Updates on Monsoon Magic

The rains have washed all plants! And the city Farm at MNP looks cleans and beautiful.The baby saplings have just taken their first steps and are sprouting first new leaves after planting and transplanting!

Seeds of Pumpkin have sprouted and HOW !

The bean creeper is Growing! 

and so are the beans on them!

The Okra saplings  have look happy  too! 

The Yam is beautiful!

Haldi!

                                                              Avala

Custard Apple

Pomagranate

Awaiting Cherries!

                                                                     Jaam
The drums surrounded by grass and weeds which have grown below the water tank! They are harvesting all the sunlight, and busy making nutrients.... for us to use later! Grass growing in rains to make hay while sun shines! : )

Keep watching and join us to plant more veggies!

Making of Amrut Mitti heaps at MNP

The first most important step in Natueco is the building of nutrient rich soil, which we call 'Amrut Mitti'. So the foundations of the city farm on this 400 sq ft area , on the water tank at MNP were laid with building this nutrient rich soil. We believe, the short cuts do not work.They will show up in the form of one problem or another.Hence the trouble of building this soil is worth it! In fact it becomes a very enriching experience as during this journey a kind of bond is established with the soil organisms who are the real heroes!

Amrut Mitti  is full of all nutrients needed by plants, is very rich in variety of microbes, has the right pH, has high carbon content, has excellent water holding capacity. This reflects in the health of plants.

At MNP, volunteers have taken lot of efforts to build the same. Our special thanks to Cassie Moran, a volunteer and now a dear friend from Australia who braved the travel in the city and made daily trips to the park to build Amrut Mitti. It is because of her initiative that a momentum was reached in getting the work done. Thanks Cassie. We eagerly await your next visit to Mumbai!

                                             Mixing Cow dung , cow urine and jaggery 

Cassie,Jyoti,Anoop  Immersing dry bio mass

 in Amrut Jal kept in drums

Building layers of heaps. One layer of soaked biomass,

 sprinkled with top soil/red earth.

Turning the heap after seven days for aeration. Sometimes the heaps gets compacted with too much water and this step is necessary, or else it causes anaerobic conditions in the heap.

Volunteers turning heap. 

A special thanks to Shirish Bhave who has always

 silently supported and lent a hand with our activities

After thirty days of initial composting seeds of different varieties/families like chana, til, methi,dhania,mirchi,variyali are soaked in Amrut Jal for 5 hours and then sprinkled on the heap for greening.

The sprouted greens after 21 days. 

25% of these greens were cut , dried, and put back in the heap.

This task is repeated on 42nd and 63rd day.

The entire procedure for making Amrut Mitti along with the silent features is detailed in

 "Guide to creating a Natueco city farm" 

We hope that the terrace farm  models at MbPT terrace and MNP inspire people to take up this initiative. Especially on terraces,open areas  which receive lots of sunlight.

An orchard on a water tank

Volunteers for the Plantation drive in monsoon

After eight months of lovingly building Amrut Mitti , volunteers of Urban Leaves were excited and happy. On 30th May they were finally  to plant saplings. Enthusiasm was high and they all turned up early morning at the Nature Park.

Shirish and Julius armed with their drills, drilled holes in the drums collected to plant saplings.

                          Shirish Bhave                                         Julius

                  These drums are available in Dharavi and last for almost 10 years.
The  holes are needed for aeration. Due to in situ decomposition, heat is given out, and this heat needs to be dissipated. Hence the holes are needed to be drilled.

                                       Green Rosella in an earthern pot.
                 Earthern pots with holes donated by Anil Ranglani from "The Daily Dump"

At home, in my small balcony where I use recycled tubs and buckets, I simply make these holes with a heated nail , all over the container.


We first filled the containers with sugarcane baggase. This provides aeration to roots, decomposes over a LONG period and contributes organic matter to soil, the sugar content in the bagasse helps in fermentation of the waste.


Then went the Amrut Mitti. Sapling was planted in it. The roots of sapling were first dipped in Amrut Jal for 10 mins. The excess soil was removed, keeping a little soil attached to roots. Then roots of sapling were sprinkled with wood ash to prevent infections as well as provide instant nutrition. Wood ash contains almost all elements needed by the plants.

                  The saplings were planted and mulched with sugarcane bagasse

  The saplings are tiny and can hardly be seen now..... In time wait and watch!
We planted saplings of custard apple, pomegranate,pineapple,different varieties of lemon, suran ( yam), banana, guava, nutmeg,avala etc....

