So some of you may be wondering what ive been doing the past few months as there have been no posts.
Well the truth of the matter is that I have left Sadhana Forest due to a number of difficulties I was having with the project. The details are not so important but what is important is that I continue to follow the work I am passionate about and do something with meaning and purpose.
Upon leaving Sadhana Forest a couple of months ago Rebecca and myself decided it would be a good idea to check out other projects in the immediate area and see if any interested us. The project that stood out the most was The Botanical Gardens Auroville, this is because it gave us the opportunity to work in a nursery and get the skills required for life in this area. So we decided to stay and work here.
The work we became involved with was really great! Collecting seed, cleaning and planting seed, transferring seedlings from bag to bag working with a wide variety of young plants was good fun!
The people we worked with in ABG were really great!
Santosh an Italian Aurovillian who has been in Auroville 20 years was in charge of the nursery and was really inf
ormed about plant names and how to care for seedlings , also just a really friendly guy.
Paul an Englishman with an Australian accent is the Director of the ABG; why does he have an Australian accent because he has been in Auroville a few decades and has worked closely with a few Australians so its quite interesting. Paul is a Botanist and hence there was loads of conversation about plants between himself and Bexz.
Adhi a Tamil guy from a local village who has been living and helping run the place for I dont know how many years, was in charge of the volunteer area and worked in the nursery. Sathyamuthi also from a nearby village was an inspiring character who was working in community out reach with local areas regarding sustainability, farming and ecology.
Basically the ABG was I believe started around 10 years ago on heavily eroded land in Auroville, since then they have managed to grow a small display forest of the East Deccan Dry Evergreen species, an educational maze, a cactus garden, a huge nursery and they also farm food for seed to go into there fully operational seed bank.
I was really impressed with the place actually. I was also suprised by the community outreach they do it seemed most days they would have a school group or a group from the village in and teach them about many important topics to help better there lives.
Well we only had a month there and towards the end of our stay an opportunity arose for us to attend and help Sathyamuthi with a summer holiday camp. This involved heading out with him, one other teacher and a group of local village children aged 9-16 to a ancient local forest and get the children close to nature.
The day before we headed off I did a presentation to the children about plastic, I explained to them the dangers of using plastic and that even if we bury it, burn it or simply throw it aside the toxic chemicals it is made from eventually end up entering our food, air and water supplies. I think the talk went well, the teachers had to translate & the children seemed interested.
The next day we headed to the bus that afternoon for the camp. We were packed into a minibus, Rebecca and I and the two teachers plus about 30 children (it was a very tight squeeze) and hit the road for Guingy. The kids were full of life singing Tamil pop songs, using seats as drums and there was a lot of pelvic thrusting dance moves all they way.
The bus managed to break down twice due to a fuel line leaking, but never fear the teachers had some sticky tape so we were okay!
We made it to Guingy a little late and was quite dark and raining a little. I was expecting a half an hour walk to the camp and then sleep, never have expectations in India (I should know this by now).
The group of us spent the next few hours in light rain, scrambling up the side of a rather large mountain. The children had no torches, wet weather gear and were wearing flip flops or sandals. Plus the girls were all dressed in saris. But in typical Indian fashion none of the children complained they all laughed sang and even were running ahead through the dark ahead of us. We made it to the top about 3 or more hours .
At the top there was a cement building with a solar powered street lamp out the front, two green colored ponds ( which we later found out was our drinking water) all sitting on a giant rock, sitting even higher up was a temple.
We had hour dinner and went to bed which was sleeping in the cement structure on the floor (which mind you was perfectly fine).
The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sun rising over the flood plains below monkeys running over rocks and boulders, and beautiful forested rock hills. The children and Sathyamuthi went for a swim in one of the green ponds, he seemed really good at communicating and working with children. We had some fruit drank some water and headed up to the temple.
The temple appeared to be the highest point in the area and from there you could see many villages, lakes and farms spread across the land.
Sathyamuthi sat with the children and explained the ecology and geography of the area, meanwhile I spotted beautiful red and black rock lizards climbing around the rocks.
We then began to descend the escarpment but this time cutting through dense forest and rivers. There was not much wild life but the trees and terrain were beautiful. Occasionally we would stop and Sathyamuthi would tell the children about the plants or trees in the area, occasionally we would stop and collect soap nuts for the ABG nursery (soap nuts and a type of nut that can be mixed with water to create soap).
The terrain became rougher and rougher as we walked and I began to wonder if Sathyamuthi new the way but no doubt he assured me he did. Often we had to walk though dense bush areas covered in thorns and we found our selves getting snagged almost every 5 seconds. The day was long but amazing and enjoyable. We made friends with many of the children and possibly learnt as much if not more than they did!
It wasn’t long after the camp that I said goodbye to Bexz, she headed up to Deepack Suchades farm in Madhya Pradesh. Deepack is an organic famer who has been farming in India for 40 years, I am not really into gurus and all this sort of thing but if I am to have one in this country this guys seems the most appealing.
He visited Sadhana Forest a few months ago and really impressed Rebecca and I with his knowledge of plants and trees, check out his website http://www.natuecofarmingscience.com/natueco.htm .
Rebecca plans to stay with him for a month and then go home to visit her family for a couple. She will meet me in India around September and we will head to Australia together.
After she left I went to Hyderabad to act as an extra in a Bollywood film for 5 days , the film is called “Rockstar” and I just had to be in the crowd of a rock concert and cheer a lot. I have decided to try and get as much work as possible in the Indian film industry while I am here so I am not completely broke when I return home. Its a pretty funny experience some times and the money is not amazing but they pay for food and a hotel while you work so that means I don’t spend money.
In between being an Indian film star I am house sitting in Auroville on the beach and volunteering in numerous farms around the area to learn as much as I can about sustainable food growth and water management.
Actually for the first time in a long time I am incredibly sure of what I want to do with my life, I am almost positive I want to be involved with growing food whether it be natural Farming , organic farming or Permaculture. I believe to grow food in a sustainable way and to allow our eco systems to re-generate whilst living with minimal impact ie. zero waste is the way forward and also creates a life full of abundance.
Before signing out I would like to thank those awesome people who sent me money during this experience, it helped me survive here and continue following my path of understanding towards being able to develop projects of similar nature else where.
I will be back in the land of Oz at the end of the year, yes its sooner than expected but the clarity of my goals are greater than ever.
If your interested in getting involved with projects like this just message me and I can share my ideas further.
Much love
James
ecojames 