The plants they are a changin'...

December 20^th, 2011

Just when I'm getting ready to leave the farm is starting to look a little more familiar to me. Rather than the exotic ginger, turmeric, rice, peanuts, and sesame, the farm has now been flooded with greens, and peas, and garlic, and carrots, and wheat! And while I knew the majority of my time here would be for the rice harvest, it is unbelievably good to know a little bit about the plants here now. It was definitely fun to learn more about the foods I really do enjoy... seeing how they grow, but I really do want to know more about growing these same plants I can grow at home. Of course, though, things are still done differently here. First, to plant many of the Brassicas (cabbages and cauliflower) the fields are completely flooded, and then the little vegetable starts were placed in the field. The peas plants were scattered randomly over a large field, rather than neat rows and given no trellising. They were then only grown for about three weeks, or enough to get a week's worth of picking from them, before they were tilled into the ground. There are also many many radishes.. in fact, more radishes than I care to look at. And not a wonderful variety of radishes, but all appear to be diakon radishes. I have actually grown a genuine dislike of radishes since being here. I am sick of seeing them at every meal and they give me a stomach ache. Since the rice harvest of 560 varieties has completely finished the farm has now taken on the challenge of growing 139 varieties of wheat. I helped to sow these so I am really excited just to see them coming up. In an effort to not do any type of monoculture the farm workers left a few of the plots empty this time for vegetables. We also sowed a couple of the wheat seeds in rows and others we just randomly tilled in with hand tools. Okay, now my words again in pictures:

The humongous radishes!

Green everywhere!

...and planting the wheat!

The cauliflower that took forever to weed... where is the mulch??

Applying compost to the cauliflower.

John's Green Building Course

December 16^th, 2011

Rather than being a place to learn from, Navdanya has recently turned into a place where world travelers meet and teach each other what they know. And while I have learned quite a bit from the farm, I have learned more about subjects I wasn't expecting from my fellow travelers. Besides Chris and Marilyn, another lesson I wanted to mention was a recent presentation on green building from John who is most recently from Bali! His presentation was very inspiring to me and I thought it would be nice to share some of my notes. John gave a great overview on a few different building types: adobe, cob, straw bale, slip straw, and wattle & daub techniques.

The first question when building a house is to determine what you actually need the structure for. Sleeping, kitchen, bathing are all pretty common answers. Climate and especially the angles of sunlight should also come into play. The building techniques above all pertain the the walls of building a structure, but how to keep the walls dry also needs to be planned. As John called it each house needs to have hats and boots. It is especially important to keep the foundation dry with these techniques. A house should also provide shade during the hot months and allow sunlight in during the cold months to reduce the need for heating and cooling. The angle of the sun will determine the angle of the eves needed on the roof of the structure. John provided a few websites to determine the angle of the sun in your location: www.susdesign.com/sunangle, www.kleiwerks.com, and www.emeraldearth.org.

Many of the natural building techniques use straw and earth to build up the walls. To finish off these techniques John suggested using linseed oil, which is water resistant or a lime wash. Lime wash is derived from limestone, which is calcium oxide. The fascinating thing I learned about limestone is that its processing is carbon neutral. This is because when it is mixed with water it creates calcium hydroxide, which is toxic, but then re-extracts the CO2 it created during processing once it is finished. Lime wash is breathable, water-resistant, and when moisture is added to it, it will rebond where there are cracks.

While some knowledge of building is required to begin these projects many community members can join in getting their hands dirty in the mud and clay used in these techniques. John told us that the use of concrete (which is extremely resource intensive and extremely boring) is only second to water in terms of worldwide consumption. It is also important that when planning our structures we only build what is needed. Of course comfort and durability and safety are requirements, but why not have fun with unique structures we can build together? Today, many of our boxes on the hillside are overbuilt to hold only our stuff rather than act as a home where we can share family and community time together. In times of resource depletion it is important to take a step back and realize what we actually need when determining what resources we are going to use up.

Invasion of the Soil Scientists

December 13^th, 2011

While I have been working on farms and with farmers for nearly the past three years, it is here in India that I finally realized what farming is all about. I have realized now more than ever that growing agricultural soils is at least if not more important than growing the food itself. Through all the different compost recipes I have learned at Navdanya and the preparation for the next plot the importance of the soil structure has really been stressed. This idea was confirmed when an awesome couple from the United States came to the farm. Marilyn is a soil scientist and Chris is a first grade teacher (check out their website: www.hummingbirdproject.org!). They came to Navdanya during the recent Gandhi and Globalization course with a mission to set Navdanya up with a proper soil lab.

