Words for Vanessa
Vanessa's Park
in Sobrainho dos Gaios, Portugal
Starting from a little piece of land they had in a valley south of the cemetery, Vanessa's parents managed to acquire further adjoining pieces and assemble them to a sizeable strip of land (a near to miraculuos feat in a region where selling or trading off one's land was long considered an outrageous notion :).
There, they have planted far over 30 indigenous trees on the sloping parts of the terrain, replacing the pine monoculture that was characteristic of the area for the past 100 years - until the big fires of 2004 (or was it 05?) destroyed them on a very large scale. They are also tending to the former agriculturally used valley part, allowing a diversified, natural vegetation to establish itself there.
More pictures in Ness' Albums