By Robin Van Loon & Manuel Huinga | Executive Director & Forestry Program Coordinator
Greetings from the Peruvian Amazon!
As you probably know by now, Camino Verde is more than just a producer of biochar, more than just a capturer of carbon. Our projects range beyond carbon footprints to highly productive reforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, and that includes the management of 3 mega-diverse tree nurseries in Madre de Dios, Perú. Amazingly enough, it's now been over 10 years since we came into existence as an organization and started planting trees. One of the founders of all 3 of our tree nurseries is my friend and colleague Manuel Huinga, who is currently Camino Verde's Forestry Program Coordinator. I first met Manuel when he was a teenager and Camino Verde was just a dream In my mind. We met at a tree nursery, auspiciously enough.
To date, our reports have mostly been drafted by me, and it's my pleasure to present the first in a series of reports written by Camino Verde's awesome staff. Today it's Manuel Huinga, born and raised in Tambopata with a BS in Forestry, expert plant identifier, and walking encyclopedia of Amazonian trees. Below is his post from the Camino Verde La Joya Forestry Nursery. I hope you enjoy.
One final word. We think that completing 10 years of Amazonian regeneration work is worth a celebration. That's why on the evening of November 9th, we'll gather at historic Walden Woods in Massachusetts for a festive retrospective on the last decade and to share the plans for what's to come. If you're in the Boston area in November and would like to join, please contact us via email (here).
Now I'll turn things over to Manuel...
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On a rainy Wednesday at our little home, we put our daily tasks on pause. 20 months ago, we decided to make a dream come true, to make room for life.
How they have all grown, what an achievement! And what hard work. I remember every moment since we first met, I see them now and they surprise me, it makes me so happy to see them so big. From the time when they’re fist collected from the forest, each seed begins a new story, a story that is written thanks to the work of many people who are part of our team.
In our nursery, a symbiosis has arisen between plants and people, where our neighbors – mothers and daughters from the neighborhood, hardworking women –with patience and dedication fill the bags where the seeds we collect are planted. Every day our team – for me, my family – begins with cleaning tasks, to nurture the development of the seedlings that we sow. Armed with a machete and a weed whacker, our work commences.
Our friend and co-worker Elvis’s children run and play among the trees that are now growing here. In less than two years since we planted them, most of our seedlings have reached more than two meters high; recently, they were only seeds that fit in my hand. Giving a space to life, to plants, gives everyone an opportunity to live with dignity and wellbeing.
Our varied and dynamic work takes us from planting seedlings, to venturing out in the forest in search of the seeds of trees that may be bearing fruit. In other occasions, we prepare the soil substrate to fill bags, sow more seeds, and produce more seedlings of the important species of our region.
There have been days of intense heat, of rains that calm the thirst of the desolate soil of an area abandoned by cattle. Here we are, sowing, giving a push to the forest to recover the space that was always hers. For all here, our work is meant to be an example, a legacy of hope.
It is noon. The intense rain has passed and the sun is at its maximum splendor, we are under the shadow of a Shimbillo (Inga setosa). One year after we planted it, today we enjoy the coolness of its shade. With more than three meters’ height, this species surprises us, and now even more: some flowers are seen through the young branches. It just takes a bit of listening, of paying attention to that voice that is in every heart, the voice that is committed to the earth that gives you everything to live.
Without a doubt ours is an arduous task carried out by a team that helps make the miracle of life possible. Each field trip, each seed collected, each bag filled with soil, the constant watering, the patience and perseverance, all is reflected in plants of native species destined to restore forests, where one day the children of the children who run among the trees that we sow today will play.
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