Mumbai celebrates World Kitchen Garden Day 2013

An irony that the World Kitchen Garden Day needs to be celebrated indoors every year in Mumbai due to heavy rains. But that does not stop the crowd of more than 200 spirited gardeners from having a gala time!
Check out at leisure about how Mumbai celebrated this Day. 

"I was sitting on a fence post, slapping on my left knee
chewing on my bubblegum, CHOMP!.. CHOMP!..CHOMP!..CHOMP!
playing with my YO-YO, DOO-WOP!.. DOO -WOP!, DOO-WOP!
And watching the birds fly by and then along came HERMAN THE WORM..."

The World Kitchen Garden Day's ice breaking session started with the participants moving to the beats of this song . The AV hall at Maharashtra Nature Park rang with the sounds of laughter as  the participants  lead by Mirabelle D'chunha danced to this song. Young and old all joined in the fun as we tried to get people to connect.

This was followed by a beautiful song sung and written  by our very own Swati Barve

People from all over Mumbai had converged on to the Maharashtra Nature Park, Mahim to join the World Kitchen Garden day celebrations. This was first time that all urban farming groups in Mumbai came together to celebrate. Mumbai is a huge city and the objective of the celebration was to provide a platform to kitchen gardeners to connect with other like minded people and kitchen gardening groups in their local areas to take the movement forward.

All participants gathered at the Maharashtra Nature Park

The principles of open space

It was the first time that an Urban Leaves event was  based on a format inspired by the Open spaces philosophy. We had multiple sessions offered by participants running in parallel at various spaces in the spirit of "Giftivism". Participants had the freedom to attend any session that interested them. Since this was our maiden attempt at this format or unFormat it was challenging for the organizing team us as well as for the participants.

IN THE A V HALL ICE BREAKING

The first half of the event was a little chaotic with participants tried to first understand the format as well as tried to reach a decision about which workshop to attend. The choices were so enticing that it was difficult for many to reach a decision. 

It was  vibrant a "Mela" (Fair) of people moving around like bees  trying to gather the honey of knowledge from various flowers. 

Monisha Narke from RUR : explaining composting

Sky Williams from GREEN SOULS GROUP ACTIVE IN NEW MUMBAI

Purvita Kapadia and Vipul Sanghavi teaching Amrut Mitti and building trellises

We had workshops/discussions  hosted by Blooms, Green Souls, Urban Leaves, RUR happening simultaneously  in various spaces. We had Square Foot Gardening (Prakash Shetty), Window sill gardening ( Priyanka ) Home composting (Monisha Narke) , Agnihotra (Vidya Didwania) , a biodiversity walk (Aristo Mendes), Introduction to Bees (Anand Manjrekar) , Compost tea (Nitya Anand), Children's activities (Mrunalini Gole) running in parallel in the first half of the event.

All about Bee Keeping

Mrunalini Gole with kids

Prakash Shetty and his demo on sq ft gardening.

Saroj Chaudhary and Abha Gupta wowed the participants with recipes made from fresh and seasonal produce like palak (Spinach), shewga (moringa) leaves, paan (betel e)leaves. Who would have thought that the humble palak will taste so heavenly as a roll, or that we can make laddu's out of pan leaves or a chatpata chat could be made with these seasonal vegetables.

Nitya Anand and her compost Tea

Saroj Choudhary and her healthy delicious recipes

Abha Gupta taking a session on healthy recipes

Art from waste by Kala Ponnuri

Post lunch we had sessions on Seed saving (Gaurang Barrot) , Designing a food forest (Preeti Patil), Making toys from recyclable items  at home (Kala Ponnuri), Amrut jal and Amrut Mitti (Purvita Kapadia), Trellis making (Vipul Sanghavi).

A delicious Lunch by The Health Awareness Center delighted everyone with their mouth watering healthy specialties.  While all activities were happening we had a steady stream of visitors to the "Do nothing tapari" for a sip of the refreshing herbal tea along with jhal mudhi(a puffed rice bhel snack). This was last minute addition provided by Shammi Nanda to enable participants to just chill out in a corner and connect over a cup of hot herbal tea. Shammi also guided us throughout organising the open space unformat of the event.

Ingredients for herbal Tea

A special feature during the day was a session conducted by him on the lines of Non Violent Communication. A problem that we all encounter in our urban areas is that of our housing societies disallowing members to plant kitchen gardens. Shammi's session focused on how to deal with such societies and convince them. There were many takers for this session too.

