Praying for Peace

Again, let's pray for Peace... 

For a worldwide Peace.

Updated rainfall / September 29th

Because of all what is happening, I am not inspired to write.

So I have to try to distract myself with other things. I take care of the garden. I made the effort to swim yesterday. And I will keep on updating the rainfall table.

July 2024: Total = 0 mm

August 2024: Total = 0 mm

September 2024: Total = 70 mm*

- Saturday 14th: 1 mm (light rain)

- Sunday 15th: 3 mm (light rain showers)

- Monday 16th: 0.5 mm (drizzle)

- Tuesday 17th: 0.5 mm (drizzle)

- Sunday 22nd: 40 mm (heavy showers)

- Monday 23rd: 25 mm (heavy showers)

And about what is happening, we can only hope and pray for Peace. Violence is never the solution and it is valid for both sides.

If we want to build a fairer world, it must be done through Peace and Fairness and Equity for all people of all nations of the world.

Swimming in the sea

Today as on every weekend I took care of the garden by the sea that belongs to my grandparents. Also, despite all what is happening, I swam in the sea, as it is warmer than the swimming pool. It was a beautiful swim. 

I hope that soon Peace will be restored, here and worldwide, and that you will have the opportunity to come visit and try to swim in this sea too, dear Red-Oak, Green-Rose and Little-Flute.

Showing the daily salad

Despite all what is happening, the garden continues to be a productive place, and I continue to pick every day a daily salad, and to take care of it...

Let's continue to pray for Peace, here, and worldwide. 

Let's pray for Peace

Let's pray for a worldwide Peace.

Let's unite our prayers to build a more sustainable future everywhere on Earth.

Wild edible plants

It is the fall, and I am preparing the ground for wild edible plants to start sprouting...

More quiet

I was more quiet today, after having been confronted to my worst phobia / trauma.

So I was even able to record a normal video...

 

After the rain

After the rain (for a total of 65 mm)...

I recorded this video before realizing what was happening in my country. As I do not read the news, it is afterwards I understood what was happening...........

I'm extremely sad and scared........

Speaking from the beach

Today I recorded my daily video from the beach, in front of the sea. There was a wind storm that then became a rain storm, with a lot of rain, and it is still raining now. We had several hours of rainfall. By 6 pm, 30 mm had fallen, but now from my guess we reached at least 50 or 60 mm which means that the entire garden has been well watered. The temperatures also dropped.

And this is a picture I took of the storm, as it arrived from the sea, before the rain reached us!

Bird of paradise

Today I took care of the garden by the sea as on every weekend, and discovered the bird of paradise I planted for years ago has flowered.

The video is taken from the garden around our house, late afternoon.

This is the bird of paradise I planted some years ago! Its flower is one of the most beautiful flowers that exists, in my belief. It still did not entirely open.

And this was the view on the sea today, a partly cloudy, windy day, from the garden by the sea.

This is how dry okras look like. I let them dry to save their seeds. They also become quite decorative!

And this is the path of stone I built in our garden, after clearing it, and replanting the fields around. The advantage of having a path is that you don't walk and trample the soil from both sides, allowing those little plants to grow. This is all my work.

Rainfall over the agricultural year 2024-2025

Since when I moved to the countryside, in 2020, I like to measure rainfall on a regular basis, to know how much water is falling - out of curiosity, and also as a way to better manage the water resources of the garden. 

I have a large recipient on the rooftop of the barnhouse that I graded, to know what quantity of water inside corresponds to what quantity of rainfall. I empty that recipient at the end of each rainfall.

So the data below correspond to the place where I live, Amchit (Baachta) and can greatly vary from one place to another.

I will regularly update this post in order to keep track of how much rain falls. I usually did that on a notebook, but now I have decided to share it with my readers.

Measuring rainfall is also a way to measure the impact of climate change.

It is relatively easy to do, but it requires patience, and perseverance. 

