You are welcome here: you plants that are now here on the land

As I woke up this morning, a part of me was on the surface and I was with it for a while.

The new plants at the land then came to mind. An organization planted almost 2000 individuals of 20 different types of native trees on Milagros last week, in the most dry and barren areas. I connected with them and was with them for a while.

You are welcome here. Welcome to this land.

You are loved.

I spend time with them from and as emptiness and emptiness taking the form of these new plants on the land.

I see the lush diverse native forest they can and hopefully will become part of.

I notice how they go from being anonymous plants doing their thing to becoming alive and full of presence. (At the very least here for me, and something may happen there too.)

This planting is the first of hopefully many phases of plantings over the coming years. They will provide the framework for a forest that will hopefully be far more diverse and vibrant, with birds coming to plant more seeds and with us adding to it as well. There is a main path going through the land, and we plan to have many food-producing trees and bushes in the forest along it, and also many flowering trees and bushes. The rest will be a wilderness area with little to no human visitors.

Here is a list of the types of trees planted in this first phase:

1. Saman / Rain Tree (Samanea saman): An excellent shade tree, not native but widely naturalized in tropical regions.
2. Cedro / Spanish Cedar (Cedrela odorata): Native, valuable timber tree.
3. Ceiba bonga / Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra): Native, important for its ecological role.
4. Ceiba santera / Pochote (Pachira quinata): Native, valuable for reforestation and soil improvement.
5. Nauno / False Saman (Pseudosamanea guachapele): Native, useful for nitrogen fixation.
6. Pata de vaca / Orchid Tree (Bauhinia sp): Likely native, used for ornamental purposes.
7. Gaque / Clusia (Clusia multiflora): Native, good for soil stabilization.
8. Guayacán amarillo / Golden Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia chrysantha): Native, ornamental and timber tree.
9. Guamo santafereño / Ice-Cream Bean (Inga spectabilis): Native, nitrogen fixer, and shade provider.
10. Matarratón / Madre de Cacao (Gliricidia sepium): Native, nitrogen fixer, and livestock fodder.
11. Vainillo / Golden Shower (Senna spectabilis): Native, ornamental and useful for soil fertility.
12. Gualanday / Jacaranda (Jacaranda caucana): Native, ornamental and timber tree.
13. Carbonero / Powder Puff Tree (Calliandra trinervia): Native, nitrogen fixer.
14. Guamo ruanico / Ruan Inga (Inga ruanensis): Native, nitrogen fixer.
15. Gallinero / Manila Tamarind (Pithecellobium dulce): Native, nitrogen fixer.
16. Nogal / Ecuador Laurel (Cordia alliodora): Native, valuable timber tree.
17. Chicala / Pink Poui (Tabebuia rosea): Native, ornamental and timber tree.
18. Guayaba / Guava (Psidium guajava): Native, fruit tree.
19. Níspero japonés / Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica): Non-native, fruit tree.
20. Guásimo / West Indian Elm (Guazuma ulmifolia): Native, shade tree and fodder.