0 Living Gardens Foundations

by Biljana
05-08-2025

Frog Hollow Integrative Art Experience

Living Gardens Foundations

SpiralGate of Art and Wellbeing · Tory Hill, Highlands East

Frog Hollow Art Experience is rooted in the living eco-system at SpiralGate of Art and Wellbeing land in Tory Hill, where gardens are cultivated as more than growing food, they are a places of beauty. Nature’s own spaces of ceremony, celebration, art expression, and community medicine.

The Living Gardens Foundations are a constellation of sacred garden spaces, each carrying its own wisdom, purpose, and story. Together, they form a living tapestry—an ongoing invitation to walk, reflect, connect, and reconnect with the natural world and one another.

These gardens are an artful expression of the soul-medicine journey of artist Biljana Banchotova “Webb”and her daughter, who live and create upon this land. Each garden carries a unique voice, a rhythm, a season, a teaching, and a layer of healing, inspired by her life from living on three continents, multicultural awareness, ancestral remembrance, and a lifelong devotion to sustainable environments. They are both deeply personal and universally relevant—born from one woman's devotion to the land and her vision for thriving, sustainable communities rooted in peaceful foundations.

Guided by a broad vision of global collaboration, Biljana invites community members, artists, knowledge keepers, gardeners, dreamers, and visitors to participate in the ongoing creation of these spaces—to weave together stories, teachings, memories, creativity, and care into a living continuum of wellbeing.

Our Existing Gardens

The Peace Trail in the Heart Garden

A walking “peace-symbol - tree of Life” pathway through a heart-shaped garden towards inner waters, offering cantering reflection, intention, and connection among vibrant perennial blooms.

The Ancestral Egg and Crescent Moon Garden

Two linked hay gardens honouring lunar cycles, ancestral wisdom, seeds, edible plants, and the enduring relationship between the cosmos and the ‘receiving’ earth. It acknowledges the tidal waves of sacred timing and sewing- ancestral knowing.

The Wheel of Life Garden

A cultivating circular motion space formed through the crossing of four directional pathways, planted, reflecting the turning seasons, development of life's and evolutionary transitions.

The Field of Wild Roses

A woodland oasis extended in a passionate play, with deep sent of remembrance, celebrating the resilient innocence, guardianship and enduring strength of Nature.

Initiating Summer 2026

SpiralGate Garden

In the summer of 2026, we begin laying the stone and concrete foundation of the SpiralGrate Garden, our signature alignment expressed through sacred landscape. The Spiralling flow represents the Creation Energy/teachings, a celestial flow of neutral- positive progressive impulse.

The Stones represent our ancestral voices and deep time listening and attuned to those who came before us. Concrete symbolizes our present-day intentions, dedication, collective participation, and the foundations we are consciously creating. for future generations.

This new sacred space will be open to art-exploration at the Golden Owl Integrative Experience of weaving together creativity, sound ceremony, and land-based wisdom, while celebrating Nature at its Heart.

Story Bench Initiatives

Our Story Bench is more than a place to sit. It is a threshold — an invitation to slow down, attune to Nature and offer your story to the circle of community life.

Each bench is rooted in a specific place in the gardens, anchoring presence to land, and to the living world around it — a place where the ground beneath you and the life unfolding above you are part of the story too.

The Story Bench lives within the SpiralGate vision of art, land, and community integrated together. It sits within a garden that is itself a living artwork — shaped by the rhythms of the earth, the echo of ancestors, the Whirling Wisdom Studio offerings and the creative spirit of all who come to tend and gather here.

Here, Elder wisdom and youth voice are equally welcomed. Stories that carry the voices of cultural memory meet stories still finding their shape. The bench holds them all — witnessed, honoured, and appreciated into the ongoing connections.

The bench itself carries her own story and telling. Its form and presence is shaped by the experiences, histories, and intentions of the people who gather around it — making it both artifact and offering, both personal and inclusive.

