Home Grown, Home Cooked: For Beginners
Program Overview :
Home Grown Home Cooked, initiates the new enthusiastic grower to Permaculture and sets him/her on the track of growing food sustainably without harming Nature. It encourages beginners to observe and understand how soil, soil organisms, water, air, cattle and organic matter work harmoniously to create a rich topsoil and a robust Eco-system for our food to grow without any use of chemicals.
Program Content :
Home Grown Home Cooked, is the stepping stone to Permaculture, is a 7.5 hours program which spans over 3 days. The syllabus includes the basic but the most essential elements of Permaculture that can be practiced in your balcony, rooftop, garden, farm or any available space.
Permaculture and its basics
AWE (Air, Water & Earth) factor
Sustainability, Ecology & Agriculture
Composting
Importance of Cattle
Seed sowing & plantation
Making grow bags/pots
Virtual farm tour
Home work for hands on
Question-answer session
Program Duration :
It is a 7 and a half hours program which spans over 3 days.
Importance of this Program :
Since the past few years, the amount of fertile land on this planet has more than halved. It is rapidly losing topsoil to deforestation and industrial chemical agriculture. Depleting soil, water and air quality has led our climate to change and our food to be adulterated. Look around, our entire existence flourishes thanks to the 5 elements of Nature namely; air, water, earth, fire and space. Agriculture, one of the oldest cultures in the world, was always in sync with Nature. Nature, in turn, blessed us with abundant food and kept us healthy. It was a non-complex and natural barter system between man and Nature. For so long as Man respected this exchange, Nature nourished us, keeping our environment protected and Man disease-free.
The good news is, we can still turn the tables; if we make better choices. Industrial Agriculture has a massive carbon footprint today and is a major cause of disease, soil erosion, droughts, floods and famines. Going back to growing our food without any dependency on chemicals is the need of the hour. So we can breathe life into our soil again and grow healthy food.
Today, we can bring this lost wisdom of farming with Nature back into our lives through Permaculture. Permaculture, which is an art of replicating natural systems, can help us grow nutrient-dense food anywhere; our balcony, terrace, garden, farm or any space we have available.
2.Permaculture for Kids
Program Overview :
Permaculture for kids initiates kids early on to take on growing their own food; which helps them develop respect towards the art of growing food, the grower and food itself. When they are involved in the process of growing their own food, it helps them understand how deeply we are connected to the natural world.
Program Content :
Guided farm tour
Games wherein kids will run around the farm to recognize maximum number of plants and seeds and flowers
Pottery
Plantation/seed sowing
Experience sharing
Benefits of this Program :
By observing Nature closely and working with it, kids learn that if we care for Nature, Nature will care for us. Sowing seeds, nurturing plants, helping them grow and harvesting food inculcates the priceless values of patience, gratitude and responsibility which can go a long way in molding a child’s personality. It makes understanding certain ecological concepts learnt in school easier to understand through application. Moreover, it improves overall physical and mental fitness.
The Permaculture farm at the Art of Living International Ashram invites kids from all age groups to come and experience the magic of growing food so they can go home and recreate this magic in their own balcony, terrace or garden and lead future generations by example.
Importance of this Program :
They say, if you ask your kids to do something, they may not listen. But if they see you doing it yourself, they will end up mimicking you. That’s how kids learn; through observation and immersion.
It is important for upcoming generations to learn right from a very early age that a healthy environment is synonymous with nutritious food, clean air and abundant water, a healthy world is built on the principles of Nature and that a country’s richness is first measured by its heritage, biodiversity, culture and greenery.
