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THE VIRGINIA THURSTON HEALING GARDEN WATER FEATURE PROJECT

By Beth Ranahan
Ranahan Landscape Garden Design

On July 28, 2007 the Underground, an online organization of New England based landscape professionals, came together to join in the fight against breast cancer. The place was the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden in Harvard, MA. Founded in May of 2001, it is a holistic center of support for women diagnosed with breast cancer. The Underground’s mission was to bring the healing element of water to further enhance the beauty and tranquility of the gardens.

The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, Harvard, MA

Located on 10 beautifully carved, sprawling acres in Harvard, MA, the Healing Garden is an educational non-profit organization dedicated to providing a community of support without financial barriers to those touched by breast cancer. It offers a holistic menu designed to replenish the body and nourish the soul, in the midst of a peaceful country setting of colorful gardens, grassy hills and private hide-away spots. Here, women facing breast cancer can escape its day to day worries and fears in a naturalistic environment which offers a connection to the healing and soothing power of nature. The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden is further distinguished by the fact that many of the administrators and therapists working there have themselves experienced breast cancer, making them uniquely qualified to offer support and solace. The Center’s primary message is that no woman needs to make this journey alone.

It is interesting to outline how the concept and construction of the water feature evolved. In December of 2006, Bridget McManus, founder and president of the Underground, and Jay Bearfield, an aquatic landscape expert, who sits on its steering committee, were discussing how to coordinate and organize an informational workshop on how to build water features. They got in touch with Lisa Bailey, of BayLeaf Studio, Maynard, MA, an Underground member and a Landscape Architect, who specializes in designing healing environments. She introduced them to the Healing Garden’s Executive Director Betsy Tyson-Smith. It was decided that the Underground would hold their educational workshop at the Healing Garden. Inspired by the Center’s mission and its glorious surroundings, the Underground decided not only to sponsor the educational workshop but to actually construct a water feature on site. This met the Underground’s goal of providing educational opportunities to its members, while also helping others by providing the Healing Garden with an additional visual and auditory therapy: the healing powers of water.

With Bridget & Jay’s vision, timing and leadership, things began to take concrete shape very quickly. Their great idea attracted a vital and committed group of people to foster it. Bridget McManus & Ed Council, Treasurer of the Underground, coordinated and organized the project. Jay Bearfield, of Liquid Landscape Designs, Inc., Carlisle, MA, agreed to conduct the design and build workshop. Lisa Bailey, LA handled the siting of the water feature. Ed Coykendall of Landscape Artisans, Shirley, MA, volunteered to handle the site excavation. Todd Eves, of Eves Electrical, Waltham, MA, offered his electrical expertise. Jeff Barone, of EssentialSpace EarthScapes, Newburyport, MA, offered to work on getting client sponsorship and to do the heavy labor involved to prepare the site.

The next step was to put out a call for donations of materials and services. The response was overwhelming, bringing in thousands of dollars of donated pond equipment and materials. Armed with this generosity, on July 28, 2007, a group of 40 Underground volunteers met at the Healing Gardens. When the day was done, they had moved 9 tons of rock, 6 yards of gravel, soil and mulch, planted 200 plants and constructed a beautiful waterfall, stream and pond for the Center. As they stood back to admire their work, exhausted, tired and dirty, no one could fully comprehend just what their efforts would ultimately mean to so many.

The following is a picture montage which will take you through the process of this magnificent accomplishment, step by step.

Siting the location of the water element is a crucial first step in assuring its successful integration. Lisa, Jay and Bridget studied the site and, after thoughtful analysis, it was determined that the waterfall would be situated close to the living room of the Healing Center, where it would be seen and heard year round.

Julie Seavy and Betsy Tyson-Smith

The Healing Garden’s co-founder and executive director Betsy Tyson-Smith, MA, LMHC, had this to say about the addition of the water feature: “The sound of water trickling is soothing to the soul. I know our clients will love being able to hear water even inside the Garden Room. This area will be so special for a meditative time by oneself, surrounded by the whisper of a breeze and the murmur of the stream. The water feature absolutely ties the outer healing environment of nature to our inner one – inside our space and inside our hearts this area will contribute to the healing process.”

An existing rock wall needed some reconfiguring, as it was to be the retaining wall of the pond area.

One day before the workshop, the leading landscape contractors arrive with a backhoe, shovels, supplies and picks. They prepare the site by digging the pond, moving large boulders into place and digging the electrical trenches.

Ed’s heavy equipment was used to place key boulders for sitting spots along the stream bed.

The emergence of ‘Betsy’s Rock.’ Betsy Tyson-Smith, director of the Healing Center, had always admired this particular large rock in the gardens. She asked if the men could make it part of the water feature, and they happily obliged.

Ed Coykendall, of Landscape Artisans, uses the backhoe to dig the pond area at a 2’ depth.

Jay Bearfield lays out the lines of the pond and stream. Electrical trenches are dug.

An inner shelf is created in the pond to place aquatic plants. A deeper point is dug for the fish in the winter about 28” – 3’, below the frost line. There, they will be safe from the cold and possible predators.

A pump, which is required to run the filter and the waterfall, sits in the lower pond. Plastic tubing, attached to the pump outlet and taken over the edge of the pond inconspicuously between rock, delivers water to the top of the falls.

