 Good morning, and this is Krishna Mackenzie Bringing you a road back to nature. We're live from Oroville And I hope there's a few listeners out there today If not, you'll be catching this as a podcast This radio show is ongoing we've been going for a few months now and it really is Is trying to you know, just one more effort to reach out to the community to share with them You know ideas about permaculture ideas about natural farming ideas about community gardens basically, how do we bring farming and The question of where our food comes from Into the front of our consciousness. That's really in the really the aim of this. It's a road back to nature so Last week we had a meeting at Solitude Farm for all the people involved in community gardens and there was about 30 people there quite a few kids who actually involved in the gardens the kids who did their own they did their interview with me a few weeks back and Yeah, it was really inspiring It was quite long because everyone had questions to ask had something to share had some insight to you know to to put forth and You know went on for about three hours the meeting But there was this most beautiful dinner that that emerged from it Everyone bought different foods that they had grown in their gardens bottle goods and spinnages and soups and Pestos and was really really quite a feast quite a sense that there's a community that Has a resonance That community Engaged in growing food Has something really profound in Common with each other, you know, they really have a central Meeting point and the aim of that meeting was really to look at how can we strengthen this? How could we make? collective Nursery like start helping each other grow seedlings for example, maybe Someone doesn't have the space actually to a garden But they have the capacity to grow the seedlings of tomatoes and egg plants and capsicum and basil and they could do that sort of on a windowsill and Then those seedlings then they would give them to someone else who would create a nursery and have you know Two or three hundred plants or maybe just 50 plants or maybe that's happening in different different places And then we would share the seedlings together We were looking at how to share tools together how to help each other with larger jobs You know, how could we get people to come and do some digging together? if we needed to make new beds or maybe create a fence or something and How do we share seeds together? So the meeting was very inspiring on that level because it actually showed that there are a lot of solutions that we need and That if we voice those needs that we can actually start creating those solutions and putting those solutions down as communications and Information in some cases like for example for some people it's like I don't have enough water How can I cut my pipe from my bathroom waste and my kitchen waste and return it into a Channel it into say a cement ring and collect that water and then pump it to my garden How can I do that? So that's a a real solution that's needed Plumbers and what size pipe do I need and how many elbows needed and how do I do this and how do I do that? And where do I buy the cement ring and do I need a filter and if so, how you know, that's a really concrete solution that we're trying to You know come up with the the the plans and the design for and the the people who would actually you'd ring to help you implement it Now Along with that there were many other solutions that were that were needed For example, how do I get help to come and you know Work on my garden because there's some people. They're really alone on their gardens And I think they find it a little tough. So it was a question of like You know, how do we just bring that sort of communication? So there was the idea was to create a document on Google Google Drive Actually, it was already it's already been done and it's just not being used So to really inspire people to to to make the call out and put their needs down on this document And etc. etc. This was a this was a meeting that was really in this direction. Now last week I Was also at a locks place. Yes, I was supposed to go there yesterday, but it was raining like crazy In fact, we haven't had a rain like that for a long time and it was really an amazing rain So that got cancelled now a lot who came here a couple of weeks ago with the interview with me. He Has come up, you know together in discussion. We've come up with a with an idea Which seems to really inspire people now? His land is probably big enough to support about 10 people You know, there's a bed of radish, which is say, I don't know seven eight meters long And there's a bed of ladies finger another seven meters long and then there's a there's some a bunch of Snake gourd plants and there's you know Say 10 15 papayas and then there's another 20 bananas and then probably I would imagine 10 people could could eat a Good portion of their vegetables needs and from this land he's also got microgreens going on and Basil and lettuce and all of that sort of thing is gonna start now So what he's got is he's offered 10 people to chip in 5,000 rupees each So there's a pot of 50,000 rupees and from this pot. He's he's Doing the fencing. I Think installing some irrigation paying for new load of compost and The seeds he needs if he needs additional labor, it's also coming from this pot And the idea is that people would come twice a week to participate and they'd make this garden happen together So that's 10 people twice a week for say an hour and a half each times That's three hours a week times 10. That's 30 people. That's 30 hours a week Which comes to comes to like more than half a week in this small garden, you know, that's that's a for one person that's a really good amount of time and Already people are signing up, you know, I mean we did we did sell it to them because it really is one of the best gardens It's it's so productive and he's got good light and good water and especially a good vision so I think I think Dari has joined and be has joined and there's a Isabel has joined and Laura Laura has joined and then there's shanks and then there's Alloc himself so there's already like six people and I think they're just gonna there's another few people are gonna join in the next week and You have all of a sudden the community that's bought into a project. They own it, you know I put 5,000 on the table. I I feel that's my project, you know It's not just it's not just a free thing that I could come to if I feel like it sometimes It's something that I've invested in And I made a commitment to So you have a community there who's ready to make this go forward now the idea is to make that happen in other places I think in serenity the same thing is happening between Rekha and Marion they've done the same thing. They've both chipped in to To basically develop those gardens and And give time and to see who are who else will come and join in this endeavor Like make a commitment to it. So I Think these places, you know, they probably need a little poster With a little bit the Explanation of how this whole how the whole thing works I think they probably need to do that and I could see that this would be a model for other people to join in Because you have other communities like creativity where there's I think there's over 35 people living in creativity But there's actually only about six or