Rain and feeling human unity 2nd week of January 2024

January 8th RAIN AND MORE RAIN

After raining yesterday (Sunday) and all last night, it was still raining this morning when we started work. Not surprisingly most of the entrance was completely flooded. Although we did managed to find a non flooded, if somewhat soggy path, around the back of the solar panels.

All the work we did had to be done under dripping tarps and roofs...

Or like Mala, you dressed in head to toe protection!

Before the rain stopped in mid afternoon the Suryan Garden had got very flooded. Provided it drains away fairly quickly it will hopefully not affect the lettuce and ruccolla we have already planted there. Their roots are quite shallow and therefore won't be completely covered in water. (we hope!) Because if that happens the roots don't get any oxygen and the plants die.

What is more worrying is that the flooding water got as far as the trays of bean seeds we planted last week. They got completely submerged ,so how many plants will grow/survive is anyone's guess. In the picture the trays are underneath the green wire netting covers which is there to keep the squirrels out.

January 9th

By the next day the rain had stopped with the morning sun making the flooded entrance look rather beautiful. Although we still had to use the path behind the solar panels if we didn't want to wade through the water which has gradually receded during the day.

With the soil on the beds so wet we couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a lot of weeding which was was easy than usual with the weeds coming out of the wet earth without too much effort.

When we had finished weeding this bed we had the added advantage of being able to mulch it with leaves from the mango ginger on the next bed.

Next time I am deciding what to plant on the beds I must think about the possibilities of growing something which could be used for mulch on a nearby bed. As it saves a lot of work. The mango ginger plants can be left like that until we are ready to dig them up. When this happens will depend on who wants to buy the ginger and/or what we can do with it in terms of processing into jam or something similar.

January 10th

Its lovely working with the quite large group of volunteers we have at the moment. Some of them have been with us long enough to learn quite a lot of the jobs and I get a really sense of togetherness as we clean, compost and then plant beds.

This is what human unity feels like to me. And even more so when we are weeding together. I think the shared difficulties of working in the wet conditions at the beginning of the week also did that.

January 11th HUMAN UNITY AT WORK

Now we have weeded most of the beds in the Prayog garden it is time to cut the grass and generally tidy up. And Hooray! We have not one, but TWO volunteers who know how to use the grass cutter. Before they started, however, we thought we had better uncover the plastic pipes which are part of the irrigation system. Then when they started grass cutting they would be able to see them easily. Otherwise the grass cutter could make a hole in the pipe and put the irrigation system out of action.

One volunteer suggested that we take up the grass and then cover the soil with carboard and mulch. She said she had used this method in other tropical areas and it had stopped the weeds growing for three months or more. I have my doubts about whether that will happen here knowing how tenacious and strong Indian weeds can be. In my experience they grow through almost anything very quickly!

It seemed worth giving it a try, however, as it could save some work in the future. And we had all the necessary materials. The cardboard had to be wetted and was then put on the sol underneath the pipes.

We then covered it with mulch which included quite a lot of the grass that was cut this morning.

Various other ideas were put forward as to what we could do to stop the grass growing, some of which we will try in the next few days. As there are two more pipe sections like this that need the same treatment.

AND FINALLY......

This is what remains of the flood at the beginning of the week. Although much reduced its still very muddy. Some bikes go through it but so far I don't want to walk through it as I know the mud will be slippery and sticky.

Once again a very productive week.