                                      

                    Arya our youngest volunteer planting Yam directly on the slab.

The youngest volunteer that day was Arya who was so excited with all the activities! She was like the Ginnie... : ) completing one task after another, with super fast speed and asking me , aunty what next? She certainly deserves the first fruit that we will soon harvest! Yes! The guavas are already showing signs of coming into this world.

So thus began the green phase of our Community farm at Nature Park. We hope in six months time this orchard will not only green the concrete water tank, but also provide us with sweet fruits of our labour !

                         After a fortnight on 20th June 2010 watch the growth........

                        Yam (Suran) had sprouted and raised its beautiful head!

                                                     Haldi has grown too.

 Our senior most volunteers Nirmala, Bharati and Harsha with the chawli creepers. We had a delicious breakfast that day of raw chawli beans.

          Keep following the progress of this Orchard Farm on a water tank in the city!
                                  Don't you want one in your neighborhood?

Come bridge the gap - become a volunteer!

 

 Preeti:  

 Bridge the gap;
 become a volunteer
 From dependency to interdependency

 From destruction to conservation

 From disposal to reuse and recycling

 From  global to eating local

 From toxic chemicals to natural organic

 From mom to daughter..... he he ... here goes the conversation!

Preeti: "In this dynamic world nothing is permanent.  The mind knows this …. yet the heart searches for something eternal. We search for the ‘I’, lost to us in the hustle-bustle of this extraordinarily demanding world. And nature helps us do this. Holding us, with all our fears and faults, it returns to us a faith that 'All is well with the world'. All it asks in return is some love and care."

Prajakta: "Wait a minute, Aai (mother)! I don't understand a word of what you're saying and I don't think anyone will come and volunteer with you if you tell them these things. You have to show people how cool Urban Leaves is!

Look at the number of progressive sustainable practices we do. No lip service greenwashing. We're willing to try and fail. We're inclusive, we welcome people of all kinds: young or old, the doers, the dreamers, the thinkers, people of all faiths and persuasions. We're all independent, capable people, and we help each other out but we believe people should determine for themselves where their greatest contribution or learning would be.'

Preeti to all : "As you can see, we thrive on diversity and we're always having conversations like these. So come join us whatever your perspective is. Volunteer with us at Urban Leaves …in whatever way gives you joy! 

We are currently involved in

-hands on building of our various community farms
-events- during or behind the scenes, pre or post, or initiate one yourself
-documentation and building our website
-networking, hand holding, entertaining and inspiring each other
-activism
-and lastly, keeping ourselves fed, clothed and shelter (contributions in cash or kind welcome :D)

Please fill in the Registration Form  and Email to urbanleaves@gmail.com to register as a volunteer.

Lots of smiles and joy

All of us at Urban Leaves 

City Farm at Maharashtra Nature Park -- The first community urban farm in Mumbai

The Mumbai Port Trust terrace Farm which is now 9 years old is a haven for birds, bees, insects hovering around the 150 varieties of plants thereat. However this spot is situated in a restricted area, with high security needs inside the port premises. My efforts to see more green roofs in the city needed the model to be replicated in another location which was more visible, accessible to those interested. 

Urban leaves started conducting workshops in Maharastra Nature Park since June 2009, the venue also became a place for practicals during workshops. Avinash Kubal Dy Director MNP, who has supported us all throughout suggested we take up the initiative to green the concrete space of about 400 sq ft  on the water tank situated at ground level. This could be a replicated model of the farm at MbPT, which would inspire people to take  up urban farming  themselves. 

So the first steps to create a city farm at MNP were taken in September 2009 during a workshop when all participants did their hands on practicals , for making Amrut Mitti ( a nutrient rich soil/compost made from leaf litter and top soil)  heaps.

                                    Making Amrut Mitti heaps --  hands on practicals

                                           Using soaked biomass in Amrut Jal

                                                  Layering with red earth / top soil

                                                        Dancing on heap to compress

This activity became a starting point to meet, interact, watch over the progress of the Amrut Mitti every week. In the process a hand holding measure for participants of workshops evolved, wherein they could come, discuss their difficulties and problems and also volunteer for this work.

Volunteers have thus become a core strength of this farm and Urban Leaves group. In a city like Mumbai where people don't have time for themselves, this hub was created where like minded people meet every week and enjoy an hour of gardening together.

                               The Star fruit in a drum

Now after an interval of six months our two batches of Amrut Mitti heaps are ready and we are eager to plant veggies and herbs in them. We  have also planted Chikoo,( Sapota ) and Star fruit in drums with holes drilled in them from sides.More fruit saplings will be planted this month.

