Which might be the case with a lot of what we call wasteland or useless land. It is important to stand on a piece of land you have chosen to restore, study the geographical context in which it lies, speak to local people, observe the pattern of rainwater’s run and then work out a simple method that enables natural forces to make it a habitat for plant life. That is the foot-hold nature’s regenerative forces seek.

All the foregoing was by way of a preface to clearing the rocky parts to make way for trees, and to utilise the rocks for sculpting out cubes for construction purposes. The skills and the technology required are everywhere in these parts. First, a digger uproots whole rocks or uncovers monoliths. Then a tractor drawn drilling machine bores holes in big rocks, explosives are let into the holes, rocks are broken into manageable sizes and then hand split into rough 9″ cubes. That is the workflow when digging an open well, whose inner walls are finally revetted with stone cubes. There are tens of stone cutters who double as stone masons.