We’re been planting our winter vegetables, and trying to move another step towards having a more sustainable permaculture-based farm. While we used the tractor this time, we’ve now created smaller beds with walkable paths around each, so that we can move from machine-based to hand-tilling methods as we harvest. We have planted peas, spinach, radish,Continue reading “Winter veggies”
Category Archives: team
Gearing up
We’ve been away and our focus has been simply to keep going – protect existing trees, continue with organic farming, and maintain our boundaries. The extreme seasons of north India give us enough to do to keep things under control! In 2025, we plan to do our next round of intense plantation. Since January, weContinue reading “Gearing up”
Visitors!
On February 25th, we had one of our first ‘tours’ of our Miyawaki foresting. Our partner organization, NIRMAN, had a “Farm to Fork” event with all kinds of inspiring and creative activities related to the environment. One of these was a visit to the main land and forest. It was lovely having people visit respectfully,Continue reading “Visitors!”
Gangavan in 2024
A forest will grow naturally. This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, called for the world to plant a trillion trees. Many commentators explain, however, that all you need for forestation is to let the land alone without further damage and the forest will grow back itself. Meanwhile, “….a new study shows that theContinue reading “Gangavan in 2024”
Grass and beauty
October. Monsoons are over. It is still raining crazily though. What?? Tonight it is supposed to start and go on for twenty-four hours!!! We are overwhelmed with grass. Kasha grass, taller than a person, with fluffy white flowers waving gaily in the breeze – gorgeous and resilient. Very good at helping us prevent erosion andContinue reading “Grass and beauty”
Flooding
We are flooded out again and are quite concerned. What used to be an occasional and unusual phenomenon seems to have become an annual one, and the severity seems to be increasing. Most of our fields, in all directions, including those which NEVER were flooded before, are under water. Those that are not are inaccessible:Continue reading “Flooding”
More trees!
We have finally purchased our last (for this year) major batch of trees. 750 native plants for the trenches and a wide variety of fruit trees, both from seed and grafted. The heat is building up and we’ve had a couple of dust storms and very minor showers. We want to get these in beforeContinue reading “More trees!”
Andhi!
Harvesting babul – and more
We have started thinning out the babul trees (Vachellia nilotica or gum arabic trees) on our land. They grew on their own, and really took over the landscape, which we have been very thankful for these past few years when we didn’t have our own trees. But now it is time to select, prune, andContinue reading “Harvesting babul – and more”
Children’s Day
On the 14th of November, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday, the country celebrates ‘Children’s Day.’ We usually have a picnic and games–usually a scavenger hunt, and this year we decided to take the children to Chhitauni. It was the perfect setting, and we rounded it off with a yummy meal of puri, alu, and halwa cooked rightContinue reading “Children’s Day”
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