Pantheism by Béatrice Arnac
I want to die by Nature
By a goodness that comes from it
Don’t touch me, do not come near
Keep your knives and your poisons
I want to die unharmed, in good health, without disgrace
When my hour arrives, the earth will be in need of me
I want to go as an offering
at the foot of a tree
burying myself under ivy and fern
Don’t touch me, do not come near
What’s going on?
Maybe … perhaps the Creator’s unguarded moment
Maybe a bad sequence of chromosomes
Maybe this is a matter of an imbalance in the cortex and neo-cortex
This not-so-silent zone of silence
And then! we disappear…
Wrongdoing is being done
Don’t touch me, do not come near
You have conquered the stars, go for it!
Since the adventure of the human brain fascinates you,
Carry on, to the bitter end!
Leave us this devastated land
We will try to look after it, bandage it and to live
Don’t touch me, do not come near
I want to die by Nature:
Intact
Yes, the struggle for life for man, with all the gifts he is granted, is a struggle against himself. If he gives something up, he gives up complicity—in exchange for robbery and murder.
Man must remain at the service of Nature, and thus Nature will remain at the service of everything that lives.
Deep turning of the soil is always harmful: it interrupts the rhythms of the earth, which are orchestrated with such complexity that man should interfere as little as possible. One loosens the surface only around twenty centimeters, without ever mixing the different layers. One must never work the soil when it is wet. These two recommendations are primary for obtaining a good, long, sound garden foundation.
COMPOSITION This is made with vegetable wastes: wild grasses, low brushwood, tree leaves, weeds, domestic green trash. The waste will cause a fermentation that will break down tissues and proliferate microorganisms.
It is good to always make the compost ready to use all year. A good fermentation can take six months. You can add all table scraps, vegetables, flowers and leaves, cut grass, small branches, twigs, herbs …
A small compost can be a heap of 60 to 80 cm; a big heap 2 meters long by 1.6 meters high.
FERTILIZATION The waste of domestic vegetation is always wet enough, but dry grass, brush, and leafy branches need a good humidification in order to ferment in the best possible conditions. One allows them to soak for some hours in a wooden container (tank or barrel) and in order that the plants do not float to the surface, one overloads them with the help of wooden planks weighted with rocks; then they are drained slightly.
USE To fertilize, the ripe compost is placed on the ground at a maximum of 2 cm thick.
ROLE OF COMPOST
• Revives the soil
• Softens the soil
• Nourishes the soil
• Gives back to the plants all they need for growth, along with a natural immunization and protection against parasites
• Promotes the development of earthworms, which assure the subsoil’s aeration and nourishment
Note: The health of vegetation is the greatest guarantee of health in the person nourishing the vegetation!
FINAL SUGGESTIONS If a grinder is not available, one must, with a turning fork, tear down the heap of branches, long grass, and woody stems, so that it is incorporated well in the compost. Cover the whole stack of compost with straw, then do it again.
Natural fertilizers other than composts
DUNG This is a mixture of straw, fodder, and the liquid and solid excrement of domestic animals that, after fermentation, is used as a fertilizer. This excrement is an excellent fertilizer because the majority of nitrogen is found in them, eliminated by the digestive apparatus and the kidneys.
“We should have infinite gratitude toward manure,” affirms Rudolf Steiner; it comes, in fact, from the nourishment which has penetrated the whole interior of the animal.
One spreads manure on the ground in the fall; it will pass through the whole winter to be used in the spring.
There are different manures according to their origin: that of the cow is a cold manure which does not work to obtain hot layers; that of the horse releases a lot of heat; incorporating it into the compost, and making for an accelerated fermentation; that of the poultry must be used in small quantities (one-fifth of the total manure), otherwise it will burn the soil.
To increase the power of the manure, Steiner recommends mixing it with other substances and his justifications can be found in Fondements Spirituels de la méthode bio-dynamique (Anthroposophiques Romandes).
LIQUID MANURE This is the liquid part of manure. A collection system placed near the manure heap allows for the collection. One spreads this almost immediately on the soil, and in small quantities in order to avoid too much penetration.
PEAT This is a product of the decomposition of aquatic vegetation. It is very spongy and, once spread, must be wet frequently. It is a mediocre fertilizer, very good to use for sowing during dry spells.
THE MAERL AND LITHOTHAMNIUM Green algae and calcified seaweed—a great fertilizer because of its richness in mineral salts.