While setting up the soil lab Marilyn and Chris graciously tested their knowledge of the Soil Foodweb on us. I will be forever grateful for what I learned in those two days. The pretty basic science behind the fact that the soil is full of micro-organisms had pretty much left my mind since the last time I had a biology course. The knowledge they shared really made me realize how important building healthy soil is to the health of our food and plants. The top 8” of soil contain “The Big 6” micro-organisms → Bacteria, Fungi, Protozoa, Nematodes, Arthropods, and Earthworms. More or less, these micro-organisms all exist in the top 8” of healthy top soil and are continuously moving.

Another interesting fact is that different plants prefer different micro-organisms. By building healthy compost piles we can then add either fungal or bacterial soil to the plants that need those soils the most. Plants such as kale and broccoli and cabbage prefer bacterial soils where as strawberries and maple trees prefer fungal soils. Corn prefers a 1:1 ratio of bacteria:fungi in the soil. Chris and Marilyn also took the afternoon to teach us all how to make a proper compost pile. We were looking to increase the amount of fungi so we added a lot of brown material such as fallen leaves (carbon). A fun fact about carbon is that only leaves that fall from the tree on their own contain carbon. If leaves are picked and then laid out to dry they will still by nitrogen heavy. This is because while leaves are still green the tree is sending them nitrogen, but once leaves are ready to fall they are sending all the nitrogen back into the roots. Or that's at least how I understood it. And while most of this might be common knowledge for some, I am finding it absolutely fascinating... and want to sign up for a soil sciences class now! For more bacteria we would add green material to our compost pile such as food scraps and grass clippings (nitrogen). Another fun fact is that one shovelful of compost contains more diversity than the Amazon Rainforest.

Finally, Chris and Marilyn took us to the fields of Navdanya to test out the soils that have been grown at Bija Vidyapeeth over the years. We took soil samples from four places in the farm and then took the samples to the microscope they carried with them all the way here to observe the micro-organisms. Our samples included: the turmeric field which is now a big field of mulch; a freshly plowed field; the kitchen garden that is plowed much less than the rest of the farm; and finally the bamboo forest on the edge of the farm that has never been plowed or sown. There were no astonishing findings, but the freshly plowed field contained a few bad guy fungi (there is a difference, but we didn't get that in depth), the kitchen garden contained a lot of bacteria, and both the turmeric field and the bamboo forest contained some good fungi. Marilyn explained that tilling the soil can often disrupt the micro-organisms and can break them up causing them to be less prevalent, hence the theories of practicing no-till farming.

Anyways, like I said much of this is somewhat common knowledge but there are some very important practices I think we must remember when trying to grow healthy plants. The practice of building soil is ever-important if we want to grow healthy and sustainable food systems. Inorganic fertilizers are all salt based, and salt kills micro-organisms which just leads to a chain of events needing to continue adding more fertilizer. It is important to remember that good healthy soil can be grown just by combining our food and field waste products, as well. While growing healthy compost might take more time in some cases it is much more worth it in the future. Thanks Chris and Marilyn for the life lesson!

Making our soil sample slides!

The soil is alive! A possible siting of fungi under Chris and Marilyn's microscope.

The group building a fungal heavy compost pit next to the soil lab!

Ayurveda

December 9^th, 2011

During the recent Gandhi and Globalization course at Navdanya we were fortunate to get a little insight on Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a term that I have heard loosely used in the United States and heavily advertised here in India, but I honestly had no idea what the term meant. My first guess is that it had something to do with natural cures, but who knows what “Natural” means anymore? And before I sound like a bigger hippie than most of you already think I am, let me just disclaim that I think Ayurveda is an interesting way to look at re-examining our lifestyles and not something I am ready to take on full force.

What caught my attention during the Ayurveda lecture is the actual definition of Ayurvedic practices. Ayurveda is a recognized health practice in India, but has not been adopted by much of the West because Ayurvedic medicines take time rather than the quick fix pills we are used to. Instead of using pills and chemicals to get rid of a disease, Ayurveda looks at the cause and how the human body can fight off illness with its own strengths. For example, if you have a headache, rather than taking an aspirin, Ayurvedic practices try to determine the cause of the headache. That may mean working less, getting more sleep, or stop staring at a computer screen. Ayurvedic practices change habits or use medicines that help the body fight illness.