An important session by Tejal Vishweshwar regarding the threat of GMO'S in our food called Need, Weed,Seed highlighted the importance of kitchen gardeners and farmers and consumers taking the step  to ensure food safety. And how one could ensure self sufficiency and learning through activities like kitchen gardening.

Herman or rather Herman-jeet the worm once again made the participants sway to his tune in the closing circle.

Our behind the scenes hard working team.

All this would not have been possible without our behind the scenes volunteers who strove before, during and after the event to make it a success. Neesha Noronha thank you for giving shape to the unformat chart through your creative inputs. Amit Malgaonkar, Kavita and Hemant Khosla, Bhagyashree Kelkar, Hemali Mehta, Joslyn Almeida, Prema Aiyer, Sheetal Sanghvi, Ashfaq Ahmed thank you for being there and providing your support.  A special thank you to Prajakta Patil, Trisha Basu and Samir Jain for covering the event through their lenses. The beautiful photographs of the event are the fruits of their efforts. The feedback that we received from the participants  post the event is positive and encouraging with valuable suggestions for improvement. Many commented that it was difficult for them to make a choice regarding which workshop they should attend as there were so many to choose from. 

This is true especially for a society which is so used to having things decided for them. Having  freedom to make a decision for self learning is something we all are not used to, as this natural instinct is stifled in our current schools and in our society. 

Our learnings from the events were many: We learnt that people need to understand and be prepared for a little chaos in the beginning. 

Although we had announced the format on our blog and our networks, had requested participants to connect prior to event, many had not read or seen these posts and were therefore unaware of what would be involved. We hope as years go by we will be able to help people understand this format better and get involved more deeply.

We also learnt that this unFormat has something to offer to everyone right from a  novice to people already on the path of urban gardening. It also makes people think and take a conscious decision and focus on what they currently need, (there's a world of difference in what we want and what we need and in life) to move on with their work. For those who haven't started on, it gives a chance to explore and  experience. 

Thank you all for making this event such an eventful one. There was learning in it for all of us, from un-Organizing to hosting workshops and discussion in open spaces. To those who felt a little disappointed at not being able to take it all, we would like to share that we have noted your feedback and hope to help you understand the process of open spaces a little better. The highlight of the event as we experienced it was the opportunity that so many of us got to showcase what we were doing in this field of kitchen gardening.  New talents emerged. New friendships were made. Focus this year was to facilitate networking and new friendships.

For more detailed photos of the event, CLICK HERE.

Garlands made from kitchen waste adorn our necks and delight our hearts!

Wishing everyone a great year ahead for growing their kitchen gardens and selves

Team Urban Leaves

Share Seeds, Saplings, Experiences, Stories, Harvest and Smiles on World Kitchen Garden Day - 25th August 2013

Once again it is time to celebrate doing what we love to do. Gardening! Growing our own food! What better way than to come together and share seeds, saplings, experiences, stories, harvests and smiles.....to relive those joyous moments of growing our own food, the challenges we faced and how we overcame those . 

While all this has been happening in many small pockets around the country and the world, at a macro level our food and farming are under threat from many sides. Pesticides, genetic modification and adulterants threaten our food and well being on one hand while farmers are suffering at the other. So our learning and work to grow our own food takes on a new urgency and is becoming increasingly relevant and critical to the well being of one and all. 

For the last four years the expanding community of Urban Leaves members from diverse backgrounds has been growing some of their food on their window sills, balconies, terraces and open spaces and within community gardens. The group has discovered acres of land to grow food in this space starved Mumbai City. While doing this we have forged new friendships, shared creative tips and learnt the importance of building a socially aware, supportive communities. 

Mumbai urban farming groups have now come  together  this  year   to co-create an interactive gardening event . Urban  Leaves, Green Souls, Fresh and Local,  Blooms, Earthoholics  we hope the bandwagon grows.... It will be a daylong event from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm.

This year we invite schools and housing societies to join us.Schools can sow the seeds of a urban farming in the young minds of children and housing societies can carry forward the initiative at a community level. The idea is that World Kitchen Garden day can serve as a platform for schools and housing societies to interact and initiate new projects  with groups working in their areas. These new relationships will play a pivotal role in taking this movement forward. 

