| |
RS DIARY
Rory Spowers is an ecological writer who moved to Sri Lanka in 2004 with his wife Yvette and their two sons, Sholto and Xan. His last book, A Year in Green Tea and Tuk Tuks, describes the vision and inspiration for Samakanda and the Bio-versity concept.
January 2008
With the second Galle Literary Festival set for the middle of the month, much of my energy is tied up with preparing for Six Senses Web of Hope’s role, including designing and producing a leaflet with a 12-step programme of actions to be taken by individuals over the coming year. Kim Kindersley flies over from Australia to screen his film and we have the opportunity to brainstorm about his next project, a film called It’s Time, which he has since asked me to co-produce. This is an immensely exciting project, which you will soon hear more about. Watch this space. The screening of Whaledreamers is hugely well attended, the ballroom at the Lighthouse hotel bursting at the seams, with people sitting on the floor and standing at the back. Again, the feedback is very positive, many reporting it to be their highlight of the whole festival.
Kim and I also take part in two climate change panel discussions, one of which is entitled The End of the World is Nigh and sees us fielding interesting questions and debate alongside Simon Winchester. Overall, the festival is a huge success, the notable names including Gore Vidal and Vikram Seth. Long may it continue, since the event brings much to Galle and to Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan writing. Congratulations to all those that have driven this event from the start, especially hotelier Geoffrey Dobbs and festival Director Libby Southwell (www.galleliteraryfestival.com).
With the festival behind us, we are able to focus once again on Samakanda and the launch of Six Senses Web of Hope. Another Samakanda Sunday goes off well at the end of the festival and a date is set for the next event on February 23rd, this time switching to a Saturday on the basis that this may make the day more manageable for those coming down from Colombo. Knowing that I will be off again in early February for meetings with Six Senses in Bangkok, I spend time with Alex and Daniel working on the schedule for the coming weeks. After a long fallow period, we are finally able to bring the website up to date, adding fresh text, new photographs and forcing me to finally bring this diary up to date. Now that I have additional help on board, I promise not to fall so far behind again!
Due to my on-going nomadic status, this diary will now focus more on general Web of Hope news from my travels, while Alex will take on the newsletter and keep the site up to date with all that is happening on the ground at Samakanda. Please come back soon, as this year the site will expand and develop significantly, with fresh content being added on a regular basis. As you can see, the Tours page has now been replaced with Projects and offers innovative new ways of paying for your holiday at Samakanda by contributing to what we are doing and thereby leaving a permanent legacy behind. If you would like to receive our e-mail newsletter and be kept up to date with these opportunities, please e-mail alex@samakanda.org
On that note, let me wish all those that have visited or stay in touch with Samakanda a very happy and fruitful 2008. We feel that 08 will be gr8. We hope is for you too!
December 2007
Spells of fine weather continue, interspersed with heavy rains. The rocket and other salad seedlings are badly impacted and, as in previous years, we are unable to meet the Christmas season rush for salad. Bookings for both bungalows continue to come in and, over the height of the season, both bungalows are busy with guests coming and going. Daniel does a great job looking after them, proving to be quite a dab hand in the kitchen. Without exception, the feedback is very positive, all of them enjoying their time in the abundant green landscape that is bursting with vitality from the rains.
As ever, Christmas and New Year is the most hectic, busy time of the year, with most places along the coast heavily booked. Many make the trip up to Samakanda for lunch, or join one of Alex’s mountain bike tours. One trip proves especially challenging, when quite the heaviest tropical rainstorm I have ever witnessed pours down on a group of fifteen cyclists, leaving them wading through three feet of water and only a handful managing to complete the final stretch back to the beach.
