My article for the SA bonsai Soc.
Posted: January 27th, 2009, 2:19 pm
This is my article on being a beginner in a rural environment. Trying to grow plants here is very difficult, but I am starting to get the hang of it.
Into the Wilderness
Ben Cutts
I had never had the chance to write an article, so when I was told that I could help out by writing an article on what it’s like to be a beginner out in the middle of no where, I was kind of hesitant. My name is Ben Cutts, I have been into bonsai since October 2007, and a member of the South Australian Bonsai Society since May 2008.
Not long after getting into bonsai I moved to Renmark, a very dry town in the Riverland. Now what’s worse than being a “noob” (newbie in the fast paced world of online gaming) to an art that not only has a long and proud history and tradition, but is also highly dependant on knowledge of both art and horticulture? Well, being that “noob” and moving to somewhere where the nearest bonsai enthusiast is across state borders.
Like most beginners I spent the first few months before the move going out and buying as much stock as I could lay my hands on. I started reading up, joined the Northern Districts bonsai club and was happy. Not long after the move I started to lose a lot of that stock I had gone nuts about and snapped up like an insane shopper at a post Christmas sale. My “noob-ness” was showing. So what was I to do? Here I was, a demanding art form (if I wanted things to live of course), in a new town, and no bonsai people for miles?
Being an avid computer gamer and spending vast amounts of my years living online, I turned to the only friend I had, the Great World Wide Web. I quickly found a few bonsai forums and was soon learning more than I could have possibly imagined. I wasn’t just in contact with the local bonsai amateur either, I was talking to people like Walter Pall, Hans van Meer (I owe him a few coopers actually, we need to get him here asap!), Cheng Cheng-Kung, Morten Albek and Nick Lenz just to name a few (yeah name dropping, I feel the ego grow). I was in Virtual heaven.
The internet is really the greatest tool available to all of us. It’s not a hard thing to learn at all, but like bonsai there are some guidelines one must follow. Good virus protection and remember not to take things too seriously on the internet. Not only do I have a huge resource of information at my finger tips, but I also have more inspiration than I could ever need. At a few clicks of the mouse, I can study Chinese penjing, bonsai styles of Germany, I can see the latest trees coming out of Japan, I can view American bonsai and see the differences between them all.
While I have all that information available to me, there is a great sense of frustration. I don’t get the hands on experience I would have if I were in a big city. I have a great deal of knowledge, but I don’t have knowledge. I can point out errors with a tree, I can recommend soil conditions, ways to create shohin black pine from seed in 10 years, I can pick out a better pot for a tree, but to get started I hit a brick wall. I miss the workshops, the extra confidence to know that splitting a trunk into 6 to create a multi trunk is the right thing to do (bonsai today issue #43 Kimura divides a tree trunk).
Being in a small country town adds the second frustration: obtaining stock. From reading I learned how to pick stock better than the mad grab and run that I did before. It causes issues when there are three garden centers in the area and no proper bonsai nursery for 250 km. With a limited market there is little stock flow. I have the choice of tube stock at a native nursery, or two cottage styled garden centers. I have learned to curse the almighty graft.
However being in a small town also has its perks. Everybody knows everybody. Not long after coming here I met a guy who used to run a nursery and worked with advanced stock. He had a large field of trees he didn’t sell before closing, and was given free pickings. Although I have to work through the frustration of missing workshops, not having good workable stock, I have been able to skip many of well known beginner mistakes. When I think about all I know, weighed against those frustrations I still feel like I’m a level above what a one year old bonsai enthusiast usually is at. To a degree I am happy with where I have chosen to take up the fine art of bonsai.
Ben Cutts @2009
Into the Wilderness
Ben Cutts
I had never had the chance to write an article, so when I was told that I could help out by writing an article on what it’s like to be a beginner out in the middle of no where, I was kind of hesitant. My name is Ben Cutts, I have been into bonsai since October 2007, and a member of the South Australian Bonsai Society since May 2008.
Not long after getting into bonsai I moved to Renmark, a very dry town in the Riverland. Now what’s worse than being a “noob” (newbie in the fast paced world of online gaming) to an art that not only has a long and proud history and tradition, but is also highly dependant on knowledge of both art and horticulture? Well, being that “noob” and moving to somewhere where the nearest bonsai enthusiast is across state borders.
Like most beginners I spent the first few months before the move going out and buying as much stock as I could lay my hands on. I started reading up, joined the Northern Districts bonsai club and was happy. Not long after the move I started to lose a lot of that stock I had gone nuts about and snapped up like an insane shopper at a post Christmas sale. My “noob-ness” was showing. So what was I to do? Here I was, a demanding art form (if I wanted things to live of course), in a new town, and no bonsai people for miles?
Being an avid computer gamer and spending vast amounts of my years living online, I turned to the only friend I had, the Great World Wide Web. I quickly found a few bonsai forums and was soon learning more than I could have possibly imagined. I wasn’t just in contact with the local bonsai amateur either, I was talking to people like Walter Pall, Hans van Meer (I owe him a few coopers actually, we need to get him here asap!), Cheng Cheng-Kung, Morten Albek and Nick Lenz just to name a few (yeah name dropping, I feel the ego grow). I was in Virtual heaven.
The internet is really the greatest tool available to all of us. It’s not a hard thing to learn at all, but like bonsai there are some guidelines one must follow. Good virus protection and remember not to take things too seriously on the internet. Not only do I have a huge resource of information at my finger tips, but I also have more inspiration than I could ever need. At a few clicks of the mouse, I can study Chinese penjing, bonsai styles of Germany, I can see the latest trees coming out of Japan, I can view American bonsai and see the differences between them all.
While I have all that information available to me, there is a great sense of frustration. I don’t get the hands on experience I would have if I were in a big city. I have a great deal of knowledge, but I don’t have knowledge. I can point out errors with a tree, I can recommend soil conditions, ways to create shohin black pine from seed in 10 years, I can pick out a better pot for a tree, but to get started I hit a brick wall. I miss the workshops, the extra confidence to know that splitting a trunk into 6 to create a multi trunk is the right thing to do (bonsai today issue #43 Kimura divides a tree trunk).
Being in a small country town adds the second frustration: obtaining stock. From reading I learned how to pick stock better than the mad grab and run that I did before. It causes issues when there are three garden centers in the area and no proper bonsai nursery for 250 km. With a limited market there is little stock flow. I have the choice of tube stock at a native nursery, or two cottage styled garden centers. I have learned to curse the almighty graft.
However being in a small town also has its perks. Everybody knows everybody. Not long after coming here I met a guy who used to run a nursery and worked with advanced stock. He had a large field of trees he didn’t sell before closing, and was given free pickings. Although I have to work through the frustration of missing workshops, not having good workable stock, I have been able to skip many of well known beginner mistakes. When I think about all I know, weighed against those frustrations I still feel like I’m a level above what a one year old bonsai enthusiast usually is at. To a degree I am happy with where I have chosen to take up the fine art of bonsai.
Ben Cutts @2009
Pup
