"The happiest moments related to my garden are when we get to eat what I planted", Jyoti Bhave was not into gardening too much. She is a housewife. Till the year 2000 she lived in a flat on third floor. at Dadar. She had some plants in window grill like many of us do but that was it. Later, she moved to a ground floor flat in a quiet neighborhood. Last year, she decided to join a gardening course at Thana College. The interest started building.
Her own harvest of Spinach, Lady Finger and Bottle Gourde made her happy. She tried to grow some other plants too but couldn't. She soon discovered that mixture of red soil, dung, and coco pit that she was using didn't provide enough nutrition to plants. This was when she started looking for other resources and found Urban Leaves on the web. You can find her blog on Urban Leaves about her initial experiences. She still uses the old method for some plants but Amrut Mitti has been a big hit in her garden!
The door to the house is hidden by her hefty garden. List of her garden crops is long and diverse. She harvested 10-15 Cucumbers from just one vine earlier this year and currently has some good Papayas hanging from a tree. She has also planted Drumstick, Jackfruit, Banyan and Jamun trees. Flowering plants such as Anant, Red Passion Flower, Parijatak, Bakul, Sonchampa, Ratrani and Roses adorn her veranda. Being from a Zoology background, I was also delighted to see a large container for water. Her ground floor flat with space around it and her zeal are the reasons I feel that her garden can also have a nice butterfly plant section as well as a frog pond.
She wants to enhance her garden further. This month, her Papaya plant gave her some nice coconut sized Papayas and some petite Bananas. Plans of planting some 'winter special' crops are already on the way.
She has also spread this developing hobby to her friends and relatives. She says that that there are no sacrifices for harvesting crops of your own. She spends daily just half an hour tending to it. The only money that she invested was in the containers or pots for plants. Her city-farm not only gives food but also gives enjoyment and happiness. The flowers on her plants give her immense satisfaction. The only
negatives are rare scolding by family. Treatable...
Sixty Mumbaikars watch with rapt attention as Preeti Patil stands before them and carves an apple, a stand-in for planet earth. By the time she is done, there is barely a sliver of an apple left, which she holds up. “That’s all the land we’ve got, to grow food.” A shocked murmur punctuated by a few nervous giggles runs through the heterogeneous crowd of listeners. There are all sorts here, seated in the conference hall inside Maharashtra Nature Park’s education centre—IT professionals, lawyers, doctors, students, the silver-haired, the middle-aged and the pimply adolescents. To them, Preeti is a bit of a celebrity.
They have all read about how she, as the catering officer of Mumbai’s Port Trust, galvanised her department workers into turning the 3,000 sq ft terrace adjoining the canteen into a lush ‘forest’. They are amazed at the fact that her edible garden recycles 20 kg of waste generated by the canteen’s kitchen everyday. They have seen pictures of her garden’s abundant yield on the net. There’s tulsi, mint, startlingly tasty veggies like spinach, okra, brinjal and cherry tomatoes that are often plucked and eaten raw by Port Trust workers—and, of course, fruits like guava, custard apples, mangoes, bananas and even coconuts, harvested from a gigantic palm that rests on the terrace wall. And so here they are, forsaking holiday laziness on a Sunday morning, to learn how to become urban farmers.
Urban farm. The two words seem contradictory. What do the bucolic images we have of lush, fertile farms have to do with the unrelenting grey of urbanisation? Plenty, it seems. World over, urban farms have come to the rescue of city-dwellers in times of crisis. Right after world wars, victory gardens sprouted in the UK, US, Canada and Germany, mostly in urban areas, to bolster food security. As Preeti and others in the urban farming movement say, we in India are on the edge of a crisis too. As our cities grow and expand to meet the needs of their booming populations, we are encroaching on the peri-urban land that meets much of the food needs of our cities. So, in the future, food will travel even longer distances to reach us, increasing our carbon footprint. We will also have to shell out more for our veggies and fruits, as demand increases. And thanks to our dependence on chemical agriculture, we already eat food laced with pesticides and fertilisers and critically low on nutrients.
Driven by these issues, Preeti started the NGO Urban Leaves in November 2009 to promote natueco farming—an organic method that uses easily available biowaste to create a nutrient-rich but light-weight soil mixture they call amrut mitti. In less than a year, attendance at her workshops has doubled from the initial 30, and there is a waiting list for the next one. It is a motley crowd, from Ubai Hussein, a chef-turned-organic farmer, dismayed at the quality of vegetables available in the city’s markets, to airport worker Mavis D’Souza, who once accidentally grew miniature watermelons on her terrace and got hooked. She tracked down Preeti with the tenacity of a bloodhound over the internet and signed up for a workshop. She now lords over her little kitchen garden in Borivili, a Mumbai suburb, feeding friends and neighbours fresh strawberries and lady’s fingers, and gushes about how “even a karela tastes sweet when grown and served with love”.