July 2024: Total = 0 mm

August 2024: Total = 0 mm

September 2024: Total = 5 mm*

- Saturday 14th: 1 mm (light rain)

- Sunday 15th: 3 mm (light rain showers)

- Monday 16th: 0.5 mm (drizzle)

- Tuesday 17th: 0.5 mm (drizzle)

And as a comparison this is the rainfall I recorded last year, in Amchit / Baachta that was a very rainy year, but with a winter slightly less cold than average.

July 2023: Total = 0 mm

August 2023: Total = 10 mm (1 day of rain)

September 2023: Total = 0.1 mm (1 day of rain)

October 2023: Total = 410 mm (11 days of rain)

November 2023: Total = 380 mm (11 days of rain)

December 2023: Total = 230 mm (8 days of rain)

January 2024: Total = 400 mm (21 days of rain)

February 2024: Total = 280 mm (11 days of rain)

March 2024: Total = 125 mm (11 days of rain)

April 2024: Total = 35 mm (7 days of rain)

May 2024: Total = 35 mm (5 days of rain)

June 2024: Total = 0 mm

Total rainfall from July 2023 to June 2024 = 1905 mm over 87 days of rain

As I said earlier, last year we got a lot of rainfall, especially in October, November, and January that had way above average rainfall. 

When it rains in Amchit, it snows over the mountains. Depending on the temperatures, the snow falls at lower or higher altitudes.

The temperatures I record inside the house, first floor, vary from 24 °C to 32 °C during the summer, to 7 °C to 16 °C degrees during the winter.

The outside air temperature average is supposed to be in between 24 °C and 29 °C during the summer (with some occasional days at 32-33°C when a heat wave occurs) and in between 9 °C and 15 °C during the winter (with occasional days at 5-6°C when a cold wave occurs). 

The snow covers the top of mountains for 5-6 months per year (but there are places where the snow does not melt, not even the summer). The high mountains (ski slopes) are covered by snow for 3-4 months per year. The middle mountains are covered by snow during a few weeks. The hills can have a few days of snowfall. In Amchit we get one snowfall per year in average, but the snow melts on the next day.

I will keep on updating this post each time we have a new rainfall.

A serious talk

Today I made a more serious talk from the garden...

The garden is changing aspect in this season, as the fall slowly settles. I need to clear whole areas, and replant them with new cultures. I really like doing that, as the fields look fresh and new afterwards. It is resting to look at those newly planted areas.

A windy day

 Today was a partly cloudy, windy day...

Showing new parts of the garden

Today I showed new parts of the garden, on which I've been working in order to start planting some winter crops! I'm really proud of my work, as I find it also aesthetically beautiful! I hope you enjoy it too... 

From inside the house

As it was raining (lightly) this morning I recorded my video from inside the house, in front of the garden, for a change.

But in reality I had a lot of work to do in the garden today, and I continued my work well after sunset, with a lamp. 

It is a season in which to prepare the winter crops, and to change the look of the garden in some area!

And as was said already, the Kingdom of Ylliriel, through Arbaro de Espero, advocates for a worldwide peace by learning the language of plants! That is clear enough a statement I hope! No unfairness can be corrected through means that are not peaceful. And at the end, Peace will triumph. In the world, and in this tale.

I prepared a video for Linkedin about the bees, but because of a bug it did not upload, so I will upload it tomorrow morning hopefully. Keep tuned! https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-zakhia-085vi1991/

The pond and the bees

Today while speaking I showed you the bees in live, and also the pond. There was some light rain yesterday evening and night, and it rained again, with more intensity, tonight. I could abundantly water the garden today. I have a lot of work related to cutting boughs, building raised beds, etc.

