Skywater Farm was once a horse property, and our front entrance is dominated by a round training ring. So what does a person do with a large, round, flat, dry empty space in their front yard? We struggled with this question for two years, and one day realized that there was an absolutely perfect answer.
Build a lavender labyrinth.
Lavender is a miracle plant. It’s useful for culinary, medicinal, cosmetic and therapeutic applications. It is a favourite of the bees and butterflies. It is drought tolerant. Predator animals and insects won’t eat it. And the scent? Absolutely heavenly. We thought that the circular shape of the space would be ideally suited for a labyrinth, and the meditative combination of form and sensory stimulation would enhance that quality in a unique way.
“A labyrinth is not a maze, but a walking meditation device with a single winding path from the edge to the center. There are no tricks, choices or dead ends in a labyrinth walk. The same path is used to return to the outside. Combining a number of even older symbols, including the circle, spiral and meander, the labyrinth represents the journey inward to our own true selves and back out into the everyday world.“
The seeds have been ordered, and we’ll be starting by germinating 500 plants in spring 2017 to create the outer rings. We’ll work our way to the inside…and by the time we’ve reached the centre circle, we’ll have hopefully decided on the ideal way to finish the end of the pathway, the labyrinth’s destination.
A shade tree? A gazebo? A fountain? Wait and see…
Read about the evolution of the Skywater Labyrinth as it develops in the Lavender section of my blog HERE.
