himalayan birches from humla

i finally found those beautiful white bark himalayan birches (boj patra) i've been seeking for a few decades in nepal!!

i was in remote simikot, humla (far, far northwestern nepal) for the first time the other day. i'd gone up by charter flight from nepalganj w/ professors khanal and hachhethu, surendra, renu, neha and aruna, for our second to last undp-sponsored 'federalism dialogues' in the proposed jadan province.

of course, since i've been desperately seeking one of those gorgeous birch trees for our yard (botanical garden...), it was on my mind to ask about them when i got there. i'd read that they come from the high 'lekh' of these isolated mountains. i've never actually seen one in kathmandu. although birches are known to grow pretty much everywhere, both in a wide range of climates, as well as all around the world.

so, within a half hour of getting off the plane and strolling up to the lodge, i asked if anyone knew about them up there. neither my friends nor the local community folk seemed to immediately know what i was asking about -- until someone brought a huge pile of white birch bark from their home! i felt like i could have been back in summer camp in the adirondacks, not the high himalaya...

a few days later, a villager did me the kind (justly rewarded) favor of climbing some 3-4 hours up the ridge to bring down a six tender saplings from the distant ridge-top forest. they have a radiant, shimmering copper colored bark at this young age w/ distinctive white spots (mumps??). quite cute, if you ask me...

so, when we were leaving that dirt runway on the ridge-side in simikot, towering snow-capped mountains all around us, my only concern was not letting the airline take that precious muddy bag from me while checking in. white gold, i guess. of course, my 'friends', neha, renu and aruna were laughing at me. neha even teasingly telling me that the airlines wouldn't let such plants on the plane!

ha!

but i still didn't trust anyone that my petite birch saplings wouldn't disappear en route back to k'du. even though everyone else was more concerned about bringing their ruddy, fresh apples back from humla to eat, i could only see the beauty of these long-sought birch tree youngsters and, like ones' own children, felt immensely protective of mine. i wasn't concerned about what i was going to eat when i was back in k'du, but could only imagine the beauty of these petite saplings when they matured in our backyard with the lush shivapuri ridge as a backdrop.

maybe it's true, as they say that 'we are what we eat' -- but for me, i think it's actually more 'i am what i plant'...

although later that evening, on the commercial flight from n'ganj to k'du, after getting through the less than rigorous nepali airport security, the yeti airlines stewardess put her hand up and wouldn't let me carry the dripping wet sack on the plane. i explained, that these were 'mero ek dum maya-lagyko birwa!' -- but the tough-minded, but polite, stewardess forced me to hand them over to the ground crew, promising me, tough and sweetly, that i'd get them back as soon as i got off the yeti plane in kathmandu.

frozen smile...

so, when i finally got out of the plane an hour later, i nearly jumped down the outside stairs in the dark asking where my sack of saplings were. fortunately, they immediately appeared out of the cargo bin and the dirty sack was more than gladly handed back to me. i guess it's true that beauty (or love of nature...) is in the eyes of the beholder...

these little mountain creatures are now safely in bags of homegrown soil in our backyard nursery in budhanilkantha. i watered them down immediately when we got home about 9 pm the other night. then, in the morning, asked tek to put them in soil while i was at work. when i got home i found them resting comfortably out back by our compost, like kids at play, capturing the last rays of the day.

even though they obviously are most at home in those high himalayan altitudes, i hope they thrive out here on the rim of the valley. after all, since most everything else grows in k'du, maybe, these elegant himalayan birches will find this a suitable environment, too...

the way the rest of us of a variety of human species have...

drop by sometime, if you have the time, to meet these youngsters,

if you'd like!