Life Imitates Art — The Man Who Planted Trees

The forest doesn’t need us.

It was here before us, and it will be here after we leave.

The forest will survive despite our abuses of it.

We are the ones who need the forest.

 

“The Man Who Planted Trees”
A short story by Jean Giono
Featuring the Paul Winter Consort & Jean Giono
Narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema
The work won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1987.

“The Man Who Planted Trees” is 1953 fictional short story by French author Jean Giono, who in a 1957 letter to a Digne, France city official wrote, “Elzéard Bouffier is a fictional person. The goal was to make trees likeable, or more specifically, make planting trees likeable.”

The book, which was translated into several languages and distributed without charge, was so well received that many thought it was a true story, thus somewhat necessitating such a letter.

The story illustrates the magnitude of difference that one person can make to the earth.

“The Man Who Planted Trees” tells a tale of Elzéard Bouffier, a simple man of determination, who, after losing his wife and son, retreated to a desolately remote part of France, which land he thought “was dying for want of trees.” So, with his dog and sheep as his solitary companions, he began his life’s work — daily planting one hundred acorns.

Over 30 years, laboring in peace without interruption, and in complete anonymity, Elzéard’s planting of trees resurrected and transformed a once desiccated landscape, relentlessly ravaged by winds, and forsaken by people, into a verdantly vibrant, vigorous, and thriving region, filled with people and life of all kinds.

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Life imitates art.
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Manipur man converts barren land into 300-acre forest

Meanwhile, Loiya is certain that the task of growing a forest and nurturing it is going to be “a lifelong mission” although he now works in a pharmacy to earn a living and to sustain his family.
Published: 13th November 2022 12:41 PM — Last Updated: 13th November 2022 12:41 PM

IMPHAL: A 47-year-old man in Manipur’s Imphal West district has converted barren land into a 300-acre forest with a wide variety of plant species in 20 years.

Moirangthem Loiya, who hails from

Gardening Tips and Tricks: How To Make Trees Grow Faster

“The Man Who Planted Trees,” in Mosaïcultures Internationales Competition at the Montreal Botanical Garden. Image by Flickr user AV Dezign, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

“He that plants trees loves others beside himself.”

– Dr. Thomas Fuller, MD (1654 – 1734), British physician, writer, intellectual, preacher, in Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs, 1732

Over the years, I have observed (and learned by experience) that I have quite a knack for making trees grow rapidly.

Even slow-to-moderately growing trees (such as oaks) have responded phenomenally well under my guiding hand.

What and how to accomplish that?

Aside from planting in a well-lighted area, with adequately drained, properly hydrated & fertilized soil, there is but one thing we can do to encourage growth in trees. That one thing is

Arrest Made in Poisoning of Auburn’s Historic Toomer’s Corner Oak Tree

There may be some saving grace in this issue because warm weather and Spring have not arrived with any consistency yet, and therefore the trees may not yet be in bud, and (I suppose) do not yet have foliage, thus preventing significant uptake of poison.

If there is any hope for those historic trees – and other trees nearby – I would imagine extraordinary measures must be taken. Those measures could include