seven people Engage in the garden product Project so the question is when the produce comes in who gets it You know, it's a very valid question these these questions will arise. I'm working Twice a week to make this happen investing my time and The produce comes in Does it just is it something that it just can go to anyone or does it go to the people who've been who've invested their time into it? so I think that I think that these types of questions are good to ask and and Maybe it takes time, you know, maybe it takes time for it to evolve and People to wake up to the idea. Well, hang on. This isn't such a bad thing Oh, I missed out the first time, but actually I'm ready to do this now now. I understand So maybe they need to see it, you know operating for a season or two and then they will get involved I think that that's really important not to not to be too pushy about it And just to see see how it how it how people slowly Wake up to this um this idea Yeah, so that's that's basically what's been going on on that level at Solitude we've We've been planting like crazy Lots and lots of ladies finger. We got this ladies finger right variety called asimis giant It's three meters tall and it doesn't give ladies fingers quickly. It takes time to give the ladies fingers But they start producing towards the middle of December and then they're in abundance and they go on until April So they're this amazing sort of traditional variety That searches for the light of its own accord so it because it goes so high and then produces so much So many vegetables so much ladies finger. So we got a lot of that going we've planted a lot of a lot of pumpkin and we've also planted an enormous amount of wing beans and cluster beans and Also brinjals quite a bit sweet potatoes Radishes we've done a few fields now again e all the time or having a staggered production so there was one field done a few weeks ago and another one done last week and You know so we all we keep having a production a lot of spinnages are growing as always and lots and lots of other things like avarice and different chilies and bottle gourds and Let me see what else Rosella and Tourdale we're just putting in today Tourdale and we planted so many pineapples this year this year We were really careful we got our pineapple heads from Achilles from Baraka and we put them in little pots First so that they would root and then when a heavy rain came then we put them out only after they had rooted So they have a much higher chance of survival and then we intercropped it with cluster beans Along with of course papayas and bananas and fruit trees, which is a given So the farm is looking good and with this rain now you feel wow something could happen A lot of the crops we focused on right now are crops that Can grow through the monsoon This is a standard question people are always asking me. What can I grow now? How do I grow now? What can I do now? Well One has to understand that we have a summer monsoon that starts in July and that's when we can do our first planting with the more hardy vegetables the the pumpkin and bottle gourd and snake gourd ladies finger cluster beans and also things like turmeric and and Then That harvest will come in Then we have the heavy rains now before the heavy rains We should start planting things that can grow through the monsoon like sweet potato and tapioca and taro and Avrakai and wing beans All these plants that don't mind to get plastered, you know also types of pumpkin and some of the goods They don't mind to grow through the rain the heavy rains they can they can handle it as long as they're There they have a drain and well drained soil And then after the monsoon which is in Between the second week of october like yesterday's rain. It looks like a monsoon, but it's not monsoon actually It's it's pre monsoon. It's actually a bit out of the ordinary to tell you the truth But second week of october third week of october We should have the monsoon starting and that should go until christmas But you can even say that until Sort of maybe first second week of december already the rains will cool down a bit They won't be so heavy so so strong And that means you can start planting again now in the second week of november Or the first week in november if we started to create a nursery with tomatoes basil capsicum egg plants Um all these types of plants that have very delicate seeds That need a lot of care if we could raise those seedlings For a good month Then when they're when they're you know 20 centimeters tall or so They have like a nice foliage nice Nice leaves and they look healthy and strong They could go out before the monsoon is over and that means that we've actually extended our season By raising the nurse at the the plants in the nursery while the monsoon was still going on So for that like we're trying to do in creativity. We need to create a space where there's a Um a plastic sheet or maybe even in inside as long as there's light and um This is what i'm looking at right now is is trying to show these solutions to people because people are asking me How do I do when do I do what shall I do and i'm just imagining well if in one of our Garden projects someone would do a hundred tomatoes, you know and another one would do another hundred tomatoes we have tomatoes for everybody and That would be really amazing You know it would be really amazing and I think what that would probably do within one or two seasons It would inspire a lot of other people to say well hang on my neighbor's doing it. This one's doing it Why aren't why aren't I growing tomatoes and I have this land? Why aren't I using it to grow tomatoes? You know because everyone needs tomatoes so I do feel the collective support Is is a factor in making this happen I think the the sizing the you know the the the sizing up of this project To make it that we have you know two three hundred really good tomato plants and we can distribute them among our our circle gardens I think this is really a really a special Could be a special catalyst could be a really powerful catalyst in in getting more people to start these gardens And then once they start with some tomatoes and standard things like lettuce and basil Then they might shift to ladies fingers and maybe even to something like taro Which seems so uncommon and yet when people eat at our cafe there. Oh, wow. Wow. It's so yummy. What is that? And it's the most simple thing to grow, you know So that gives you a little bit of insight about to what's going on in the last week um The cafe is open our basket services running. It's really beautiful in the baskets this week There's radish and there are ladies fingers and cluster beans and banana stem and some custard apples and green papaya and ripe papaya and and turkey berries And a few other things that I can't remember and it's um, you know, it's really lush and we've also started to to Put some of those produce in the shop at Solitude so Come down to the farm and check it out And if you can't get there go and have a look at my youtube channel christina mckenzie at youtube on youtube.com Slash christina mckenzie quite some beautiful videos coming up Uh, especially one where we create a salad with over I think it's about 35 different produce And all local things all things that grow easily so Thank you very much for joining me today and I look forward to meeting with you next week