Fruits Of Labour: Deepak Heilekar, another urban farming guru, on his terrace garden. (Photograph by Apoorva Salkade)
Meanwhile, another urban farming guru, Deepak Heilekar of Marathi Vigyan Parishad, sees a swelling crowd at his own workshops. “I use these workshops to bust common fallacies about terrace farming, that it causes seepage, or that cracks develop because of the weight of the plants,” he explains. Heilekar educates attendees about farming techniques and the need to use lightweight containers for plants, like recycled plastic drums, gunny bags and crates. “While you might have to put in some effort to source biowaste and used drums, the actual cost of setting up your organic terrace farm is minimal. All you’ll probably spend on are the seeds,” he explains.
The mechanics of urban farming apart, the philosophy behind it, of abiding by natural cycles and realising the oneness of things, is drawing professionals from India’s Silicon Valley to urban farming workshops too. When Dr. B.N. Vishwanath, one of the pioneers of organic terrace farming in Bangalore, began holding workshops way back in 1996, the crowd, he recalls, consisted of mostly housewives and retired people. “But since 2008,” he says, “I have seen a sudden spurt in the number of young professionals attending them, mostly from the IT sector.” And why not, he asks. “It cools your house down, gives you oxygen, recycles your waste, and gives you chemical-free vegetables all the year round if you plan properly,” he says. Enough to feed a family? Apparently, yes, according to Vishwanath, who says that six vegetable varieties grown in a 600 sq ft garden can give you 10 kg of fresh veggies every week! His claim is backed by Dr. M. Prabhakar of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, whose department’s experiments have shown that a terrace measuring 1,200 sq ft can easily feed a family of five. That’s quite a reward for about an hour of work everyday, though it does take four months, plus patience, to develop the perfect soil mixture.
Vishwanath realised that to aid the spread of urban farming, it was important to create a sense of community. And so, he took it on himself to organise the first national seminar on organic terrace gardening. Held last month, it allowed urban farmers, horticulture experts, entrepreneurs and scientists from Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi and Bangalore to exchange contacts, strengthen existing e-groups and discuss farming techniques.
For A.M. Malati, who runs her own detective agency in Chennai, as well as an organic farm and a bee farm to boot, it was a heaven-sent opportunity to share her expertise and meet other enthusiasts. Like Moonstar Kaur, for example. Hailing from Chandigarh, this Indie-filmmaker has been growing veggies at her joint-family homestead and also on a plot of land her family owns in the middle of the city. “I think I am the only city farmer in Chandigarh,” she says ruefully. But in nearby Ludhiana, she discovered fellow urban farming buffs, Dinesh and Meenakshi, who grew veggies in broken neon signs and wooden crates. Another seminar participant, Jumana Parkar, has quit her lucrative job as a flight attendant and is volunteering in farms across the country to learn farming techniques. And then there is Vijay Padma, an architect from Hyderabad, who is persuading her clients to set up urban farms on the buildings she designs.
As the movement gathers force, some urban farmers are also getting entrepreneurial. Ubai Hussein, the chef-turned-farmer, has started the Hari Bhari Tokri scheme where signees will receive a weekly basket of his organic veggies, at Rs 100-200, depending on size. Six hundred people signed up within a fortnight of his offer. In Bangalore, Vinay Chandra helps people set up their terrace farms, for Rs 1,000-6,000, plus the cost of materials. He has got 10 farms started in recent months.
Roof Come Alive: D. Padmanabhan of Chennai says the garden can be made profitable (Photograph by R.A. Chandroo)
Dr D. Padmanabhan of Chennai has gone a step further—he wants people to profit from their terrace farms. “You can get an income of up to Rs 4 per sq ft per month. So I help set up commercial farms for people who have a terrace area of 2,000 sq ft or more.” With people like these around, the idea of sustainable cities seems less and less of a pipedream. Maybe, just maybe, in 2050, when you stand on the tower of a skyscraper, there will be no greys—only greens.
Which is the perfect healthy food for me and my family?
How can I better my relationships with my neighbors?
How can I cope with rising prices of vegetables?
Wont it be wonderful to grow my own herbs?
How can I do my bit to help reduce global warming?
Well….. There is one creative skill which can which help you cope.
Wish to learn the same?
Yes! We all do! But as they say, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Most of the time our best intentions remain just that!Wishful thinking.
