I had always been interested in growing my own vegetables and fruits. But given my transferable job, I couldn’t pursue this interest consistently. When I came to live near Auroville, it didn’t take long for me to discover Solitude Farm! After binge-watching Krishna Mckenzie’s videos on Youtube, I signed up for the Permaculture Workshop on the Sankranthi weekend in January 2022. In those three days, I learned so many things and, most importantly, unlearnt many things. I experienced a feeling of epiphany learning that the best farming technique is to do nothing! There is so much in nature that is to be discovered, and consuming local foods is a way of honoring local culture and traditions.

After discovering and starting the use of local weeds like Portulaca stems Wild passion fruit leaves, Mudakathan, Manathakkali, Thoothi in my vicinity, and Pirandai, Kozhi keerai, Thoothuvalai, Sundakaya, etc., in the local market, my desire to develop a mini food forest made me rent a small plot & start my permaculture practice in August 2022.

There was never a dull moment ever since! There have always been some leafy greens or some vegetables or some fruit or some tuber sprouting up on their own or through our intervention. It started with my harvesting Mookirattai keerai, coming up in plenty apart from Kuppa keerai, Thoothi, Golden berries, etc., while the seeds I spread took root in the beds between the trenches filled with organic matter from around our place. The big huge pumpkins, bottle gourds, beans, and Tomatoes thrilled us to bits.

We had a lot of tapioca, green chilies, brinjals, and wild brinjals harvested, not to speak of plenty of Vallari, Ponnaganti, Pudina, Chaya, and other leafy vegetables. The majority of the days in a week, we consume produce from the farm and are happier for the health benefits and our easy access to nutritional diversity. The social benefits of sharing our excess farm produce around and talking about old recipes/discovering new recipes are invaluable.

Some of my friends who are inspired by the produce and recipes visit me and learn stuff from me. Some of them who are uninitiated into permaculture practices look at my food forest and comment that it doesn’t look that well-maintained/manicured! Then I hold forth about Permaculture, Fukuoka, Solitude farm, Krishna Mckenzie, Lifestyle for environment…