“Are you sure this is the way?” said Alfie, scrambling up the hill after his sister.
“I don’t know alright?” replied Eva sharply, staring at her phone as she strode on ahead. “I’m still trying to get a signal.”
“That’s what you said, like, half an hour ago.” said Alfie, holding up a chubby wrist. “We should have stuck to the path like I said. Then we wouldn’t be lost!”
“We’re not lost.” retorted Eva. “Look, we’re nearly at the top of the hill. There’s bound to be something on the other side.”  

But there wasn’t. There were only more trees, thickening into an impenetrable distance.

“Great!” sighed Alfie. “What now?”   
“I dunno,” replied Eva, uncertainly. “Keep going until we get signal, I guess…” 
“But what if we don’t?” asked Alfie.
“We will.” snapped Eva. “This is Wales, you know, not the end of the world!” 

The forest seemed to grow darker here, more gnarled and the children were quieter as they went, nervously looking up at the great oak trees that surrounded them. With their wrinkled old trunks and branches bearded in moss, the trees looked like sentinels, silently watching as the children passed deeper into the forest.

“Evie,” said Alfie in a small voice after a while. “I’m a bit scared.” 
“Scared? What’s there to be scared of? It’s only a bunch of old tr… ” began Eva but then she stopped. Standing in front of them was an old man. 
“Where did you come from?” exclaimed Eva, staring at him in astonishment. He was, in fact, an extremely old man with a tangled white beard and even whiter hair and he was carrying a wooden staff. 

“From the forest.” replied the man in a melodious voice. “Where did you come from?”   
“We were on our way to the seaside but our parents got lost!” said Alfie excitedly. “So they parked up to look at the map – only they can’t read maps so they started arguing! And me and my sister went to check out the forest – then we got lost!” 
“You do not live in the forest?” asked the man. 
“We live in London!” replied Alfie, grinning confusedly. 
“Who lives in the forest?” said Eva, staring at the man.
“Once upon a time, we all lived in the forest.” replied the man and his eyes, which were a brilliant azure blue, seemed to darken with the weight of the loss. “Once, forests like this one covered the entire country.” 
“Right…” said Eva, frowning. “And…do you live in the forest?” 
“As long as there is a forest, I shall live here.” replied the man. 
“Great! Then you must know the way out?” said Alfie briskly. 

The man bowed wordlessly, gesturing for them to follow him through the trees. 

“So do you, like, live in a tree-house?” asked Alfie.
“I have no house.” replied the man. “The trees provide my shelter. The leaves, comfort. The wood, warmth.” 
“Is that why you’re not wearing any shoes?” asked Eva suspiciously. 
“What need have I for shoes when the forest provides such a carpet?” he replied and the children saw that up ahead, the floor of the forest was sprinkled with thousands of tiny blue flowers, glowing like fairy lights under the darkened canopy. 

They followed the old man through the flowers to a tinkling stream that led off down the hill.

“Ah, we’re back here.” said Eva, looking around. Then she frowned. “But how did you know where our parents were parked?” 

The old man pointed to the canopy and through the leaves, hanging behind them like a painting, the children could see fields, great dazzling squares of green rolling one after another, into a cobalt sea.    

“What you were looking for?” he said. 

They followed the stream down the hill until the children spotted a splash of yellow paintwork and then their parents, hunched over the bonnet of an enormous 4×4. Amazingly, they were still arguing.    

“So much for mum and dad being mad.” snorted Eva. “They haven’t even noticed we’re gone!”
“But they must of! It‘s been, like…” began Alfie. Then he stopped. 
“What?” asked Eva. 
“My watch says it’s still two!” replied Alfie, staring at her. 
“Two? As in the time we left mum and dad?” exclaimed Eva. “You must be looking at it wrong!”
“No I’m not!” said Alfie indignantly. Then he turned to the man. “Have you got the time?”
“Time passes differently in the forest,” he replied.
“But we’ve come out at the same time?” said Eva, frowning perplexedly at her phone. “The same time, although we’ve been walking for ages! How is that even possible?” 
“Think of the forests… as a way into the past.” replied the man, closing his eyes. “You may enter them in your time but if you keep on walking, who knows where you will end up. You may end up in my time – or some other time entirely. But what I do know is that without the forests, there is no way back.” he went on, opening his eyes and looking directly at Eva. “That is why you must protect them.” 