From the Cosmos comes the intervening powers of plant growth; the powers of the Moon, Venus, or Mercury are reflected by the Earth and, through them, plants compose their annuals and their grains: the powers of reproduction; the forces that become distant planets, act under the sun’s power and are responsible for the plant’s inner transformation, that which give it its rounded and essential shape.
To influence the behavior of vegetation, it is useful to take note of these considerations; it is thus that the lunar influence on weeds is very powerful, especially since the Moon’s cosmic force is the biggest factor in evolution for seed germination, growth, and plant reproduction. Weeds are part of this process. If one shackles the action of the Moon, weeds are exposed to the forces of the Cosmos that are not reflected in the Earth and can no longer reproduce.
For this, take a certain amount of the weed seeds containing all the powers we have thus mentioned and burn them in a wood fire.
“We thus have literally concentrated in the ashes this power developed through attracting lunar forces,” certifies Rudolf Steiner.
One therefore has a very powerful process for herbicide. Pour these ashes over the soil containing the undesired plant for it to disappear. After four consecutive years, the weed will have disappeared from this land.
To the question, “What is a weed?” Emerson replied, “Very simply, a plant that has undiscovered virtues.” A justified statement when one knows the benefits of these “weeds.”
In effect, at a certain period of the year (the end of summer, fall), it is recommended to let the weeds grow; the soil will be protected from bad weather, drained and aerated by the roots; while their disappearance is absolutely necessary, it is very useful to mix them in the compost heap. The grass has deep roots and can nourish the subsoil with what the other plants cannot obtain; in leaving them to decompose with the compost, the soil below the compost, once spread, will be enriched with organic material and mineral salts. After weeding, one can also leave them on the soil to protect against heavy rains, intense sunlight, and little animals.
The presence of weeds also updates us on the terrain’s fertility and tenderness, because they often contain elements that the soil may be without; when they disappear, they give the soil everything they had stored. In any case, everything that we take from the soil must also be returned to the soil in one way or another—Nature corrects its own deficiencies.
The compost is an excellent place for the proliferation of earthworms: they love humidity, organic matter in decomposition, a certain heat. These little creatures, which fishermen torture, and which undergo a thousand deaths by suffocation, are the best fertility assistants in soil by way of their aerating tunnels and nourishing excrement.
Basic tools for the good gardener
For organic family gardens of more than 1,000 m2, two tools help avoid the loss of time and tedious work:
• The vegetable hoe, used for weeding and hoeing
• The manual seed drill, which allows the worker to sow and then to close the earth in the same motion
But for the small family garden (400 m2), feeding three to five people according to diet (vegetarian or not), the tools noted here suffice:
• Cord: necessary for alignment
• Wheelbarrow: preferably wood with moveable sides
• Watering can: galvanized
• Teethed spade: to uproot legumes
• Grelinette: to loosen the soil deeply without having to turn it
• Hook: for hoeing and loosening big clods
• Dutch hoe: for weeding
• Cropper: for weeding and hoeing hard soil
• Claw hoe: with a blade to weed and hoe on lines and between lines not far from planted vegetables
• Rake: with flat teeth, to clean out rocks and rubbish, to prepare the soil before sowing, and to cover and tamp afterward
• Weeding hoe: with a tongue to trace the furrows
• Dibble: wooden, with a leather cap to transfer plants
• Square shovel: to turn soil and compost
• Four-teeth fork: to spread manure, collect and transport waste, straw, hay
• Coulter: one, three, or five plowshares to aerate the soil
• Dego hoe: to weed the rocky soils or clear out uncultivated land
Note: For more suggestions, consult the work of C. Aubert, Le Jardin potager biologique (Le Courrier du Livre).
In his book One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka describes his four main methods of farming—no tilling, no chemical fertilizer or prepared compost, no weeding, and no pesticides—which allow the land to return to its original biological balance prior to massive human intervention. These methods minimize pollution and reap similar yields as his neighbors using “modern” methods. Natural farming, he says, differs from conventional organic farming, which Fukuoka considered to be just another modern technique that disturbs nature.
DESCRIPTION This instrument serves to work the soil, and its essential piece is the sharp-cutting plowshare. It is composed of three main parts:
• Coulter: sharp iron attached to the front of the plow, to split the earth.
• Plowshare: metal blade in triangle shape extending along the moldboard; it cuts horizontally the strip of land the coulter splits.