November 2007
Unusually, what is normally the wettest month brings a spell of fine weather. With Alex and Daniel, I firm up plans to launch a programme of Samakanda Sundays, deciding to make it the Sunday every month that falls closest to the full moon. These Open Days will invite visitors to join us for a day of culinary adventures based around the wood-fired ovens, barbeque and fire-pit, followed by guided tours, a film screening in the T-shed after dusk, followed by drumming and dancing. The first event is fixed for the end of the month and Daniel works with Mr Pitchamurtu to focus on all that needs to be done to make the Bowl, the paths and the various other zones look their very best.
More travel looms as it is decided that I should represent Six Senses Web of Hope at the Be The Change conference in London. I fly back to the UK for an inspirational week, reconnecting with many familiar faces from the movement, many of whom I have lost touch with since the move to Sri Lanka – my old boss, mentor and urban sustainability guru Herbie Girardet, who is now Chairman of the World Future Council (www.wfc.org), an exciting new initiative which represents the ethical and spiritual leaders of the planet like an alternative UN; the Gaia Foundation, a global network of activists and visionaries working in the developing world; Gregory Sams, a pioneering alternative thinker and close friend. The conference is both stimulating and disturbing, shedding new and alarming new information on the acceleration of climate change due to positive feedback loops like methane releases, and the grim reality of the global water crisis. The latter dampens any prospective plans for relocation to Australia should the Sri Lankan situation dictate it.
I return in time for the first Samakanda Sunday, which, although not as well attended as we may have hoped, goes off with a bang. We screen Kim’s film in the T-shed, Whaledreamers, and once again I can see that many people are deeply affected by its emotive and powerful message. More than ever, people recognise that we are living in a time of crisis, but also of great opportunity. It is now up to us, all of us, to seize the opportunity to effect the change we wish to see.
If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
October 2007
As the tourist season looms, a few bookings for the bungalows start to trickle in for December and January. This a huge relief, since the future economic sustainability of Samakanda has become of critical concern. I can no longer continue to cover the monthly shortfall from my own pocket, but the confirmed bookings show that we could finally break even, or move into profit, before the year is over.
Daniel arrives from India and is installed in the top Bungalow. His presence is not only a huge joy to the workforce, who fondly took to him two years ago, but also allows me to drive new projects forward without having to be there myself on a consistent basis. The main project we decide to work on is converting the old Workshop, where our timber was once seasoned for building, to create new alternative accommodation for volunteers without them occupying the bungalows reserved tourists. This traditional mud building will be partitioned into three double bedrooms, a kitchen and half-enclosed living area, with an attached shower and loo. Work starts immediately.
The partnership with Six Senses continues to move forward, with the official launch of Six Senses Web of Hope scheduled for the New Year. This enables me to offer a permanent salaried position to my good mate Alex Barrett, who has been resident in the area for five years. Alex has been running mountain bike tours from Samakanda for the previous two years and always expressed a great passion for Samakanda. He seems the perfect man for the job, freeing up my time further to concentrate on pushing Web of Hope forward in the UK. I begin to see that I will be travelling ever more and that the need for a permanent Web of Hope ‘man on the ground’ in Sri Lanka will become paramount. I am delighted that he has agreed to come on board.
September 2007
Inspired by all that we had seen down under, I plunged straight into new projects at Samakanda. A whole new area was demarcated for new vegetable beds, between Mr Pitchamurtu’s office and the Workshop in the Spice garden zone. These would significantly expand our vegetable production and help us to satiate the ever-increasing demand for rocket and other exotic salads. Armed with new seeds, we set about germinating tatsoi, two types of mustard greens and mizuna.
The cadjan roof of the T-shed needed replacing and, in a bid to extend the lifespan of the new roof, we used the opportunity to increase the pitch. This worked well and soon the T-shed became the only building on the property not to leak in the heavy rains that now came almost constantly.
Daniel, the young German student who had worked with us two years previously, had now finished his diploma in Ecology and Tourism and offered his services by returning to Sri Lanka next month and staying for the season until March. The timing was perfect and I was only too happy to welcome him back, especially now that my time would be more directed towards Web of Hope operations in the UK.
