 Hello everybody, this is Krishnam again Zee Sharing with you a road back to nature a rediscovery of our Nutritional heritage a cultural redemption This week I want to share with you the work that I've been doing in the community garden projects in Oroville and in Pondicherry, so Firstly talking about what's been happening happening in Oroville The ongoing projects at Serenity are just blossoming and surrender Creativity has been really amazing They these guys are really on the next level up in their project because They're eating the food that they're growing so they are on their third community dinner and last Friday I was invited by them all to partake of that that dinner. I actually was on a Friday So we did the we did the the work the normal Friday Work shift that we do together and at the end of the work shift We harvested lots of spinnages about eight spinnages we harvested from their garden There was this wild Potalaka and the red the wild ponangani, sorry and the red ponangani and the potalaka The chicken spinach, New Zealand spinach There was this Mayan tree spinach called the chaya and the drumstick spinach and There was also sweet potato leaves and a couple of other little things And it was brought to their kitchen and Angela who is Orovillean lives in in creativity Italian lady She made the most delicious pasta with these wild spinnages It was nothing less than what you'd expect from a high-level organic Italian restaurant. It was absolutely delicious And I think that that is the proof of the pudding when you are you know They fed about 16 people that evening and when those people not all of them engaged in this These values that we're trying to promote but that they but they actually eating that food and they go well Hang on. There's something special going on here. This is the this is what will convert them You know make them sensitize them to the the importance of this local food movement So that was a very special Part of my week last week and also the another amazing thing was the the starting of the Secretary of Oroville's Garden in Aditi, which is the secretary's house opposite the Barat Nivas now Srinivas and Muhti our long-term beloved, you know guardian of Oroville Now he's the undersecretary in the act I think he's yeah undersecretary and acting secretary at the moment and his personal assistant Katika and They really brought a lot of energy to say we want to value this land It's lying unused and we want to use it So they they were a little extreme they brought a tractor in and they plowed the land But I mean that's not really how I will go about things normally but in this case I could see exactly why they did it the whole land was ready to be dug and You know, they really put a solid foot forward. They bought the compost and then we started to make beds They started to collect the organic matter from everywhere around the campus sticks and branches and these palm Stems which are very sharp and they integrated them into the trench added a lot of leaves afterwards They got a few boys to come and help some agricultural bachelor students I think and a couple of old guys some I think more attendee came and helped as well and And we got I think must be like 10 10 beds Composted and mulched and ready to plant then I brought some ladies from solitude and the main guy who works for me Go in the Raj and we planted tapioca. We planted ladies finger we planted cluster beans amaranth and radish and wing beans and bitter gourd and we planted bananas papayas ramphal and drumstick spinach and corn and And a few other bits and pieces here and then is it's a and some other beans. I think we planted this Already those radishes are you know an inch or two tall the club the amaranth is out to the corn is out and it's so amazing to see What this intention yields it yields something very real which is food and that food Whether it's been whether it will be eaten by the secretary because he is not or he or she has not yet been appointed to live there But whether it's eaten by the staff or the gardener or maybe it's maybe they they create a Food event who knows Srinivasan Muti is very Innovative, you know, maybe he'll create a food event at the foundation and and show everyone the value of what they've done by feeding people What it is at the end of the day? It's a very profound statement by the government of India saying that we have this asset and it's not being used and we're using it And this is what we can do with unused land vis-a-vis growing food vis-a-vis growing Our you know honoring our cultural nutritional heritage So that really excites me it excites me because of The you know the the implications of this intention from from where it's coming on a governmental level and Then another really exciting development has been Working with this project, which is again, it's Auroville Pondicherry related It's our dear Pashi Kapoor's daughter, Anjali She along with other friends in from Ovid which is an architectural firm in Pondi who actually did the design for Kalpana. It's quite an innovative architectural company lots of ecological Ideas integrated into their designs and these guys have started a really like a people's movement in Pondi Where they're trying to get the circle garden Established in as many public spaces as they can in schools in hospitals in empty plots Outside offices so about three weeks ago. We started at Ovid and we did one big circle garden and It was a big success lot of interest They they they roped in all their staff as as Trini Vasanmurti has done in the foundation He's roped a lot of his staff in drivers and watchmen and all sorts of people So their staff is really into it and last week we went back there and we did another another set of gardens and planted out with them especially Lots of weeds, you know, it sounds silly it looks from the Perspective of someone who is you know who is not Who hasn't eaten that food who doesn't know the value of that food looks something like very naive very un-gardening sort of thing to do, but we integrated the the Brazilian joy weed that the red wild Amaranth we integrated this This other Wild Amaranth, I can't remember the Latin names Nina Nina keeps telling me them, but they just go out on my head and then we integrated Pondangani and various other chicken spinach and New Zealand spinach various other other spinnages and We replanted the garden that we did two weeks ago as well So any gaps that were there we we filled them up with more seeds And I think the follow-up in these projects is really important because you won't be guaranteed a success the first time round So going back checking what's worked what hasn't Explaining to them seeing with them looking at it discussing it and actually Replanting making sure we have a hundred percent success. It's