"We're aiming to plant a million trees this coming year."
Grandiose statements like this are flung about merrily, from big corporations seeking a greener & a more profitable image, through to homesteaders and community groups bolstered by relentless optimism. I see so many tree planting ventures promoted online, all around the world, and yet ALMOST NEVER do I see tree nourishing days, tree fertilizing days, tree watering projects.... I wonder how many of those "million trees planted" actually survive to maturity.
I came to be pondering this recently, having visited our indigenous Karen Organic Frontiers project along the Thai-Burmese border in Mae Sariang. You see, they had a problem.
"Moringa trees are dead."
The moringa trees had been planted some 6 months earlier, at the end of the rainy season, with no fertilizer or compost, no game plan for navigating the long dry season where there is absolutely no water, and little thought as to competing trees with far deeper roots nearby.
Moringa Oleifera. The drumstick tree. A superfood by anyone's standard, producing phenomenally nourishing greens and a seed-oil extract whose properties border on the miraculous.
Moringa is also renowned for growing like the proverbial weed - upwards of a meter per season - being drought tolerant and needing no care in particular. To say our Karen refugee people were excited & hopeful is an understatement.
"Moringa trees grow easily from seeds or cuttings. They grow quickly even in poor soil and bloom 8 months after planting." Source
and
“One of the biggest benefits of the Moringa tree is that it can be grown in extremely arid regions where rainfall is in limited supply. It also tolerates a wide range of soils and can be grown in regions ranging from old, depleted pasture land to lands bordering desertification.” Source
Clearly that's not always the case, as our Karen refugee community has discovered.
The indigenous, displaced Karen community is beginning to grow moringa along the Thai-Burmese border for 4 major reasons:
- It's a super-nutrient-dense, natural, tasty & palatable food in an area where the displaced refugee people are struggling with food security and malnourishment after the UN withdrew food aid in 2018, some 60ish years into what is arguably the longest civil war in recorded history;
- Moringa seed is a serious water-purifying agent in an area where potable water in the long dry season is in extreme shortage;
- The nutrient dense leaves are shade-air dried and sold to us at Pure Thai Natural Co Ltd for producing high quality,100% natural, products; this creates an income for the indigenous people and begins to help them create a life;
- The amazing moringa seed oil is cold-pressed once a year and also sold to us for skincare products - creating organic-micro-enterprise reduces economic dependence on thinly stretched Thai government and NGO resources
Our Karen friends were dejected because some 8 months along, their trees looked like this:
A few leaves at best. No new branches. But, thankfully, they were not dead. Just appeared that way.
And so the rosy glasses have been set aside and we are beginning the slow process of teaching the NOURISHMENT of new trees. Starting with planting.
We've been working on composting for some months and are making great headway. If you missed the composting project post, you can read about it Here
Our Karen host whose land we are building our demonstration garden on had the forethought to collect and plant seeds from the few mature moringa trees in the area, so we had new seedlings to plant out. The technique I showed them is simple, and really effective. And utilizes something they have in great abundance: banana.
The stem of the banana tree holds water like a sponge.
When the over-sized planting hole is lined with banana trunk, it acts like a sponge, holding water close to the roots of the young tree for up to 2 years, and preventing moisture from leeching away into the sandy, poor soil. Fill the hole with compost to create a micro-soil-climate zone, like this:
In goes the little seedling:
To complete the little seedling nurturing-zone, we half-bury a 5 liter repurposed plastic bottle next to the seedling. A tiny hole has been made in the cap, so that the water comes out literally drop by drop, and only when the surrounding soil is dry. Into that bottle we put an EM solution (EM = effective micro-organisms) to encourage worms and good bacterial growth for rapid soil improvement. The EM 'nursing bottle' is topped up weekly, and can, if necessary, use repurposed household grey water at the peak of the dry season.
More about EM solution, how to use it and how to make it, in the coming week or so. Promise. Fascinating stuff.
Meanwhile, they have the new moringa seedlings planted with a whole lot more care, planning, nourishment and probability of success.