August 2007
One of the global epicentres for alternative culture, the Byron Bay area was awash with fine organic produce, lively markets, permaculture projects and interesting people. Kim introduced us to local members of the Rainbow tribe, the amorphous global network of healers, musicians and alternative lifestylers.
It was a fascinating and inspirational time, opening new connections for The Web of Hope on a continent we have previously had little contact with. I met with the Seed Savers network and learnt more about their important work establishing seed banks across the globe, preserving the genetic diversity of our food crops which is being so ruthlessly destroyed by the advent of GM and the standardisation demanded by intensive modern farming methods.
We were also finally able to visit Crystal Waters, the model permaculture eco-village established by Max Lindegger and others. Max had visited and advised us at Samakanda in the early stages and it was joy to see his abundant thriving vegetable gardens. I was able to gather more knowledge about rammed earth construction, by seeing some of the buildings in the flesh, and returned to Sydney fired up with new plans for Samakanda.
Just before flying out back to Sri Lanka, Kim invited us to a private screening of the final cut for Whaledreamers at Fox Studios. The film touched me to the core and I saw at once just how important a role it could play in the global awakening so urgently needed in these critical times. We resolved to stay closely in touch and I suggested that we try and tempt Kim over to screen the film as part of the Galle Literary festival in January 2008.
July 2007
Back at Samakanda, we greeted the arrival of Steve Parle, another ex-River Café chef and his girlfriend Nicky. They had been cooking their way around the globe, from New York to Tokyo, and on instruction from Rose Gray, our River Café boss and mentor, made their way to Sri Lanka. Steve had kindly carried seeds for spiky cucumbers, edamame (soya beans) and genuine wasabi all the way from Japan, to see if we might make them germinate at Samakanda. They were both soon hard at work in the vegetable beds and training Inoka to make tomato and pesto sauce for pasta in true River Café tradition. Their input was a huge bonus and, as with all our contributing guests, it was sad to see them go.
Once again, it looked like more travel was looming. The political crisis in the country was deteriorating and both Yvette and I were starting to feel some concern about what the future may hold. I knew that Yvette would never return to the UK weather, so we looked east to Byron Bay in Australia, the alternative place we had considered to settle when we moved to Sri Lanka. With plans moving forward to establish Six Senses Web of Hope by the start of 2008, I knew that I would soon be too busy to find the time to make the trip and, since neither of us had ever actually been to Byron Bay, it was decided that a foray for six weeks would help to clarify quite what was in store. Little did we know then that it would open up huge new possibilities for Web of Hope, by reconnecting with my old friend Kim Kindersley, who had recently finished his new movie Whaledreamers (www.whaledreamers.com).
June 2007
Following on from these discussions in Lisbon, Sonu invited me to Soneva Fushi, their flagship resort in the Maldives, to attend the annual meeting of their general managers and to present my ideas for what would become Six Senses Web of Hope. The idea received virtually unanimous support and, after five years of gestation and battling to keep the organisation alive, it suddenly seemed that Web of Hope might finally come of age and secure the core funding it needs. This was of course a huge boost and I returned to Samakanda buoyed up with the possibilities.
At the same time, I became more familiar with Sonu’s ambitious plans to make Soneva Fushi, and indeed all the Six Senses hotels, ‘zero carbon’ by 2010. It struck me that if that was truly possible, on a 100-acre island in the Maldives with 65 luxury villas, then it must be possible anywhere. I soon realised that not only was he very serious about this commitment, but well on track to make it happen. Through a combination of a ‘deep sea water cooling system’, which will provide all the ‘coolth’ needed for the island’s AC and refrigeration, and a cutting edge ‘tri-generation’ system run on bio-diesel, the net carbon emissions at Soneva Fushi will be almost eradicated. This is truly innovative thinking and will soon be setting the standards for the rest of the industry.
