Kattu Siva Plantation

ARUNACHALA KATTU SIVA PLANTATION

November 2008

THE GREENING OF ARUNACHALA
ARUNACHALA KATTU SIVA PLANTATION

The Forest Department intends to take full responsibility for the reforestation of Arunachala Mountain and we wish them well in their endeavour. After working on the western end of the mountain for six years, now we will observe the efforts of the Forest Depart while attending to plantation on flatlands surrounding Arunachala Mountain. This prospect offers greater potential for raising environmental awareness in the community.

We are pleased to join two well established trusts – one on Arunachala's east and one on the west, both oriented towards the growth of sustainable ecological perspectives in children: The Arunachala Village School at Vediyappanur and Nectar Soma Trust at Somasapadi.

We are also engaged in the development of an organic model farm – "Prakruti" - on land offered us for this purpose on the Adianamalai side of the mountain. The land belongs to Kasiviswanathan who has worked extensively in Andhra Pradesh as an organic farming consultant; he began his training with the Annamalai Reforestation Society and became a teacher of organic methods. Previous students of his will be employed in this work. The land needs to be developed with basic amenities before we begin structuring the farm. The Arunachala Kattu Siva planters will benefit from the introduction of organic farming techniques; three attended an intensive training course in Auroville at the end of last year.

On land offered for the purpose of nursery near to the Arunachala Village School we will maintain nursery for plantation of trees along roadsides and in villages on that side of the Mountain. The initial task in this direction was offered by the Panchayat at Selvapuram in Vediyappanur; they invited us to design and develop a new burial ground, which we considered an honour. The children of the Arunachala Village School are assisting us in this plantation as well as in the village itself. We will also extend the plantation executed jointly by us in 2007 along the roadway leading towards Thiruvannamalai town.

We initiated a process of training the children at Nectar Soma at Somasapadi, in using shadow puppet theatre for communication about environmental matters in surrounding villages. These children have the intention to form a theatre group with Prahbu – a puppeteer from Bangalore, who hopes to return regularly to Nectar Soma to assist with productions. The Manager of the Arunachala Village School in Vediyappanur has invited these children to pass on their expertise to the students in his school who already partake in an environmental education curriculum. Both groups of children intend to become proficient in spreading environmental awareness in their area.

We hope to construct a nursery at the Nectar Soma children's' farm with considerable future prospects for plantation in the villages and on private lands. This area has plenty of water. Adjacent to the Nectar Soma children's farm is land owned by the Atma Saranalayam Ashram who have invited us to create a forest for its own sake on this land. The children of Nectar Soma will be involved in this plantation.

We feel oriented now towards a wider arena of influence in our contribution to the greening of Arunachala.

Please visit our website at: www.hotkey.net.au/~apeetha/index.html.

Annamalai!

Rains were disappointing to us this year but much foundation work was accomplished: restructuring water-holding areas, bunding and check dams, pits and soil improvement strategies were undertaken to great advantage for future seasons of better rain – as you can see here with the beautiful rock work on the frog pond and the line up of blokes with their kadapas (crow-bars).

With the second burst of rain plantation could be taken up in pits already dug and prepared with vermiculture:

Unfortunately that burst was short and hand watering had to be carried out; we kept stashes of plants waiting for the next spell of rain hidden in the forest nearby:

The wonderful hand pump and water holding tank beside the nursery proved to be a tremendous asset to our work:

By the time the Monsoon finally broke we were intent on emptying our nursery and the feet of Siva showed their true colour again.

15. Monsoon breaking - 16. Green feet of Siva - 14. Nursery - 13. Saplings on slopes

We were able to employ our seasonal labourers again in the coming months and a couple of them joined us permanently.

We have to acknowledge that the workers were harassed from time to time from the greedy peons in the Forest Department but Apeetha went to Delhi in October and was able to ensure that higher authorities are aware of our work.

The Trustees of the newly formed Trust and all the workers, with a few children and friends met one morning on the new nursery site over the other side of the mountain from where we have an inspiring view of the right foot of Arunachala Siva. We made decisions about calling for estimates for the foundation work on this land, and Jayalaxmi was given the future responsibility of being Manager of this nursery site while her husband, Rajamani, remains responsible as Manager of the established nursery on the south side of the mountain.

Our Navararthri puja this year was slow beginning due to the full moon crowds and our pujari took a nap while waiting for all of us to show up.

The puja was a very beautiful thanksgiving ceremony as you see from these images:

25. Leaf plates for stone gods 26. Navarathri puja fire 27. Navarathri puja 28. Puja Parcel

Prasad was sent to all those persons who supported our efforts this last year, and we express our thanks here to the very special anonymous donors who have contributed so generously over the years.

We are making application for funding to undertake the foundation work on the new nursery site and feel that it is imperative now for some of our workers to undertake specialized training in other centres. The delta region directly above the nursery site on the south side of the mountain remains to be reconstructed in order to conserve the optimum run off from the two streams. Please contact us if you are in a position to consider offering donations towards this work.