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A Year in Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks: My unlikely adventure creating an eco farm in Sri Lanka
BBC journalist and environmentalist Rory Spowers wanted to finally live his dream and abandon life in London for a more ecologically sustainable lifestyle. Moving with his wife and two toddler sons to a 60–acre abandoned tea estate in Sri Lanka, Rory sets out to create a model organic farm there and earn his livelihood from the land. The fascinating story begins with the tsunami and Rory's sudden involvement with the relief efforts, and charts the course of his adventures over 12 months culminating in the launch of his new business (making a living by selling the produce he grows). It chronicles the highs and lows of this radical change, and reveals what it takes to live a sustainable life. It will also include tips for those of you who wish to live a more environmentally friendly life. Spowers' narrative brims with adventure, harrowing moments, and small triumphs as he comes to know the people and the land and works toward creating his dream of a sustainable, model forest garden.
- GenresNonfictionTravel
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2007
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129 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 8, 2010
I bought this book because when I flipped through it in the bookshop, I found a mention of Kerala’s forest gardens and the huge positive impact they have on life in an economically ‘underdeveloped’ area of India.
It’s the story of a British journalist who transports his young family to Sri Lanka in the hope of building a sustainable life away from the chaos he believes industrialized nations will suffer when climate change and peak oil take hold.
The book is divided into three sections. The first part is about Rory’s quest to find the perfect place to live. It follows him and his family as they live in Wales and fly around the world trying to settle on their new home. At the same time Rory is trying to get a new environmental charity (The Web of Hope) up and running. Rory’s main desire to leave the UK seems to stem from his belief that life here is over-regulated and people can’t live the way they want to. That, and the weather.
The second part of the book is about their new life in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately for them, the family arrived in Sri Lanka shortly before the tsunami hit – and so life there didn’t turn out quite as they expected. They did a lot of relief work whilst simultaneously trying to renovate a house and get their organic eco-village off the ground.
And the final section is a section of notes on sustainable living – health, transport, food, that kind of thing.
I was very disappointed by the book. For one thing, a lot of it isn’t about life in Sri Lanka and you have to read through a lot of Rory’s life before he gets there. The prologue talks about the tsunami – so the book starts mired in chaos and destruction. And the organic farm that becomes an eco-village is not the star of the book (Rory is) and so we learn precious little about it, or forest gardens in general. The mention of forest gardens in Kerala that I spotted is at the end of the book, and it’s just about the only one.
And for a man who dislikes over-regulation, Rory has a lot to say about the trials of life in Sri Lanka. There’s the chaotic traffic system and resulting pollution that means he has to buy an air-conditioned car to keep his kids safe. There’s the legal system that doesn’t protect victims and is slow and overly bureaucratic. And there’s the food distribution system that means frozen chickens are allowed to defrost in the sun, prawns are harvested from polluted waters and it’s impossible to buy organic vegetables or be sure that your food is safe.
For anyone trying to reduce their carbon footprint, Rory’s globetrotting will be a constant annoyance throughout the book. The inconsistencies between his environmental stance and his real-world actions are normal – we could all do better – but his hopeful musings that a lifetime of tree-planting has offset his flights is just wishful thinking.
The upshot of all this is that if you like travel books, and stories of the trials and tribulations of starting life in another country, then you may well enjoy this one. If you’re looking for an inspiring yarn about organic farms, forest gardens and eco-villages, then look elsewhere.
It’s the story of a British journalist who transports his young family to Sri Lanka in the hope of building a sustainable life away from the chaos he believes industrialized nations will suffer when climate change and peak oil take hold.
The book is divided into three sections. The first part is about Rory’s quest to find the perfect place to live. It follows him and his family as they live in Wales and fly around the world trying to settle on their new home. At the same time Rory is trying to get a new environmental charity (The Web of Hope) up and running. Rory’s main desire to leave the UK seems to stem from his belief that life here is over-regulated and people can’t live the way they want to. That, and the weather.
The second part of the book is about their new life in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately for them, the family arrived in Sri Lanka shortly before the tsunami hit – and so life there didn’t turn out quite as they expected. They did a lot of relief work whilst simultaneously trying to renovate a house and get their organic eco-village off the ground.
And the final section is a section of notes on sustainable living – health, transport, food, that kind of thing.
