It’s been a couple of weeks since our last update, because of some unexpected events. But we are back. We’ve had over ten days of sunshine, which meant extremely hot, humid, unpleasant weather, but also that we have been busy. First of all, we decided that we need to get across the nala, rain or shine.
We started by laying a brick/stone path up till the nala.
(right) The dogs want to join us in everything.
Next, we are building a bamboo bridge (below).
Although eventually we want a permanent structure, that is a larger endeavour in terms of cost and time. We need to be able to cross the nala now. So, we’ve called back our dear (eccentric) Sheetal dada, master of bamboo, to build a bridge for us.
It looks outrageously high and not all that safe at the moment, but we are hopeful.
(left) Curious visitors from the village come to take a look.
We decided to use the opportunity of bridge building to tackle our four bamboo clumps. They are old and have completely in-grown because of neglect. We are cutting the older, fully grown bamboo stalks for the bridge, and will use the smaller branches and leaves for mulching and to tie next to the plants to keep them straight.
The magical moment in all this is to cut away enough of the foliage to reveal the lovely (and enormous) baby bamboo shoots.
Our people are very protective of them, cutting away the older stalks very carefully so as not to damage the young ones.
The JCB excavator has been back and is mixing the soil for more pits. The trenches that were filled before the rains are doing very well – the soil is still moist and there are lots of earthworms. We have found a plant nursery we like in Ramnagar (a town across the river), and bought 250 new trees. All those trees have now been planted by our heroic team of Sunil and Sriram, under Gaurav’s guidance. Next batch of 250 more to be ordered in a day or two. We decided that this is much simpler than ordering from Kolkata, and not too much more expensive. We’ve also been very pleased to receive some gifts of plants from garden-lovers – thank you!
The rice nursery is doing well. We’re getting the field ready to transplant in about fifteen days.
And yes, almost every day there is a snake sighting. We try to be safe, but we definitely should learn more about them. The land is wilder than ever, after the last few weeks of rain. No sign of all the hours of grass and shrub clearing we did. And the monsoons are still to come. It’s wild and wonderful.
gangavan.org 