Here’s a chance to learn and act….
Click on image to enlarge
JOIN US AND LEARN TO GROW YOUR OWN FOOD!
You are what you eat. Come learn how we at Urban Leaves nourish our bodies and souls through the practice of city farming. Natueco Farming and building Amrut Mitti gives us a holistic perspective about how the food we eat is related to all these issues. We hope the workshop will give you both the motivation to start growing your own food and the tools and the network to help you do so.
URBAN LEAVES (an Initiative of Vidya Varidhi Trust) conducts workshops on “How to initiate your own Natueco City Farm" at Maharashtra Nature Park ( MNP ) from time to time. The sessions are conducted by Preeti Patil who manages one of the most successful city farms in Mumbai. Preeti has been in charge of this award winning terrace farm since its inception 10 years ago and today with full grown trees, herbs, vegetables and a variety of fruit trees, it stands testimony to the fact that urban farms are very doable.
The detailed address of Maharashtra Nature Park (also called as Mahim Nature Park) is
Maharashtra Nature Park Society,
Sion Bandra Link Road,
Near Dharavi Bus Depot,
Dharavi Mumbai 400017
tel: 2407 9939 / 2407 7641
On Central Line one can get down at Sion station and take an auto.On Western line it is close to Bandra and Mahim station.
In spite of the heavy rains we saw a wonderful turnout
for the workshop!
Great photos : courtesy Aditi and Prajakta
The entrance to the auditorium at MNP
The participants tried to hop, skip, jump and find their way into the auditorium. Why so?
There are four entrances to the auditorium.The two front entrances were covered from top to bottom by plastic waste and elastic rubber. After everyone settled down,a short discussion on perception of the participants on the above followed. The blocked entrances signified a finite boundary. Just like Earth which has a finite boundary, beyond which we cannot go.
The shortest and easiest route was full of plastic, and crap which people use, throw and collect in their environment. The longest route was open without hurdles, surrounded by greenery, but alas not much used!
In our daily lives too, each of us are given choices of the path we can take.Sometimes we have to go away from the path most used to find our way to the sustainable destination.
Neesha gave a welcome and introduction to the
program and demonstrated some warm up activities
for the participants. She brought the group together
with a song of the earth.
Monisha began her talk with a presentation on
waste and her experiences at Dharavi. Some
of the interactions and presentations are noted here:
What is Waste:
W orthless, toxic
A dverse
S melly
T hrow away
E eeky
Today Dharavi the hub of waste recycling in Mumbai is considered a - flourishing industry, Energy efficient as the people who work there do so in dark dingy spaces without any light connection, Low labor, low cost, as most of them are children.
But ecologically can it be called as flourishing? Toxic products, Water and other products recycled without purifying can be dangerous to the already polluted environment. Products need to be ecologically mapped with Carbon footprint indicated on every label.
Facts about Mumbai Mahanagarpalika ( The Municipal Corporation)
15 million residents in Mumbai
6500 tons solid waste
2500 construction waste
983 municipal and private vehicles- 1400 trips
30000 man power
1000 crore budget
Each truck uses fuel – and the cost is paid by you.
There are 3 landfills in Mumbai – Gorai (unused now), Mulund and Deonar. A new one is planned at Kanjur Marg.
At Deonar: Plastic bags, shoes, batteries are heaped up at the landfills. The garbage is 20 feet deep and 30 feet high. Methane gas - Smelly chokes the nostrils. People look like dolls. Bottles are segregated here and recycled.
Life span of waste
Banana Peel: 3-4 weeks
Paper bags: 1 month
Cotton bags: 5 months.
Woollen socks” 1 year
Wood: 15 years
Nylon: 30 years
Leather: 50 years
Tin cans: 250 years
Plastic: 10 lakh years
Glass: 10 lakh years (100% recyclable)
Styrofoam: Eternity – Highly Toxic.
Burning waste is more toxic. Polymers of plastic release methane when heated. Try pouring hot tea in a plastic pouch and see the effect.
Vishal one of the volunteers with RUR informed: “Burning plastic releases methane, ethane, hydrocarbon gases like CO and CO2 . Poly ethelene PET bottles are reused but not recyclable. Reliance recycles these bottles nowadays into clothing.”
Knowing the ecological footprint of mineral water bottles, it is good to avoid buying mineral water. You can survive without it.
Plastic absorbs, transports and releases pollutants
Water: 70 million tonnes of floating waste goes down the drain through the Mithi river to Arabian sea and all the way to the Carribean.
Garbage can form islands –
The great garbage patch. Watch the harsh reality.