We all have attended conferences and seminars. We have listened to wonderful and inspiring speakers and have been motivated by them. However it is often the very simple solutions offered across discussions /personal exchanges that have helped us in our day to day lives. This is precisely the kind of exchange we wish takes place on the World Kitchen Garden Day. 

Since the movement began there are so many of our friends who have evolved as gardeners, gained experience in growing food, dealing with waste, starting new community gardens and found creative ways of dialogue with our neighbors to bring in new ways of thinking. Sharing these experiences is what will enrich all of us- learning from each other! 

A few members attended the Learning Societies Unconference  this year and are inspired to try the same format or un-format on World Kitchen Garden day.

What is an un-Conference?

We will have small parallel workshops, informal gatherings where people will share their knowledge with each other in smaller more intimate settings with a deeper level of sharing. There are no keynote speakers or rigid agendas, the participants themselves co-create the structure, share and connect resulting in one of the simplest, most brilliant combinations of order and chaos.

How can you get involved? 

Suggest topics for workshops and discussions:

The topics already suggested are listed below. Review them, send more suggestions!

The topics range from:

• Waste recycling/kitchen waste composting
• Window sill / balcony gardening
• Composting, urban farming by Housing Societies
• Terrace gardens - designing and converting to productive spaces like a food forest
• Saving seeds
• More on Amrut Mitti ( although we can’t make this in monsoon)
• Gardening tips (mulching, pruning, building trellises, grafting... etc...)
• Exchange recipes and tips on cooking healthy meals with produce grown in our gardens

Offer workshops / share experiences on any relevant topic they may wish to and /contribute to this list.

Participants can offer these exchanges through gift workshops. We hope kitchen gardeners will come forward to gift and exchange/share experiences. This can be pre-decided and discussed and any one of you willing to share may please write to us @ urbanleaves at gmail dot com.

Register for the World Kitchen Garden Day And join the discussion  through our exchanges on the World Kitchen Day Group page on FB

As you register, you can become a member of our Facebook group WKG Day and start interacting with participants. This continued interaction will evolve into the final structure of the World Kitchen Garden Day which will be shared with everyone by the 21st of August.  So come share your ideas so that together we can shape the events of this day and in this process forge new friendships and bonds.

Let us together LEARN UNLEARN and RELEARN. (Alvin Toffler)

In case of any doubts please refer to our set of FAQs HERE.

For Registration Information CLICK HERE

Team Urban Leaves

Think.Eat.Save.

Think before you eat and help save our environment! This is the theme put forward by UN this year for World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, 2013.

When I saw this, I was reminded of an incident long ago, our son, who was and is a food lover, was found gorging on cheese slices (a novelty which was introduced by Amul at that time). He could down a few of them without a thought. We told him, “You should think of how this will impact your health, before you eat so much of this”; the 12 year old famously responded, “You think, I eat”.

Our son who said that years back, today does think about his food; about its health impacts and maybe also its environmental impacts but not as much as we, his parents, do. We have become, since the last decade, very conscious about our food (adverse health impacts, low nutritional content, lack of taste)and its food print (toxin load, food miles, food wastage, fair prices for farmers, loss of agro-biodiversity due to narrow choice of foods, corporate control) on the environment  and society. Therefore we decided a few years back to opt for organic (certified and non-certified), local and seasonal. We have managed fairly well.

While evangelising about this, we encounter objections about price, availability and opinions about it being a fad. To that our response is  let us pause a moment and think about how much we are willing to do for our children, their health, their careers, their future, why is it that  their fundamental need  for healthy, toxin free food is neglected? Why can’t we invest some time and money in it? Yes, it is an investment, not an expense. In addition, through this process of eating local, seasonal, organic (natural), the environment benefits, and that will be our biggest contribution to our children’s future- much more than the education, opportunities and wealth that we will give them.

We have personally only succeeded in buying local; the next move for us is to grow our food. Growing food is one of the simplest and most effective ways of reducing our foodprint on the planet. Urban Leaves, through its community gardens, is providing that precious skill; empowering us to grow our food naturally. It is also one of the ways to combat toxins and pesticides in food. Another important facet of this is to reduce food wastage in our homes.

At this juncture I can’t but bring up the issue of genetically modified (GM) foods, which is the other serious threat to our food safety and sovereignty. Even though no GM food crops have been approved in India, many of the refined oils that we consume today contain cotton seed oil (and cotton seed oil is also sold directly); almost 95% of cotton in India is Bt cotton. It would be terrible if we jump from the cauldron of pesticides into the fire of GMOs!

