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A Year in Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks: My unlikely adventure creating an eco farm in Sri Lanka

by Rory Spowers

Building a sustainable life on a Sri Lankan tea estate

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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Building a sustainable life on a Sri Lankan tea estate

Rory Spowers records a year of upheaval and practical experimentation after leaving London with his family for an abandoned 60-acre tea estate in Sri Lanka. The account begins amid the tsunami and his involvement in relief work, then follows the demanding process of turning neglected land into an organic farm and a viable livelihood. Alongside the day-to-day challenges of working with the land, the book traces Spowers’s growing connection to the local people and environment. It also includes environmentally minded suggestions drawn from his effort to establish a forest garden and live more sustainably.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Travel memoir readers interested in Sri Lanka
  • Readers interested in organic farming and sustainable living
  • Those curious about leaving city life to build a land-based business

Themes

Sustainable livingOrganic farmingSri LankaEnvironmentalismLife change

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

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' writing in 'Three Men on a Bike', which recounted his story of buying the Goodies' bicycle and riding it across Africa for charity, was compared with Bryson, Palin and Hawks' for his storytelling, humour and intrepid spirit.

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.

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