Farming in flats
October 2013
Urbanites may be cramped for space in their houses, but their desire to enjoy the fruits of a kitchen garden has birthed many innovative ideas. This was evident in the World Kitchen Garden Day celebrated on August 25, by environment enthusiasts in Mumbai.
Participants throng to learn the technique
of creating Amrit mitti at the event Organised by a group called Urban Leaves, in Maharashtra Nature Park, Sion, the event saw huge participation from people looking for healthy, home-grown organic alternatives to the pesticide- and chemical fertiliser-fed fruits and vegetables available in the market.
Started five years ago in the USA by Roger Doiron, founder of World Kitchen Gardeners International, a non-profit network of over 25,000 people from 100 countries, it has swiftly been adopted by nature enthusiasts the world over. The format of the programme was in the form of an unconference. The bulletin board read workshops such as Food forest on rooftop, Square foot garden, Kids tyre garden, Composting, Green soil, Agnihotra, Windowsill gardening, Art around house, Zero-oil cooking, Compost tea making, Self-watering plants, Honey bee farming, Kitchen gardening products, Amrit mitti and Amrit jal, a discourse on GM foods, Nature walk, Yoga for good health, Seed saving, Non-violent communication and so on.
The event brought almost all the environment groups of Mumbai viz RUR, Earthoholics, Green Souls, Blooms and Urban Leaves, under one roof.
With all the workshops being held simultaneously, participants were free to attend as many as they wanted. As the event progressed there was a flurry among attendees to capture as much as possible from every kiosk. Priyanka Kumari’s window sill gardening, Saroj Chowdhary’s oil-less cooking, Monisha Narke’s waste composting, Kala Ponnuri’s Art around house workshops were huge hits.
The lunch too was sumptuous, made from organic vegetables grown in terraces and balconies. Said Sujata Pilinga Rao, “I manage a hotel in South Mumbai. Naturally, we produce a lot of waste in the form of vegetable peels and left over food. By learning to convert it into organic manure, we can save a lot on the average daily waste produce.”
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