really really important and Then from Ovid after we finished that we went to a place in Vaid Kuppum, I think it's called there by the distillery and there was two big apartment blocks And in between them there was this little plot And I walked into this plot and the first thing I see is this wild purslane Then I noticed the wild Amaranth and then I noticed Manitaka Lee then I noticed the wild passion fruit and I noticed a few other weeds and I showed these everyone I said look eat them taste them Look, this is first and foremost. This is our value and Then what we did is we were quite a large group of people We did a huge circle garden with a cross in the middle So the circle garden as you must know by now I hopefully you guys would be able to teach this course on your own now But you dig it you dig a trench of about 20 centimeters deep and the width of a mummety the the local spade wide And we fill it with organic matter And then we also dig a cross so we end up with four quadrants and in the cross again You put all the organic matter on the top leaves on the bottom more things like Sticks and thorns and and larger coarse organic matter and then we planted like crazy We planted so many different plants from the sweet leaf and drumstick and hibiscus Hibiscus went outside the circle the sweet leaf went outside a good to spinach outside and then inside all these wild spinnages and sweet potato and then we put in corn and ladies fingers and Cluster beans and amaranth and all sorts of beautiful plants Went into the into the garden I think they even had some brinjal that would that had come up on its own in that weed weed plot So we dug that up and planted that in the garden as well And something is happening There is no doubt So this week I finally got the beautiful photos that alessandra silver has done She's a or a billion living in shanty just a cross from matrimonious exceptional photographer She comes to the the session and it looks like she's just having a chat and you know sort of a social Socializing but actually then you come back and you see 20 photos and they're all Such keen little Observations she's made and they really carry the spirit of these projects. So all these photos I uploaded this week all under the heading of orville community garden project So there's one in human scapes is the Tibetan pavilion album serenity album. There's the creativity album and the surrender album and There is the album of the secretary's house There's the album of Also invocation invocation. I haven't told you about actually I forgot to mention that to you So invocation is where I am lives I am is one young or a villain. He's a budding Farmer enthusiast. He's he's a bit of a genius as well. He if you sit with him and start telling you about the gases on Uranus He's an amazing kid. He's I think he must be 12 now and He has already started a little garden there and along with some of his friends who happen to me and my daughter's friends as well They they decided that they want to have their own project in invocation So these kids with a little bit of you know, they want to have a kids only garden No adults, you know adults come if you're asked if you requested help you can come But otherwise no need so they requested some help and I came and we started the first beds and Then from then on I gave them a bit of guidance from the distance and I haven't really been there much I've given them some seeds and some plants and they've gone to serenity Which is about a five-minute walk away with a wheelbarrow and they've been given some compost from them We brought them some extra tools and they've I think they have now one two three four about five little beds that they've done and Yesterday I took some of them to the secretary's house to show them what the vision of a larger project may look like and I could see that That was like sinking into their minds and they were sort of thinking like what do they want their land eventually to look like But it's really wonderful. They've all they've already got bananas up and papayas and some fruit trees and radish and corn and ladies finger the usual suspects But again it illustrates that there's something happening, you know And especially in this time of lockdown where we really considering well our kids there their whole routine is broken, you know nothing less than broken and They have to rediscover a we have to rediscover a way for them to engage in activities that are meaningful and Actually gives us an opportunity to be less rigid than our previous education system So I see this project is not only about them them learning about permaculture and Rotations and intercrops and mulching and irrigation But I see especially they're learning how to work together. They're learning how to Manage a project together how to have a collective vision how to manifest something together how to get on how to face problems together How to face a disagreement and what to do about that? And I think that that's really it's again when you look deeper again with the creativity dinner that we had it's the social implications of of what this food represents which are Probably the most important, you know, the nutrition of course is implicit in that the well-being of our bodies but it's the the social the social implications that There's a much more. There's resonance. There's empathy. There's compassion. There's understanding There's a joy in companionship in in co-creating something And I think that that's what this garden offers these kids as well as all the other You know, it's the it's the sort of like the ultimate fruit of of permaculture so it's been a busy week for me and On Wednesday, I think we're gonna do some nursery work at Serenity We did a nursery a few weeks ago there and there are loads and loads of eggplant So I think we're gonna start separating them and get them ready for the offer them to other community gardens, which is you know, it's a really nice Aspect of this community garden project that people aren't only thinking about their own needs But they're actually creating resources for each other and that again It's again this social benefit this social repercussions to this project, which are really really huge So thank you so much for joining me and Come to Solitude for lunch if you can come and come and see what we're cooking it's amazing The food is absolutely delicious. If you're interested in our basket service This is also a beautiful entry into rediscovering your relationship with Mother Nature and where your food comes from and You can come and join in in some of these projects in Serenity and Creativity and come and see what everyone's doing find out when they're doing their their days and people are very happy to have some help Look forward to speaking with you next week Thank you very much