And it is sustained notby the living practices that grow around it: conversation, creative gathering, ceremony, seasonal celebration, and the simple, profound act of showing up to listen and to be heard.

The Story Bench is an open invitation. Come as you are. Bring what you carry. Rest here a while. The circle is wide enough for every voice, and the land is listening.

New benches are created and dedicated through community ceremony, each one honouring a unique thread of land, initiative and belonging.

Hello and warm greetings everyone.

This Story Bench was gifted by the Giver of Sacred Medicine, Medawiniinii, Aanikobijigan Mishoomis, Kaa'oomnoomiimii Maa'iinganwooyaa, Michii'saagig Anishinaabek, Mississauga Ojibwe (who will be present at the dedication ceremonies), the bench has been respectfully restored and continues to be held in the spirit in which it was first given.

It is dedicated to the authentic voices of the First Nations of this land — their Creation Stories, Medicine Teachings, and wholesome relationship with Nature and Spirit. It honours the responsibilities of stewardship toward the land, the watersheds, All Our Relations, and the wellbeing of the coming Seven Generations.

This bench reminds us that wisdom is not owned but carried, shared, and renewed through relationship.

The African Ancestral Voice and the Children, Spirit of ‘76

In the Language of Root & Sky

May there always be

a sacred space —

a breathing hollow

where the drumbeat remembers itself —

in my gardens

for the heart of Africa.

- Biljana

Carved in the living wood of intention,

offered to the soil,

held by the ancestors who travel in seeds

This bench is celebrating June 16, 2026 - The Day of The African Child.

It stands witness upon historically significant ground. These lands were once home to one of the earliest free Black settlements in North America — the Wilberforce Colony (1879). The landscape carries stories of resilience, freedom, courage, and the determination to begin again.

This bench carries a deeply personal thread. The guardian of this land Biljana Banchotova “Webb” was born in Johannesburg, South Africa (July 8, 1976) to a Macedonian family. From her earliest years, she was shaped by the landscapes, rhythms, and cultural soul of Mother Africa. Through a lifelong journey on three continents, of learning, healing, and sacred traditions that relationship has deepened into remembrance, appreciation and gratitude.

At the Golden Owl Celebration 2026, three convergences meet in a single golden moment. Biljana turns 50 on July 8 — the same date in 1776 the American Declaration of Independence was first read aloud to the public. She was born in South Africa, on land whose history at that time witnessed struggle, whose soul freedom runs deep. Today she stands upon the ground of those first Colony’s, of the earliest liberated Black settlements in North America. These three threads — of personal milestone, ancestral declaration, and liberated -new land — braid together into one living dedication.

From this convergence, Biljana carries the ancient thread of independence forward, ushering a new frequency of ascending unity consciousness for all humanity, for world peace, joy and harmony. She dedicates this bench to the children of Africa — past, present, and future — to the awakening of soul and the universal expressions of freedom, love, and belonging that connect all people across time.

To sit here is to sit within living history, and to honour the courage, strength, and hope that made new grounds possible — and that continues to light the way forward.

Community Art Expression

As part of the Golden Owl Initiative, all who gather are invited to leave their own mark within the Living Garden Foundations.

Participants may add their signature, blessing, reflection, or creative expression as a contribution to the evolving story of this place. Each mark becomes part of a living archive of memory, belonging, and wellbeing.

Together, these contributions form a collective witness — a reminder that every voice matters, every story belongs, and every generation leaves its imprint upon the circle of Life

IN LIVING MEMORY

Honouring Elder Chief Joseph Ivan Burns Johnson

— who crossed the spirit threshold on July 7, 2022 —

The Sacred Four-Year Hoop · End of Grieving Ceremony

This summer we remember the four years since the passing of our First Nations Chief and Elder. This sacred hoop marks the end of grieving ceremony — and the beginning of honouring. We acknowledge the First Nations peoples whose ancestral presence and teachings is woven into this land, and we carry his legacy forward in everything we tend, and build here.

