When lost, find a new start

"Everybody sets out to do something, and everybody does something, but no one does what he sets out to do." - George A. Moore

The woods-to-be, soon after planting out on Nov 15, 2017

When I began the land restoration work at pointReturn in 2006, I had dreamt big. Big dreams get us started, but it’s hard to tell where they might take us.

I dreamt the derelict land would become rich in water and topsoil, that it’d  provide food, water, shelter and energy for 40 people; that it’d be run by volunteers who’d live on it and protect its newly created water bodies and fields; that they would live off the produce and lead frugal lives; that it’d attract and motivate back-to-the-landers.

Well, ten years down the line and pushing 75 now, I find it has evolved in a way all its own.
    Yes, most of what I had planned has been realised.

The 17 acres annually harvest 4 million litres of rain water that’s charged into the ground, wild weed and short vegetation cover is rampant indicating top soil build up, bird and small game count is increasing, a 1,000 trees have been  planted across 10 acres, energy is derived from solar power and a wind pump, no subsidy or donations have ever been availed, nor chemicals or pesticides used.

So what >didn’t< happen? 

Well, the dream of easily attracting volunteers to come and live in a community didn’t come true. Many came visiting, three stayed for four years and then left. Most quickly lose their enthusiasm and those that would stay on land, tend to long for properties of their own. So I had dreamed in error there.

Since 2014 I have been a worried man as to what might happen to the land and the work after my time. 

What is this preoccupation of man with creating legacies? I can understand that in a parent with children being anxious for their future- but in a single man? My guess is, that it is to seek validation for a life having been meaningfully lived. 

Over the past four years I made a few decisions to safeguard the land from falling into insensitive hands. First, I invited a chain of schools to build one on a 5 acre lot I assigned them. And next, I invited a Trust to grow food on 4 acres, for the free hostel it runs elsewhere in Chennai. These two would be place holders to thwart adventurers.

The two moves gave me some time to think about the rest of the land. What might I do with the rest that’d ensure their permanence?

6 months ago, I heard a sudden and compelling voice: plant a forest, it said. 

Several seductive images followed: 

It’d have a walking trail threading through a dense woods populated by a diverse stand of trees. It would lead to a perennial forest, self sustaining, self renewing and admit humans only as visitors. They’d watch birds and small game whose home it’d be. Humans would observe them, learn from them, go away refreshed, feel an ownership and be moved to defend it against any miscreants.

The reverie was so vivid, that action followed quickly. I called my old friend Joss Brooks in Auroville. He paid a visit and told me to get a 100 wooden pegs ready to lay and to mark out the proposed walking trail. Also, design in 2 or 3 open spaces like clearings in a woods. 

Then I was to drill holes, 12” dia and 2 feet deep. “Drill them randomly and 4 feet apart”

“Wouldn’t that be crowding them?” I was used to planting them 15 or 18 feet apart

“Not if we chose them for varying eventual sizes and mixed up species. High density would encourage rapid growth,” he said.

He was to select the species, provide 2 year old saplings from his nursery and bring his team over to plant out. I was to tell him when the drilling was done and inform the holes count. 

My only stipulation was that the trees be chosen for colour, fragrance and bird-friendliness. No thorny creepers or invasive species. And no timber trees that’d tempt felling.

I ordered a tractor-driven auger drill, went through a learning spell and got to work. At the end of 3 fiendish working days I had drilled the 3.5 acres. The count was 1,500. Add the 500 trees that already stood there, and I was looking at a 2,000 tree woods.

On Nov 15, 2017 the area was planted out. That story is best told in a slide show that you can access from the link below this article.

Joss had promised: “Water and take care of them for just 3 years, then you have a stand of trees that’ll go on renewing itself without much care, except maintaining the trail and lopping a few overhangs. Birds and small game will take over. All you’d then be doing is wandering the trails and experiencing something new everyday.”

Who can pass up such a promise of permanence! 

I am glad I didn’t.

Thus ended my year- on an upbeat note and with something to look forward to.

                                        

Videos:

A slide show to go with this story 2:04 mins

How does a tractor driven auger drill work? 1:10 mins