Temperature goes down as number of jobs goes up! 3rd week of December 2023

As we had a group booked for the beginning of the week we thought we should cut the grass at the entrance. Its the first thing people see in Buddha Garden when they come in and as the grass hadn't been cut for some time in this area it looked pretty unkempt and uncared for

When the students come the first thing they will see is this lovely sign which had got covered with grass. It was created last year by one of our artistic volunteers. When students leave they will see this sign on the other side of the signboard. I think both sides are lovely.

We did a lot of other clearing up which involved taking dead wood into the forest where it will rot and feed the trees. As well as clearing up a lot of things that had somehow got scattered around the place. It included these broken nursery tray covers which we used to fill up some holes in our fence so the neighbour's cow can't get in.

We like to reuse as much as we can, especially since things like fences can't be easily taken with us if/when the farm activities have to move.

STUDENTS SAMPLE DIFFERENT JOBS

Today we had a visit from 25 students from a school in Mumbai. As always we organised different jobs for them to do like this nursery planting (seedlings and seeds).....

....and collecting seeds of ladies finger and bassella spinach....

....and clearing this bed in the Souryan garden ready to compost and then plant with beans. I think most people found this the hardest job.

After a quick walk around the farm and talk about our process of earth friendly food growing it was time for breakfast - greatly enjoyed by all and for many the best part of the experience!

As part of the walk we visited the planted forest that we have at the side of Buddha Garden and I couldn't help but compare it to my experience of the Chempaka Kuning rainforest. There is a very special energy in a forest that has never been anything else and I wonder how long it will take our planted forest to embody that energy. I'm very glad that I have had the opportunity to experience it.

WOMEN POWER!

Five of us worked together today doing various jobs. First we picked the rosella fruit growing on the end of the bed.

Rosella looks like this on the plant. Once picked the red part of the fruit is removed from around the seed pod. The fruit is quite sour but makes a lovely jam or juice and can be dried to make tea. If left out in the sun the pods ripen and pop open allowing the seed out. Which can be planted to make plants for next year (they are annuals) or make good chicken food.

We processed all the fruit we picked today sitting under the peepul tree. Buddha is supposed to have got enlightened sitting under a peepul tree and we hope it did us some good as well.

Before we processed the rosella we spent some time clearing, composting and then planting this bed with lettuce seedlings.

Naiesha and Mythili are two students who are with us for four days as part of their Creative, Action, Service project which is part of their International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. They want to learn about and experience how we do Earth friendly food growing in Buddha Garden.

Here they are harvesting some ladies finger. They had to look at the plants quite intently to see the vegetables. Its easy to mistake the ladies finger for part of their stems.

This is what they picked which looked colourful and delicious.

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