It was becoming apparent that Web of Hope’s consultancy work was becoming increasingly aligned with the travel and tourism industry and plans were discussed to convene a Symposium at Soneva Fushi in June 2008, presenting some of these eco-technologies, carbon mitigation models and other carbon reduction strategies to other CEOs from the industry. The ball started to roll.
Conscious of my own accumulating footprint from so much air travel, I assuaged some of my ‘carbon guilt’ by telling myself that all these meetings were necessary to drive forward The Web of Hope and my own need to make a living. At the same time, I read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, perhaps the most comprehensive book I have read about climate change, but which radically subverted many of my previous notions about the impact of aviation by introducing the concept of ‘global dimming’.
In the wake of 9/11, when US air space was empty, average surface land temperatures rose by one degree centigrade. This led some researchers to conclude that water vapour released at high altitude leads to a higher concentration of cirrus cloud and thereby radiates heat back to space. When we look at the impact of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and other emissions from aircraft in isolation, the net impact on the atmosphere from aviation appears to be horrific. However, when looked at in a ‘systemic’ fashion, perhaps there is a more complex dynamic at work, one that is both contributing to and ameliorating climate change at the same time.
I think it is important also, that we do not forget the myriad benefits that have come from our increased mobility, the reciprocal exchanges that flow from engaging with other cultures around the globe. Numerous initiatives around the planet have proved that positive benefits can arise from tourism, from biodiversity conservation to social restoration. Surely these are more important than a twisted economics that allows a country like the UK to import the same amount of butter that it exports? As with all these issues, it all starts with being informed. When we are informed, we can be mindful. When we are mindful, we can be empowered to make responsible decisions.
May 2007
With the main tourist season behind us, the focus shifted more to consolidation of existing projects, maintenance and the final finishes to both bungalows. I received a commission to write the Asian section of a new guidebook covering eco-tourism destinations and, ‘carbon guilt’ aside, felt the urge to get out there and visit similar projects in the region. This would not only be a chance to seek fresh inspiration, but open new connections with like-minded people pursuing similar dreams in the region.
First stop was Bali, where I caught up with my friend Linda Garland, the so-called Queen of Bamboo, who had visited Samakanda the previous year (www.lindagarland.com and www.bamboocentral.org). Linda is a true inspiration and seeing what she has created over the last twenty-five years on her spectacular property outside Ubud was nothing short of magical. Stunning bamboo buildings sit perched over an enchanted gorge, intersected by several ley lines and all bursting with nature spirits. We discussed plans for me to return for the UN climate change summit in December.
Then it was on to Sumba, a small island an hour’s flight east of Bali, to meet Claude Graves and visit Nihiwatu (www.nihiwatu.com), the extraordinary destination he has created against all adversity. The pursuit of this vision did not come easily. With his wife Petra, Claude spent years seeking the tropical dream, literally hacking through jungle to discover Nihiwatu. The couple then lived on the site for seven years, in a simple thatched shelter, battling with malaria while developing ties with the local community and conveying the essence of their low-impact plans. From the current staff, 98% still come from the local villages. Seven luxury bungalows and two villas are now nestled amongst the trees, integrating bamboo and alangalang grass thatch with sliding glass doors, overlooking the spectacular Indian Ocean views that one awakes to. Construction was completed by the 500 local villagers employed on the project over the years, plans are afoot to convert the generators to run on bio-diesel and, apart from selective planting around the buildings, there has been minimal interference with the native vegetation.
Claude’s work with the local communities is exemplary, creating a benchmark model for responsible tourism and recognised by the numerous accolades and industry awards he has received. To achieve these aims, the Sumba Foundation was established in 2001. To date, over US$2 million has been pumped into the local economy, funding projects ranging from healthcare clinics to new schools, transforming the lives of thousands. Using their own drilling rigs, 16 wells and 35 water stations have been completed, providing more than 5,000 people with potable water. A comprehensive programme has reduced endemic malaria rates by over 90% in an area covering 165 villages, saving the lives of four children every week. Intensive fogging with ecologically-sound pyrethrum has effectively removed the threat of malaria within a five miles radius of the resort.