I was very disappointed by the book. For one thing, a lot of it isn’t about life in Sri Lanka and you have to read through a lot of Rory’s life before he gets there. The prologue talks about the tsunami – so the book starts mired in chaos and destruction. And the organic farm that becomes an eco-village is not the star of the book (Rory is) and so we learn precious little about it, or forest gardens in general. The mention of forest gardens in Kerala that I spotted is at the end of the book, and it’s just about the only one.
And for a man who dislikes over-regulation, Rory has a lot to say about the trials of life in Sri Lanka. There’s the chaotic traffic system and resulting pollution that means he has to buy an air-conditioned car to keep his kids safe. There’s the legal system that doesn’t protect victims and is slow and overly bureaucratic. And there’s the food distribution system that means frozen chickens are allowed to defrost in the sun, prawns are harvested from polluted waters and it’s impossible to buy organic vegetables or be sure that your food is safe.
For anyone trying to reduce their carbon footprint, Rory’s globetrotting will be a constant annoyance throughout the book. The inconsistencies between his environmental stance and his real-world actions are normal – we could all do better – but his hopeful musings that a lifetime of tree-planting has offset his flights is just wishful thinking.
The upshot of all this is that if you like travel books, and stories of the trials and tribulations of starting life in another country, then you may well enjoy this one. If you’re looking for an inspiring yarn about organic farms, forest gardens and eco-villages, then look elsewhere.
September 10, 2017
This book starts very powerfully, dramatically talking about the author's personal experience with the 2004 tsunami that hit Sri Lanka. From there, it falters as the author seems to somewhat randomly talk about different parts of his travel life and desire to reduce his carbon footprint. The most disappointing part of this memoir is that we never get a real sense of most of the people who feature in it. Who is the author's wife? A beautiful woman from the Barbados. That's all that's EVER revealed about her. It's strange to have a memoir where there's so little revealed about the people in it. And then after trudging through almost 200 pages of rambling, it abruptly ends. It is, in fact, the strangest ending I've ever read. Nothing is wrapped up. No clue as to what happens next to the author or his family or his Sri Lankan project. A most unsatisfying mystery.
May 22, 2016
Naive and privileged white man up and moves to Sri Lanka and starts working on southern Robinson Crusoe-esque orientalist project
August 31, 2017
Was hoping to get more of a day to day view on life in Sri Lanka, the ins and outs of moving over there, the culture shock and the things to watch out for. I was also hoping for some organic farming!
It was mostly about the author buying land and just beginning to set it up - it seems like this was a book that was written way too early.
It was also full of dubious science about alternative (unproven) medicine, healing crystals and the like.
It was mostly about the author buying land and just beginning to set it up - it seems like this was a book that was written way too early.
It was also full of dubious science about alternative (unproven) medicine, healing crystals and the like.
April 15, 2024
Good book with lots of information.This book is about the tsunami on Sri-Lanka and much more. Though I enjoyed the wide of the topic variety i was interested a bit ore about how the people rebuild their life after the tsunami.
February 23, 2023
From the name or the description of the book I got an idea that it will be about author‘s adventures in Sri Lanka while settling and setting up his tea plantation. However, the book is mainly about his point of view on climate change (which is very hypocritical and many times wrong).
It was very difficult to read this book and it ended in a middle of nowhere.
It was very difficult to read this book and it ended in a middle of nowhere.
December 28, 2019
Whilst there was plenty of food for thought in here, I just couldn't find the biographical part of the story interesting.
The book was split into three: the build up to the move to sri lanka; time in sri lanka (inc tsunami) and then 100 pages on "green" concepts using the tenuous backronym "the web of hope".
Whilst not a raconteur I naturally warmed to, the latter third of the book seemed to suit his journalistic style and genuinely gave me a lot to think about and some pointers on how to go about adopting a more sustainable lifestyle.
Unfortunately, the first two thirds of the book was not as interesting (in my opinion) as the writer clearly thought it was. Which is a shame as clearly he, his friends and family went through a lot - it just didn't capture my attention for a lot of it. Moreover, I couldn't help but dislike the writer: talking of being broke as he flew back and forth from Barbados to Sri Lanka to USA to UK and of growing up on acres and acres of land in the English countryside. "Woe is me" indeed.
As the book progressed, the writer fell very much in line with all the boarding school, expensively-educated toffs who preach this stuff from a position of privilege.
It's a shame: I feel that this vitally important, positive, progressive movement would catch on at the speed it needs to if it was filled with more likeable characters rather than the usual stereotypes (eccentrics, toffs and hippies).
