1,400 seedlings, 1,400 hymns to life

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Like a germinating seed, creation begins in the dark.

Some time late 2020, in the still darkness of our pandemic cocoon, just a few years after Bing was diagnosed with cancer and Nav sank into a long and deep depression about climate change, the light of a beautiful vision came to us.

An enchanted food forest.

YES, that is it, that is where we want to live, for whatever time either of us still have.

A place where we can stuff our face with fruits ripening off tree branches, forage for herbs and medicine, learn to speak the languages of trees, beavers, and woodpeckers, and howl with the coyotes under a hunter moon.

Late last May, we put shovel to soil, and laid ~1,400 seedlings into their new beds on our land in Upstate New York.

It will be a long while before these trees and shrubs grow into the lush forest of our dreams. But the seed of the dream has been planted.

Clockwise from top left: Bing and our farm advisor Mark Shepard tucking in new seedlings; Hazelnuts in the first month; A row of black walnut, mulberry and elderberry on a swale; A newly planted hickory seedling, Happy chickens foraging in the emerging food forest.

For those of you new to the list, or anyone who needs a refresher, it’s worth revisiting that first newsletter where we shared why we chose to reclaim and heal our relationship with Earth and our fellow Earthlings through the cultivation of food. Two years later, we have a lot to share! We’ll break our learnings and reflections into digestible pieces over time.

Why a food forest?

Why do any of us do anything? What is the substance of motivation, the arc of desire?

We have studied with the best and brightest pioneers of regenerative agriculture, experts of ecological science. We can (and will) share the science of why a thriving forest food system is so much better for our world than conventional agriculture.

But our personal “why”s for choosing to plant trees didn’t start there.

We didn’t set out to become farmers or permaculture experts. Instead, something tugged at our heartstrings, inspired our sense of beauty, touched that place outside of words and logic where our deeper selves live. 

We could feel just how lovely it would be to watch a chestnut trees grow, to stroll inside a forest picking apples, to live among hickories, walnuts, bumblebees, robins and earthworms, to walk bare feet on the Earth, and know that we are part of its vitality.

Contrast this with the feeling of standing next to a thousand-acre corn field.

Our intuitive sense for what feels enlivening, as it turns out, is also what science can definitively show is better for the planet.

It’s almost as if… we can trust our hearts to lead us, even before there is data to prove it.

You might be hearing the terms “permaculture” and “regenerative agriculture” a lot more nowadays. They are not clearly defined concepts, but overlapping principles and practices of living, stewarding land, and growing food in ways that are mutually enriching rather than extractive and degrading.

One simple insight we learned studying permaculture is the dramatic difference between growing perennial plants (of which trees are the biggest) and annual plants.

Annual plants - like wheat, corn, rice, tomatoes, peppers, squash - need to be replanted every spring. Growing annuals requires creating a “blank slate” for the fragile seedlings every year, typically by tilling the soil and poisoning the natives (people call them “weeds”). This also destroys the communities of microbes, mycelium, and insects that live in the soil.

Without that rich soil life, the crops need an extra boost of nutrients (typically from chemical fertilizer made from fossil fuel), and are more susceptible to diseases (treated by applying even more gross toxic stuff). So every year, the soil is more depleted, requiring more and more inputs.

Perennial plants, on the other hand, can survive the local winter, and come back year after year. Once planted, the soil never has to be disturbed again. And since these plants can invest in root growth year after year, they outcompete “weeds” over time.

After a few years, the seedlings that survive will have grown dense root networks that secure soil against erosion, transport minerals up from the depths, and send water and sugars deep below the soil surface. These roots become the “utility pipes” for resilient underground communities: Fungi, earthworms, nematodes, and a host of insects that all cooperate, compete, predate, and recycle nutrients in a great Circle of Life worthy of the most enthusiastic Disney sing-along.

Perennial wheatgrass plant’s long roots being shown and contrasted against annual wheat on the right. Picture by Jim Richardson/National Geographic creative

This starts the virtuous cycle of a healthy, self-regenerating forest ecosystem: Plants capture “free” energy from the Sun, store it in the bodies of living organisms, which eventually die, decompose and return precious nutrients (including carbon) back to the soil with the help of a vibrant community of fungi, insects and bacteria. 

