Our landscape at Adat Shalom has come a long way since our muddy beginnings last spring when we planted our first tree at dedication, graciously donated by Mt. Hermon Church. Trees line our parking lot and borders with our neighbors. We’ve replaced mud with grass, installed an irrigation system and hired a landscape maintenance company. Some have said, "good job," but I say, that this is just a beginning! With the garden spaces created by the architecture of the building, we have an opportunity to fulfill our vision of creating a spiritual home in the landscape as we have done with our shul.
The Land and Building Committee is working with Cheryl Corson, a landscape architect, in a four phase process to design our landscape that meets our functional as well as aesthetic desires. In phase I, Cheryl met with several members to learn how our synagogue’s space is currently used. Not surprisingly, as we’ve gotten comfortable in our new shul, the ways in which we use the outdoor space do not match the original landscape masterplan. After our meeting, Cheryl prepared a landscape assessment that summarizes:
In Phase II, planned for late spring, Cheryl will lead those interested in a community design event. Through a series of structured exercises, members will share their ideas for landscape design in each of the areas mentioned above. But first, in order to get the most out of this event, we have the opportunity to explore our rich heritage that ties us to the land and our commitment to be shomrai adomah, guardians of the earth.
Members of the Land and Building committee will hold several education meetings to explore the question of how to translate the feelings of spirit and sacred into a physical form in the landscape. What aspects of our Jewish history, litergy and culture can be expressed in the gardens of the shul? How as shomrai adomah and reconstructionists can we design with sustainable environmental strategies? We will bring resources together and share examples through Jewish text study, slide show, discussion, and a field trip to local sites to help us understand the issues and begin to talk of the possibilities.
In Phase III Cheryl Corson will incorporate our ideas from the community design event into a landscape design. Phase IV will refine the design to working drawings so that it can be built.
The process is ongoing, since we need to raise funds to complete the design Phases III and VI as well as raise funds to construct the gardens over time.
We invite all members to be part of this process, with a special invitation to capital campaign donors and those who signed the Social Action Tikkun Olam pledge sheets under, "Environmental Action at Adat Shalom." There’s a lot to do, everything from organizing educational meetings, planning onsite projects, and fundraising.
In the end, we hope to design our landscape to address our functional needs but to be so much more-to bring the spirit of Adat Shalom outdoors and in the process, create a sense of what is sacred to us.
Kick off events to explore spirituality, gardens and the environment:
Cheryl Kollin