The step after composting is to grow food.
A few decades back, the food grown in the backyards of most homes and in the fields by farmers were with natural plant promoters like animal dung , compost, vermi compost, panchagavya, crop rotation etc. All these eventually changed to synthetic and chemical fertilizers to give more yield. Today, we are back to this natural way of growing which has been marketed as Organic farming* and the yield as Organic food.
A few decades back, the food grown in the backyards of most homes and in the fields by farmers were with natural plant promoters like animal dung , compost, vermi compost, panchagavya, crop rotation etc. All these eventually changed to synthetic and chemical fertilizers to give more yield. Today, we are back to this natural way of growing which has been marketed as Organic farming* and the yield as Organic food.
Organic! organic!!
Organic!!!
That is one of the new glamour word today that media talks especially with respect to food
. Today, we add organic additives to
improve the health of the soil. And one of the organic additives which adds
soul to the soil is compost. So after
composting, the next natural step for me was to grow organic food and thus
started my zero mile food journey. I
have already elaborated how I started in this post here.
In a time when even front yard and back yard spaces are shrinking and we live in apartments most of us turn to our balcony to add some green cover. Since
my balcony space which receives sunlight is a small area (3 feet X 1 Feet), I
upcycled a few small containers and started growing simple greens using seeds
from my kitchen spice box. Today, I have graduated to growing potatoes( work in
progress) using hilling method and hopefully I should harvest a radish in 2
weeks.
Other than that, apart from the sensory carnivals this patch throws, it gives me safe and healthy food like a sprig of curry leaf or I harvest
that tuft of methi, coriander or a few leaves of alternanthera, mint, a
tomato or chilly sometimes.
A very small journey but I am glad I made a beginning……
Here’s presenting my bursts of freshness that adds an extra
zing on my plate.
*Organic farming makes
sure that every product it cultivates has full amount of nutrients which will
benefit the end user to a large extent. Besides, organic farming or agriculture
is the only way through which you can turn waste into complete nutrients and support a sustainable environment too.
day6/7 weekathon
This one you had written about earlier. You are a farmer truly in spirit. To grow so much in an apartment is simply wonderful. Potatoes ?? Wow !
ReplyDeleteHow do you manage when you travel ? Do you have somebody to tend to your plants ?
Yes Ramesh, have written many times and can still keep writing about this little green patch of mine. yaayy! Thanks for calling me a farmer...i am liking it.
ReplyDeletePotatoes, yes...fingers crossed on this. I transfer the green patch to the porch and my servant will water the plants. But most of plants are seasonal so i mostly harvest them between 2 weeks to 2 months like methi coriander etc...the rest like chilli pots gets transferred to porch when i travel.