Three years back Indians opposed Bt brinjal and let the government know that we want to be GM free. But currently a bill has been tabled in the Parliament , during the last session, called the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI)  Bill , which if passed, would create a single window mechanism for clearing GM crops without taking into account public opposition or opposition even from state governments. One of the fundamental flaws in the bill is that the regulatory authority will be housed with the Ministry of Science & Technology whose mandate is to promote GM crops. The Bill has provisions that would curtail disclosure of information, restrict contesting the decisions of the BRAI, almost no avenue for public participation and diluted legal liability

Our governments (state and centre) and politicians need to hear from us loud and clear that we do not need GM foods and we do not want this BRAI bill! We also want a ban on toxins in our food. Let us act at a personal and collective level to bring about this change- by eating right, reducing food waste, growing food and speaking up. So on this World Environment Day, let us Think, Eat, Save and Act to protect our food and seed sovereignty, and environment.

Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty

Devi is one of the founding members of Urban Leaves 

BE A PART OF THE GREEN TRANSFORMATION

“What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare “

---- William Henry Davies

Doesn't this poem which we all learnt in our school days ring true to our ears today? In the fast paced lives we live today we have lost our bond with Mother Nature.  We long for long lost gardens and green spaces in the concrete jungles of Mumbai, we long for pure and safe food for us and our loved ones, we long for the pure and unadulterated joy of playing with  soil……

Do you want to be a part of a dream which envisions green food forests and farms on terraces and spaces spread all across Mumbai? Do you want learn the magic of transforming this Grey

INTO this Green?

and PRODUCTIVE one?

Then join us to give wings to our dreams and be a part of this transformation which will not only transform spaces but will also transform you……

Urban Leaves is laying the foundations of  community farms spread across Mumbai.  The details of the project  initiatives  are as follows:

LOCATION	DATE	TIME
Gopal's Garden High School Borivali (East), Mumbai	Saturday,  27th April 2013	8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Bhavan's Nature & Adventure Center    Andheri(West), Mumbai	Wednesday,   1st May 2013	8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
ISKCON Temple, Babulnath, Mumbai	Saturday,  4th May 2013	8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Don Bosco High School, Matunga(East), Mumbai	Sunday,  5th May 2013	8:00 AM to 10:00 AM

For more details check the calendar .

(There’s another proposed project by Mumbai Port Trust at Sagar Upwan (MbPT Garden, Colaba), please keep track of the calendar for details.)

There will be regular weekly volunteer opportunities where u can volunteer with like minded urban farmers and learn the art. For logistics purposes those coming, please use this form where you can opt for the events that you are planning to attend. Please fill in your name and email and select the events that you plan to attend

     

You can drop us an email with your choices at:  urbanleaves@gmail.com


To Many more happy gardening times together

Amit Malgaonkar

For 
Team Urban Leaves

Amrut Mitti Workshops in April 2013

Dear Friends,

Winter and fall are behind us and spring is here. Trees have shed their old leaves and are welcoming spring with vibrant colors and new life. The ground is covered with a bounty (leaves) whose complete value is still unknown to us !

Come join us in making use of this bounty for preparing Amrut Mitti: a microbially and nutritionally rich soil. This will be your first step towards the natueco organic way of kitchen gardening.

Topics Covered:

• Understanding the importance of Amrut Mitti
• Amrut Jal Demonstration
• Hands on activity of making Amrut Mitti
• How can Amrut Mitti be used
• What can be grown
• Sowing calendar
• Q&A

Urban leaves is also taking up a few community projects at various locations in Mumbai. You can participate in these projects as Urban leaves volunteers. This will not only provide you with valuable experience for your own kitchen garden but will also give you an opportunity to network with like minded souls and  help you to contribute meaningfully to the community.

