We’ve recently had all the remaining old pine monoculture cleared from our land. It’s been a long time in the planning, and a pretty momentous time for us. The pine was planted around 40 years ago as a crop, as it was on much of the land in the wider valley, and it was ripe for felling. Many of the trees were dead or dying anyway due to a wasp nemotode, and quite a few fell down during this winter’s storms, one of which partially destroyed one of our beautiful geodesic dome structures. That was the final sign that it was time for them to go. Plus, the pines are home to the notorious pine processionary caterpillars, which cause strong allergic reactions in humans and animals, the effects of which only worsen the longer you are exposed to them. The out-of-balance presence of the caterpillars here is a symptom of the out-of-balance ecology, itself always a by-product of planting a monoculture.
So, all in all, although the land looks pretty shell-shocked right now, with ripped open tree-stumps and debris of branches and cones everywhere, plus a few damaged baby trees in our young food forest, there is a welcome sense of a new beginning. Suddenly all the young trees we have planted are more visible, and the native oaks, chestnuts, hawthorn and cherry trees previously hidden within the pine and deprived of light, are reaching their branches to the sun in a glorious stretch, expanding into their new spacious surroundings. Our vision – native forest regeneration with ‘food forest’ areas of mixed edible fruit and nut trees – is gradually becoming visible!
The energy of tree-felling is intense – non-stop chainsaws and men shouting against a background engine drone of huge tractors crawling all over the land, regularly punctuated by the unmistakeable and sickening crack and thud of a mighty tree coming to the end of its life. However, I’ve felt calm throughout, knowing this is a necessary step in the process, and the land will recover and renew. We have needed to go through this stage in order to step into a new chapter on the land. And, of course, the energies are already shifting in response. We have a new person joining us on the land whilst others are leaving to become stewards of their own land in the valley, and new opportunities are opening up for all of us. There is a lot of change, like a 52-card pick-up; a time of transformation for us all.
So, this post is dedicated to the mighty pines, with deep gratitude for their majesty, their shade, their fuel, their scent, their habitat for so many creatures (even the caterpillars!) and their beauty. It wasn’t their fault they were planted ‘in the wrong place’ as a cash crop, out-competing the native forest. They were playing their part in the organic unfolding of the story here in this valley. They held the space during a chapter when the land was neglected and, you could say, dishonoured, being used for commercial gain at the expense of sensitivity to biodiversity and existing wildlife. However, things are changing; new energies of responsible, wildlife-sensitive land stewardship and close communion with the land are growing, and the pines leaving our land feel like part of this changing of the guard.
The land here is ready for a new chapter, where it is listened to and honoured, I can feel it. And I am ready too.
frond yoga with Rebecca May 