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24 The Portugal News · 21 Nov 2020 Renature Section
The pig poop plant plan N Jake Cleaver
Last week I went in search of a man with a plan. My directions took me into a beautiful
hidden valley between Monchique and Silves.
were one? Since I consider the in which life can once again
carob tree a true mascot of the spring.
Algarve, I said no. But as Se- It’s now time to bring into
bastian pointed out - they’ve play Sebastian’s philosophy
only been here for 900 years. of “make your enemy your
How long does a foreigner ally”. The other problem we
have to live somewhere before have is the eucalyptus trees
they become accepted as a na- which given the opportunity
tive? The landscape has always dominate the landscape and
been constantly changing. bully the other trees into
There’s no reverting back to submission. However, as
the past. Nature doesn’t look Sebastian says, like all bullies
back. We need to learn to if you stand your ground they
work with what’s here now. will normally back off, settle
Sebastian feels that there is no down and become easier to
such thing as invasive species, get along with. He says that
there are simply ‘opportunists’ in order to stop them getting
and the key is - not giving too uppity we should radically
them the ‘opportunity’ to get cut back their branches in
too big for their boots, or shall autumn. This will serve to
we say, too big for their ‘roots’. make them less greedy and
In order to get anything to stop hoarding the resourc-
grow we need water. Wa- es. We can then spread out
ter after all is where all life their freshly cut branches
springs from. When rain falls and leaves over the land.
from the sky the trees act as a Particularly over the swales
barrier stopping the rain with and gullies, as the leaves will
their branches and allowing act as a ‘mulch’, which before
Sebastian is passionate about doing his bit to help re-plant and renature it to then slowly drop to the it decomposes into the land,
ground (the original drip helps trap in the moisture
ollowing Sebastian is South African mind is now swimming with the bottom up and create a irrigation system). Without caught by the rainfall and stop
instructions I turned with loads of energy and all the different things he network of friendly neigh- the trees literally ‘standing in it evaporating.
up a little dirt road enthusiasm. He moved to could be spending his time bours that will help create the way’ it lands with huge Sebastian says we humans
F that seemed to fit Portugal 10 years ago and ran planting instead. shade, put nitrogen back into force and quickly disappears have the need to tidy and
the description “It doesn’t a successful surf school, but He is passionate about doing the soil and create root space down the mountain side clean up areas and put them
look like it goes anywhere, he decided to give that up his bit to help re-plant and for others to grow. The plant- taking the precious fertile into order. But what we
but we actually live up there”. as he started to feel like he renature the now quite ‘deser- ed forest should be ‘stratified’, topsoil along with it. don’t understand is that the
I really hoped that it was the wasn’t doing enough to help tified’ (on its way to becoming which means to have different We therefore, Sebastian natural world is naturally
right road and not a road that the beautiful natural world a desert) area around Mon- layers and heights. This will says, need to make contours chaotic, and the leaves you
in fact - goes to nowhere. here in the Algarve that he’s chique. The hills and valleys create a canopy which will or “small swales” (curvas de might have swept up in your
Luckily, as I emerged grown to love so much. I used to be full of trees such protect the soil, help prevent nível in Portuguese) along the garden actually provide the
through a corridor of trees, asked him if he still surfs and as cork oaks, and Sebastian forest fires, and cool the land. mountain sides. They don’t ideal microclimates for many
low and behold the man I he says occasionally, but to be explained as he pointed to ar- For this Sebastian says we have to be huge ditches but different kinds of species of
was looking for was busy honest, whenever he is sat out eas on his land that were still can enlist the help of what they should catch the water as plants and bugs to thrive. It’s
working on his land. on the ocean on his board, his thick oak forest that it used lots of people call ‘invasive’ it runs down the hillsides and good to allow things outside
to all be like that but people species (like the eucalyptus give it enough time to soak in to be a bit of a mess, or even,
started to cut down the trees that has no trouble growing and infiltrate the soil. It’s in dare we say it - make a little
in order to have space to grow on its own). Sebastian doesn’t this way that we start to turn mess ourselves.
crops like corn and now with- like the term invasive species the tables, as this will bring up As we climbed up the hill
out a canopy of trees to help and he asked me whether I the groundwater table, help- Sebastian showed me all his
keep the water from escaping, thought the Alfarroba trees ing to create the conditions little swales and gullies where
the torrents of rain that we
do get simply tears down the
mountain sides and the water
escapes back into the sea.
There’s been many attempts
to re-grow native trees like
the Chestnut, Cork and
Medronho trees, as well as of
course the Monchique Oak,
but Sebastian says they’ve
been largely unsuccessful
as just planting them in the
now degraded soil on their
own they will find it hard to
survive, and what needs to be
done is to grow them in con-
Sebastian showed me all his little swales and gullies where he junction with other kinds of
has already put this plan into action. species. We need to start from