Next stop was India, where I touched down in Chennai and made straight for Auroville (www.auroville.org), the ambitious utopian project on the outskirts of Pondicherry, the old French colonial town which had been a major landmark on my walk through India ten years previously. I visited the Auroville seed bank, the nursery project and the permaculture fraternity, establishing useful links for the future with all of them. In time, I hope to draw some of this expertise over from Auroville, inviting some members of the community to run courses at Samakanda, particularly in ‘earth architecture’, such as building with rammed earth and compressed mud brick.
I then headed inland through Tamil Nadu, stopping at Tiruvannamalai and the sacred mountain of Arunachala, the most pivotal and powerful place that I had walked through on my Indian pilgrimage. The same still, silent energy pervades and I soaked up every second. My schedule was tight, so soon I was back on the road, spending a night at Cardamom House near Dindigul (www.cardamomhouse.com), a delightful eco-retreat established by Chris Lucas, an English doctor. Then on across the Eastern Ghats and into Kerala, for an overnight trip on an eco-houseboat with biological sewage treatment, solar panels and no outboard motor - utterly tranquil.
From Cochin I took the train north to Goa, to meet Phil and Juliet at Yoga Magic (www.yogamagic.net), a yoga retreat inland from Anjuna Beach. The Goa season had finished and Phil and Juliet preparing for their annual return to the UK. The synergies between our projects were immediately apparent, right down to the rainbow colours in our logos. I heard about their plans for replicating a community-based jotropha project, using the plant as a bio-fuel and linking this to a world music project inspired by Phil’s background as a songwriter. This was one of those rare meetings that felt cosmically ordained and we resolved to keep closely in touch.
My travels for the month were not over yet, since I had been invited to Lisbon take part in an environmental debate as part of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Summit. Here I joined my Web of Hope colleague Tim Willmott and John Pontin from The Converging World (TCW) (www.theconvergingworld.org), the carbon mitigation model we have been actively promoting through The Web of Hope. John would join me on the panel, along with Sonu Shivdasani, CEO of the Six Senses hotel chain (www.sixsenses.com) who had invited us both to the Summit and recently signed up to TCW.
Having been consultants for Six Senses for some years now, we have witnessed their genuine commitment to the environment continue to gather pace and now they are truly setting the standard within the luxury hotel industry. This time also gave us the opportunity to present ideas for further partnership between Web of Hope and Six Senses and the initial dialogues seemed very positive.
April
New floors were laid in the Bungalow while I was in the UK, the white cement finish adding much needed light to the rooms. Combined with the white lime-washed walls and a thin white wash on the woodwork, the overall effect has transformed the place, giving it the fresh airy feel of a beach house.
Soon after my return, another local book launch took place at the Amangalla hotel in Galle Fort, instigated by the manageress, Olivia Richli. Much to my surprise, all fifty books that I had lugged back from the UK were quickly snapped up and the assembled crowd resonated well with what I had to say. Awareness is clearly on the rise. Let’s hope it starts to ‘go viral’, as time is most definitely not on our side.
After the one-week break over Sinhalese New Year, the whole team gathered at the Banyan Tree for the annual ceremony. Incense and oil lamps were lit, the tree and the shrine were blessed and ritual foods offered and shared amongst the assembled. As ever, the event was imbued with a gentle but poignant informality.
Having distributed bonuses, plus the traditional gifts of sarongs for the men and cloth for the women, I outlined plans for the months ahead. Heavy rains have decimated the salads, so Asoka and I discussed ways of protecting them. We decide to try various different methods, ranging from growing the local spinach and beans on trellis spanning the beds, to using ferns and coir coconut mesh. Areas have been demarcated for expanding the vegetable production and plans are now brewing to make weekly deliveries to Colombo. Rather than selling all our ‘green leaf’ tea to the local factory, we are going to hold back a small quantity each month and start simple processing techniques ourselves, with a view to creating our own product. To do so, we need to make the Tea Shed waterproof and have decided to replace the cadjan palm frond thatch with the bairu leaf we have used on the new ambalama.
