back of the
property.
The unique geographical and climactic features of the
Siskiyou Bioregion, a fertile valley abundant with granitic
and clay soils protected between two North-Southerly
mountain ranges, invite botanical diversity that is
unprecedented in the Northerntemperate hemisphere
.
At the turn of the Twentieth Century the City of Ashland
captured its abundant botanical heritage in its motto,
“Where the palm trees meet the pines”. Only
thirteen other regions on the planet offer greater species
diversity than found in the Siskiyous. WellSprings’
warm water springs increase its ability of grow subtropical
varieties, making the property ideal for establishing
aesthetic botanical and water garden features, a valuable
addition to any healing center.
WellSprings’
TREE OF LIFE GARDEN
.
From at least the
beginning of recorded history, people have used herbs
and plants to cure diseases, relieve suffering, and
to flavor their foods. Although
most gardeners today grow plants and herbs only for
ornamental or culinary purposes, in the Middle Ages
herbal gardens, called “Physick Gardens”,
served as community pharmacies as well. Of course,
the ancients believed that all plants, indeed
all foods, had medicinal qualities for good or for
ill. This view eventually fell out of favor,
but now has made a legitimate reemergence now that
more and more scientific studies confirm that even
the most commonplace of foods - from broccoli to ketchup
to oatmeal - have both positive and negative medicinal
effects.
In 1995 WellSprings and SEEDS (nonprofit
501(c)(3) organizations) jointly began the development
of an educational Hortus Medicus Mandala Garden. They
based their design in part on the ancient “Tree
of Life” diagram, a regular geometrical
pattern of circular spaces (sefiroth) and interconnecting
paths. The Kabbalistic Sefer Yetzirah,
or Book of Creation, written
circa 100 - 500 C.E., first presented the specifics
of the Tree of Life as we know of it today. Although
one can find the primordial archetype of the Tree in
the mythology of almost every culture, in the Hebrew Tree
of Life it may have undergone it fullest flowering. At
the highest level it symbolizes the Universe and the
ongoing Process of Creation. It’s design
delineates both “the anatomy of God”, and
also that of the “Macrocosmic Man”, made
in God’s image. Each of the sefiroth
and paths has an association with a particular function
or organ, so that the Tree of Life illustrates
the interrelatedness and interdependency of all creation.
As such, one can appreciate how it seems ideally suited
to serve as the template for an educational garden
of medicinal plants.
The Hortus Medicus Mandala Garden came into
existence on the sandy banks of an artesian spring
on the WellSprings property (historically
known as Jackson Hot Springs) in Ashland,
Oregon. Those fortunate enough to have promenaded
down the granite walkways often developed a personal
relationship with the plants that surrounded them. This
beautiful demonstration garden gave visitors a first
hand experience of the role that Nature plays in sustaining
health, while also demonstrating a way of preserving
botanical resources.
In 2001 WellSprings appointed Ed
Kellogg, Ph.D. to chair a committee devoted to the
purpose of resurrecting and recreating the garden,
so that it could again serve its original educational
purpose. The Tree of Life Garden Committee approved
modifications of the original Hortus Medicus Mandala
Garden design, to bring to life an “evolved” version
of the traditional "Tree of Life". The ancient Sefer
Yetzirah designated 10 sefiroth (circular
spaces / energy centers) and 22 interconnecting paths,
which different Kabbalistic schools arranged in different
patterns, and of which the most commonly accepted form
includes an “abyss” or gap. The “evolved
Tree” garden design fills this gap and anticipates
the next step, the perfected form of the Tree after
the completion of Tikkun (the restoration
process - see attached figure). In its new
form, WellSprings’ Tree
of Life Garden now covers an area of over 70 by
200 feet, and includes 11 circular areas (sefiroth),
25 paths, and over 50 individual garden beds. Aside
from some of those who had a hand in creating the original
mandala garden, such as Gerry Lehrburger, MD., and
Seamana Lanz, the original Tree of Life Garden Committee
also included noted herbalists and authors such as
Richo Cech, and Donnie Yance.
The Tree of Life Garden features herbs and
medicinal plants that can grow in its specific microclimate,
with an emphasis on appropriate locally available plants
endogenous to this area. For the present the
pathways, measuring three feet in width, will have
a layer of decomposed granite so as to allow wheelchair
access. As soon as WellSprings finds
the funding for doing so, more permanent pathways,
made of poured concrete or even colored brick, will
replace these. The committee has approved a
design for a simple but beautiful entrance gate similar
in shape to the Hebrew letter Chet (j,
which originally, according to Chomsky's Hebrew:
The Eternal Language, meant window or
opening), which we plan to have established on site
by the summer of 2002. In 2001, WellSprings applied
for and received a grant from the Ashland Community
Food Store for an elegantly designed educational Entrance
Display for the garden, where it now stands.
Different areas of the garden display plants that
have known effects on different physiological systems
or organs. In this fashion the garden will present
a kind of road map to the potential healing properties
of medicinal herbs within the human body. Many
proposed plants for the garden have served as medicines
throughout history. The compendium of plants
displayed in the garden will serve, in a small way,
as a testament to the bounties of nature that have
enabled humans to thrive on planet Earth. A
garden tour booklet for visitors will provide information
on all of the herbs growing in the garden, ranging
from their historical uses in different traditions
and cultures, to the biochemical and pharmacological
properties of their constituents.
WellSprings intends that the Tree
of Life Garden will provide a peaceful sanctuary,
where people in need can develop a personal relationship
with the healing powers of Nature through meditation
and contemplation. The garden will also serve as
an educational resource for the community, both for
those in good health and for those in need of healing,
from the very old, to the very young. Although
the circular and interconnecting garden pathways
can accommodate wheelchairs, we know from past experience
that children find these pathways even more attractive
than adults, as they love to play and run through
the garden “maze”.
Equally important, the physical Tree of Life Hortus
Medicus bioregional garden will help to preserve
the gene pool of the medicinal plants native to our
area. As our area responds to the pressures
towards overpopulation and development, maintaining
rare and endangered plants in bioregional gardens
becomes more and more a priority. Botanical
gardens and protected lands may soon become the only
places in which to preserve the treasures of genetic
material found in the wide variety of mostly unstudied
medicinal plants. In time, WellSprings plans
to use the Tree of Life Garden as
a source of material for the entire WellSprings property
so that, in effect, all of the property will become
a 30 acre botanical garden housing medicinal plants
from the Siskiyou bioregion and from around the world.
Although the WellSprings’ Tree
of Life Garden project has already made a good
beginning, we need the help of more volunteers to
complete the first phase and to maintain what we
have already accomplished. Whether you’d
like to join a work party some Saturday - or
would like to personally “adopt” a
path or garden bed and maintain it on a regular basis,
we need your help. You can contact Dr.
Ed Kellogg for more information at alef1@msn.com
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