Did you know there is 5 acres of undeveloped land on Beach Drive? What if someone offered to let you use it for a few months to further a dream?

Therese Henning is a West Seattle entrepreneur and owner of the Body Bar at 4156 California Avenue Southwest. Her vision is to create a "hybrid corporation that ties together spirituality, healing, and well being" and call it the Healing Life Foundation.

The first step in making that dream real Henning thought was to stage an event, a gathering where these ideas could be shared with the public and some energy and money for them could be generated.

She was in a local coffee shop some weeks ago and was talking about her dream. Jay Hadley, an attorney for well-known northwest boat builder Dave Livingston overheard her conversation. He told her that the land, on Beach drive up on the hill on the east side of the road about a mile north of Lowman Beach was not developed, though there are plans to build homes there, possibly as early as next spring. He offered to let her use it, as long as it was returned it to the state it was found in, or even improved. She jumped at the chance.

"What I've decided we're going to do with it is have a spiritual harvest festival and each weekend is going to focus on a different aspect of well being," said Henning. The plan, still forming, is to do this in October. Typically October is a time of ghouls and goblins, haunted houses and frightening images. Henning's plan is different. She wants to provide an alternative to the fright fests and create a series of weekend events that would "be more magical and based on fantasy. I want them to send more positive messages," she said.

To that end she has organized several work parties to clear away brush and mow grass. While much of the land is on a hillside, there's a large flat open area where such an event could be staged. It's been largely cleared. Home Depot even got involved and donated the use of a rototiller.

She is planning on using Rent-a-Goat to help clear way more underbrush.

An early part of the plan involved creating a garden space. SSCC donated close to 800 plant starts, primarily vegetables (tomatoes and peppers) but many of those had to be donated to people who could use them since the maintenance of that many plants would have been too difficult. Still, quite a few of them now line one edge of the area.

There are many hurdles to clear and there are no guarantees of success. Staging an event means getting permits, insurance and getting organized fast. She has less than six weeks. Henning believes she can do it.

What would an event like this look like?
Henning is on the faculty of the Seattle Children's Theater and would do children's drama, some brief plays during the festival.

"We're going to have different booths and partner with other organizations that have a similar vision. We might have a string quartet, a brazilian drum troupe, face painting, things for sale, massage booths, Vedic astrology, an aromatherapy booth and informational booths," Henning said. One idea she'd like to include is "Green Halloween" an effort that involves a Mother/Daughter team that educates people on how to have a sustainable Halloween.

Henning is also a representative of a company called Univera and plans to have chief scientific officer Stephen Cherniske from that company speak. Univera is nutraceutical firm that specializes in pharmaceutical grade research on plants.

Beyond the festival Henning and some partners are developing a 90-day program that focuses on all the aspects of well being. A focused transformational exercise that would involve mutual accountability among all participants.

The volunteer coordinator for the event is Marilina Valasco, and her assistant is Matthew Bigliardi. If people are interested in getting involved they can email bodybarnews@gmail.com or call Henning at 206.226.5175. They will be pairing with several organic farms in the area, however none are confirmed at this time. Currently they have a blog which is secretgardenassociation.blogspot.com. This will be updated and The Healing Life Foundation will be the official name for everything, including the spiritual harvest festival.