Clearing the Land for a Fruit Forest

 

Here's several hours of work done throughout a week squeezed down into just less than two minutes. 😅 Clearing the land to make way for a fruit forest!

The land we are working with here is not a blank slate. That would be 'easier'. To be able to just plunk in whatever we want, wherever we want it. But here we are first having to work through what is here. And what is here is a jungly mess. But it's not nature's fault, this is a manmade mess, not a natural jungle, of which there is very little left in this world anymore. There is not much left to simply 'protect'. We have to actually get involved now and help nature out to it's best expression.

Before starting to hack away what was here, I spent some time just hanging out with the area, breathing it in, seeing what is here. Not just rushing in and hacking away. Taking some time to be with the space, with the plants, as it is. Giving time and space to see what comes up, to see what is best for this space and the life already existing here.

And what came through very clearly was that even if we hacked away all the plants here, every last plant, and replace them all with other plants, the underlying expression of the plants as nature will still be here, will be unaffected by all that hacking and apparent 'death'. Cause you cannot kill the expression of nature that way, you are only changing it. And here we are changing it to a better version of itself, a far better version. How it exists now is a terrible mess. The land had been sitting vacant for years, maybe as many as 30 or even 50 years, from looking at the state of things. The vegetation has repeatedly been roughly cut back over the years in order to keep it accessible and showable to potential buyers. This treatment has resulted in slower growing shrubs and trees to form diminished growing patterns splitting off into multiple trunks, while the faster growing plants like parasitic vines were able to run rampant. Currently, all this supports is lots of bugs that bite the heck out of us. The potential for this land however, is to support a far more diverse and robust ecosystem of plants, animals, bugs, humans that will form a more natural harmonious balance and support nature to its fullest expression of abundance.

When I consider these plants as myself, it's exactly what I'd want for myself, and what I am creating myself to be, a better version of myself. 'Clearing out' the parts of me that aren't supporting myself or life, one and equal, to its fullest expression. Within this, working through what has already been manifested, and creating a new way to live, finding a way to a new expression, as how I see life can and should really be, best for all life.

The work is slow and tedious but quite 'zen' just being here working with the physical. I find it very grounding and a great exercise for developing patience, and 'seeing your way through' what seems like such a chaotic mess that it's 'hard to know where to start', just like it can feel working with your own mind and internal experience at times. But the key is to just start. The only way out of chaos is through it. It doesn't sort itself. These plants won't move themselves. They can't. We, humans, are the most unlimited form on the planet. And that's why nature and this planet needs our assistance, needs us to stand up as the shepherds of earth, to assist nature to its utmost expression and support the natural abundance that is possible for all life.