The almost dead moringa trees, meanwhile, have been given some wonderful nourishment with ash and coffee and other organic goodies while we anxiously await our new compost piles. The monsoon rains are still light and patchy in Mae Sariang, so we're not out of the woods yet (pun intended), but I'm hopeful the surviving moringa trees will have sunk some super-strong, deep roots through their tough first season and that next season they will be the stuff that internet legends are made of.
I'm wanting to change the greening dialogue away from randomly, and maybe somewhat thoughtlessly and smugly, "planting a million trees" and tossing "random seed bombs" to thoughtfully nurturing carefully selected young trees, and making sure that every tree we plant survives and thrives to self sow itself further. Cos that's how it should be. Our future generations will thank us and the health of Mother Earth depends on it.
Learning and Growing in my Thai natural world. Grateful.
We are trying Moringa ourselves in the high desert southwest. We will have to cut them back and mulch them heavily for our winters but hopefully we can get some good production from them.
Upvoted and followed. Great post.
Looking forward to sharing more of my moringa posts! And following you too, so I can read yours. :)
Lovely insight into your process! I always enjoy a touch of tropical posts to complement our cold continental climate.
Is that you on the photos? :)
Haha.... getting warm through the visuals. yes, the blonde is me. 😊
Here's something related to your work, from the other side of the world (Insituto Terra):
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145324/a-new-patch-of-green-in-brazil
Whoops. Meant to resteem with my account and was signed into NM. I hope @riverflows ate all the nettles she'd usually use to slap me with lol.
Caring for a million trees should go hand in hand with planting them, wouldn't you think? Too bad industrial minds don't think that way.
I think post nettle soup last week and post the chicken love yesterday, you're probably safe. x
The verdict is in. I'm to be spared 💚
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I am more than definitely OK with this post being shared on the natural medicine account period helping others? Planting trees? Truly these are some of the best natural medicines around.
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Happy accidents :)
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Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
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Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!
Manually curated by @priyanarc.
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Much gratitude @priyanarc :) A piece of yummy cake and a resteem always makes the day better.
The soil I have here is white sand. Trees and plants do grow on it. Only for the veggies, I used coffee (had to ask the neighbors for it) plus I never remove leaves etc.
I decided to let some more trees grow. A part did plant themselves. October or November I try to plant some extra fruit tree(s). Perhaps some roses.
With me most is dying because of a lack of water.
Wish you luck 💕
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Where are you living and growing @wakeupkitty? Sometimes planting a more drought resistant variety makes all the difference.
The Netherland and a big part in Hungary as well.
💕
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logging companies here replant trees after clear cutting which sounds awesome on the surface. A little information goes a long way though because they only plant one species and never care for the seedlings after so they of course die which only adds to the kindling for the seasonal fires. Some patches survive but they are still monocultures which have their own problems
Mono ANything is destructive, IMHO. Yes, it all looks so rosy when they replant with a gerzillion of the same species, most of which die. There is SO MUCH MORE to the "let's plant trees" discussion that we need to insist on.
Wow... bananas are bloody useful arent they? I had no idea about this method of sustained water supplying but its a GOOD one... love how the answers are usually right in front of us!!! AMAZING. It must nurture your heart to help nurture and nourish these trees and the people that need them so.
Yup - banana trees are bloody useful, and beautiful. I think anything which we nurture outside of ourselves - a tree, a project, a child, a garden - ultimately is reflexive and we ourselves are nurtured the best of all.
The introduction is really too. Honestly I too wondered many times whether these million tree plantation like initiatives by corporates and sometimes even some govts are mere Photo ops. No follow up of what happens to these trees.
Good to read the plantation about this Drumstick Plant. Is the name Moringa is thailand name, and in my place the local name is Muringa. and it is a common food item mostly all people uses. Even its leaves are uses for making dishes. It is also have the power of more blood circulation such that it is known as Local viagra.
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Moringa is the English name. In Thai, we call it (transliterated for you) "Dton Ma-Ruum". Means Ma Ruum tree. Moringa Tree. :)
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STOPWonderful post. This is where I derived my handle. This is one of the most nutritious plants on the planet. I love to see the thriving drumbstick tree.
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Indeed it is! Between the moringa tree, the banana tree and the coconut tree, there's not much else we need! Thanks for stopping by. :)