On a side note, I discovered that the zone where I live is entirely mapped on the pedestrian google maps, meaning that you can see street views of the neighborhood all around where I live in Amchit, and even of the entrance of our house and garden. You can either do a google map search, or directly use this link to see the google maps pedestrian view of the entrance to our house https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1524586,35.6314012,3a,75y,96.97h,99.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sNFloYEYzn22YpuO6Jt3FDw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DNFloYEYzn22YpuO6Jt3FDw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D14.264436%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?authuser=0&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

So for the entourage and family of the Faerie Princess, it can be interesting for you to discover the proof that all what I am showing you is real. You can also tour the neighboring area, and look at the sea, the fishing port, etc. through the tool provided by google maps.

You can even tour the rest of the village, and in particular look at the garden by the sea, and also at the historical center of the village on top of the hill where the oldest houses are located, some where family members inhabit.

At dusk

Today I did not have the time to record my daily video for the entourage of the Faerie Princess before dusk, as it was a very busy day, in between taking care of the garden by the sea that belongs to my grandparents (and picking passion fruits, bananas, a papaya and some olives from there), taking care of the garden around our house, and visiting a nearby field with fruit trees, but in a state of semi-wilderness, where we found some citrus fruits, lemons and pomegranate...

This is a short video of our honeybees taken with the cellphone of my brother.

And this is a picture of me, taken today, after returning from the wild fields. As the grass was quite high, all its seeds got stuck on our clothes. It was very annoying to remove these little seeds, which belong to an invasive grass of the same family than the carrot, that is however not edible.

On a side note, we got our first seasonal rainfall this evening, just after recording my video! This is a good news, as nature is in want of rain! The air also freshened afterwards.

Speaking of the bees

I speak of the bees from the rooftop of our house...

Picking almonds

 Today I picked almonds that had dried on the tree, that I planted a little more than a decade ago...

This is how almonds look like in their hulls... I used a large pebble to break them on a stone.

I am working on launching the website of Arbaro de Espero: https://arbarodeespero.wordpress.com/

This is how it looks like, but it is still unfinished!

I also discovered a beehive in the garden, a beehive that came to settle inside a hole in the trunk of a ficus elastica tree (I was speaking about these giant trees a few days ago). For four years I prayed to attract bees and a beehive. I did not feel like buying bees, because, it feels a bit like cheating, and it requires hard work and knowledge, and they may not make it because of ailments.

So I wished very dearly for bees to come and settle in the garden on their own will. And I tried a few innocent tricks to attract them, such as putting a bit of honey for them... but it did not work. Nowadays bees rarely build hives in a wild place.

And yet the unthikable happened, and yesterday, while showing the garden to my visitors, I looked at the ficus elastica tree from a different perspective. And I saw a lot of insects coming in and out the trunk, at around 4 meters height.

This morning I had the confirmation these insects are bees, and it is a real beehive, that chose to come settle in our garden. It shows how diverse the ecosystem we built is. We have tall trees that provide bees with flowers at all season of the year. 

I will be speaking more of our beehive in the next days, as I discover more of it. But I am really happy to have it.

And this is how the sunset looked from the rooftop of the barnhouse.

Some visit

Today, the garden received some visit...

It is true that a lot of people are not very sensitive to the themes I speak about and defend.

Yet more and more persons are expressing their interest.

Unfortunately, a lot of human beings catch ailments at a relatively young age nowadays. Eating entirely natural, organic green leaves can decrease the risk of catching such ailments. There is a whole savoir-faire I've developed when it comes to cultivating green leaves to eat in fresh salads. These techniques can be replicated by other persons, in other gardens, or even on balconies.

And I am willing to teach anyone interested how to obtain a fresh salad in a relatively small space during the entire year.

It is for this reason that more and more visitors will be interested by the values defended by Arbaro de Espero, once they take the time to understand them better.

I hope that the visitors today who visited the garden found their visit interesting...

And I hope that the family and entourage of the Faerie Princess will understand the value of what I do, and will feel this curiosity to discover more about me, and about this magical garden I plant, hoping that very soon the Faerie Princess will be the Princess of this place, by my side.

And those are pictures taken some months ago of our water turtle! The garden has become an island of biodiversity that even attracts rare and endangered species.