Eva was staring at the old man but then she heard her parents, distantly calling their names. Alfie set off down the hill, waving excitedly, but Eva turned to the man.

“I‘m sorry – what did you say your name was?” she said. 
“My name is Myrddin.” replied the man, his face crinkling into a kindly smile. “But in English, you would say Merlin.” 
“Merlin?” repeated Eva incredulously. 
“Come on Evie!” called Alfie from the bottom of the hill. 
“I’m coming!” shouted Eva. Then she turned back to Merlin. But he had disappeared into the forest.

Author: Tim Davies, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Sacred Groves Founders’ images of Coed Rhyal

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Uttarakhand farmer Krishan Singh Bargaley used to have a hard time getting good prices for the apples he so painstakingly grew. Although they were juicy and sweet, they would invariably develop unpalatable looking pockmarks on the skin. The culprit? A bacterial disease called apple blister that would spread with every rainfall to new sites. Aid came in an unusual form — a community radio that launched in the Nainital district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand in 2010, Kumaon Vani (which translates as our radio, our voice). From a programme on radio, 61-year-old Bargaley learned that a traditional mix of lime and water known as Chuna can help in stopping the disease and revive his plants. “We used to travel a long distance to Pantnagar to meet experts, now those experts dispense advice on radio,” says Krishan Singh. “And I was able to rescue my apples from the disease.”

Like Bargaley, a large number of villagers of Uttarakhand tune into Kumaon Vani t at 90.4 Mhz with reception reaching 500 villages in the state. This radio station was set up by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in 2010 at Nainital, Uttarakhand, to promote sustainable agriculture and spread awareness on climate change, environment, health, science, education, gender and culture among the local villagers. Funded by charity TRISHA, (TERI’s research initiative), the radio station airs a daily diet of climate news and weather forecasts and also warns the villagers about impending landslides, melting glaciers and government-issued alerts, according to Sumit Bansal, coordinator of the station.

“We gather information from the villagers about the problems they are facing and tailor our shows to suit their needs by bringing in the necessary experts,” says Jitendra Raikwal, the radio station’s producer. Villagers are encouraged to phone in their farming-related problems. Experts provide solutions and offer advice to improve their livelihoods through sustainable agriculture, improved biodiversity and accessing government-run welfare schemes. Mohan Singh Karki, station manager at Kumaon Vani says: “The objective of this platform is to provide a solution to all the problems related to water, forest and land of these regions, people should immediately think about our radio for any problems that they face.”

Kumaon Vani’s information-packed programmes, heard by as many as 200,000 listeners, have had some impact. After a program on the impact of using excessive pesticides and insecticides, many farmers switched to using natural pesticides and began to understand the side effects of chemicals on their health and for the environment. Uttarakhand is an ecologically sensitive area, because its hilly terrain and melting glaciers cause frequent landslides. Kumaon Vani is helping increase disaster preparedness among the community by airing tips on how to build homes on slopes. With limited access to television and newspapers, Kumaon Vani radio has also been a key source of news during the Coronavirus pandemic. 

There are limitations to the use of  broadcast radio in hilly regions such as the Himalaya. Because of a low transmitter power of 100 watts, the radio is unable to reach villages in the valleys. Frequent power cuts sometimes interrupt the radio broadcast. Yet it has been successful in creating a sense of community among villagers living in isolated, media dark villages. 

On a typical day last month, Ganga Singh Bisht from Prabada village called in, asking for the selling price of crops in the local market (Mandi). Minutes later, Khushhal Singh from Sunkiya village called in just to appreciate how relevant the programme is to his life. “I rely on Kumaon Vani for farming related advice and weather updates,” says Munni Devi, a farmer from Nainital.  “It’s become a friend in need for me.”

