Ever heard of a Food forest? Few weeks ago, I've been to one. And that too in Bangalore!
Yes, I visited the Amazing "Sukrishi Organic Farm" in Nelamangala, Bangalore. Mr. Jayaram, the M.D of the 'Green path Organic state' chain and Ms. Asha, the Marketing manager and also a very good friend of mine, invited me to visit the farm.
At first, i thought 'ok... it would be just another Organic farm among many that already exist. But, i was proved totally Wrong!!!
Once i reached there, what i realised was that it is not a regular commercial farm by any means! but mainly a Primitive, Self sustaining and Biodiversity preserving "Food forest"!!!
As opposed to modern Monoculture, a Food forest needs very little human care and provisions for growth. Because, it houses the 'Biodiverse' environment which provides almost everything the plants/trees need. Awesome right!?
The Sukrishi organic Farm/Food forest which is spread across 40 acres was where the foundational stones of the Green path were laid in 1998. Back then, it was a total Barren Land which no one found useful except Mr. Jayaram sir. Because of his strong determination and efforts, this waste piece of land is now an Alive and Majestic Lush Green Food forest.
Scroll through the pictures for a tour of the Food Forest/Farm and witness the
invaluable experience i had.
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First of all, Meet Mr. Jayaram, a Lawyer in the past by profession, the Man behind all of this. He is the Happiest Man i've ever met! Always smiling and always ready to celebrate even the tiniest thing life has to offer. Love love loooooved him to bits! (And he kept calling me 'Kid' the whole time! :D)
Inspired by his Mother Smt. Nagamma, whom he calls 'Mother of Nature', He started several Eco initiatives in Karnataka. His Aim is to inspire people to adopt an Eco-friendly lifestyle through easily replicable models of sustainability. And after meeting him, I can say for sure that he will succeed. :)
Say Hello to Ms.Asha, the lady because of whom i got to live one whole amazing day in my life! <3 :* She is 'Fun, Energy and Compassion' all wrapped in one piece that anybody will easily fall in love with! <3 and look at those dimples! <3 <3
Aaaand Let's Start the Trip!
We were a bunch of people from different walks of life and we all had a happy colourful welcome with the bougainvillea garlands which i loved so much that i decided to wear it that whole day! :P Because, vivid hot pink bougainvilleas are one of my most favourite flowers ever! <3 :)
And they showered us with loose bougainvilleas too! The Best Welcome I ever had! oh! And we even had an aarthi given which made us feel almost like goddesses! :D But, most importantly, it shows how much they love and respect their guests.
After the lovely welcome session, we walked through these lush green(almost romantic) pathways to enter the Forest.
*Romantic because, the day turned cloudy with thick 'monsoon'y black clouds that made the whole forest look like a movie type romantic setting. :)
Now, this should definitely remind you of your childhood! right!? Ha... the yum yum yummmmmy sweet and sour Chinna usirikaya/Ari nellikai/phyllanthus acidus, a much lighter and sweeter country variant of Gooseberry sprinkled with some salt and chilli powder delighted my tastebuds every single day when in season! *drool* *drool*
Sapota/Chikkoo/Sapodilla tree. Not really a fan of this particular fruit because most of the times, i got to have only the hybrid variants which taste lifeless. But, these native Indian fruits looked so beautiful on tree, that they did tempt me a lot because i remember from my childhood memories, how yum they taste.
Press! Reporters from Suddi T.V. were also there to shoot and feature the Farm/Food forest in their channel. Aaaaand i will appear on T.V. for the first time! Yaaayyyy!! A really funny incident happened while shooting. I'll tell you what it was in another post because, then, this already long post will seem endless. :D
The T.V. show anchors and the camera man in work.
What do you think both of them are so eagerly shooting?
THE COCOA FRUIT! Yes! There were Organic Cocoa trees! They use these beans in the Brownies that they serve at their 'Forgotten food' restaurant. I am a regular at this place and trust me, thay taste real good.(Planning to review the restaurant soon!) :)
Asha broke a ripe Cocoa fruit and showed us. Don't you think the inner white segments resemble a Custard apple?
We did not just see the fruit, we ate it too! It tasted like a tangier version of our regular custard apple. Loved it! But, the meat was really thin and less creamy when compared to custard apple's. It was an unique unforgettable taste we got to experience and it definitely leaves you craving for more.
After that, we walked through some more forest pathways and reached..(see the next picture)
This bit of land where they cultivated Non-hybrid, Non-G.M.O and Organic Beans.
Asha plucked a few of them and told us to taste it. I was skeptical at first because i never had it raw. But, oh my.. it was so fresh, juicy and crunchy that i wanted to have atleast 10 more. <3 And because it was Organic, we ate it directly from plant without even washing. :)
And then, all of us walked a little more to reach...(see next picture)
The Rain water Harvest pond which is the main water source that sustains the Oraganic cultivations of this farm.
The worn out mini Open theater/stadium kind of structure in front of the rain water harvest pond. May be we can do some bird watching there...i guess.
And then this Lovely Japanese lady 'Rie Goto' of 'Masala tours'-Bangalore visited the farm. After travelling 180 countries, she decided to settle permanently in Bangalore, India and also adopted an Indian girl who is nearly 25+ now. She even worked with Mother Teresa! She definitely was an amazing woman. <3
*The Masala-tours.com website is in Japanese but has an option to translate it in to english. :)
*Here's her Facebook link.
She bought a packet full of Organic Non-G.M.O Adzuki beans for Jayaram sir.
And also some saplings of the same for the farm.
If you want to learn Organic farming or want to start your own Food Forest, head on to this farm because, they provide training in both! :)
For more information, visit Thegreenpath.in
Hope you all had the same invaluable experience through these pictures like i did on site. And wait, this post is just part 1. There is still part 2 where i show you the Bamboo and Mud cabin for stay and the Canines i met and fell in love with.
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Love,
Siri.
