Tree Planting

In November 2020 November – February 2021 we hosted volunteering events for tree planting and tree care (pruning, grafting).

We have planted over 300 trees and have established our own small tree nursery, with the help of many volunteers.

You can adopt a tree, take care of it in person or donate for its maintenance.

We would like to extend this action, to make it an yearly routine and to involve the local community in ecological initiatives.

The Fruits of the Oasis

The fruit trees have been very generous with us this and last year. The residents and the volunteers have prepared fruit jams, jellies and nectar. We are freezing the excess of fruit and use it for home preparations such as cakes, puddings and creams.

We are making and gifting organic calendula, sage and balm, herbal infusions and spices of all kinds, grown on our lands and picked up and processed by ourselves with care.

In October 2022 we organized an online meeting where we shared with passionate plant experts the wonders of plants through the lens of Tibetan medicine. In that occasion we prepared a short video with our own recipe of calendula and sage cream. Enjoy!

Securing the Oasis for winter

As we´re approaching winter here at Merigar East, we want to share a brief update on the concluding season, plans and aspirations for 2022. Last not least, thank you for your precious support and collaboration.

We´re happy to tell that the Oasis project is in good health and with a positive outlook for the next year. The donations for this project rised to 1383 Eur in 2021. Here is what we did with it. 

For the general maintainance of the landscape, 5 karma yogis (volunteers), the geko (local administrator) and 2 employed workers from the village cut 3 out of the the 4.5 ha covered with hard grass. It had developed this year after a spring of heavy rains. We also repaired two of our 4 grasscutting machines.

During our last collective event, the November tree-planting, some 70 young trees and shrubs from both our native nursery and from a commercial nursery were planted around the MultiFun House. Among these were noble apple and pear varieties, peaches, almonds, apple and plum wildlings and a number of deciduous and coniferous windbreakers. The original nursery, started in 2020 by Alex, has been moved directly into the ground next to the linden tree line. Around 30 oak seedlings, which germinated from seeds from mulching mass used around have been also re-planted into the new nursery, next to some new thujas and lilacs. 

Following Ida’s idea, us, volunteers completed the map of the plants, marked and identified each and every tree. The marking is important to avoid damage when cutting the grass. The poles next to each tree bear their names so our Oasis is slowly turning into a botanical garden. During the event our volunteers, old and new practitioners, also learned Yantra Yoga.    

Concluding the 2021 season, we will secure the nursery with a fence, put up the polypropylene frost protection before new year and start germinating new offsprings from the seeds collected this year.

The plans for next year are quite simple. During February and March, we´ll do our best to prune all trees in the Gar, and graft some of the fruit and decorative varieties. If the circumstances allow it, we´d like to organise a couple of workshops on that topic. Further, setting up an effective irrigation system in the spring, taking good care of the existing plant stock, expanding the native seed bank and our nursery, continuously importing more biomass into the Gar while keeping the premises well-maintained and enjoyable remain clear priorities.

You can volunteer and/or donate for this project all year long. The Oasis involves artists, permaculture passionates, buddhist practitioners and local workers, coming together under the common goal of enriching the ecosystem and connecting people.