The 1,400 trees we planted are all edible species found in our part of the world, a polyculture (groupings) of plants that occupy different heights (layers) to maximize sunlight capture (yes, like solar panels, but alive) and provide diverse food and habitat. Our first phase of planting included

• In the canopy layer - hickory and black walnuts

• In the middle layer - mulberries and persimmon

• In the shrub layer - hazelnuts, elderberries, and lindens (kept short by coppicing, so we can harvest their edible leaves and medicinal flowers)

We also planted an experimental row of native herbs and spices, including hawthorne, sumac, spicebush, sassafras and bayberry.

An illustration of a healthy plant ecosystem with multiple layers

We expect to lose at least half of the seedlings. They already experienced their first drought - it didn’t rain for 3 months last summer. Many won’t make it, but the ones who make it will be the ones that are the most resilient, the strongest in body and spirit. Already, the surviving elderberry roots are sending out shoots of new canes. The hazelnuts that made it through their first winter are breaking bud, and the hickory, walnut and linden will soon follow. 

Over the next few years we will add more layers to the forest, perhaps vines like hardy kiwi and grapes, or ground cover layers of strawberries and purslane. We’ll add more variety to each layer - chestnuts, pawpaws, apples, wild rice, and blueberry bushes (wild ones thrive on this land!). We will introduce animals - chickens, ducks, cows, maybe even pigs to work the land, accelerate the natural cycles and provide more yumminess. The possibilities are literally endless.

There’s so much giddiness today around creating “virtual” worlds and “artificial” intelligence, and speculation about what that future would look like. We’re choosing instead to create actual ecosystems by listening to the guidance of natural intelligences all around us. And dream of what that future will look like.

…Bees and butterflies flitting amongst the flowers

…Foraging chickens and ducks picking slugs off young fruit trees

…Cardinals and mockingbirds hunting for prime real estate amongst the branches

…Deer standing on their hind legs to reach branches heavily laden with persimmons (known by the indigenous as “deer candy”), occasionally being shooed away so the humans can also get their share

…Foxes, raccoons, and chipmunks feeding on the nuts that have spilled all over the forest floor

…Dung beetles plundering a cowpat and rolling away their prize

This is the living art we are creating, the devotional gift we are giving to ourselves and to this beautiful world.

We’re very grateful to all our friends who’ve joined us in parts of this journey - planting experimental hazelnut patches, working a ridiculous straw-blowing machine, harvesting wild medicines, trying to out-engineer beavers… We have so much love and gratitude for the community of people who have been inspired to engage and co-create with us. If you feel called to come dig in the dirt with us, let us know!

A few quick personal updates!

1. We named our land Wildsong Gaian Sanctuary. It has so many layers of meaning for us, perhaps ones that we might not yet be conscious of. But for a glimpse of one thread that inspired it, check out Nav’s post.

2. On spring equinox this year, we rolled out of Brooklyn with a Uhaul truck and moved full time to the land. In absolutely divine timing, Bing got laid off from the job he had for 13 years, only a week before the move, as if a mama bird lovingly shoved us out of the nest, whispering “y’all are ready, ready to fly on your own!”

Did you know that we also run a Nature-based Retreat Center on the land? Check us out on our Airbnb listing, and if you or someone you know would like to host a retreat or community gathering here, please reach out - wildsong.gaian.sanctuary@gmail.com

If you are interested in visiting the farm, or to simply take some time to unplug and rest in the peaceful holding of this magical land, come visit! We have beautiful guest rooms for rent on most weekdays, as well as the weekends we are not hosting large groups. We haven’t quite gotten an easy calendar set up for our B&B yet, so just reach out and ask. Work trades are available for anyone with financial needs.

We also invite you to follow us on Insta, where we get to more casually share snippits of the creative process and joy of life here.

Much love,

Nav and Bing

P.S. We are obsessed with this mashup of Dr. Dre and The Lorax - it’s the best 10 minutes you can spend on the internet today. Give it a listen!

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