• Moldboard, from the Latin versare (to turn), an oval-shaped piece serving to shuffle again on the side of earth but by the plowshares. Two wheels are in the front, one wheel rolls in the trench made by the plow, the furrow; the other rolls on the unworked soil. At the front end of the main rod, one should attach the traction systems; cattle or horse can then pull the plow.
THE DRILL Put the cart on the side of the field to plow, get in front of it and hold it in both hands with the wooden or steel handles. The coulter enters first in the ground with a vertical cut; the plow cuts a horizontal strip under this notch, then the moldboard takes the strip of cut land, turns it, and rests it on the side or against the previous strip.
THE NON-REVERSIBLE PLOW with only one ploughshare. Trace a furrow; at the end of the field, retrace one’s steps by tilling the soil, which is under the first groove; a mound is formed on one side of the notch, turn back and plow the other side, it supports the mound; then work around this mound.
Note: The formation of a mound is indispensible; one cannot do the simple back-and-forth at the risk of placing in the furrow the strip of land plowed or, in working the other side of the furrow, of making a mound of unplowed earth.
When the rings described around this mound become too big, do the mound over twenty meters from the first.
THE REVERSIBLE PLOW This has two blades, one in the soil, the other in the air; one turns the groove to the right, the other toward the left, and both can be turned. Trace the furrow, and having arrived at every turn, return the blade and go the other way—this, at every turn; the well-arranged blades, the grooves, support one another and always in the same direction.
This plow avoids the formation of clumps and the work is more regular.
DEFINITIONS Coverings are composed of different vegetation debris, which, through fermentation, produces the heat necessary for cultivation.
A chassis is a wooden frame. The agriculturalist, as well as the gardener, will use these to obtain mature cultures and also to grow young plants that will then be transferred.
MAKING COVERINGS These are even thicker if they are built earlier in the winter. The main component is horse manure—to create enough heat; one mixes it with plant debris; straw, grass, hay, and a bit of water to form a slightly damp, tightly packed layer 40 to 60 cm thick.
One can replace the horse manure with any other animal’s manure (cow, sheep, chicken). For those who do not want to use animal manure, use easily fermented plant matter (grass, hay).
Note: Only use poultry manure in one quarter of the total manure—it will burn the soil if there is too much.
THE BOX This is a wooden frame made of four boards serving to support the chassis. Take boards from 15.5 cm long and 3 cm thick, of varying length (if, for example, the glass that will later be used is 24 cm wide, the measurement of the planks will be a multiple of twenty-four).
THE ENDS These are made with two boards of the same length; the top board is sawed in a way to form an isosceles triangle; nail wooden feet supporting the boards.
At each end of the paneling, provide a notch in which you slide the wooden pegs, which will assure a good interlocking. Also provide a notch at the top of the boards in the triangle to slide a ridge, a piece of wood of varying length, from 7.5 cm wide and 2.5 cm thick.
On this piece, nail a thin wooden board of a slightly inferior width than that of the ridge, from 3 cm long and 1 cm thick; it will serve as the foundation for the windows, which are simply placed next to one another on each of the box’s sides.
Position the box facing south for better exposure.
INSTALLATION The covering, made previously, is placed over the box (the covering must exceed the dimensions of the box by 30 to 40 cm). On the surface determined by the box, spread a layer of loam 30 cm thick. The fermentation progressing quickly, the temperature can reach 60° C to 70° C in the first ten days; to plant, wait for it to go back down and for the temperature of the box to be around 25° C.
For the chassis, survey the temperature of the coverings with the help of a thermostat buried in the loam. When the temperature is too high (it must be maintained between 20 and 25° C), slightly uncover the chassis; when the temperature is too low, cover the chassis with straw mats for the night, remembering to remove them in the morning.
This is a glass building that will stow a variety of fragile plants and vegetables.
“Its construction can be quite simple, a wall of brick, rock, or cement that is almost three feet thick for the foundation topped by a wooden or iron frame that holds thick panes of glass as well as a glass door. Four air intakes should be placed at the top and bottom of each of the four corners of the greenhouse. Inside warm layers can be arranged beneath frames, with chests for sowing, and numerous shelves.”
HEATED GREENHOUSE To install pipes for hot water inside, make a gentle slope; at the highest point of the pipes, put a valve so vapor can escape.