Watering from the canal

I had to water from the canal and my reservoir filled with rainwater (from the previous spring) today...

I also wrote a new post on Justice in Ylliriel called Unacceptable https://justiceinylliriel.wordpress.com/2024/09/12/unacceptable/

Living bridges

The technical name of one of the largest trees we have in the garden (we have two exemplaries of it) is Ficus Elastica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_elastica

It is the tree I call "caoutchouc tree" in my videos, as it is the way we have always called them. In our garden they are around 15 or 20 meters high I believe, but they can reach up to more than 40 meters of height.

And they develop aerial roots (that I usually cut).

But in some South-Eastern Asian countries, they used to build living bridges with those roots. The following images, taken from Wikipedia, illustrate what can be done with those living aerial roots.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Living_root_bridges,_Nongriat_village,_Meghalaya2.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1_Rangthylliang_1.JPG

Those bridges can sustain the weight of 50 persons at the same time, and they can live for hundreds of years!

My dream would be to one day build something alive, a stairway and / or a bridge with the aerial roots of our Ficus Elastica trees.

That would make a book, a fantasy novel, in itself.

With the Architecture skills of the Faerie Princess, and her vision, I believe that we will one day accomplish even that dream...

Building a new raised bed

 Today I worked on building a new raised bed according to the principles of hügelkultur in the garden...

And this is a picture taken yesterday from what of the waterlily I propagated by dividing part of its root.

Propagating the waterlilies

Today I worked among other at propagating the waterlilies as it is one of the favorite plants of the Faerie Princess!

Let go of control!

Dear Faerie Princess,

I ask you and implore you and demand you to stop controlling your emotions, to stop creating a wall between your thoughts and your feelings! 

The moment to act, to do something, to speak, to appear, to be alive, has come!

Stop hiding please! Your entourage needs your words to react! They need you to do something! They need you to prove that all this is true!

You must express yourself. 

-

And to all our friends who have been reading us for some time, if any of you wish to play a crucial role, it is the right time to send a direct message to the family of the Faerie Princess, a direct email! And in that email, it is preferrable to give a proof of your identity, even if it is the picture of a driving licence, the picture of a paid fee, the picture of a diploma, the picture of a student card, the picture of a train or airplane ticket in your name, the picture of a vaccine, if you do not wish to include a picture of your identity card.

As you know the head of Red-Oak is filled with doubts. He must be certain the words he is reading are authentic.

Do not forget that the Existence of "Annelies Broeders Heals" https://anneliesbroedersheals.wordpress.com/ is the proof that the entourage of the Faerie Princess is willing to hear and read more about this story. Otherwise, that blog would have been deleted long ago, as they all have an Administrator right over that blog that they kept.

I have the feeling in the last days that something is starting to slightly change in the attitude of the entourage of the Faerie Princess. They know that if even for her birthday she did not appear, did not call them, did not go to see them, it must mean that something serious is going on with her.

So it is the right moment to fill that emptiness, to answer to those doubts, with strong emails / letters of support in our favor. An indirect letter, or a comment on a blog, does not have the same value, for them, as a direct letter. 

And if you are willing to do it, but you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me directly!

Wishing the Princess a Happy Birthday

Today from the garden by the sea I wished the Faerie Princess a Happy Birthday! May this be the final year of healing, and of a well-deserved happiness and harmony!

I love you, Annelies, and will never cease to.

I wish to see you soon again, my dear.

A new character: Meleys the Dragon

Dear readers, dear friends,

I am pleased to announce to you that a new external character to this tale, Meleys the Dragon, pseudonym of a person who wish to stay anonymous, gave their support to the story of the Prince and the Princess in a public way on "The Oath of Delft": https://eedvandelft.wordpress.com/

You can see the testimonial Meleys the Dragon wrote either on the home page of the Oath of Delft, or directly in the Testimonial section: https://eedvandelft.wordpress.com/2024/08/19/write-a-testimonial/

I wish to warmly thank Meleys the Dragon, on my behalf and on behalf of the Faerie Princess, as his words touched us very deeply, and I sincerely hope that his words will be prophetic, and turn out true. I sincerely hope that very soon we will start writing a new chapter of the Kingdom of Ylliriel, together with the Faerie Princess.

