Monday, September 11, 2017

KITCHEN GARDENING WORKSHOP

Through Swacch Parle Abhiyan we invited Purvi, Bhavana and Nilima to conduct a 'Organic Kitchen Gardening Workshop' In Parle. We had it yesterday.

It was 4 hours of pure learning of the best sort- The team took us from the basics to the complexities and the philosophy to the benefits of Kitchen Gardening. Why did SPA and I get involved?

Many folks have been resisting composting by giving excuse that 'what to do with the compost?'. So organic gardening is the answer. And some people are motivated for composting through organic gardening. As an environmentalist and doctor- I know that sustainable organic gardening is really good for health and surroundings. So I got personally involved.

It is to the credit of Purvi and her team that they did not charge anything. We took nominal entry fee for meeting expenses. The left over money will be used for other SPA work.

The main points covered were

One must manage waste scientifically to show respect for nature as well as safe guard environment. If we compost at home and use same soil for gardening we get assured results and fresh produce rather than spending for 'organic' labeled material. The garden should be planned based on our needs and how much resources we have.
The team covered the making of amritjal, soil, medicinal plants, pruning, transplanting, sowing, pest control. We will soon make a wa group of all participants so that team can mentor them as practical work gets underway.

We had 87 participants and all were listening with rapt attention till the very end. They have all given very positive feedback. So that now I have calls asking when is the next workshop. But I will refer them to the team headquarters at Kandivli. Here the workshops are held regularly. Better to attend there as it causes minimal disturbance to the trainers' lives plus we get to see many more samples of their work.

Cheers to our team of experts