Turning Degraded Land Into Forest, Woman Builds Natural Homestead 

i reall like, that people around the world trying to regreen degraded land. Her strategy is interesting. I would like to get more information about the change of the groundwater level. I mean she said, that the used two wells to take out ground water. Does the growing forest above helps regaining groundwater? Since the land doesn't dry out that much anymore due to shade and wind breaking? Or do these trees use up more water? Does maybe the rain better trickle into the soil now? Another thing what I at least would put into discussion is the collection of water from rain. The first thought would be, it maks a lot of sense. But when you think over and over it, you will get some disdvatages. The worst disadvatage is, that the collected water doesn't add to ground water anymore. So by collecting rain watrer, you would minimize ground water refreshing. Maybe if you use that water to nurture the trees when they are young could level that out?

Well said! Glad the video resonated with you!

With a small 20 acres, I’m 61, and planting quite a few trees on it, and I know that many of them, I will never sit in the shade of, but! I know the generations to follow, will enjoy them, and that’s what is satisfying.

Yes that’s the beauty of planting for the future. They will always think of us as long as they aren’t cut down

I love the lady work

@@GrowingSmall My name is prem singh I am starting a moringa and neem Planting project

Good Luck!

Great to hear, wishing you all the best for your endeavours!

Please keep us updated!🙏

God bless you, sir.

Make a permaculture food forest!

Thank you Karie for taking the time to comment. I'm so glad the video resonates with you. Spending time with Grete is just wonderful, and her homestead really is as peaceful as she describes. Just the bird songs there are incredible! And most land that surrounds hers is still barren and degraded. If I had a drone, I'd have definitely shown this.

I'm NOT growing up!! I'm only 71.

@@GrowingSmall When you go back to visit her, please have a drone. I'd love to see this!

This is what is happening now with largescale replanting efforts; specifically in China. Both China and Africa have a "Great Green Wall" project to plant a continental-scale wall of forest spanning the edge of the Sahara and Gobi deserts in order to stop or slow the encroaching desert from swallowing more arable land. China had begun its Great Green Wall back in 1978, but there was a huge setback; they planted giant monoculture forests of poplar, and disease eventually spread through huge swaths of the reforested area. A lot of progress was lost. They since have learned from that mistake, and have created some creative methods to re-greening desert soil by utilizing large-mesh biodegradable rope or cellulose earthbags to act as a windbreak for native drought-tolerant grasses, which secure the soil in patches that fill in. They also plant drought-tolerant trees and shrubs. Once the sand is secured by root systems, they're able to build upon that foundation to create an ecosystem. It's all very clever. The Paani Foundation has a lot of interesting videos on utilizing watershed management and permaculture to re-green degraded land here on RU-vid. This is a video about the Paani Foundation that was made to be viewed at a film festival in India, so it's very polished, but it shows the impressive work the Paani Foundation is doing to help improve struggling rural communities by giving them the knowledge and incentive to fix their own problems. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lwFzrt6fP9s.html China did it with the re-greening of the Leoss Planteau. regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Milly.jpg Ethopia did it as well. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AIlyz2-cixs.html Peter Andrews did it in Australia. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uraGuQ7wS_A.html Allan Savory did it in Africa. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vpTHi7O66pI.html

@@marshy1950 …you’re only a pup. ☺️

Love this! So glad you are also growing trees in arid areas!

Thank you for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it as a small video creator! And keep on planting!

Glad you picked up on this. Not enough people realize how vitally important good soil really is for everything (including ourselves of course). There's too much concrete jungle and monoculture farming...All that will have to change for an ecological civilization that deserves its name.

Thank you so much!

Thank you for commenting, couldn't agree more with you - her story and what she's done with the land is just incredible. Glad you're motivated to do good, too!

I live in Karachi Pakistan I like your comments

@@GrowingSmall I live in Karachi Pakistan I follow your channel RU-vid

Why wait for politicians who supposedly represent the body politic? Do it yourself.

They busy topping up their bank balance

Which part of south africa you from

I have afriend who is like you.