Author: Kavitha Yarlagadda, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Uttarakhand banner image – Anurag Agnihotri/ Wikimedia Commons, Kumaon Vani
(Wikimedia License – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)

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We think of Delhi as a concrete jungle, which, indubitably, it is. However, the city is on the tail end of the Aravallis and their forests, many of which are, happily, in different stages of rewilding. Recent surveys of these forests show that they harbour an astonishingly rich diversity of wildlife with relatively high densities of mammals in non-protected areas. As someone who has been documenting life in these forests over the last few decades, I have, in recent times, chronicled many species that used to be rare to find and can now be spotted.

The growing awareness about the conservation and protection of Delhi’s urban forests is a welcome breath of fresh air for conservationists and wildlife lovers like me. Much more needs to be done but I am happy that in my years as a chronicler of the city’s animals, I have got to see some of these amazing species return to their lost habitats.

Author: Devendra Singh, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Devendra Singh

The post ReWild:Life appeared first on The Sacred Groves.

The tiny ice crystals on the dark green leaves sparkle in the winter sun. Wolfgang Palme breaks one leaf off the palm cabbage to eat. “It tastes nutty, elegant and sweet”, he says, smiling. An icy wind blows over the fields. Wolfgang Palme pulls up the zip of his weather jacket. The agronomist and head of the Austrian Research Institute of Horticulture has come to enjoy the taste of winter. The cold does not seem to harm the vegetables in his field. Chard, spinach, purslane, radish, turnips, leek, herbs and many species of cabbage are surviving undamaged despite temperatures falling far below zero on the day we meet. Nearby, in unheated soft-plastic tunnels, salads, carrots, celery or pea sprouts are thriving. Wolfgang Palme and his team planted them in late summer last year. Now it is the end of winter. There is still snow on the mountains around the Zinsenhof, an experimental farm between Linz and Vienna. But the vegetables are ready to eat.

It is a boon for his community, where in winter, fresh vegetable consumption entails buying produce grown in faraway, warmer climates. In fact, this is how most of Central Europe sources vegetables in winter. These, however, come with hidden costs. According to WWF Switzerland, a kilogram of asparagus flown in from Peru results in 15 kilograms of carbon emissions, compared to less than one kilogram had it been locally cultivated in the field. Green beans arriving from Morocco emit more than 30 times carbon than those that are locally grown. And what is available in winter locally is typically grown in heated greenhouses. “On a cold winter night, a heated greenhouse of 1.5 acres emits as much carbon as a detached house in a whole year,” says Palme, adding, “mankind can no longer afford this”. His innovative farming techniques balance the need to save the environment with meeting the consumer demand for fresh produce.

Palme has identified and published nearly 80 varieties of veggies which stand the Austrian frost. The idea of growing them in sub-zero temperatures came to him by chance. In an experiment, Asian salad greens were surprised by frost. But in spite of minus 11 degrees they remained undamaged. The technical literature had stated that they could withstand frost of only minus three to five degrees. “Fortunately, the lettuce had not read the literature,” he quips. This experience made him realise that often the growing conditions listed on seed packets, especially about how much frost they can bear, is not wholly accurate. So he redefined it.

With his work, the scientist wants to provide practical knowledge to other farmers. He is presently working with seven vegetable farms all over Austria. “Winter vegetables are good for small and medium-sized farmers,” says Palme. “They can be grown on land and soft-plastic tunnels all year round and save energy. Even in winter, they can offer fresh produce from their own cultivation.” The all-important question is how these vegetables manage to survive the frost. Palme plucks a lettuce leaf and takes a nibble. “Many vegetables form a kind of frost protection in their cells, which is made of sugar.. ” he says, through happy chews. “This is the reason they taste so good…”

Author: Klaus Sieg, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Wolfgang Palme

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