VENUE	Maharashtra Nature Park, Gate No. 2, Mahim, Opp Dharavi Bus Depot
DATE	Workshop I:   Sunday - 21st April 2013 - Making of Amrut Mitti Workshop II:  Sunday - 28th April 2013 - Making of Amrut Mitti You can register for any one of the workshops. MAX. Intake: 30 persons  per session
TIME	8:30 am to 12:30 pm
FEES	Rs.500/- per person per session
MODE OF PAYMENT	Cheque Drawn in favour of "VIDYA VAARIDHI TRUST"  and courier to : Mr. Uday Acharya Vidya Vaaridhi Trust, A-101 Mani Bhavan, 11th Road, Chembur Mumbai 400071. ECS Transfer Account Name:                 VIDYA VAARIDHI TRUST Saving Account No:           52009032981 PAN Number of Trust:       AAATV2294B Bank:                               State Bank of Hyderabad Type of Bank A/c:            Savings Address of the Branch:     1st Road, Near M-Ward Office, Chembur Mumbai 400071 IFSC Code of Bank:           SBHY0020408 Please send us the details of the transfer by email

Please register to avail confirmed seat. Click for registration form.

Concession is available to those who need it. Kindly contact us.

Lots of smiles
Happy Gardening

Team
Urban Leaves

National Safe Food Day 9th Feb

Why celebrate National Safe Food day?

When we started the Urban Leaves project Preeti brought the knowledge and passion, Jyoti the determination, Uday Acharya spread peace and I introduced the politics! My politics was and is food!  While we spent week after week making Amrut Mitti, I kept plugging away about GM food and the impending arrival of Bt brinjal on our plates.  This was in 2009, by then all of us had watched ‘Poison on the Platter’, the documentary film by Ajay Kanchan, narrated by Mahesh Bhatt,  and were convinced that we had to stop Bt brinjal. We screened Poison on the Platter, we held talks on GM crops, during one of which Vasant Bhau a veteran organic farmer from Warud, Maharashtra, spoke passionately to Mumbaites about the Bt cotton crisis, shocking many in the audience, who thought that it was a distant problem, not connected to them.

As our piles of Amrut Mitti grew so did the Bt brinjal campaign around the country. Then in October 2009, GEAC recommended Bt brinjal for commercialisation and the Minister for Environment & Forests announced that he will seek feedback and hold public consultations before taking a decision on Bt brinjal. After  a series of public consultations (which many of us from Mumbai went to Ahmedabad and Nagpur to attend) the Minister on February 9, 2010 declared a moratorium on Bt brinjal citing numerous concerns expressed by scientists, state governments and the public.

The moratorium is upheld even today, three years later, however the biotech industry is leaving no stone unturned to get Bt brinjal and other GM crops in the pipeline approved. Therefore, we can’t say the battle for brinjal is over, we have to be watchful and keep ourselves abreast and aware. Since, 2011, February 9^th is being celebrated every year as National Safe Food Day to remind every one of us to be ever vigilant about our food sovereignty!

Urban farmers and Safe food!

Urban food farmers and safe food are inextricably connected, the raison d’être of urban food farming is to provide local, healthy, safe food!  The connection is amply  evident in Urban Leaves’ work and celebrations. We grow seasonal and local vegetables and fruits.  We serve healthy vegan food during our events, we celebrate world kitchen garden day with vegetables grown in our patches and pots, and we promote healthy eating along with growing food and our motto is “reap what you sow, eat what you grow”.

Variety of Brinjals grown in our community garden at MNP

  

Our Sunday harvest

So, this year on February 9^th, I invite all urban gardeners and all of us who eat food (because it concerns every one of us) to join hands to keep our food safe from GMOs and toxins. Check out events at http://nationalsafefoodday2013.blogspot.com.  There are events in Mumbai,  please join!  If you are unable to join the events, design your own events in the community, in the neighbourhood or start you own safe food tradition at home and blog about it. Make this a joyous occasion!

In addition to ensuring safe food through growing it, urban food farmers should also take on the responsibility of saving seed. Conserving and multiplying open pollinated traditional seeds is one way that urban farmers can work towards seed sovereignty. Here is the link to a lovely leaflet from  Annadana on how to save seeds of traditional varieties of brinjal!  

Happy Safe Food Day! I hope many urban farmers will save brinjal seeds (and that of other vegetables) as our contribution to seed sovereignty and food safety!

For more information:

¾     Visit : http://www.facebook.com/events/390953627662426/?fref=ts

¾     Check: www.indiagminfo.org

Many of you would already have watched , also send it to friends and family:

Poison on the Platter here it is in Hindi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qk9leT5kzY  &

World According to Monsanto, in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6_DbVdVo-k

Devi Lakshmikutty 

For team

urban Leaves

Vidya Varidhi Trust