Ps how many times can a guy describe people he meets as having high foreheads?
The book was split into three: the build up to the move to sri lanka; time in sri lanka (inc tsunami) and then 100 pages on "green" concepts using the tenuous backronym "the web of hope".
Whilst not a raconteur I naturally warmed to, the latter third of the book seemed to suit his journalistic style and genuinely gave me a lot to think about and some pointers on how to go about adopting a more sustainable lifestyle.
Unfortunately, the first two thirds of the book was not as interesting (in my opinion) as the writer clearly thought it was. Which is a shame as clearly he, his friends and family went through a lot - it just didn't capture my attention for a lot of it. Moreover, I couldn't help but dislike the writer: talking of being broke as he flew back and forth from Barbados to Sri Lanka to USA to UK and of growing up on acres and acres of land in the English countryside. "Woe is me" indeed.
As the book progressed, the writer fell very much in line with all the boarding school, expensively-educated toffs who preach this stuff from a position of privilege.
It's a shame: I feel that this vitally important, positive, progressive movement would catch on at the speed it needs to if it was filled with more likeable characters rather than the usual stereotypes (eccentrics, toffs and hippies).
Ps how many times can a guy describe people he meets as having high foreheads?
November 23, 2009
This book opens with a short but very graphic account of the dreadful tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in December 2004. This prologue gives the reader some insight into how Project Galle was born - help to the victims.
Moving swiftly on, the scene changes to how Rory Spowers (the author) came to be living in Sri Lanka and how he decided to set up and run an organic farm there. His writing is often funny, and the reader experiences with Rory the agony and ecstasy of living in a totally 'foreign' country with his wife and young family. Throughout the book the author has a somewhat idyllic view of living a more ecological and sustainable life on the abandoned 60-acre old tea estate that he buys.
During the next year or so he has to contend with the often odd and bizarre customs of the locals. Can he make a go of their new life in this beautiful but very often challenging, and at times frustrating land?
It is a book that I found full of warmth, and openness. A few times I could have given the author a good shake as he often spent too much time pondering on whether he was doing the right thing after all. But it also reawakened something else in me. Listen to the voice inside and make your own sustainable contribution.
All in all a good environmental book, full of interest, well written and I recommend it to all of those of us who possess a restless spirit.
Moving swiftly on, the scene changes to how Rory Spowers (the author) came to be living in Sri Lanka and how he decided to set up and run an organic farm there. His writing is often funny, and the reader experiences with Rory the agony and ecstasy of living in a totally 'foreign' country with his wife and young family. Throughout the book the author has a somewhat idyllic view of living a more ecological and sustainable life on the abandoned 60-acre old tea estate that he buys.
During the next year or so he has to contend with the often odd and bizarre customs of the locals. Can he make a go of their new life in this beautiful but very often challenging, and at times frustrating land?
It is a book that I found full of warmth, and openness. A few times I could have given the author a good shake as he often spent too much time pondering on whether he was doing the right thing after all. But it also reawakened something else in me. Listen to the voice inside and make your own sustainable contribution.
All in all a good environmental book, full of interest, well written and I recommend it to all of those of us who possess a restless spirit.
September 18, 2012
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.
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.
March 7, 2016
Absolutely fundamental book for an overview of the ways in which we can help our planet. I love what Spowers does - he not only lays out all of the ways in which our planet needs us, he also presents us with ways that we can help. Heavy, but worthwhile read.
January 13, 2010
To begin with this book was quite dull.... but I must confess, I've found myself becoming hooked... What a great read (with some VERY important lessons on OUR environment)
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November 12, 2010A good way to enjoy this book is to read it while travelling in SriLanka! Makes a lot more sense that way!
March 2, 2012
Read it in advance of a trip to the south coast of Sri Lanka and it was useful and interesting in this regard.
December 4, 2013
Interesting take on life in Sri Lanka post tsunami. At times a little science based for my liking.
February 11, 2015
Environmentalists will find the book more interesting than those looking for information about Sri Lanka.
December 31, 2024
Warning, the last quarter of the book is no longer the story. It's helpful (but unexpected) tips for sustainable living. It was also set over 2+ years which confused me with the title
April 2, 2017
A really enjoyable book about creating a sustainable lifestyle both in Wales and on the move to Sri Lanka. Also some added facts in the epilogue. A lovely read particularly for those interested in conservation/ecology/ wildlife but an easy read anyway
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews