Day 2 – 4 June 2015

It’s stinking hot. India is in a heat wave. 35 degrees celcius, “feels like” 40. The ground is hard, parched. The sun is scorching. The JCB (earthmover) is onsite, ready to roll.

Why have we chosen to work with a JCB, instead of using entirely natural techniques? It’s a big question. The quick answer: Because we can. Now, in more detail….

A JCB will serve our purposes beautifully. Whilst the fuel is available, we’ll use it for restoring ecosystems, planting trees etc. We figure that it’s a really good use of the fuel. We’ll not be wasteful, and it will not be part of the regenerative plan in the mid or long term, but it will give a great big kick in the butt to the initial regeneration. Once this initial work has been accomplished it will be “bye-bye JCB”, never to be seen again, although with a tear in our eye, as there can be something terribly seductive about one big powerful machine replacing hundreds of man hours of work in the scorching heat.

We’re in a hurry. In just a few days the Monsoon is due to burst upon us and when that happens we want to make sure that we catch every single drop of water that falls on the property (and maybe some more from the surrounding watershed and hard catchment areas).

With the land in it’s current hard and compacted state, the water will just slide right off and out the holes in the compound wall at the lower end of the property that were placed there (not by us) for exactly that purpose – to rid the property of all excess water. Eroding even more of the earth with, and not sinking into the ground.

Our aims for breaking the hard earth with the JCB:

• to allow water to be slowed, and soaked into the earth to recharge the water table
• for planting of cover crops for the Monsoon that will serve to protect the earth from the lashing, heavy rain, add organic matter to the soil, and provide biomass at the end of the monsoon.
• to dig two seasonal water-recharging ponds, and a few swales.

Today we were able to dig the larger, lower positioned seasonal water-recharging pond, and break 70% of the ground, to a depth of about 30cm. The pond sides are quite a bit steeper than we would have liked. But as one of the natural sealing techniques we will be trialling may be using livestock (buffaloes, cows or pigs), the limited access created by the steeper sides may be a blessing. The fourth side slope allows water, people and animals to enter and exit (not the water) with ease.

We left the site earlier than planned. Overcome with heatstroke. Bummer. In the area where we needed to stand to dig the pond there is just one 2 metre high tree. But even just that tiny tree offered some much noticeable respite.