That being said, Ayurvedic practices see that the modern human beings have lost the sense of how to live. If you imagine wild animals they are never overweight, underweight, or walking around with Kleenexes stuffed up their sleeves... they know how to live. Animals have a sense of connection with the sun cycles and when to eat and when to sleep. Ayurvedic practices say that human beings have the same schedule, but modern lifestyles have caused us to move far away from this schedule leading to many of the illness and diseases we see in the Western world today.

The following is the natural cycle human beings should be on according to Ayurvedic practices. Unfortunately, I can never see myself actually adhering to this schedule unless I am left alone on a desert island for the rest of my life:

6am-10am (time to eat a light breakfast and be active (mentally and/or physically))

10am-2pm (time to eat main meal)

2pm-6pm (continue with activity)

6pm-10pm (time to wind down and eat a light meal)

10pm-2am (rest)

2am-6am (The air is charged with vital energy during the union of day and night and this is the easiest time to get up. This is the time for meditation and yoga)

And of course we get more than four hours of sleep, these are just the time spans these activities are suggested. Sorry I didn't take better notes. I also won't get into the Constitution types and doshas because I am still trying to understand them myself. But, if you happen to be interested, I definitely suggest picking up a book on Ayurveda and figuring out your Constitution type, which will then have more specific recommendations as to what your body and mind need. I just picked up an Ayurvedic Cookbook if anyone is interested in plundering through it with me when I return. And on the topic of food, the lecturer recommended the three meals rather than a bunch of small meals throughout the day because everytime we eat our digestive system has to start working. With three meals throughout the day our digestive systems get a chance to rest and rejuvenate for the next tasty morsel!

This is far too much for an Ayurvedic meal, but doesn't it look tasty?!  It sure was; coked for us by a Tibetan Culinary School in Dehradun during the Gandhi and Globalization course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standing on my Soapbox

December 9th, 2011

Over the past week I completed a course titled “Gandhi and Globalization” at the Navdanya campus. This course brought people from Australia, Japan, California, Sweden, France, and India.. and Montana :) to discuss how Gandhi's teachings can be applied to the uncontrolled growth of globalization. The panels I attended included teachings from Satish Kumar (founder of Schumacher College in the UK), Madhu Suri Prakash (PhD in Philosophy of Education, Penn State), Samdong Rinponcheji (former Prime Minister of Tibet), and Dr. Vandana Shiva. Reflecting on their philosophies is not easy for me as life at Navdanya is somewhat idealist. And while it is easy to follow these ideas in this small, like-minded community, I am torn by the reality of what is actually at home. In short, we discussed that globalization is based on the fact that we are greedy individuals. Gandhi's teachings of Swaraj is realizing the potential of ourselves. By depending on globalized trade, we, as human beings have lost the potential to depend on ourselves and our communities for our necessities. As a result large corporations are ruling the trade market and all of our basic human necessities have been polluted → our air, our water, and our food.

This is where I run into difficulties myself, though, because I am not completely oblivious to some of the good corporations have brought to the world – depending on how you look at it. I can't just go ahead and say all corporations are bad because some of the infrastructure that exists from corporations I, and everyone I know takes advantage of. I guess I just wish that I had a choice as to what is in my drinking water, not to purchase plastics, and how the energy I use is sourced. The only way to do this is to make sure I know my products and to speak up when I don't agree with something. Transparency is honesty and the only way we can control corporate greed and destruction is to demand the transparency we all deserve! I think that questioning our methods of globalization is an important way to not just give into the society that has been created for us.

According to Frances Moore Lappe, we are currently growing enough food to feed the world. However, over one billion people are still going hungry each day and nearly half of these people are farmers. This tells us that the Earth can in fact sustain every living creature, however, the Earth cannot sustain greed. This means that if we are taking more than our fair share, we are stealing from others. This greed leads to anger, corruption, and ultimately competition. Globalization has made people compare themselves to others rather than focusing on what they themselves are capable of. We used to define ourselves by our communities and we each had a role in an interdependent system. However, globalization has changed us to define ourselves by who we used to be (our ancestors) rather than who we are now. We now define ourselves by what we own and who advertising and corporations tell us we should be.

