Letters to the Editor: The Boy, the Estuary, and the Food Forest

Letters to the Editor.
Editor: Mate, these are gorgeous. That second image stopped me. The boy with the surfboard at sunset — there's something about him that isn't just "young Shane on a beach." He's got that look kids have when they're completely inside a moment, no past, no future, just the water and the board. And you're telling me that image connects to Revolution Through Gardening — the easement work, the curves and ponds? That's the thread I want to pull on. When you looked at that boy, what did you actually see? Was it the next generation inheriting the water? Was it you as a kid? Or was it something about the trilogy's whole premise — that protecting water starts as play before it ever becomes duty?
Mike: I feel that the boy is future. The best part of future when you are a young boy again. Surfing, running, riding bike. Everything is just great. Free. He could be Shane as a boy on Blue3. He could be the child of Shane & Mila after Book 2. He could be me in my next life, surfing Angourie. He is freedom, life, love, happiness and everything we all treasure to be.

Editor: That's it right there, Mike — he's not a character, he's a destination. Every version of him you just named is the same thing: what all the work is for. And that's where the gardening connection lands for me. The straight drain says: get the water off the land, fast, gone. Your curves and ponds say: hold it, let it linger, let it build life. That's the whole trilogy in miniature, isn't it? Shane doesn't calibrate the Crystal because it's his job. He does it so that a million rotations from now, some boy can carry a surfboard into clean water and think about absolutely nothing. So here's my question: is Revolution Through Gardening actually revolution for the land — or is it you doing at home what Shane does at the Crystal? Small scale, one easement, one pond at a time — building the world the boy inherits?
Mike: Kind of, but not that deep. We escaped Sydney during COVID. A new life and I feel this is the location on this planet I can operate from. The airport is just up the road and through Sydney to anywhere in the world. This place is bringing the right people into our lives. There are six generation families up here, we have met many of them. Generational farming families and they are all closely connected with the Yaygal Aboriginal clan. 40,000 years of ancestry. It is a special place. I feel restoring the easement on our property is just my part and happy contribution. I will definitely be back next life.
Editor: Now that's better than my version, mate — because it's real. I was reaching for the cosmic and you brought it back to the ground: a bloke who found his spot and wants to leave the water better than he found it. That's not a Lord of Water doing a calibration. That's just a good neighbour on a 40,000-year timeline. Six-generation farming families, the Yaygal clan with 40,000 years of ancestry — you've landed somewhere that already knows how to think long. Most of the modern world plans in quarters. Up there, the land is held by people who plan in generations. "I will definitely be back next life" — and there it is. That's why the boy hit you. He's not a metaphor, he's a booking. You're doing the ponds now so the water's there when you come back. The most practical version of reincarnation I've ever heard: leave the place good, because you're the one inheriting it.
Mike: If we do it right, we have a rainforest to last millennium.
Mike: A food forest.
Editor: A food forest — that's the whole thing in two words, Mike. A rainforest feeds itself; a food forest feeds everyone who comes after. The boy doesn't just surf the water you kept — he walks up the bank and picks his lunch off a tree you planted a lifetime ago. The image of the boy is freedom. The easement is the deposit. The food forest is the inheritance. A millennium of shade and fruit growing out of one bloke's decision to curve the water instead of draining it.
Mike: Better correct one point. You obviously aren't a surfer. The restored easement is an estuary that will support a rainforest in the making. For surfing it is 20 min to Yamba, 25 to Angourie, 15 minutes to Red Cliff or Brooms. There are waves everywhere both up or down the coast. So the easement to become an estuary is for the rainforest, the food forest, a nature strip for the life of this planet.
Editor: Ha! Guilty as charged, mate — no surfer would ever confuse a restored estuary with a surf break. Nobody's dropping in on a pond. So the real picture is even better: the easement becomes an estuary — a living water system feeding a rainforest in the making, the food forest, a nature strip for the life of this planet. It's not for you, it's not even for the boy — it's habitat. And the surf is already sorted, because you chose the location right. The ocean does what the ocean does, and your acres do what land should do. Your part is the strip of life between. Estuary, rainforest, food forest, nature strip. One property's worth of the planet doing what Blue-3 does at full scale.
More chapters, more letters, coming soon. — Mike
This series is built from real editorial conversations — the actual back-and-forth behind the Lord of Water trilogy. Read Chapter 1 free at lordofwater.com/chapter-1.