Recently there were 2 people from Britain who made some small films on Grampari and took lots of great photos. I have put a couple of the videos below. They are part of a non-profit organization called 'Security Is...?' Here is a link to their facebook page and their work. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Security-Is/396494513775093 Here is a video of Renie from Grampari, our geologist working on watershed management. http://vimeo.com/60013230
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Woman Scarecrow at Grampari in a beautiful sari I joined Grampari as Sustainability Program Co-ordinator in September, 2012. Grampari is a non-profit organization that works for rural people and ecology. As a part of their watershed program, they started an organic vegetable garden on their campus, along with two lemon tree orchards. I hope to be at Grampari for 4 more months. Currently I look after the organic vegetable garden as well as the grounds and in the last 5 months several changes have taken place at Grampari that I wanted to share with all of you. This is also a good way to understand the many practices of organic farming that I have written about in my blog. A good farm comes from a balanced eco-system and by working with local people. Management of the Grounds: I work with two other people on the management of the grounds, garden, and orchards. Both Sujata and Shashikant are from nearby villages with a passion for farming. Post-monsoon days have been 8 hours of weeding! This time we also tried to plant long-term, low nutrient and water requiring, flowering, native medicinal plants and shrubs. Over 150 seedlings were planted of plants such as Adulsa, Mehendi, Tulsi, Citronella, Ticoma, Peppermint, Chitrak, Tagar, Vetiver etc. Landscaping the grounds with these plants will ensure lower weeding after the following monsoon. Planting natives and medicinal plants is extremely important for creating a balanced eco-system allowing for arrival of beneficial insects and birds. The lemon/lime orchard below the organic garden was cleared of its tall grass by 4 women employed from Godavali. It was a huge change that gave us access to endless limes and lemons. The most productive part of Grampari is definitely the citrus orchard. Dead lemon trees were replaced by new ones and 4 Amla trees have also been planted in empty spaces. The next steps involve landscaping the orchard in order to have a ground cover going before the monsoon in order to prevent the return of the tall elephant grass. Organic Vegetable Garden: Apart from organic lemons we had a wonderful harvest of 20 pumpkins that had grown over the monsoon. After more than a month of weeding and re-creating our raised beds, we began our planting in September and October. We also began cultivating a small section on the upper part of the garden which is an experimental section for organic wheat. Including the upper and lower areas we have planted about 25 different vegetables. On a regular basis we are harvesting lettuce, coriander, methi, spinach, bananas, mint, lemon grass and lemons. We have now started also harvesting radish, capsicum, cauliflower, cabbage and chillies. Some of the techniques being applied are composting, vermicomposting, mulching, intercropping, and water conservation through drip irrigation. For mulching we have managed to find rice husk after a long search. Our three compost pits are almost full and undergoing decomposition. We have re-done our vermicompost system to ensure it functions properly and to accommodate more food waste that will be produced from month-long residential training programs. Drip Irrigation System: Our newest project which has been a success is setting up of the drip irrigation system. After doing surveys, and calculations we projected a cost of about Rs.6500 for the drip irrigation material required in the organic vegetable garden as well as the border plantation. We bought about 480 metres of drip pipe and other parts. At one of our shramdaans (voluntary work) for the students of Symbiosis (SCIT) we put forward this quotation in the hopes of finding a source for this money. To our amazement the students amongst themselves contributed a bit of money each and provided us with Rs.9200! It was more that what we had asked for and we are tremendously grateful to them. The drip irrigation is now set up and the total cost was approximately Rs.7200. Drip irrigation is one of the most effective ways of watering. It has minimal exposure to the atmosphere resulting in least evaporation. The water seeps in slowly and spreads laterally just the way plants like it. Watershed Demonstrations: In the last year several staggered couture trenches have been made to ensure ground water recharge. The last few months have seen the installation of another roof-top rainwater harvesting system done by Jared, Renie, Ankush, and Ankur. It includes a first-flush device to perform basic filtration of the rain water which is then directed into a water tank. The water tank which used to be an old and dysfunctional biogas plant can store up to 28 thousand litres of water. We hope to use the water collected next monsoon for the watering of the garden in the dry months. Ongoing and Future Projects:
Our ongoing projects include watering and maintenance of the grounds. Landscaping and planning of the lemon orchard is a big part of our work. We now hope to also begin reaching out to farmers from nearby villages through short organic farming workshops. Meanwhile we are also working on a farm manual both in English and Marathi to be prepared for future farm managers. Best wishes to everyone for 2013 and do come to Grampari for some fresh vegetables and black tea with lemon grass! |
Principles and Practices of Organic and Natural Farming Archives
November 2018
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