How do we love the earth?
Poem written by the RUR team was read out
One which made many eyes moist.
“Landfill” Live
Me and my friends from RUR
Went on a trip to Deonar
Not a tree in sight , Not a bird to hear
Only stench that warns us not to go near
A bird flies by along a plane,
choked by deadly Methane
Buffaloes grazing on the brink
Wonder, is that the milk we drink?
Few of us are bold to climb
To reach the top of that grime
The Green BMC trucks , The Yellow Earth Movers
Dot the skyline!
We see many little rag pickers
Smile for our camera flickers
From plastic packets to shoe soles
It pinches to see our earths decaying soul
What a waste of waste?
Its our little ones future we kill
Why Cant we live without a landfill?
--RUR TEAM
What is the root of the problem? Where does the solution lie? Watch the film. The story of stuff.
Please Reduce, Reuse,Recycle.
Demo on home composting followed:
Our experience in home composting has been successful. Home composting imitates nature. In the jungle, this process is natural. Organic waste becomes soil. The waste is composted by micro organisms. This is the cycle of waste.
1.Aerated compost bin. Bins require aeration. Investment can be anything between Rs 50/- for a plastic bucket to 1500 for a fancy pot. Use plastic buckets with holes at bottom or perforated containers. (Add worms). Put wet waste in these containers. (Heated screw driver is ideal for making holes in plastic). Size of bucket depends on number of people staying in the house.
Bucket is placed in a window grill
3.ATM is the key– Ensure Air Temperature Moisture Balance
4.Add wet waste daily (chop up waste with knife or scissors)
5.Add dry waste like leaves, sawdust, dung 2ce a week
6.Mix the layers once daily . (organic enzymes may be used to quicken the decomposition)
M Maggots may appear in the mixture. Smells may come. Keep the mixture covered and sufficiently away at a distance from you. Maggots like their food, they wont come to you.
There is no danger to health. At most fruit flies may come if you are careless. Chop waste finely to avoid fruit flies.
Group activity
Green minds get together to create
advertisements for green products.
Below:Grass root Volunteer from
Stri Mukti Sanghatna sharing her experiences.
The session ended with a live demo on how to make
recycled paper from used TETRA PAK Packages
The participant green kits included a reuseable RUR cloth bag,
with a notebook recycled from used TETRA PAK Packages
After the patient loving preparation of Amrut Mitti, sowing seeds and taking care, our volunteers enjoyed the first harvest of a vegetable grown by themselves this Sunday, the 22nd of August.
The gourd creeper had grown and spread all over, beyond the trellis on to the solar panel ( which is not currently in use ).
We were overjoyed to see the many flowers, which promised us a good harvest!
Seeing a gourd on almost every node brought a sense of amazement, wonder and abundance.This gourd resembled the snake gourd but did not grow long. The ones which we kept on the plant thinking that they will grow longer , became quite overripe and fell off.
So it was time to harvest the little ones which looked ready to be plucked.
However we wondered which variety this was. Since we had procured variety of organic seeds from different sources, there was not much info or pictures on the seed packets for us to be sure of what our produce was going to look like! Had never seen short snake gourd variety. Amongst ourselves there were suggestions of tying a thread with a stone to the bottom of the gourd to make it longer etc..which made me surf the net for the reason of this small size. i was overjoyed to find this info on this site
This Snake Gourd variety is native to India. Fruits have light greenish white skin with green stripe shoulder, about 12 inches long and 2.5 inches in diameter. The plant is very vigorous in warm climates and produces lots of fruits for a long time. Fruits are harvested when they are young and are very popular in Indian cooking.
Cucumbers from just one vine earlier this year and currently has some good Papayas hanging from a tree. She has also planted Drumstick, Jackfruit, Banyan and Jamun trees. Flowering plants such as Anant, Red Passion Flower, Parijatak, Bakul, Sonchampa, Ratrani and Roses adorn her veranda. Being from a Zoology background, I was also delighted to see a large container for water. Her ground floor flat with space around it and her zeal are the reasons I feel that her garden can also have a nice butterfly plant section as well as a frog pond. 
Cucumbers from just one vine earlier this year and currently has some good Papayas hanging from a tree. She has also planted Drumstick, Jackfruit, Banyan and Jamun trees. Flowering plants such as Anant, Red Passion Flower, Parijatak, Bakul, Sonchampa, Ratrani and Roses adorn her veranda. Being from a Zoology background, I was also delighted to see a large container for water. Her ground floor flat with space around it and her zeal are the reasons I feel that her garden can also have a nice butterfly plant section as well as a frog pond. 