Recently after this discussion we saw the film “The Economics of Happiness” where the effects of globalization are demonstrated. The virtually untouched community of Ladakh in extreme northern India is happy in the fact that they share within their community. Unfortunately, many young people are persuaded to move to urban areas to cash in on these advertisements. How can we warn the children of indigenous cultures that the urban world in fact has nothing to offer them and that we in fact are looking for their knowledge? Also in the film they were showing the affect GM crops had on these indigenous cultures. These corporations make these cultures think they are poor because they could have higher yields with GM seeds and pesticides, versus the practices they have been following for thousands of years. In the end, this technology ends up taking over their lives and they go through a heavy amount of suffering to get out of debt. This begs the question, What does it actually mean to be poor? Has it turned into a choice between community or stuff? To Samdong Rinponcheji there is no “Third World” and “First World” he says, “The world is one, this is a classification of economy and greed”. Of course one person cannot produce everything, though so it is true that trade and waivers must be done. The Samdong Rinponcheji also stated that in ancient times at most a 10% profit was made by trade. Why is it that today we think we need more than this?

From 1999-2002 the Coca-Cola company set up shop in the state of Kerala in southern India. During this period they pumped 2 million liters of water through a reverse osmosis system. This not only left many wells dry but also left behind loads of heavy metals for the local community. This is a sad example of how modern globalization of resources is in the market and not in the community – which in turn leaves people hungry. In the meantime, we are creating a food system in the West that Vandana Shiva describes as, “a food system that wants constipated human beings”. New homes are even being designed without kitchens in response to limited space and our fast food culture – this isn't food!

In the end, one way to become more self-reliant is to look more within the capabilities of the local community. By realizing what you and your community are capable of is a true democratic society. For how can we actually be free if the basic necessities of our lives are out of our hands? Do we have to actually buy seeds to grow food? Seeds have been saved for centuries allowing farmers to spend less on inputs and develop varieties that work specifically in their climates. And do we have to drink water out of plastic bottles? Water, the ultimate basic necessity has always been free but has recently been polluted and stolen by corporations and agricultural chemicals developed for higher yields and higher profits. These are prime examples of how greed is stealing resources that should be available to all. Thank you.

Vandana Shiva and Myself!

Samdong Rinponchej, Vandana Shiva, and Madhu Suri Prakash

99 Pictures of Khangchendzonga

Another highlight of Dan's trip was our hike along the India/Nepal border just outside of Darjeeling. Within sight of Darjeeling is India's tallest mountain, and the third tallest mountain in the world, Khangchendzonga. In the course of three days we hiked 31 miles and gained an elevation of 5,900 feet. The continuous site of deep green valleys, baby goats, and of course the majestic view of Khangchendzonga kept me going as we trudged along up up up then down down then up up up up then down down down down. The definite highlight of the trip was our second night at an elevation of 12,000 feet. From Sandakphu we could clearly see Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse off in the distance. The panoramic view of the snow-capped mountains made us forget (only for a bit) that we were hungry, tired, and freezing. I think I can safely say that Dan and I have never spent our birthdays in a more magical and beautiful place. 

Of course I won't post the million pictures I took of the mountains... but here are a few!:

a sample of the up, up, up!

the dominating Khangchendzonga!

our hiking crew: Dan, me, Sahil (our guide), and Christoph (new German friend)

and that is Mt. Everest in the middle hiding behind Mt. Lhotse to the left

 

Making Tea at Makaibari

November 19, 2011

During our visit to Darjeeling, Dan and I decided to pass away a couple of the foggy, rainy days with a home stay near the Makaibari Tea Estate. Located a 40-minute walk downhill (not uphill, we found out the hard way, although it is pretty up there) from Kurseong, the Makaibari Tea Estate Factory overlooks 68 hectares (roughly 170 acres) of tea, tea, and more tea! Makaibari grows three varieties of tea: clonal, hybrid, and assam. All three of these plants produce their world famous green and black teas. Companies such as Starbuck's TAZO tea buy tea from this tea estate. 

There are three seasons in which tea is harvested. The first flush, which produces the best tasting tea is March and April. The second flush, a little lower quality is picked during the Monsoon season, June-August. And the lowest on the scale (although much like wine tasting, neither of us could really pick out that much of a difference) is the tea picked during the Autumn season. The top bright green leaves of the plant are harvested (reminds me of picking basil) by the 750 workers who work on the tea plantation year round. The workers ranging in age from 18-60 are paid a meager 100 rupees a day (around $2) and are required to pick at least 8kg a day. Under 8kg per day and their wages are cut, more than 8kg a day and their wages are raised. 