If the inner walls of the greenhouse are painted black, it will absorb heat during the day and release it at night.
• The temperature: In winter, during the night, it will be 4° C, and during the day, rise to 10° C, when you can open the roof vents. During spring and summer, water the soil to maintain good humidity.
To catch rainwater, extend the gutter with a tube entering the greenhouse and spilling into a container.
• The floor of the greenhouse: the quality of soil is very important; mix equal parts compost, soil, and sand; you can add a small amount of ground rock phosphate and lime; put it over the existing ground.
UNHEATED GREENHOUSE In good regions, a greenhouse is indispensable for starting crops that risk freezing outside: celery seeds, sweet corn, cabbage; in summer, eggplant, melons, green peppers, cucumbers can be grown; in winter, one can grow some very resistant legumes because the temperature can drop during the days without sun to below zero.
EXAMPLES OF GREENHOUSE CROPS
In winter: lettuce and other salad vegetables
In spring: sow celery seeds, tomatoes, peppers, melons, eggplants, sweet corn, and cucumber.
MAIN PRINCIPLES This is the operation through which one places seeds in the ground.
The ground must be hot enough for the plants to grow normally. Prepare the ground; for grounds easily invaded by weeds, wait until they germinate; one can thus remove them more easily and they will not hinder the growth of the young plants.
Certain crops are sown in nursery then transported to plain ground (celery, cabbage, cucumber, squash, lettuce, melon, tomato); this way, one saves space.
After the ground has been loosened, drop the seeds in a regular movement, bury them with a rake, water the ground, cover again with a thin layer of compost or chopped straw.
Some types of seeds are sown directly in the ground (carrots, spinach, beans, peas, lamb’s lettuce, corn, radish, turnip); preferably in a straight line. This method facilitates the distribution of plants—it is the most commonly used:
• Open the furrow
• Wet just the bottom with a water dropper
• Sow
• Cover up the seed with soil, three to four times their thickness, top with loam
• Pack gently with the flat part of the rake
• Cover with a thin layer of organic material (straw, freshly cut and chopped-up grass …) or a bit of peat (if the weather is dry)
WATERING It is often preferred to wait for the rains (provided the sowing is not done during a dry period); a seed must be regularly watered or else it will wither quickly due to lack of water during its development.
To limit evaporation, loosen the soil and make sure it is always protected from the sun by a layer of mulch. If one chooses to water, do so in the morning or at night.
TRANSPLANTING This operation means any temporary or permanent transplanting of seeds; before transplanting, soak the roots of the plants in mud made of loam and water: this is called pelleting.
Delicately remove from the land the most vigorous plants; keep the soil around the roots; cut the ends of the leaves and damaged roots; put the plant in the ground the same day you pull it; water the plants right after transplanting; energetically touch the ground—shake the earth around the roots—with the dibble.
WEEDING AND HOEING Hoeing is done to make the earth surface lighter; weeding is done to kill the weeds; both use the spud and hoe.
If you take care to renew the soil cover when it no longer protects, weeding before each addition of mulch (every two or three weeks) suffices.
Favorable and unfavorable vegetation association
(Table taken from Jardin potager biologique by Claude Aubert)
THE NEED FOR ROTATION Every plant species draws the same elements out of the soil. A crop of wheat from several years ago on the same ground completely depletes the soil of nitrogen. It is, therefore, necessary to rotate the crops.
• Legumes enrich the soil with nitrogen (improving plants) and should therefore follow, as much as possible, grueling plants (wheat).
• Each burrowing plant species takes its nourishment from the same layer of the soil, the roots always being the same length.
• A continuous crop of dirty crops (grain) will quickly lead to a full invasion of weeds. Hoed or clean crops (beets, potato) should therefore be alternated.
• Plants suffer from microbial disease and parasites. By changing crops, one deprives the parasites of their preference and diminishes their propagation.
EXAMPLES OF ROTATION
HIDDEN CROPS Other than rotation, there are crops that occupy the soil for several months and are placed between two main cultures (mustard, turnip, green manure). They are plants that do not demand much soil preparation and grow quickly (turnip after wheat or clover, for example).
Wheat occupies a place of honor in our agriculture and that is only fair because of its innumerable virtues, dietary and nutritional.
SOIL Today there are many varieties of wheat for nearly all kinds of terrain. Nevertheless, the plant gives the best results in plains of fine silt soil, in clay, or clay limestone in permeable subsoil, because it dreads moisture.