                                                   The infant city farm on a water tank 
To depict what was happening on the spot we needed a banner, and the group came up with a suggestion of getting a Warli painting done on the wall of the tank. Warli painting derives its name from a small tribe inhabiting the remote regions of Maharashtra, India.Folk imagination, beliefs and customs are spontaneously expressed in these monochromatic tribal paintings

The philosophy of a way of life, especially those of tribal societies, is best depicted through colorful images. Trees, birds, men and women collaborate to create a composite whole in Tribal Paintings, and the paintings of the Warli tribe of Maharashtra are the most joyous celebration of that very philosophy. We thought that this was an apt medium for expressing what we had set out to create in an urban world. Sitting together at the park to create the design and theme had us all excited. The artisan from Jawahar, Shri Sunil Kharpade  took up the challenge of depicting an urban scene with a tribal art forms. He did full justice to it.

                                                     A portion of the Warli Painting
So yes, all those of you there who wish to grow their own food, laugh and dirty their hands in soil, feel empowered with knowledge what to eat, when to eat and how to eat are invited to join us at Maharashtra Nature Park.

You may send e-mail to urbanleaves@gmail.com to reach us.

Will keep you posted on future developments shortly.

love and best wishes

Preeti

for urban Leaves

My gardening efforts at Chembur

My gardening efforts took off in 2000 when I shifted to ground floor flat with a small empty patch by the side of my flat. Wanting to be a true gardener first i bought all the tools and started digging the land. Planted few flowering plants like Anant, Jaswandi, Sonchafa Sadafuli so also Kadipatta and Tulsi. As the days passed I realised that growing plants gave me a feeling of growing children and i started observing them, taking care of them and loving them.
Last year when I tried to grow Bottle gourd, Okra and Palak, for my project, my first attempt to grow vegetables, I realised that I dont know the right way of growing them organically except adding dried cow dung to the red soil. The need to know about organic farming made me surf the net and I came to know about Preeti's terrace garden. The flowers, fruiting trees and variety of vegetables grown in just 3000 sq ft motivated me to know about her techniques which is Natueco Farming.

After attending 7th June 09 workshop I was eager to make Amrut Mitti myself. For me procuring cow dung, cow urine and biomass was a challenge initially but when there is a will there is a way. I tied up with a lady outside a temple to provide cow dung and cow urine and started picking biomass from the nearest municipal public garden. I also procured two plastic drums one to prepare Amrut jal and second to store heaps of biomass. The only difficult factor for me was to really wait for 100 days to get perfect matured soil

After I made the first heap in July, I could hardly wait for 30 days and planted a drumstick plant in the semi decomposed biomass. After that I must have made the heaps 4/5 times but i dont remember the dates and used it all for my already existing plants like banana, amla, bamboo, sonchafa, arvi, neem, lemon and few more. Amla has already started fruiting and sonchafa has started bearing beautiful flowers (both 3 yrs old). Arvi leaves, my mum-in -law has cooked thrice so far and I have cooked drumstick leaves for one time vegetable and what can I say......its a great feeling to cook and eat home made vegetable. drumstick plant has started flowering in Feb, now I am waiting for fruiting of Banana and lemon tree.

It will really take me some more time to observe and note the change Amrut Mitti has made (in terms of yield) to the above plants compared to normal soil mix i used. Neverthless I have noticed the improvement in their

growth.

In October ie 30 days after 27 Sep workshop, we, Urban Leaves volunteers with Preeti's guidance started this Community Gardening activity at Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP), Dharavi. Meeting every Sunday and learning the concepts practically like mulching, sowing seeds for 100 day process and finally the concept of companion planting for growing vegetables has enriched me as a novice city farmer. I learnt how to plant a fruiting tree when we planted chikoo and kamarak (star fruit) on 07 march at mnp. Community activity not only gives a chance to know plants but to interact with like minded people from whom you can learn so much.

Using the knowledge I gained, I have decided to grow vegetables myself.
I have made three heaps :
- one on 5th December in 3x3x1 ft brick pit (50 ltrs of amrut jal)

- second on 25 December in 3x4x1 brick pit (50 ltrs of amrut jal)

- third on 22 January in well aerated plastic drum

The greening process started in January for the first two heaps did not show good results and so I have sown seeds in all three heaps on 27 feb.I will share the results as and when the heaps would start showing magic with the help of mother nature.

Hope to write very soon.

Jyoti
bhave9@yahoo.com