And although the low labor wages frustrated me a bit, it is indeed a healthy and happy working environment and the tour of the tea factory was fascinating. Inside the Makaibari Tea Factory there are five steps to producing loose leaf green and black teas.

1 – After the tea is picked it is withered overnight in large trays that conduct hot air. The tea leaves are turned every two hours by hand. 

2 – The tea is then placed into a rolling machine for 45 minutes which breaks and opens the cell walls of the tea leaves giving tea its flavor. After the rolling machine the clumps are then broken down by hand.

3 – For black tea, the leaves are then placed on shelves to ferment for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Green tea is not fermented, giving it the difference in flavor.

4 – Both green and black teas are then placed into a Mason dryer at 200°F for 50 minutes leaving only 30% of the moisture left in the leaves.

5 – Finally the dried leaves are passed onto a women-only job, sorting. The sorting is done by hand to remove twigs and other imperfections and then placed into a machine to sort further into quality. The highest quality tea that Makaibari produces is their Silver Tip Green Tea, which was the official tea of the Beijing Olympics. The tips of both black and green teas are the highest quality and best flavor. Leftover dust from production is the lowest quality and what is used in convenient tea bags.

Sweeping up the "dust"

I was most interested in touring Makaibari in the land of tea (Darjeeling) because of its commitment to organic and bio-dynamic practices. Makaibari has been in continuous production since 1859, but only recently started following organic practices in the 1970s when the self-proclaimed Rajah of Darjeeling returned home from London with Steiner's principles fresh in his mind. In order to connect more of the buyers with farmers, something the Western world is eagerly searching for, a group of tea farmers worked together to open their homes for home stays at the Makaibari Tea Estate. Our home stay included a lovely pink bedroom, a tour of one of the four areas of the tea estate, a tour of the factory, sampling rice beer, bottomless cups of tea, and home-cooked meals by our factory-worker host's sister-in-law. The experience made for a great opportunity not only to learn about tea, but to give two tourists an opportunity to communicate with honest local folk, which can be a rarity while trying to experience the touristy sights of India. 

?Trash? in India

Something that is pretty hard to miss is the presence of garbage lining every street in India. Along with the cows, the smell of urine, and the children walking around barefoot, garbage is a pretty iconic image of every uniquely beautiful Indian city I've visited. The system of garbage in this country is actually quite interesting to me. At home, we all grew up throwing our trash “away”. There is a garbage bin around each corner where we can throw a wrapper or a food container and never think about it again. A man (or woman) drives by in a truck, loads it up, and carries it away to where it is buried or incinerated. Many of us never even see where our trash eventually goes.

However, this situation is much different in India. You are very much aware of when the time comes to throw something “away”. This is because you have one of two options: the decision to follow suit of so many before you by dumping your waste on the ground, or to carry around your waste until you see one of the two garbage cans placed somewhere in the city. This awareness of trash I have actually grown to appreciate. When I can actually see my trash being thrown on the ground I become much more aware of my food packaging and the reuse of certain items.

Until plastic was introduced to India, much of the trash here used to be biodegradable food wastes. Little tea stalls used to serve their tea in clay cups that when thrown on the ground would break and go back into the earth. Now, tea is served in little purple plastic cups that can still be seen littering any roadside or railway line. Although food packaging and many Western snack foods are also becoming popular, India is now faced with the utterly obvious problem of waste disposal. Many Indians have taken to burning their trash at their doorsteps including everything plastic. Unaware of the health implications to their families and the environment, I have also seen women starting their kitchen fires with plastic bags to make dinner for their family.

And while education and infrastructure are sorely needed in terms of waste management, I think there is also a blessing in disguise. For, I see the trash-filled streets of India as a possible future for the rest of the world. As we continue to increase our population and build spread-out communities, the land where we can bring our trash will decrease as our amount of trash increases. With this increase will we be forced to live with our trash, as well? The trash here also really makes one think about how much we do throw away. Imagine if we all had to live with the trash we produced on a daily basis in our backyard. Would the sight of what we actually throw away make us change our buying habits? Consider products for their packaging? Or even make us think twice before throwing something away?