Those are the wishes I make to the Faerie Princess on this special date of her birthday. And it is touching and heart-warming to see we have such friends, as an ancient elf, a rose girl, and a wise and kind dragon ! It is already a victory to assemble in one place all these diverse creatures belonging to different realms !

And if Red-Oak believes the message of Meleys the Dragon to be too-well written to be the work of a person external to this story, if Red-Oak believes I have written that message myself, I can only tell him that time will prove him wrong. There are several persons who are genuinely interested in this story, and who read the blogs on a daily basis, some who expressed their support publicly already, and some who did not. These persons, by reading carefully the blogs of the Faerie Princess and mine, understand with precision the main lines of the story, even if they are not aware of all the little details, and of the true cruelty and unfairness of what happened.

By reading the blogs, they understand who Red-Oak / the Earl, Green-Rose / the Countess, Little-Flute / Tiny Princess are. Those words Meleys the Dragon wrote, I did not suggest in any way and I was myself surprised by their depth while reading them.

It is also a bridge between this story, and my idea to launch an organization called "Arbaro de Espero" that believes in reaching global peace by learning to speak the language of plants.

Meleys the Dragon, in what he wrote, touched an important cord I sometimes forget myself. I am a person of peace. Despite the unfairness I lived, I am still living, I look toward a better future where each person directly or indirectly involved by this tale will find their happiness. And I wish each human being and each creature living in this world all the best. And I sincerely wish to inspire other human beings to adopt this way of thinking.

Therefore, the Princess and I wish to thank Meleys the Dragon for their support, that arrives on a very important date, the 8th of September, day on which the Princess came into this world.

An important date

I spoke from the garden by the sea belonging to my grandparents today, surrounded by the orchard I planted. 

A very important day is coming up: the 8th of September. The birthday of the Faerie Princess.

I hope that this day will be a fruitful source of reflection for Red-Oak, Green-Rose and Little-Flute!

A cloudy afternoon

The afternoon was cloudy, so the lighting of my video is really poor, sorry about that! It's been several days that there are a lot of clouds, so I wouldn't be surprised if it soon rains for the first time this season.

One of my little cat-friends salutes you dear Red-Oak, Green-Rose and Little-Flute, as I carried her in my arms. "When are you going to visit us," she asks.

Finishing the raised bed

Today I finished the raised bed, covering it with soil, and planting it with seeds. I planted sweet potatoes at the extremities, and a mixture of parsley, nettles, nasturtiums and arugula at the center, and some pepper plants.

This is a picture of the raised bed I built according to the principles of hügelkultur, before covering it with soil and afterwards.

Showing the progression of my latest raised bed

Today I showed the progression of the largest raised bed I've ever built, in terms of height, according to the principles of hügelkultur. Hopefully this raised bed will provide abundant salads / green leaves in the next months for our household consumption. It is also an ecofriendly practice that enriches the soil of your garden, comparing with burning / or sending your wastes to a landfill.  

Those are also fruits I harvested from the garden in the last days. Passion fruits (I planted the vines myself four years ago) and jujubes (my grandfather planted a tree a long time ago, and I planted more jujube trees and allowed them to extend).

I also started to prepare homemade vinegar. Not a large quantity, as this year I do not have a lot of grape. I learnt to prepare vinegar around three years ago. It is quite simple to do: if you have slightly sour grape, you remove the grapes from their stems. Then, you pour them in an empty bucket, and with your hands you press them. You will get a thick paste with a juice. You cover it all with a linen, to avoid having insects falling into the mixture. Once every two days, you stir the paste in the juice with a spoon. It will very soon start smelling the smell of vinegar. 

