That’s right, spring is in the air! Every time the snow falls around here in Sunny Naryn, it is as though it melts the very next day. Folks, spring time means planting time, and planting time means fruit trees. Are you folks ready to plant some more fruit trees?!? To bring another 500 spindly little saplings to another tiny village? Well, God knows I am.
First off, a little back story. For those of you just tuning in, last year around the beginning of May, I learned that high quality fruit trees could be transported down from the beautiful Lake Issyk Kul for just $3.50 a piece. At that time, though, we were already at the very end of the season, and if we were to get any planted, we needed to do it in less than a week. Do you remember this? Because I sure do. (If you don’t, of course, you can see the resulting video here.)
Now, I know it is tree time again because I just finished up the last details of the project from last year. As you can imagine, planting trees is not enough. People need to know how to tend them. Just last week I traveled back to the little hamlet of Orto Nura. This time, however, I came prepared with a professional tree-keeper. He is from Lake Issyk Kul, but lives here in Naryn city, on a contract with the University of Central Asia, teaching the locals to tend to fruit trees. His name is Mr. Gold. We met by chance as I was hitch hiking back from a monitoring trip to a little handicraft cooperative. We talked shop during the car ride, and after discussion of composting, soil preperation, and the details of branch splicing, it became clear to me he really knew what he was talking about. A week later Mr Gold and I went to Orto Nura, holed up in a classroom, and told everyone we could find about how to prepare their trees for the spring, and how best prune them. To boot, we showed them how best to keep the grass around the trees, and even passed out some pruners.
But that was the end of last year’s project. This year you can call me Mr. Experienced. This year, we are planning this not one week in advance, but one month. Next week, when my friend from America, Farmer Dan gets out here, Dan myself and Mr. Gold with go to the little village of Emgekchil to get details on the climate. That will inform us on the best varieties of apple and apricot trees to bring down from the Lake. About three weeks later we will gather all interested families (starting, of course, with the school teachers) at the school, and explain the program. A week after that we will show up with a truck load of freshly excavated saplings. On the day that we deliver them, we will gather the locals to tell them about how to best start their new gardens. We will tell them to face the knot at the base of the root towards the rising sun. We’ll tell them to plant their new trees 4 years apart, and to put some iron in the hole with the apple tree roots.
It will be fast and fun and just as magical as last year. And now folks, this is where you come in:
Despite rising food prices world over, just like last year, each tree only costs $3.50, and the goal is 500 trees. That’s $1,750. Just like last year, I have set up a program with the wonderful website chipin.com Using this site and your credit cards, you can buy a few trees to donate to Emgekchil. My recommendation is just five little ol’ trees. That’s just $17.50. Last year, we reached this goal in less than 1 week. It was amazing. Let’s see if we can’t do it again.