Staging a Sit In – Part II: Playing Volleyball with Indians

November 9, 2011

In my last lengthy post I described the disconnect between the Gandhian principles of living and the practices of the Bija Vidyapeeth staff. Progress is slowly coming to fruition through documents to the higher management (Dr. Vandana Shiva), taking a stand by “mixing” with the farm workers, and by creating documents and folders for later interns to use as a resource. We are still struggling though as many new interns are coming and going almost daily at this point. Keeping everyone on the same page and included in the process also seems to be a reason for a lack of progress. We try to not bring down the spirits of new interns, but feel it is their right, if they ask about our experiences, to explain the situation in case any of them have any outsider input. On the plus side, there are still moments that make me remember the reason for coming here. The amount of opportunity Navdanya provides to the communities it works with is still very much apparent. And while we are struggling to see what our role as international interns are in this organization, we are motivated by daily observations such as the opportunity to play volleyball with a group of farmers visiting for a farmer training.

Farmer trainings at Navdanya provide farmers from communities to come see the “mother-ship” of the Navdanya organization and learn more about organic farming practices and benefits. However, from my observations, the farmers attending these trainings also get much more out of the experience. Not only do they get to travel away from their farms and see this region of the country, the food we eat on a daily basis here at Navdanya also provides them with an opportunity to eat many traditional foods here they are not able to afford to prepare at home. Foods such as halwa (a millet-based desert doused in ghee, sugar, raisins, and more ghee), chapati (a simple bread accompaniment sort of like a tortilla), many different vegetables, and spicy dals are glutinously heaped onto the plates of every visitor here. Not to say that their wives are not good cooks, but the food here is absolutely spectacular. And while they each go up for seconds, thirds, and fourths by cutting in line, they each take a turn to take a picture of us all eating with them, as well.

And while I just spent an entire blog post complaining about the exclusion of workers, one of my most favorite moments here on the farm was the opportunity to play volleyball with the workers here for a training. The joy on their faces as these lanky, grown men rushed into the previously formed circle to each take a turn at hitting the ball will forever be in my mind. The amount of times a ball would bounce off one of their heads, fly so high in the sky (an underestimation of their strength), or be slammed into the ground left a cheek-numbing smile on my face for the entire game before the sunset. These farmers work so hard day in and day out to just provide for their family and make ends meet. However, the trainings such as these also provide them with an opportunity to learn more about their culture, interact with people from all over the world, and even play sports they haven't played since they were kids. And now while I continue to question why I am here and what my purpose is, I continue to remember this moment that makes me so happy and reminds me the contribution this great organization is making to the life of so many farmers across the country.

I have also come to understand, through meeting with the staff, that many of our frustrations with the intern program are a result of a cultural and language barrier. The website and intern coordinator (based in Dehradun, who we've never met, only spoken through email with) were produced by a previous intern years ago without any knowledge being passed to the Bija Vidyapeeth staff. And while they have the space and the staff to host a large number of volunteers there is no one in the staff here to actually take on interns and guide them through a project. We do have meetings once a week with the office coordinator, but it is mostly just for us to explain our projects to him with little response back. The farm is also located in such a rural region that the organization would not be able to afford to bring in a translator or an intern coordinator who would want to live so far away from Dehradun. While this is unfortunate per our expectations through the website, the group of us that are here for the long haul are working to create a system that will help the interns be a lot more self-sufficient (ie. explanation of farm tasks and projects, re-writing the website to outline expectations, and the ultimate paper trail of all the interns starting from now). 

Staging a Sit In – Part I: Lost in Translation

November 5, 2011

I have to admit a gap in my blog posts because I have been having a hard time deciding how to share some of my thoughts on my experience. I know that what I have to say is not the most positive reflection on the Navdanya organization, but feel without sharing my recent discussions I am not sharing my experience as a whole. While daily work is still happening and the organization is functioning, I do have some disappointments I feel also must be shared. The amount of biodiversity not only in what is grown here, but the animals and people that are attracted to this farm has really made the experience absolutely amazing! The amount of knowledge and the work Navdanya does with organic farmers is still very much present, but the execution of some projects and actions by some of the office staff have also taken my energy here in new directions. Other interns along with myself have been spending some time for the past couple of weeks to discuss what we feel is missing from the organization and how best we can approach this.

One main principle we feel missing from Navdanya are the Gandhian principles of living the founders stress so highly in their work. In short these principles include living simply, accepting all religions as equal, self-reliance, truth, and work without any desire of reward. And while the beauty and life of the farm is still very much apparent, after two months of day in and day out farm life I have realized that many of these principles are not so apparent within the staff of Navdanya. This, in turn reflects on the organization... at least to me. For, unfortunately, the caste-system, although illegal, seems to very much still be alive here in rural India. The caste-system involves being born into a certain social class into which you will live and be judged by for the rest of your life. Hindus believe that if they are born into a lower class they had done something to deserve it in their previous life. A caste determines your career path and also who you can marry later in life. And while the farm is a very accepting abode, over the course of time, inequality within the staff seems to be apparent.