All these moves are propelled by the need to make Samakanda sustainable without any reliance on foreign tourism. By attracting local visitors from Colombo, marketing our own tea and expanding the vegetable production, we know that this is possible. The mission over the coming month therefore, is to make that a reality. Although the country has been rejoicing over their success in the World Cup cricket, this has been tempered by a new wave of LTTE air attacks, firstly on the airport while I was in the UK, then attempts to hit oil and gas installations on the same night that the nation was glued to television for the final. As ever, there are no one-ended sticks.
March
With these events behind us, work settled back into the usual rhythm. The rocket, basil, tastoi and mustard greens continue to provide a steady crop for the local hotels and restaurants, irrigated with water drawn form the lake while we wait for rain to recharge the wells.
Before heading to the UK for the launch of A Year in Green Tea and Tuk Tuks, my new book about the creation of Samakanda, we gathered once again in the Tea Shed for the long awaited ‘staff party’. I cooked spiced chickens in the pizza oven, supplemented with various rice and curry dishes cooked by women from the team. The men gathered around cold beers, while their families watched a traditional Sinhalese drama projected onto the screen in the Tea Shed. The event proved to be an enormous success and we now intend to screen movies on a regular basis for the team and their families. Several members of the team took to the floor and made touching speeches, making us feel deeply honoured to have been so accepted by the community, all of whom seem to have embraced the Samakanda concept, since it upholds their traditions, culture and values.
The book launch in London filled the venue to capacity and, once again, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall offered kind support by giving a stirring speech. It seems to have been received well so far, selling well during the first month. A steady stream of e-mail enquiries has now started, as a result of promotional pieces in the Guardian, Telegraph and on various radio shows, so we have started taking bookings for later in the year. Long may that continue!
February
For the first few days of the month, I dipped over to Mumbai to see Ramesh Balsekar, the spiritual teacher I met exactly ten years ago while undertaking my six month walk through India. Now approaching his ninetieth birthday, Ramesh still radiates the vitality and charm that initially attracted me to his radical teachings. Wayne Liquorman (aka Ram Tzu) was also in town, so I enjoyed the double whammy of being in the presence of two men who have made the greatest impact on my life in the last ten years. Check www.advaita.org for more information on Ramesh, Wayne and their teachings.
Back at Samakanda, the dry, parched weather continued and Yvette was hard at work making elaborate plans for my 40th birthday. A few friends have arrived from the UK and installed themselves at the beach. On the day itself, about 50 of us congregated at Samakanda for the celebrations. The Tea Shed had been decorated with lights and flares, the new ambalama set up for a bar and Adrian, the chef from Amangalla, knocked out stunning pizzas and chicken from the new clay oven and barbeque behind the bungalow. Festivities continued throughout the night, with seamless tunes keeping many on the dance floor for several hours.
After so much pressure to finish various projects during the last few months, it was a joy to see so many friends gathered together, enjoying the space that we have spent the last two years creating. For me, it could not have been a more memorable occasion and hats off to Yvette for doing such a
stunning job!
JANUARY
In total contrast to just a month ago, when it seemed the rain would never stop, we are now suffering the reverse problem. The land is parched, wells are low, even the basil is withering in the heat. A few showers are all we need, but the skies remain perfectly blue. Like so many parts of the globe, climate change is enhancing the extremes. The rainy season is getting wetter; the dry season is getting drier.
