Rory Spowers

What Spowers has written is very good, but it seems to sit with one leg in two camps. The first section of the book is the route that he took to end up with a large tea estate in Sri Lanka via Wales and other parts of the globe, and the struggles of the new culture and life in this larger than life country.

His narrative starts just after the Tsunami in 2004, and he describes in detail the challenges of owning a large parcel of land that had been neglected for a decade or so. Some of the people he befriends let him down, and lots of people are trying to take advantage, but he adages to find some one who can manages the incessant and conflicting demands from the residents and local populations.

The second section of the books is from the perspective of a strongly motivated environmental campaigner, and the philosophies and ideals that he aims to live by. All very interesting, but I would have rather had more on living in Sri Lanka.… (more)

Sri Lanaka is always one of the top places that I'd just love to visit - if I could ever get the money together - so I love reading about it, rather than another fiction book I thought I'd try some non-fiction.
Rory Spowers is a determined bloke, he travels the world to discover new ways to save the planet and reduce his families carbon footprint. He also reads a stack of books gathering ideas for living without the pollutants of modern life.
As a teenager he walks through Africa and then again through India, knowing that to live the life he wants he will need to live abroad. He and his wife first visit Barbados, a place they consider living until they see the devestation caused by tourism and the Western world. But in Barbados they meet Doc Man, the creator of an eco garden which provides for his family but is also used as an educational tool to teach local children about the local plants and fruits. From this his dream to create an eco farm unfolds.
Rory and his wife and two small children move to Sri Lanka and start searching out a new home and a place to build the eco farm, they consider many enviromental issues in their search for the perfect place. Eventually they discover the '60 acres' an old tea farm which had laid empty for years.
Work then starts to transform this place into a 'bio-versity' a place not only to cultivate local and rare fruits and wildlife, but also a place to teach others about this form of farming. Rory recounts not only the farming of this land and the creation of Samakanda, but also the trials and tribultions with the local people. He is honest about his moods, his families struggles in this new country.
In the middle of his creation the tsunami arrives, impacting on everyone he knows in Sri Lanka and he is quickly involved in working with friends to create new homes for those who lost theres.
This book was a great read, Samakanda is now open to visitors and looks great, he also is a founder of The Web of Hope… (more)

I can say as Ladygata*: I'm a sucker for tea titles. So I ordered "A Year in Green Tea & Tuk-tuks". Rory Spowers bought a 60 acre nearly abandoned tea plantation in Sri Lanka. He knew nothing about tea cultivation and was initiated to varieties of tea by no other than Sebastian of In Pursuit Of Tea. He talked more of embezzlement than pruning, and he finally found a good manager.
This book is about saving the planet. I haven't read the last third of the book where he exposed how to... he has a much too big footprint to my taste.

*http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=39927 message 13… (more)