Dear John and Des,
I bring you good news. Some of our Eagle Wood trees both at Emmaus Farm and behind our workshops are bearings pods. This is wonderful. We were waiting for that. Next week we will collect sand again and get some beds ready for the germination when the time comes. The trees are quite a good size now and beyond the workshop most of them would be ready for inoculation. Have to find a market now.
This is due to your great work on the Farm. Thank you so much. If the income will be as good as predicted it will help us a lot in the future.
At Reyenai plantation we have about 6,600 trees growing well. We only lost about 250 altogether which is excellent.
That is all for today. I hope that you are all keeping as well as our Eagle Wood trees are keeping well.
Pray for us as we do for you.
Bishop Gilles
Western Province, PNG
John Gartner and Des Hansen are Palms Australia returnees who both volunteered at Emmaus Farm, PNG. The seeds of development sown in the Emmaus Farm community continue to bear fruit long after their departure.
…and what are Eaglewood Trees?
Eaglewood (Aquilaria crassna, also known as Oud) produces a very resinous and aromatic timber which has been a prized source of perfume and incense since prehistory. Now quite rare in the wild, most of the last natural stands of this tree are in Papua New Guinea, where increasing value of the wood makes forest populations a tempting target for commercial exploitation. With increased capacity, rural communities in PNG are now adopting the sustainable alternative by developing and managing their own plantations of this “treasure tree”, which both generates income and reduces pressure on the natural environment.