Wheat loves a firm, balanced soil. Deep plowing will be advantageously carried out on the row crop preceding it. For a stubble crop to destroy weeds, a light plowing suffices, more often, to sow.
Manure is not suitable for wheat: it brings too many weed seeds. Wheat is a “messy” plant and requires a balanced fertilizer—not too nitrogen-rich or too poor in phosphoric acid.
SEED Choice: each variety of wheat has a particular preference for soil. A judicious mixture of varieties will always give a higher-than-average yield compared to a single variety. It is prudent to make preliminary tests on small areas.
Sorting seeds is used to calibrate the grain and reserve the largest for sowing.
Sowing occurs early in the fall or spring for some varieties.
This can be done by hand or with a machine.
MAINTENANCE In the spring, eliminate weeds by a burr and harrowing. Regular hoeing also eliminates weeds.
Through harrowing and rolling, young stems are buried in the soil. From adventitious roots, knots develop and new stems grow; wheat acts as its own tiller and gives a better yield.
HARVEST From July to the end of August. Wheat harvested a bit green is more sensitive to decay. Mow the ground, place it in stacks—like that, the ground will germinate better.
After the threshing, the grain is put in the attic, stacked. Damp, it heats up. Spread it in thin layers and shovel it often.
THE PLANT Used to nourish humans (vegetation), animals (foraging), and for the extraction of sugar and alcohol, the beet is an exacting plant, very rich in nitrogen and potash, storing lots of water. It needs a deep soil and good humidity (plains of thick and fertile silt).
SOIL PREPARATION In the fall, spread well-decomposed manure that is buried by deep plowing. The ground, exposed to winter frosts, is worked in the spring by means of plowing followed by a scarification.
Sow in April (at the end of frosts) in fairly narrow lines (40 to 50 cm), leaving 25 to 30 cm between each plant.
Hoeing follows each time until the vegetation is strong enough to suffocate weeds.
In cool weather, begin by hand to sow plants in pockets and avoid moving those preserved at a good distance.
UPROOTING This is done in October and November, by hand. The leaves are cut at the neck and, abandoned on the ground, become a good organic fertilizer.
The roots are then stored in the cellar or in a silo, protected from frosts and humidity. Care is taken to provide sufficient aeration.
Note: It is recommended to eat beets raw and especially not use them to extract sugar—a toxic and degrading product, par excellence.
Note: The leaves of beets can be added to cattle feed but, being a laxative, don’t abuse it!
THE WIND Hedges are borders made of trees, shrubs, and sometimes branches; used to mark off a field, a road, a property, or a water course, their main purpose is to protect land from wind.
To make an effective windbreak, the hedge must be a reasonable height, since the deceleration of wind extends over ten to twenty times the height of an obstacle—so 100 or 200 meters behind a wall of trees ten meters high. The ideal windbreaker is an elongated coppice: the wind engulfs and escapes upward, which increases its protection, this time to twenty or thirty times the height of the obstacle.
The efficiency of the windbreaker depends then on the height and also on the permeability; in effect, wind, to be slowed, must be able to seep into the branches and leaves.
HEDGE EFFECTS Hedges slow wind erosion and, therefore, slow damage to plants.
• They increase the yield of crops: due to their presence, the air mass maintains humidity; so the plant can live in confidence, finding enough water; it opens the stomata (plant pores) and is a favorable exchange with the atmosphere. Growth is improved.
• They promote rainfall and reduce temperature differentials—both crops and animals profit; animals protected from excessive heat or excessively cold winds use less energy, and their reproduction is thus not hampered.
• They slow the flow of water—which is crucial for sloped terrain; they allow the soil to make reserves for hot season. For flat terrain, which is instead overloaded with water, hedges align ditches.
• They limit the possibility of rivers flooding by retaining water.
• They are the best shelter for all day and night predators; a natural equilibrium is established, since these predators feed on insects harmful to crops. And small insectivorous mammals such as the shrew are in significant numbers in the grove to the benefit of the crops. They are also embroidered with wildflowers, which is a floral bonanza for bees and thus for the beekeeper.
To be of maximum protection, a windbreaker must be placed before or atop a summit. Often the banks are too old, and the trees are bare at their base; one chooses then to elevate their height and make them more leafy. There are several methods for their recovery according to the hedge’s composition.
