So fresh.So pure.our first harvest.we have already taken six such harvests in last two weeks. a handful of it suffices a small family. i was not able to stop smiling while plucking these things and moving around searching for more.
the pictures above were impossible for me to imagine when i first visited my quarter. our staff quarters are in college campus itself. it was long time since anyone had stayed in the one allotted to me. whole construction was populated by living organisms constituting lowest level of food chain to second highest one.
when i checked in, i filled up the highest level too.cleaning the quarter didn't mean only sweeping and mopping,i meant dealing with variety of hornets, mantises, termites, lizards, beetles, crickets, spiders, bats and hundreds of nocturnal light seeking semi-flying semi-crawling anthropods.the sight of most popular reptile in Indian sub-continent was not less frequent.
glimpse of a snake or two has been a routine. mongoose are also a part of our surroundings as much as they comprehended us to be a part of their locality now.
this is the first time i can say i have literally earned (harvested) the fruits of my toil. it was very timely decision by Mukundbhai, my kind neighbour who is a lecturer in mechanical department to utilize our backyard. the beginning was not that easy although. we had to remove weeds first of all,all the wild plants that had grown around like trying to invade the building. the thorny ones were the though to remove. the deep rooted ones came next. and all was done with a spade, a sickle and lots of sweat.
Mukundbhai not being a novice had better experience in doing necessary and sufficient things, tilling the soil a bit, nick here nick there for irrigation, tying the strings for vines of 'turya' and 'dudhi', all was done with much less resource and little external help.had we waited for the pwd (public works department) fellas to help us out in cleaning the backyard, the backyard would still be in primitive state. we applied the basic rules here, we want to do it, we will do it. that's it.
see the flower and the fruit. so pure. its zero fertilizer, zero pesticide product. the home grown, organic food. just imagine how many carbon credits we earned !! we saved the fuel that would take us to market, few polythene bags that vendor uses and most importantly our intestines !! ( from fertilizers and chemicals thrown over vegetables.)
i am not at all suggesting or preaching that everybody should work on such backyard projects or get concerned about earning carbon credits or lessening the carbon footprints. most of the Indian population is not even aware of these things. in fact, a very large part of population is not even making a countable carbon footprint yet,lets spare them from the lessening part for now. but, this is a kind of investment that reaps more intangible results than the tangible ones.
the flowering of these plants were a result reached after regular work on soil and irrigation, that we did to refresh ourselves from regular job. we, in a way were irrigating our hobby. our body burnt more calories so we stayed fit. the backyard was cleaned and soil levelled by us,so the place looked all dressed up. instead of weeds and wild plants sucking up moisture from soil we had productive vegetation grown on it. i don't think all this is measurable to equate it with monetary returns.
the pictures above were impossible for me to imagine when i first visited my quarter. our staff quarters are in college campus itself. it was long time since anyone had stayed in the one allotted to me. whole construction was populated by living organisms constituting lowest level of food chain to second highest one.
when i checked in, i filled up the highest level too.cleaning the quarter didn't mean only sweeping and mopping,i meant dealing with variety of hornets, mantises, termites, lizards, beetles, crickets, spiders, bats and hundreds of nocturnal light seeking semi-flying semi-crawling anthropods.the sight of most popular reptile in Indian sub-continent was not less frequent.
glimpse of a snake or two has been a routine. mongoose are also a part of our surroundings as much as they comprehended us to be a part of their locality now.
this is the first time i can say i have literally earned (harvested) the fruits of my toil. it was very timely decision by Mukundbhai, my kind neighbour who is a lecturer in mechanical department to utilize our backyard. the beginning was not that easy although. we had to remove weeds first of all,all the wild plants that had grown around like trying to invade the building. the thorny ones were the though to remove. the deep rooted ones came next. and all was done with a spade, a sickle and lots of sweat.
Mukundbhai not being a novice had better experience in doing necessary and sufficient things, tilling the soil a bit, nick here nick there for irrigation, tying the strings for vines of 'turya' and 'dudhi', all was done with much less resource and little external help.had we waited for the pwd (public works department) fellas to help us out in cleaning the backyard, the backyard would still be in primitive state. we applied the basic rules here, we want to do it, we will do it. that's it.
see the flower and the fruit. so pure. its zero fertilizer, zero pesticide product. the home grown, organic food. just imagine how many carbon credits we earned !! we saved the fuel that would take us to market, few polythene bags that vendor uses and most importantly our intestines !! ( from fertilizers and chemicals thrown over vegetables.)
i am not at all suggesting or preaching that everybody should work on such backyard projects or get concerned about earning carbon credits or lessening the carbon footprints. most of the Indian population is not even aware of these things. in fact, a very large part of population is not even making a countable carbon footprint yet,lets spare them from the lessening part for now. but, this is a kind of investment that reaps more intangible results than the tangible ones.
the flowering of these plants were a result reached after regular work on soil and irrigation, that we did to refresh ourselves from regular job. we, in a way were irrigating our hobby. our body burnt more calories so we stayed fit. the backyard was cleaned and soil levelled by us,so the place looked all dressed up. instead of weeds and wild plants sucking up moisture from soil we had productive vegetation grown on it. i don't think all this is measurable to equate it with monetary returns.
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