THE PROJECT DESCRIPTION. I’ll start with that.

Senior Project Title: Creating Healing Space: Chakra Herb Garden
Senior Description:
For my senior project I am going to design and create an herb garden on the Prescott College campus that will demonstrate my competency, skills, and knowledge in the areas of permaculture design, agroecology, and herbalism. I will design and construct seven herb gardens that represent each of the seven chakra energy centers in the human body and reflect the plants, themes, healing, and colors associated with each chakra. These gardens will acknowledge the vibrational qualities of the plants around us. Acknowledging the plants growing around us is a way of including the gifts from the plant kingdom in our lives. There is powerful healing here and this project will be a way of reminding us of this. The hope is that these gardens will be used as healing space for those that sit in them. The intention is that these gardens will be used for sitting in, mediation, and a place for students, faculty and staff to having meetings. There will be sculpture, color and plants that symbolize each chakra. I will include a placard that explains the traditional medicinal uses of the plants. I will focus primarily on native plants to the Southwest and uses by the native peoples of this region.
Goals and Objectives:
My goals include creating a beautiful garden space on the campus grounds for students, faculty, staff and the greater community to enjoy; to create a thematic herbal demonstration garden to use for educational purposes for the college and greater community; to design seven garden beds that have plants representing each of the seven chakras; and to create a healing garden space that encourages people to connect with themselves, the plants, and the earth in a deeper way.
To achieve these goals, the following objectives are listed in the order in which I intend to accomplish them: I will start by researching the chakra systems. I will learn in more depth about the origins and development of the chakra concept, their roles and affects on our bodies and health. Then I will research what herbs have been traditionally used to heal these areas of our bodies, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I will select plants that activate, stimulate, or heal these chakra areas also keeping in mind the growing requirements of each plant. I want to narrow down my selection to mostly herbs that either have been used traditionally by the native peoples of the Southwest or those that have low water needs and will thrive in the arid landscape. I will also incorporate some plants strictly for their color, shape, size, and other elements to consider in designing an aesthetically pleasing garden space.
I will start the seeds in a greenhouse that I have access to on Oregon Avenue and may use some greenhouse space on campus if it is made available to me. I will also request permits from the Forest Service or other agencies in order to collect some plants from the forest. These will be plants that either have an especially long germination time or simply make more sense to collect rather than grow out. I will tend these seedlings daily in the greenhouse until they are mature enough to be transplanted outside into the garden beds. I will mix my own compost and soil mix as the germination medium using mostly local resources. I will then start the design process using skills I have learned in Permaculture classes. Water will be a big consideration in the design process and I plan on creating gardens that need little maintenance in the long run.
There have been many ideas and designs created for this space in recent time and I intend to work with some of the people involved in this in order to make the best design decisions. I have heard that the conservation biology class is going to be doing some creek restoration projects in the area of the gardens. I plan to find out if there is any way that my project could contribute to this effort. I have also heard word that there is a vision to make this space into more of a “park” like space. I plan on talking to Steven Corey about these ideas to see again if I am able to contribute to this vision. I will find out if there is any funding for supplies for this type of a project. Lastly, I will talk to the Form and Function Sculpture class to see if there would be any interest in designing sculptures for the garden beds that would bring more beauty and help to emphasis the theme of the gardens.
I will take pictures to document this process. I am considering the idea of using the internet “blog” method of documenting this process of learning and the construction of the gardens. I will include pictures, information about healing herbs, chakras, herbal medicine, and a list of resources pertaining to healing gardens.

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