Dilemmas that we face

Everything seems bleak just now. The rains seem to have decided to forego this part of the country. We have lots of time at our hands but are unable to work on the land due to legal irritants. A boundary survey is required for the land boundary to become clear. But the authorities-that-be dilly-dally and maybe wait for more palm-grease before they would part with that crucial signature. And we are told thats just the beginning.

40 saplings bought and stored at Satara await their permanent place at mauj-e-khingar, yet have to await that shubh-ghadi when the land gets ready to receive them. Meanwhile, we get impatient, as we keep hearing of all the wonderful experiments that can be done, ways to enrich the soil, make a bund to catch rain water, cover the land with mulch to improve green matter on the soil........but our hands are tied as we sit in Pune and bide the time when the land will be truly ours to work on, love and cherish.

To boot, there isnt much else to occupy our attentions just now. Work is less than a trickle. Possibility of future work looms large - but the inertia brings with it depression and ennui.
Is this what they call mid-life crisis! If yes, one knows one has to fight to get out of the vicious circle and put mind and body into one or more goals that catch the fancy. How easy it is to philosophise (even with one's own circumstance)...yet how difficult to implement!!

Hope to be back with more enthu the next time around.

First planting...and the second one!

Ten saplings dot our land now! Supported by twigs stuck into the ground, to brace against the strong winds from the valley. Jaamun, उम्बर (Umbar is a fig), Silver Oak, आवला, Mulberry (Shahtoot), Brahmanand, Kuda (Holarrhena pubescens), Acrocarpus (टोकफल in Marathi, मंदनीया in Hindi).


We found a heap of dung nearby - ready manure. And added some to the hole we had dug. Also attached to each sapling is a thin aluminium foil piece, with our names embossed on it. The names of the pioneer tree planters are Vanaja, Rajni, Kapil, Anagha, Samir, Shubhra, Shirish.

first planting just a day away!

tomorrow, we're going to plant the first few saplings on our land. its a small start. but some action nevertheless. and this comes after 2 years of waiting!!!

Its going to be red orchid (the one with the leaf split into two egg shaped lobes), lychee, maybe a few from the Gureghar nursery (maybe acrocarpus).

There's no protection for these saplings yet. No fence, no chowkidaar, no brambles to ward off goats. And with us being away, we're basically trusting the monsoons and winds to go easy on our babies.