While Farmer Dan and I were cavorting about this beautiful country, we were missing some mighty strange weather back here in Sunny Naryn. While it was plenty warm in the low Chuy Valley and the higher regions of Talas, even when I arrived back in Naryn there were still freezing temperatures. One day, amidst a mass of early afternoon sleet, I asked a woman on the street, “is this snow or rain?”
My question must have tickled her as she laughed in reply, “rain of course! Can’t you see that Spring is here?” Then we both looked around and laughed together.
But now, a week on, Spring is so profoundly here I can’t even help myself: garlic we forgot about last year has sprung up in the garden, and I’ve gone to great lengths transplanting it to last year’s slug-infested carrot patch; I’ve been turning the newly softened compost with reckless abandon; the black currant bushes are already starting to bud (and research shows that rather than make a donut of mulch around their base like for a tree, they prefer somewhat of a mound!)
Speaking of trees, my partner in crime for this year’s Trees for the Kyrgyz project (I call him Mr. Gold), is proving to be amongst the most impressive Kyrgyz people I have ever met. Earlier this week he came over to my house, helped tame our increasingly wild apple tree, told me our plum tree wasn’t fruiting because it needed a friend (apparently they don’t do solo living), and then sat down for business.
This year, folks, Trees for the Kyrgyz is a significantly different beast. Unlike last year where I just paid the money and some guys showed up with some trees, this year I am grabbing the bull by the horns. Along with Mr. Gold, we are together going to a nursery on the magnificent shores of Lake Issyk Kul to pick out the trees ourselves. Then, we have hired a man with a conversion van to help us transport them to Emgekchil, this year’s project village. Last year, I wasn’t involved in any of this. For those of you, folks, who have been reading my letters this past year, have seen my personal growth, and all of these new tasks represent the fruition of it.
Now, after we get the trees to the village, we have even more grandiose plans afoot. This year, the project is being hosted by a volunteer named Aaron. He’s already organized the buyers together, and even prepared a little spot in his school where we will plant two trees. After doing the follow-up Spring-keeping training in Orto Nura (last year’s village), Mr. Gold recognized that many trees had been planted too closely. So, this year, we are requiring all purchasers to attend the planting training, so Mr. Gold can explicitly show them, among other things, how far apart the trees need to be. (Last year the nursery men told each individual buyer, but as the follow-up training showed, it didn’t always take.)
Today, for me folks, is Wednesday. In four days time I will have the incredible luxury of watching another 500 trees go into the ground, thanks largely in part to you all. It will be among my proudest moments, especially with the knowledge that I couldn’t have done it without you.
