breathing, living, flourishing and passing away naturally

Las Cañadas is a 756 acre land trust, home to one of the few remaining cloud forests in the central zone of Veracruz, Mexico. It has been designed with the goal of modeling and sharing alternative methods of food production, responsible travel and sustainable living practices.

the same landscape nine years later "without doing anything"

Between 1995 and 2005 Las Cañadas changed dramatically. Prior to 1995, the land was used for intensive cattle grazing for beef production. The impact of such intensive grazing was clear -- severe soil erosion.
Lesson learned. In 1995, the cattle was sold and 150 acres were reforested with 50,000 native trees. In the remaining pastures nothing was done, nature was allowed to simply take its course. Every season since then a significant change has happened to “the heart of Las Cañadas” -- a swath of approximately 100 acres of cloud forest. Assisted by an army of birds, bats, squirrels and the wind, all of which tirelessly distribute seeds of innumerable grasses, bushes and trees, new blood has been pumped into the areas in recovery.

The Tao doesn’t try to force anything, and yet nothing is left undone. If people understood this, the world would move along naturally.

Lao- Tzu