THE FOREST MIDWIFE
Documentary about planting trees, hope and love
The Forest Midwife is a short cinematic documentary, following a journey of the writer and social entrepreneur Catherine Cleary who bought a barren farm in Corry, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, and started to create a natural reservoir. It was inspired by this article in Irish Times:
HOW TO BUILD A FOREST
by Catherine Cleary
Published in the Irish Times, 23.9.2023
It's a tentative start. We crack open wet soil, slot the roots of a small birch tree into the gap and firm it in. The blessings of mother earth on you, little tree. The birch is a bare slip of a thing barely anchored in the ground. One down 21,999 to go.
I'm in a field in Roscommon and this is the hardest work I have ever done. We straighten aching backs and squint to make out the rows of brown saplings bent by the wind in this rain streaked place. It's one of many "how the heck did we get here?" moments….