To an Elder warrior of the highest order,

who kept the flame of Indigenous roots in impeccable ways —

who led community by common heart and prayer.

Who carried on ancestral wisdom and shared it

with unconditional reverence, respect, and dedication.

Who saw me free… cosmic child.

Who knew me over twenty years

and led me by unconditional love at those sacred fires.

Who welcomed me on this land.

Who taught the community how to raise a Tipi and sing the traditional songs.

Who prayed humbly at the sweat lodge.

Who supported me and my daughter

at our most difficult grieving times in life —

and called us family.

For whom there are no words —

only golden respect and honour.

RELATED WORK

Medicine Wheel — Stained Glass Dreams

A Tribute · Stained Glass · 2022 · Private Collection

A tribute created at Elder Joseph Ivan Johnson's crossing in 2022, now in a private collection. The work was also exhibited at the Intersection members salon at Rails End Gallery, Haliburton.

Traditionally this symbol has been expressed among Indigenous cultures around the world, representing the equality and unity of All Nations — the Yellow, White, Red/Brown, and Black peoples of the earth. It marks the intersection of the four cardinal directions, each carrying its medicines, teachings, allies, and wisdom passed down through generations.

~~~~~

“The sacred hoop within the Dreamcatcher represents the equality and the sacred rhythms around the sun — the wheel of life, and All Relations living together on this Turtle Island, in support, respect, and unity. It makes us happy to know that you understand the teachings and take an active part in spreading the light and knowledge in an inclusive way, while conducting your own life. The more people support our ways, the stronger we become, and we believe in the Great Spirit of Oneness. It is a way of strengthening and continuing our prayers… You don't "take our ways" — you re-create from here.” - teachings by Joseph A Jhonson

✦

ALL MY RELATIONS

May you rest in peace, and be remembered always.
Frog Hollow Integrative Art Experience · Story Beach

2025 LIVING GARDEN INITIATIVE

Frog Hollow and Unity Net Host Planting of the Global (Juniper) Tree of Peace and Reconciliation
June 15, 2025 – Frog Hollow Sacred Gardens

On June 15, 2025, Frog Hollow, in collaboration with Unity Net, hosted a meaningful and ceremonial planting of the Global (Juniper) Tree of Peace and Reconciliation at the Frog Hollow Sacred Gardens.

The event began at sunrise with a Sacred Pipe Ceremony, setting a reverent and intentional tone for the gathering. Community members, peace advocates, spiritual leaders, and supporters came together in reflection and prayer, honoring traditions of reconciliation, unity, and respect for the Earth.

The planting of the Juniper tree symbolized purification, protection, endurance, and spiritual connection. As part of Unity Net’s broader global peace initiative, the tree joins a growing international network of plantings dedicated to healing divisions and promoting harmony across cultures and communities.

Frog Hollow provided the sacred garden setting and the “Cosmic Tipi” space for the ceremony, reinforcing its ongoing commitment to cultural awareness, environmental stewardship, and community-centered initiatives. The ceremony was led by Biljana’s hand drums and sacred songs, followed by a healing sound bath that deepened the spirit of reflection and wellbeing.

Central to Frog Hollow’s mission is the identification and protection of our local watersheds, recognizing that the health of our water is inseparable from the health of our communities and future generations. Through the vision of the Frog Hollow Art Experience, the organization fosters learning through the arts—creating opportunities for cultural expression, hands-on creativity, and informative education that connect people more deeply to the land, to one another, and to shared traditions. The collaboration highlighted the powerful intersection of nature, spirituality, artistic expression, and collective action in advancing peace.

The Global (Juniper) Tree of Peace and Reconciliation now stands as a living symbol of hope, unity, shared responsibility, and stewardship of the land and waters for future generations.

For more information about future events and initiatives, please contact Frog Hollow.

COMMUNITY, EVENTS & SERVICES