I'm imagining a day my politicians allow me to do this.

Everyone I've met from subSaharan Africa loves to grow things. Nothing lights them up like the earth. God bless Grete.

Thank you!

Wow, thank you! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me that the film resonated with you and that you're also dreaming of a world in which Mother Earth is taken care of and healthy.

Thank you and greetings to Latvia. Unbelievable how cold it is over there! I'm so happy the film resonates with you. Enjoy the coming garden season once spring is in the air!

Same here in Canada. It's my dream to grow a garden like this with fruit trees and veggies

Best wishes from the wirral ,where the mersey forest grows...well done...brrrrr..

@@eamonnclabby7067 Where’s that? Scotland?

I,m sure you will find a way....

You can also start by researching where you'd be happiest. What kind of trees you will love best, and will do best in helping support your family going forward. Decide on how many years you can afford to work without a return, before the trees can fully-establish themselves. Make sure to study and ask questions where possible from the locals about water, how much they get, if they get any, and where it's coming from. Those are all essential if you want to actually succeed at reclaiming soil and land.

Thank you!

Wonderful! this is exactly what I hoped to elicit with the video. All the best!

Thank you Anne. I'm so glad you feel inspired - I was too when I visited Grete. It's a magical place and just incredible to see the changes in person.

What country she is at? 💞

@@danalexa69 Kenya!

Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to comment and share your reaction. You've been there since the very first video I uploaded - thank you! I still feel very much like a novice filmmaker, so it's great to get feedback like this.

@@GrowingSmall I was actually questioning if you took this from nat geo or something it was so good! Nice job! You definitely deserve millions of subscribers!

@@jakobtrahey846 Awww, thank you for your kind words, really gives me some motivation to go out there and do videos like this about the everyday heroes who do so much good work without really being recognized. People like Grete should be National Heroes for regenerating the land!

@@GrowingSmall :D

Wow, thank you!

@@GrowingSmall thank you 😊 back in my days we literally planted trees, nowadays they don’t teach nothing in school but a bunch of Junk Politics Information😤😤

Planting trees is just so powerful. I'm glad you liked the video, thanks for commenting!

@@GrowingSmall I myself collect wild herbs and medicinal plants and mushrooms, I hope to plant a few native trees and plants here come spring that are not so common these days. It would be nice to stroll in her forest, it was a big undertaking, but I am glad she did it.

Also makes sense, sounds like a time saving way of planting which is a plus as well!

Thanks a lot Francis! Inspiring people are much needed right now.

Same here! I love trees too and that's why I was so inspired when I met Grete.

Yes!! Nature is so important and healing. Have you come across Jadav Payeng, “the forest man”? He is an inspiration as well…

So glad you find it inspiring!

That's exactly what I felt when I first visited Grete and it inspired me to make this film. Thanks for watching, Joyce!

Thank you for sharing her name and story. 'His eye is on the sparrow' is how folks express God's love for the smallest things. This lovely woman has sat down to admire her spider neighbor's life for two months. Hers is a life well lived.

Immer wieder gerne :)

Thank you for sharing, completely with you, that's why I've found Grete's story so inspiring!

Glad you enjoyed it! Really like how you're putting it, "life can be lovely" :) Much love to the beautiful state of Maine!

Great suggestion!

Agreed!

Oh yea, the house inside is lovely too. Simple cabin like feel with lots of rustic wooden furniture. You'd love it :)

I live in Karachi Pakistan I like your comments send 4 month ago

Grete? I was wondering why this wonderful woman has no name here.

Interesting, it's quite a melodic English which I enjoy listening to a lot :)

Ahh thank you for your kind words 🙏

You can do it!!

You don't need to dig it up. Mulch it with whatever you have in the way of leaves, compost, manure. The earthworms and other critters will come and dig for you. You can lay down plain cardboard first, worms will digest that too. Weeds are a very good indicator of your soil type and are doing their best to amend your soil for you. Depending on the weed it's usually best to cut them off at ground level and use them as mulch.