After around 10 days / two weeks, you filter the mixture, throw the paste (you can use it in a hügelkultur bed) and keep the juice, that has become, fresh, homemade, natural vinegar.

-

As I write and take care of our garden at the same time, not everything is perfect. I should prune our grape vines, and the trees nearby, to allow the grape vines to receive more sunlight. But it is hard to do everything on my own. I wish to soon have the help of the Princess, and of Red-Oak and Green-Rose, who I am sure, will be delighted to have a large garden to stroll into, when they visit us.

The water of the mountain came

This morning the water of the mountain came in the canal! Listen to the sound of the water that almost produces a noise of waterfall. It allowed me to refill most of the ponds of the garden - they still had water, but the level was dropping.

Since when we moved into this house, eighteen years ago, I've always loved when the water of the canal comes. It brings the freshness of the mountains with it. Also, in the last days there were some surprise rainfalls, but not yet in Amchit.

From the rooftop of the barnhouse

This afternoon I spoke from the rooftop of the barnhouse to which I built a stairway with my own hands a bit more than two years ago...

To me, building those stairs was the proof anything is possible, if I believe enough in it. You can read more about these stairs on https://erikzakhia.blogspot.com/ and you will understand why they were so difficult to build for one sole person working without any mechanical mean. It almost was a miracle to succeed in the building of those stairs, after 5 or 6 months of hard work.

If I could build those stairs, I think that reuniting with the Faerie Princess will also become reality one day, hopefully soon.

A short talk from the garden

 A short talk from the garden...

The first feel of Fall

Today I spoke from the garden about my sadness for Fieno, and about the general unfairness of the world, and how a life without having any form of faith and spirituality is meaningless in my opinion.

Red-Oak and Green-Rose imposed a cold, rational, pragmatic worldview on the Faerie Princess since her childhood. And it is their fault and responsibility if today the Faerie Princess has so much troubles to heal.

The wind changed direction, some rain clouds started appearing, even if it did not rain yet. The Fall is arriving... I took this video of the sea today.

I will add a note for my new readers who don't know all the details of my story. An unfairness was committed against me six years ago.

The childhood trauma of the Faerie Princess caused her to be extremely scared of love, of the depth of our bond. And while encouraging me, and asking for my help to heal and telling me she loved me like she could never love anyone else, she also felt terrified of the depth of emotions she felt.

Her entourage - Red-Oak in particular - misinterpreted her trouble, deciding I was a really bad person, judging me on my origins, on my creativity, on my alternative worldview, without ever trying to know me, or to understand who I was. He did not even give me a chance. And Red-Oak used his power as a well-respected Tree in the Forest to harm me.

Therefore I now have my reasons when I speak of him, and of all the entourage of the Faerie Princess, using characters that represent them. Even if at the end no permanent harm was done, the harsh words that were said, the harsh deeds that were done, left a deep wound in me. For years I did not dare to express myself any longer. And now I ask for justice.

Justice for the Faerie Princess, as she is the main victim in this story. The victim of parents who did not place her wellfare, the wellfare of their children, as their top priority.

And I was the secondary victim of their mistake, and their lack of good judgement.

All what I am asking for is a handshake. A handshake between Red-Oak and me. Another handshake between Red-Oak and Green-Rose. And the willingness to sit around a table, in the Kingdom of Ylliriel, with the Faerie Princess, and to speak in peace.

As long as I do not obtain that, it is my right to continue doing what I am doing. Had I been less of a kind and an idealist person, I would have used much harsher means to be heard.

But as I said from the start, this is not my intention. I am convinced that at the end, my words will open the hearts of the entourage of the Faerie Princess, and that they will understand their mistake, and give to their daughter all the love, the warmth, the unconditional acceptance and the understanding she lacked from during her life.

And, at the end, it is the Faerie Princess herself who asked me, and is still asking me, to help her heal and obtain justice over her broken childhood, and the terrible trauma she afterwards developed, making her so fearful of true love.