Planting a Tilia Tree

Saturday we drove out to our land by ourselves for the first time. We came with the intention of planning a Tilia tree (that we got the day before). It was a beautiful sunny day.

We stopped at our next-door neighbors to ask borrow digging tools. That led to a lengthy and pleasant conversation over coffee and cakes. We got a little better acquainted – they too have recently (a year ago) returned to living on and working their family’s land. We found much in common. We talked about organic farming and permaculture and water and the road that needs to be fixed so that there is reliable decent access to our properties.

We then moved on to our property and began a tree planting ritual. This was an event dominated by Andreea’s wishes and intention and she led the way for us. It was a transitional ritual … letting things from the past come to a rest so that more new things can grow in our lives.

We dug the hole and filled it with water. This turned out to be an excellent water percolation test – we already new that our soil has high clay content – but now we also know that it is very slow percolating as well (something that needs to be factored in our grey water system planning and good for making future ponds). We left the hole and the water to settle and we parted energies for a while. Andreea stayed and I roamed.

Our neighbor’s cows were grazing on our fresh green hill.

I began walking up the long hill that makes up the majority or our arable land.

This time I went all the way up and realized how large it truly is. The top part flattens out so that it is invisible from the bottom. At the very top I found these fresh blossoms:

And then this view to the south-west – at the foot of the hill I am standing on you can see a part of the “road” that reaches our property – currently passable only with a 4×4 vehicle.

As I headed back down I saw Andreea was stil engaged …

By now the sun had moved to the west and offered excellent light on our small valley – so I paused to take yet another panorama (click to zoom in):

I rejoined Andreea and we completed planting the tree and setting up an improvised fence around it to protect it from wild-sheep that roam the area.

Andreea stopped to say hello to the cows, especially a young calf that was grateful for her attentions:

We also revisited the new house markings we left behind during our previous visit and decided to leave our house oriented with the natural curve of the land instead of the precise magnetic north-south alignment. We decided where we will build our compost pile … and finally I took advantage of our car’s 4×4 capabilities and took Andreea up the hill too:

On the way out we stopped by the neighbors to return the tools we borrowed and we were gifted with fresh milk (from the above mentioned cows) and eggs from their farm. It was soooooooooo wonderful to be out there. We hope to complete the acquisition process in the coming weeks and to move out there at the beginning of June.

We will be heading out again this week to meet, together with our neighbors, with the mayor to discuss the issue of the road which needs to be fixed for us to be able to bring in construction materials.