BIG TREES Oak, chestnut, pine: they mainly protect crops from wind; prune the lower branches and rebuild a bushy hedge between the trunks.
TÊTARDS Oaks, elms: these are big trees but not very tall; they act to deprive the branches covering the field, but only these branches. One prunes less rigorously the bushy hedge that could cover the base of the trunks.
LOW HEDGES Ash, elms: Only cut on the sides so that they will be taller. Occasionally, clear them up to promote the rise of the most vigorous stems. We recommend keeping the trees isolated.
BUSH Elm, acacia, ash, willow, chestnut: They protect the fauna and some of these trees produce fruit. Two exploitations are possible:
• Cut the trunks: the effect of the windbreaker is almost nil during the cutting year but satisfying after five years.
• Keep the trunks as straight as possible, especially with bigger trees like beech or oak. Cut the trees intercalary; their rejects will populate the base of these trunks.
WHERE TO PLANT? One hedge can have little effect: anticipate planting a series of hurdles or a mesh. The best placements are the edges of roads, properties, rivers, shelters, and banks.
To plant a hedge between two properties, the agreement of the two beneficiaries is desired; if it is not obtained, the planter must respect the rules of distance established by civil law. Short hedges make a bushy mass out of a new windbreaker.
CHOICE OF SPECIES Take into account the soil type and climate but the establishment of leaves is always recommended.
• The height of the trunk, and the homogeneity of the foliage provide effective protection against the winds.
• The nutrients attract wildlife; harmful insects swarm but so do their rapacious predators, thus keeping a good ecological balance.
• Their leaves and twigs are popular with livestock.
• Their wood is always useful.
PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE Nature is naturally wise and it’s always injurious to halt its evolution. Man is surely the last animal to be able to allow this—with its many controversies, inconsistency, and disorder.
Before replanting, observe the hedges’ initial composition—they proliferate more easily. It could be advantageous to take on several species. But take care to first do so with the advice of a nursery or install a trial hedge in order to be certain and without risking the future planting.
WHAT AND WHEN TO PLANT? For the choice of plant, priority is given to the small “two year transplants” or “two year cuttings.” For tall trees, plant those already started in the nursery.
For the reception of plants, put them temporarily in small containers so their roots can be in contact with wet soil.
When to plant? At the end of November for the leafy trees, beginning of November for the resinous, and until the end of February for plants. The soil must be carefully weeded and fertilized. To obtain quick results, the planting is placed under a black, plastic film to keep it wet and clean, and its decomposition will not release any dangerous residue. The use of “special vine” black polyethylene is recommended, but for better organic activity, use natural mulch; weed regularly and cover the ground with straw and dried brushwood, undergrowth, etc. Don’t forget to water it during dry periods.
Hedge steering and maintenance
• The lateral size: made so the hedge extends in width. Trim the hedge vertically by containing the lateral sizes; this method is less labor-intensive and confers an excellent windbreak effect.
• Coppicing plants destined for interlayer trim: mainly for the trees lacking vigor. They are cut 10 or 15 cm from the ground: these are restarts of rejects; so choose the best strand.
• Plants destined for the production of wood: above all one sets out to obtain a very straight trunk; for this, each year, cut the lateral branches 10 to 20 cm from the trunk. The following year, cut level with the trunk.
Tailor the hedges with shredders, pruning with a circular saw.
This is the act of planting trees on a naked terrain.
A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT A balanced land consists of three main formations: the fields (ager), grasslands (the saltus), and forests (the jungle). A good distribution of these three components creates an agro-forestry-pastoral balance—the latter of which has been modified throughout civilization according to the evolution of agriculture and its specializations. To serve different farming soils, there has been a significant decrease in trees, hence the necessity of reforestation.
WHERE TO REFOREST Where to reforest: in meadow regions with trees and shrubs, in non-meadow regions (old forests, large cultivated tracts), the orientation of wooded strips deals with the most bothersome winds. In the humid sectors, the plantation of trees resistant to humidity allows for a good remediation of land; the poplar of Italy fits perfectly.
THE PRELIMINARY WORK If the land is fallow, use a sickle, a crescent (a curved, iron instrument), or a machete to cut the vegetation, which is then spread over the soil; leave this way for two to three weeks, adding a bit of compost. The best time of year for clearing is the middle of the summer; at the end of the season, one loosens the land to mix the soil with all of this organic matter. If the land is cropland, remediation work is sometimes necessary—dig lines (with a hoe) in the low parts.