Both the rocket and the tastsoi however, seem to be thriving in the dry heat. We’ve never had such a good supply of either. The demand for rocket just seems to keep growing and, in the last weeks, we have been shifting a good twenty kilos every week. The lake is looking a bit brown and stagnant in the dry heat but this will soon be rectified by the addition of a small solar-powered pump to keep circulating the water. Wayne, our Aussie surfer mate in Arugam Bay, has recently returned from down under with the crucial fittings that have prevented us from installing the pump before.
Now that all our New Year’s events are behind us, we’re coming up for air and enjoying the first breathing space in months, enabling us to clarify plans for the year. A date for the staff party has been set, before I fly back to the UK for a week in March, for the launch of A Year in Green Tea and Tuk Tuks, my new book about the creation of Samakanda. Yvette is activating ideas for growing ornamental flowers, mainly a wide variety of stunning heliconias. Plans are incubating with our friend Keith to develop the ‘natural swimming pool’ behind the bungalow, where the new pizza oven and barbeque area were completed in time for my 40th birthday celebrations in early Feb. Asoka is germinating a wide variety of new lettuces, along with exotic leaves like mizuna, and we are making another attempt at a crop of tomatoes, capsicums and zucchini. A planting programme is now being developed for the next major rains, due in late April-May, when we will infill spaces with new tea and start to develop the spice garden with chillies, cinnamon, pepper and cloves.
As ever, we’ve had a steady stream of interesting visitors. Our first paying guests stayed in the Cottage for three weeks and seemed to have a ball, not wishing to even leave the premises, their two young children instantly adapting to their ‘Garden of Eden experience’. Web of Hope patron and UK TV celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall attended our launch party with his family and supervised culinary adventures with the old pizza oven. Rose Gray, my old boss from days as a chef at London’s River Café, then stayed with us over the Galle Literary Festival events, patiently teaching children to make pizza with her husband David. Photographer Sebastian Pearson passed through for a few days, taking shots for a feature in the May issue of Harpers Bazaar. Just recently, ex-Prime Minister Ranil Wickramsinghe paid us a visit, hiked the trails and tried our organic salad mix. Four good quality mountain bikes now grace each of the buildings, the new ambalama pavilion is finished, the T-shed floor has been laid and the final touches being completed to the Bungalow and surrounding garden. Our attention is now turning to the workshop programme, starting with a weekend of building rammed earth walls, so watch this space!
DECEMBER
Samakanda. It seems to have been raining solidly for months. This has held back building projects, ruined our last rice crop and hampered many of the specialist vegetables. At the same time, the abundant growth of the tropics continues at a pace, requiring continual maintenance during these early stages, as we keep weeding around recently planted tea and holding back the ever encroaching jungle from reclaiming paths cleared up the ridge and down to the river.
Ultimately however, this is precisely what we are seeking to harness within the overall plan for the ‘forest garden’ - the inherent energy of the landscape. When the new tea is established, within a year or so, weeds will be deprived of light by the completed canopy above. Simultaneously, a green carpet of clover, moss and gotu-kola is being encouraged to creep across all the exposed soil, replacing invasive weeds with a living manure which will never need further attention. This seems like a great example of permaculture in action-letting Nature not only do the work, but actually improve the system at the same time.
The most critical jobs at this stage are to finish the existing building projects in time for our New Year launch event, followed by hosting a day of events for the Galle Literary Festival on January 13th (www.galleliteraryfestival.com). The Cottage is almost complete, with final furnishings to be added. We hope to have this available for rent from December 15th. The new office building, car park and reception area are on track, now prepared for the final mud render to be applied to the walls.
A large central water tank is now being filled, allowing us to remove the temporary water tower and landscape the area behind the Bungalow. This will incorporate a second pizza oven and barbeque area, alongside a new pergola to provide a partially shaded outdoor dining area. Serendipitously, our rammed earth mentor Nick Hewitt has recently arrived, offering generous advice on kick-starting our rammed earth experiments in the Tea Shed and New Ambulama. Again, we hope to have these complete in time for the fine New Year’s weather we must finally be due for!
|
|
