A True Triumph of a Re-tree-t to the Forest
Reforesting earth. Rewilding hearth. Re-souling heart.
Over the Autumn equinox weekend (Mar 21) one hundred humans gathered at Bodhi Khaya Nature Retreat. Inspired to do the extraordinary, they came to honor humanity, community, and the greatest of our great grandmothers, Mother Earth, by planting trees.
Greenpop Forests for Life Program, under the guidance of Misha and Lauren Teasdale, created a scaled-down version of the Reforest Fest to suit these times. The biggest change was the move from Platbos to Bodhi Khaya and it was not so much a move as an extension. Our intention is to link the forest remnants between the two farms by creating a forest corridor.
François Krige of Platbos, Georgina’s favourite Ent, delivered the last of the 2000 coastal sand forest saplings as guests began to arrive from many parts of the world: Belgium, the USA, Slovenia, Ghana, Malawi, and South Africa of course. Many cycled from Cape Town.
A pop-up village magically appeared with tents, fires, fairy lights, camp-kitchens, gathering spots, a growing new moon and a potent reminder of our earthiness – the active compost piles nearby.
After an early breakfast on Saturday morning, the experienced Greenpop Team drummed up a festive spirit as four teams of 25 people each headed out into the planting zone. Amazingly, 2000 trees were planted before lunch! Together with Greenpop, Platbos, and our Bodhi Khaya retreatants, we have now planted almost 5000 indigenous trees.
This was our intention. The organizing energy of love and commitment made it a reality. Though our central focus was to plant trees, we gathered to have fun, build community, learn and heal. Meditation, yoga, chi-kung, forest and rewilding educational walks, ayurvedic head massages, music, laughter, hiking, swimming, and ceremonial labyrinth walks pervaded the weekend. This all contributed to a memorable calendar highlight for everyone in 2021 - and is certain to become a growing annual or even more frequent event at Bodhi Khaya.
Georgina Hamilton, the guardian and curator of Bodhi Khaya, invoked the Grandmother’s and gave a beautiful talk which opened the evening celebrations. With poems of Maya Angelou, Hesse, Rilke and her own, she braided together the symbolism of the equinox and Human Rights Day, and invited everyone, to open up to a deeper connection and relationship to the natural world. “Did we plant 2000 trees this morning? … or did the 2000 trees plant us? she asked?
From all of us here at Bodhi Khaya, we extend heartfelt gratitude to Francois and his team from Platbos; to Greenpop’s team; to our neighbours, and to the Walker Bay Nature Conservancy for their support, presence, and commitment to unifying our efforts to become active partners in land restoration and regeneration.
Weekend stats: 100 humans. 5000 trees. 2 medium bags of rubbish to the dump. Brilliant.
Well done everybody!
By Glenn Leisching. Bodhi Khaya’s Guardian of the Trees
