I now I have a garden! Well, a sort-of garden. It’s a sprout garden. I was so excited to get a package sent up  and discover it was my very own “bio-snacky.” It’s a three-tiered sprouting tray. The idea is to stagger the laying of your spout seeds over several days, and that way you will have a fresh layer of sprouts each day ready to eat! What a great way to get fresh food up here. So, on the first day I put mung bean seeds in the top layer. The second day I put alfalfa seeds in. And tomorrow will be time for layer number three: fenugreek seeds. I might seem strange to live in a forest and want a garden, but It’s amazing how nice it feels to have something up here that I can tend to and watch grow, and then eat. I keep looking over at it to see if there has been any change in the little seeds. But so far they have not started sprouting yet. But I’ll keep my eye on them.

My garden adds an extra homely feeling to my tree sit. Which I think is important to have. It can get a bit hard to be up here sometimes. As you can imagine. It’s challenging to wake up in the same place everyday and know that I have no where to go all day, and then go back to sleep to do it all again the next day. Not that I don’t have lots of things to keep me busy, especially when my power is working efficiently. And when I have power and can stay busy I feel the happiest. It’s great to be on the computer working on my blog, making little videos, answering people’s emails, and doing other campaign-related activities. I guess because it gives me a sense of purpose and meaning to being up here. But in the times when the power is low, it can be a bit hard. I was having a night like that the other night. The previous day, after a long period of time editing a video blog, my computer ran out of power. To my dismay the next night I discovered that none of the work had been saved. Oh, well, I thought, I’ll just have to do it again! So I did, and then just as I was close to finishing, what happened? That’s right, ran out of power, again. Ah! I was so frustrated I felt like I just wanted to throw my solar panel, computer, everything off the edge of the sit! I didn’t of course. I just went to bed, feeling frustrated and a bit over it all. And then, in the middle of the night I woke to a high pitched sound, coming from the tree next to me. I opened my eyes and peered into the darkness. I waited quietly, listening. And then, there it was again. Suddenly I saw the shadowy silhouette of an owl open its wings and fly straight towards me! It landed on the branch just above me. After a brief visit, it spread it’s wings and was off into the night, It’s visit felt like a special gift. I lay awake, feeling a renewed sense of wonder at the amazing forest that I live in.I no longer felt any frustration, how can you really, when you live in an ancient ecosystem. Being here day in and day out can’t possibly be boring when everyday something new happens, like the visit of an owl to my tree for the first time.

It was such a dark night, no moon to be seen through the thick cover of clouds. All I could see of the owl was it’s dark and shadowy silhouette. So it was hard to tell what sort of owl it was. I did hear it’s call distinctly though, and it was one I haven’t heard out here before.  Mostly I hear the Boo-book owls in this forest. This one, however, had a more high pitch sound, which it repeated twice in each call. I have asked around, but haven’t been able to determine exactly what species it is yet. But I’ll let you know when I work it out. I’ll also let you know when my spouts begin to appear.

Now I am listening to the rain fall onto the tarp. Only moments ago the clouds had disappeared allowing the moon to shine through and light up my tree and the trees around me, casting their long shadows across the valley. The stars had a brief chance to twinkle down on me. And then they were gone, covered once more by thick clouds, with rain setting in. What a nice night for snuggling on down in my swag, cosy in my warm sleeping bag and drifting off to sleep to the sounds of the forest in the rain.