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”
Tag Archives: planting
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”
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”
Gains and losses
As we enter the hectic pre-monsoon months, where we only think about how to prepare for this year’s imminent floods, we assess the past few months of work. We lost most of the new trees we planted in June-July 2022. Theories about what happened vary. Some trees didn’t make it through two weeks of standingContinue reading “Gains and losses”
2023
It has been a few months since we posted on our site. Ganga Vana has gone through a cycle of seasons: the monsoon and winter. Now it is Phalgun, the last month of the Hindu calendar, and it is Spring, or perfect weather. Welcome back to Ganga Vana. We look forward to sharing with youContinue reading “2023”
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!”
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”
Welcomed back by the land
We’ve mostly been trying to get things back in hand after the monsoons, which were overwhelming, and then trying to harvest the rice and get in the winter farming crops in time. The whole village is doing the same, but with a calm and collected attitude. We are such amateurs in comparison! Here’s our rice:Continue reading “Welcomed back by the land”
Monsoon harvest
We are thrilled to be harvesting our lovely organic monsoon veggies! We have kilos of kaddu (pumpkin), bhindi (okra), torai (ridge gourd), beans, and karela (bitter gourd). We are happily consuming them, but also trying to figure out how to save some for future months… The most amazing thing to us is how LARGE andContinue reading “Monsoon harvest”
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