CHOICE OF SPECIES TO PLANT Observe some of the species that grow spontaneously in the region; they will shape almost all the reforestation.
In some cases, it is possible to plant trees that grow naturally in the region (the poplar in Italy was very successful), but then one must find adequate soil that does not oppose the growth of the new arrivals. One must also consider the local climate and altitude; this is, therefore, not a totally simple affair.
We have established a ranking, taking into account the requirements of certain forest species such as the country maple, sycamore maple, flat maple, alder with heart-shaped leaves, the St. Lucia cherry, the mountain pine, the yew; these do not fear droughts and can therefore grow in stony soils; birch, beech, ash, the Italian poplar, and the oak love deep, healthy land.
PLANT SIZE Choose small plants for land exposed to wind and altitude; if the vegetation is stifling, the soil fertile, choose larger plants.
MANIPULATION OF PLANTS When uprooting plants, take care to not damage the roots, preserving the land around.
If the plants are in poor condition, immerse them in pond water for two days (full immersion for hardwoods, only the roots for softwood).
Plant them as quickly as possible and water.
PLANT CONSERVATION One must then gauge: digging a line in the ground with a spade and arranging the plants vertically or slightly leaning toward the south; reseal the line, working well into the earth between the roots and tamp; put mulch down.
WHEN TO PLANT? The best time is the beginning of November and the beginning of April; it is preferable to plant in November-December for the healthy soils and wait for the summer for the very humid land.
Avoid planting when the wind is strong and drying or else soak the roots in a mixture of mud or dung; this is called pelleting.
HOW TO PLACE THE PLANTS? Make a hole with a spade and place a bit of loam in the bottom; the hole will be big enough so the roots can grow easily; put the plant in place and reseal the hole by really covering the roots; tamp moderately.
It is recommended to place different material around the plants: straw, brushwood.
On the dry and rocky lands, plant tightly, in the fall—the trees mutually protect one another.
On slopes, above each plant, place a bowl to hold in some humidity.
Note: There is always an interest when placing plants in the ground in rendering them exactly at their solar axis before uprooting. If one does not know this axis, have a dowser come or learn for yourself how to handle the tool; thus, knowing the exact position, the replanted trees generally grow twice as fast as those placed in whatever direction.
TO SOW OR TO PLANT? It is also possible to sow trees, but the forestry seeds are very expensive; put them shallow in the cleaned ground 2 to 5 cm, cover them with a thin layer of dead leaves; while the young plants grow, keep the soil around them well cleaned.
An area well-stocked with ponds possesses a climate different from those without ponds—it creates a microclimate. Ponds serve as watering holes for pets and are very useful in case of drought or fire. Water points remain, above all, a very important link in the ecological chain.
A very important isolated area for flora and fauna, the pond must be healthy and requires a periodic scrubbing of the filamentous algae that can smother the pond, cutting off the water’s sunlight.
The coypu, with a relatively long reproductive cycle, hunts gray rats or muskrats, with a reproductive cycle that is much more rapid, and causes the disappearance of invasive waterweeds.
The zooplankton happily coexist with dragonflies, arachnids, gastropods, leeches, reptiles, toads and the charming frogs without any defense other than their timidity and their good-heartedness.
The birds find a wonderful place to quench their thirst and frolic, and even nest in hedges and trees because the shrub is a great friend to ponds.
Flitting around, one sees the swallow, snipe, sparrow, tit, hedge accentor, finch, warbler, linnet, goldfinch, magpie, thrush, crow …
Ponds are placed in favorable locations; low, in clay soils. Their existence is also possible on the less permeable soil to a thickness of about 10 cm; after a while the waters gather and form a thick mud which creates its own seal.
The ponds collect rainwater, melted snow, gutter and road runoff.
Ducks are very happy there, as are carp, tench, chubs … as for mosquitoes, their larvae are favorite dishes for goldfish and mosquitofish.
A healthy pond, well-balanced, well-populated, spreads its existence out for decades, provided it does not become a garbage dump of toxic chemicals (pesticides, chlorine, fake fertilizers …) which will turn the pond into a cesspool.
To maintain or create a pond, refer to the excellent article by Aline Bayard, Les mares (Maisons paysannes de France, No. 4/1975).
Look again: the steeples of our villages rest upside down in these water holes—which Georges Barbarin said was a primary matrix of Nature.