In the first couple of weeks I was here, many interns along with myself were invited to tea and family birthday parties of many of the farm workers. This invaluable experience to not only practice our Hindi but to also participate in the Indian culture was something we all enjoyed very much. However, after many of these visits, a staff manager approached the interns and explained to us that it is not encouraged to visit with the farm workers outside of the farm. In fact, this staff member made it seem as if it was looked down upon. During the recent celebration of Diwali (a holiday as important to Hindus (the majority religion in India) as Christmas is to Christians), we also asked if we could eat lunch with the farm workers. Strangely enough, we hadn't thought of it until then that we hadn't been sharing meals with them. Unfortunately, we had to wait until the evening time when the office staff had left to ask the farm staff to come in and join us for a much more modest meal. That it is not encouraged for us or even the office staff to mix with the farm workers has come as a huge disappointment to me and many of the other interns. And, this is just one example, I could go on and on about how the Internet promised to us students is in fact non-existent, and the lack of a structured internship program. And while we have learned, and appreciated not being distracted by the Internet, and many of us are self-sufficient enough to discover our own programs and necessities, the efficiency of our projects could be improved 10-fold if we had any cooperation from the staff. We have discovered, two months into our projects that there have been previous interns here doing the exact same thing... yet, there is no record of their progress or their contacts.

Therefore, along with my study of the food system here in India and my ultimate goal of learning how to create more sustainable food systems, a few other interns and myself have taken on the project of clarifying and organizing the intern program. This involves helping to establish more efficient practices within the Bija Vidyapeeth campus, as well. Over time, we have also found out that previous interns have gone to these lengths to meet with the staff and change the program, as well, which has also been discouraging. However, it is our mission to leave a paper trail for previous interns to follow. For, one of the main obstacles here seems to be that there is no one in the office staff willing to oversee the intern program resulting in a serious disconnect between projects and valuable information that could be shared. And, we have also taken turns sitting in the kitchen to eat lunch with the farm staff.

Two More Compost Recipes

October 20^th, 2011

This first recipe replaces micro-organisms in the soil and should be applied before sowing seeds. The one ingredient some might have a hard time finding in the United States is ghee (a type of clarified butter). I'm sure a way to clarify plain old butter can probably be found with a simple Internet search.

Ingredients

1L – milk

250g – ghee (a type of clarified butter)

1L – curd

½ kg – jaggery (or sugar cane or honey)

3kg – cow dung (from a female cow)

5L – cow urine

6 bananas

Method

Mix all ingredients and let sit for 12 days. After sitting the mixture can be mixed in 200L water, sprayed on the field, and turned into the soil.

The next mixture, which we actually prepare here at Bija Vidyapeeth is one of the worst smells I've ever smelled in my life, but if its good for the soil, I will appreciate it. I'm not guaranteeing the first one smells that great either.

Ingredients

10L – animal dung

10L – animal urine

1kg – jaggery

2kg – lentil powder

handful of good soil

Method

Mix the following ingredients in a 200L barrel for a total of five minutes. Make sure to cover the container. Within three days the mixture will start to boil and smell bad – that means its working. Before five days the mixture must be applied to the field through the irrigation system. This mixture is enough for one acre of land.

Where Are My Shoes?

October 7th, 2011

I wrote this awhile back and am just posting now... Anticipation for the inspiration to rightfully name my blog has finally come to an end. It was not my intention to title this journey with such an utterly obvious name, it was just that with little expectation of what it would actually be like in India, I went for a name that covered all bases. However, after venturing out on a few journeys, and even just reflecting on daily life at the farm a name for my blog has finally hit me. “Where are my shoes?” Seems to be the overarching question that has followed me around India so far. From somehow managing to fall asleep on bumpy bus rides, to areas where my shoes aren't allowed such as temples and cleaning rice, to even being pulled up on stage to dance with Rajasthani dancers, I always seem to end each day with asking at least once... “Where are my shoes?” My shoes are a very important part of my time in India. They are my defense against cow dung and other unknown street articles, and have gotten me through those unexpected hikes when attending weddings. But don't worry Mom, I haven't lost them, yet :)