An Introduction to Permaculture through local foods. Why would anyone want to start permaculture in the first place? Surely it is because we want to eat healthy and tasty food. In this very popular mini-workshop, we take participants around the farm and share with them the narrative of natural farming and non-interventional agriculture in practice.

As we explore how a food forest emerges and see the principles of permaculture in a real-time context, we harvest a diversity of local foods that are a snapshot of what Mother Nature offers us in this particular season. We especially look at edible weeds, the colors of cultural nutritional heritage.

In Tamil Nadu, they include such plants as balloon vine, climbing pea brinjal ( Tuduvali ), Devils backbone ( pirandai ), a host of the local wild spinaches, and various flowers such as the butterfly pea. Along with these weeds that exemplify the characteristics of local food, we also explore foods that are overlooked, like the green papaya and banana stem.

The participants then head back to the kitchen, where after a refreshing butterfly pea cooler or bael fruit juice, we clean and prepare the ingredients and create an incredible salad. It is truly amazing to see the reaction of the participants, some of who never eat salads. There is a sense of empowerment, a realization that from my relationship with the plants that grow

around me, I can nourish myself. I have started on the road back to Nature. I have started to reclaim my cultural nutritional identity.