The filter is positioned at the top of the waterfall. The more filtration provided, the more aquatic life can be supported. If a pond is in the sunlight, it will generate a lot of algae and become nearly opaque without a good filtering system.

The lower pond is significantly larger than the upper one. In this case, the upper pond is a stream course. A shovel was used to hand dig the stream course, excavating with various steps. The pond and stream course elevates to 5’ over the course of a 30’ run, a 1.5% slope.

Volunteers use geotextile, a liner defense fabric, to protect the liner from roots and abrasives.

When laying the liner protection fabric and pond liner, the workers leave plenty of both in the area of the waterfall, and bring them up behind the spill stone and surrounding rocks.

It is essential to purchase a special pond liner which is a fish safe rubber, not rubber roofing material. The pond liner is fired differently. This prevents petroleum from leaching out over time and causing harm to aquatic life. Savio Engineering, in Albuquerque, NM, a pond equipment manufacturer, donated the top of the line pond equipment needed for this important project. Jay highly recommends them for the quality of their products.

The Undergrounders quickly annihilate this pile of rocks and gravel to ‘rock in’ the pond and stream.

Jay requests that the volunteers get a train going with the hand rocks.

Experienced landscape contractors position a large rock to construct a bridge. One can walk over it, while water flows underneath it.

Candace Anderson, an Artist-in-Residence at the Healing Garden, has noted that she is deeply grateful that the Center will have flowing water as a prominent element in the healing environment. “I see water as an important reminder that we all need to move fluidly through life – even when life presents us with twists and turns such as cancer. Being fluid and moving through obstacles is an important lesson that water can teach us. Burbling brooks that bubble and move over stones, creating energetic pathways, touch all of our senses, reminding us of our own inner energies.”

Todd Eves of Eves Electrical, Waltham, MA, connects the electrical. His advice: consult a licensed electrician when bringing power to a water feature.

Filters and skimmers are positioned and leveled. Jay will fill the filter with biological media. Proper filtration is essential, keeping water clean, aerated and oxygen levels high at all times.

Volunteers create a more naturalized area by planting partly in and partly out of the water.

The leading landscape contractors who donated time and talent.
Pictured from left to right: Todd Eves, Jay Bearfield, Mike Gudejko, Jeff Barone, Ed Coykendall and Darrell Buchannan

The Underground's finished project.

The water feature project was the result of a tremendous collaborative effort of Underground volunteers. So many professionals dedicated their time and expertise to bring this remarkable accomplishment to fruition. Guided by President Bridget McManus’s leadership, the Underground has succeeded in building a stronger community by directly engaging people to support a wonderful cause which has positively enhanced the lives of women fighting breast cancer.

As Jeff Barone of EssentialSpace EarthScapes notes, “When a group gets together to do something of such magnitude for another, and from the heart….there is an amazing synergy of human dynamic that occurs. The bumping into one another….the bouncing off of one another…whilst within the personalized, heart-driven desire to ‘serve another’….I believe this to be the coming together of the greater dynamic of life.”

Heartfelt Thanks go to the following donors and volunteers who joined the cause:

Donors
Aclearium, Inc., Westford, MA
BayLeaf Studio, Maynard, MA
BJ’s Wholesale Club, Framingham, MA
Crocker Electrical, North Quincy, MA
Dunkin' Donuts, Framingham, MA
EssentialSpace EarthScapes, Newburyport, MA
Eves Electrical, Waltham, MA
Landscape Artisans, Shirley, MA
Lepidoptera Landscape Design, Framingham, MA
Liquid Landscape Designs, Inc., Carlisle, MA
NECC Corporation, Woburn, MA
New England Nurseries, Bedford, MA
NorthStar Farm Perennials & Groundcovers, Westport, MA
Penske Truck Leasing, Framingham, MA
Savio Engineering, Albuquerque, NM
Starbucks Coffee, Westford, MA
Trader Joe’s, Framingham, MA
The New England Wild Flower Society, Framingham, MA
The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, Inc., Harvard, MA
Weir Meadow Nursery, Wayland, MA
Weston Nurseries, Hopkinton, MA
Whole Foods Market, Framingham, MA
Z-Taylor Trucking, Leominster, MA

The Underground Volunteers
Paul Angelli
Lisa Bailey
Jeff Barone
Jay Bearfield
Barbara Blake
Susan Bringola
Darrell Buchannan
Ted Chapman
Ed Council
Ed Coykendall
Elizabeth Dudley
Martha Eisenberg
Todd Eves
Hasso Ewing
Laurie Fitzgerald
Charlotte Fleetwood
Nancy Forbes
Karen Fountain-Lantelme
Sherri Geldersma
Lori Gotlieb
Rochelle Greayer
Mike Gudejko
Seija Halva
Suzanne Higham
Katherine Holland
Chris Kelly
Mabel Liang
Linda Lischer
Adaela McLaughlin
Bridget McManus
Laurie Pegrum
Denise Pegrum
Bruce Piper
Beth Ranahan
Judith Reeve
Julie Seavy
Michael Smith
Dori Smith
Susan Tuttle
Jill Vollmuth

END

Select photos submitted by Beth A. Ranahan

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