A Prayer of Pawpaws, Persimmons and Duckies

Cultivating Wildsong food forest as a love song and living prayer for the Earth, and all Her children

This year, we will be planting another ~5,000 trees and shrubs to establish the next phase of Wildsong Food Forest. We’re focusing on Pawpaws, American persimmons, Muscovy ducks, and geese. I love these fruits and these animals; and through years of experiments-failure-success, the land has shown me she also welcomes them.

Note: If you’d like to come plant trees with us, we’re having a Community Planting Weekend on May 3 & 4. Details at the bottom of this post!

Pawpaws are truly incredible - a paradox that shows what life is capable of. It’s a full-on tropical fruit that’s native to North America. How? Speculation abounds. It’s a cousin of the soursop (aka guanabana) and custard apple (aka cherimoya). None of these survive in cold climates. Yet somehow, as pawpaws slowly migrated North they became fully Winter-hardy. And retained their explosive tropical flavour and richness. Now that’s an immigrant story. What do they taste like? It’s hard to describe. Creamy custard with the flavour of mango, banana and soursop. And when a little overripe, they develop deep caramel notes. Mmm…

Being a native plant means they’ve developed resistance to local pests and diseases. No need to spray nasty chemicals to keep them alive & productive. This is in contrast to the more recently imported apples, pears and peaches that mostly live a coddled life in orchards, and so have not developed the same resilience.

And then there’s American persimmon. Growing up, dried Chinese persimmon was one of my favourite snacks. The sweetness and flavour is incredible. All the persimmons you see in the supermarkets today are either Asian or Middle Eastern, and they’re great. But over the past few years, I’ve been falling in love with native American persimmons. They’re much smaller, and if you try to eat them before they’re fully, mushily ripe you’ll get “furry tongue” from the tannins. But if you’re patient enough to wait for these bright orange gems to fully ripen on the tree… wow. Imagine a dried apricot mixed with a date. But juicy. It’s mind-blowingly good.

The ducks and geese will go about enjoying their lives under the shade of the trees: Foraging, growing, squabbling, loving, nurturing families… all the while eating and trampling the “weeds”, hunting “pests” like slugs, snails and caterpillars, and fertilizing the trees with their poop. This natural, synergistic relationship between animals and plants has been all but lost in today’s modern industrial agriculture. But more importantly to me, Muscovy ducks are my favourite people. Those of you who follow our Instagram will know about the love story of Siti and Duxbury, or seen how Green-eyes and Duxbury dance when I bring them treats.

And let’s not forget the supporting cast: Thousands of mulberry, willows, poplar, spruce, ground cover. Each playing their own vital roles in a rich and diverse forest ecosystem.

For those who want to see the plan in all its nerdy detail, here’s the link to the interactive web-based layout.

A Living Prayer

By far, the most precious part of this whole process is the effect it has had on me. I spent all of last Summer & Autumn planning and preparing for this year’s planting (this short video captures some of the moments). It was a hard year. A shoulder injury compounded by Lyme disease (my second encounter with it) really slowed me down. And at the same time the Universe had my back. People showed up with support in ways I could not even hope to ask for.

And sometime in the Winter, as I was listening to my heart and the land, feeling gratitude and grief and relief for the year, I realised…

This is how I pray for the world, and for the life I want to live in it.

With years of listening to the land, discovering the dream we will birth together

With hundreds of hours researching and planning

With vision and the will to create something new

With toil and sweat and blood

With spreadsheets and emails and phone calls and dozens upon dozens of dead ends

With bruised shins, raw hands, and going to bed sore and aching in the most delicious way

With friends who show up to put their shoulder to the plough - inspired by my vision, and inspiring me with their generosity and love

With a heart full of song and feet full of blisters

Through Lyme disease and torn rotator cuff muscles

Sipping my tea in the pre-dawn hours, eagerly awaiting the light and warmth of Grandfather Sun that lets me work

With the hawks that soar and follow overhead as I drive my tractor

To prepare the soil
To earn the right
to humbly ask the Earth to birth my dreams into reality.

This is how I pray

-Bing

With deep gratitude to the land, and all my relations who have taught me so much. And to the humans - Ray, John, Dan, Jared, Cal, Nick, Chloe, Meghan, Steve and everyone who helped last season and who continue to help me plan and execute on the next phase of Wildsong Food Forest!

An Invitation to Plant Trees With Us!

May 3 & 4

You're invited to join us in our living prayer with Mother Earth through toil & soil. Get your hands dirty and plant some trees!

We'll gather at 11:00am on Saturday May 3, and finish up around 6pm on Sunday May 4. If you want to spend more time with the land and come earlier / stay later, reach out to me.

What we'll be doing:

-A tour of the food forest & how the design is specific and tailored to this ecoregion, this land, even down to a specific field

-Discussion of regenerative agroforestry principles in practice & what it is in relationship to "permaculture" and "organic" and other "regenerative" methods

-4-5 hours each day of hands-on tree planting & care

-Cooking and sharing meals together (brunch & dinner)

-Connecting with Nature, waking up to birdsong, listening to the babble of the stream, hugging trees in the forest

-Staying in our magical Nature retreat lodge

Logistics & practicalities:

-We ask folks to chip in for the costs of food & cleaning (approx $45/day). Any additional contribution to the Wildsong mission would be greatly appreciated. Every dollar contributed is used for planting trees to establish a regenerative food ecosystem and stewarding the land.

-Pack for a mix of weather! Spring is unpredictable. Rain boots & raincoat, sun hat, a good jacket and also T-shirt and sunscreen. If you have your own fave gardening gloves, bring them!

-How to get here: https://wildsonggaiansanctuary.org/getting-here/

If you're joining us, please RSVP

And if you live too far away to join us, I hope you find your own way of taking steps to bring forth the world you want to live in.

You're welcome to share this invitation with friends who want to put their hands in the soil and connect with Mother Earth.