Working with Nature - An Interview with Shane Eades
Words and Photography by Jo Jackson, PR & Social Media Coordinator
Shane Eades is a striking man, and not just because of what he calls his “mountain man” looks, “farm couture” outfits, and “eyebrow” – singular – The only kind of monocropping he actively supports. He also has presence – the kind of presence that can run a place like Terra-Khaya, a 38-acre backpackers and eco-farm in the Amathole mountain range, just a stone’s throw away from Hogsback.
Born and raised in Durban, it was his childhood dream to live this life. He bought the wattle-choked property thirteen years ago, and moved onto the land permanently in 2009 – roughly the same time he became friends with Greenpop’s directors Lauren and Misha. He has been transforming the place ever since.
Terra, from the Latin word for “Earth”, and Khaya, the Xhosa word for “home”, perfectly sum up the spirit of the project. “When I moved here I made a pledge to do the best I can, with the current knowledge and resources that I have at the time, to honour the Earth and not just to take.” Spurred on by rolling blackouts, high petrol prices and a strong belief in sustainable living, Shane realised that “if I was going to start on a clean slate, I needed to start on a clean green slate and not go the fossil fuel route. Our self-sufficiency or ‘off-the-gridness’ goes as far as water, waste removal – we send nothing to the landfill – and solar power, although we still use a few paraffin lamps and candles, and when we use power tools we use a generator.”
The buildings on the property are a patchwork of natural materials and upcycled waste – what Shane calls “scalvaged material” – scavenged and salvaged from wherever he can find it. “Just keep your eyes open. It’s literally everywhere. Some people’s litter is other people’s buildings. Half of South Africa lives in recycled homes. That’s why I named the shacks Khayelitsha, Khayalethu, Khayamnandi and Khayalam.”
Terra-Khaya also has a growing food forest and permaculture garden, and the property is home to a menagerie of animals. Shane calls his twelve horses his “babies” and practices natural horsemanship. “Horses are really gentle creatures. They’re loveable and friendly and we’d rather build up a relationship of trust than a relationship based on fear. Humans generally like to control, not trust. We don’t want to believe that such a big animal would want to listen to us, or please us. We believe we have to control it. When you change that mind-set and believe it will listen to you, then it will.”
Throughout our conversation, we keep coming back to the idea of “working with nature, not against it.” This philosophy is also at the heart of Terra-Khaya’s reforestation projects.
The Hogsback area is stunning, but most of the trees growing in its forests are alien invasive species, such a wattle, pine, bramble, Blackwood, Brazilian Bird Cherry and hawthorn.
“My outlook on wattle has changed a lot. When I first came here I was at war with wattle. We spent about ZAR 100 000 on clearing wattle, most of which has grown back. I learnt that fighting anything is negative. You have to manage wattle, but fighting them is a negative process. If you want to do land rehabilitation you need to work a little bit more slowly and gently. Stripping the land bare doesn’t work.”
Greenpop’s Hogsback Reforest Fest in 2014 and this year’s collaboration with Terra-Khaya on the Hogsback Festival of Trees are the fruits of a long standing friendship between Shane, Misha and Lauren, and their shared passion for trees. Together they have enabled roughly 6000 indigenous trees to be planted on the property in seven years - all part of a steady rehabilitation process of the land. “The number of trees jumps dramatically at each reforestation festival. This weekend, we’re going to go from something like 6500 trees to 8000 in a day.”
This year’s planting site is bordering on an existing indigenous forest. I asked Shane about the work that went into preparing it. “We had to clear a lot of bramble, but as we cleared, we found a lot of young baby indigenous seedlings waiting to shoot up. The land is waiting for something to happen. It’s waiting for this action.”
Join us at the Hogsback Festival of Trees.
