Farming for the soul

I was scourging the net and wracking my brains to find an apt topic to start this blog off, when I made an interesting discovery in an unusual place, in our little balcony in Kagadasapura, Bangalore.

My dad always found unusual plants in the usual places and more often than not brought them home. Some were planted, some went into the kitchen while other found new homes in the living room vases. Over the years we had got used to his love for plants and trees that we stopped seeing it altogether. This new blog opened my eyes to an interesting little story right in our backyard, our balcony actually.
On a recent trip to Tanjavur and Darasuram, he was fascinated with wild bitter-gourds growing on roadsides. We didn't realise he had smuggled it home until he plucked the fruits of his little endeavor. Wild (or country) bitter-gourds, according to him had more nutritional value and of course free from gene tampering. He can claim it is organic as well as no artificial fertilizers or pest control chemicals went in. Organic wastes from the kitchen in the form of tea leaves and banana peels made its way into the pots. We harvested 5 small bitter-gourds yesterday; papa informs us that we can expect another 5-6 in the next fortnight.
These bitter-gourds are just 1/5 th size of the regular ones we get in the market but as expected much more valuable. The country bitter-gourds aren't available in the Bangalore markets usually. Whats produced in the villages rarely make it to the city.
A harvest of country tomatoes, Kandari Mulaku (one of the hottest chillies known) and wild herbs are just around (at) the corner according to our resident farmer.
The teacher in him, has taken my 3 year old daughter under his wings and both of them discuss heavy farming stuff. My yet to be one year old baby boy is the only pest on their farm. But seriously, where else do city kids learn about planting, caring for plants and harvesting from? The internet? books? The answers are scary.

While we were enjoying a bit of the village on our plates and in our balcony, I began to wonder if a little balcony farming would relieve our poor suffocating urban souls a bit.




A little bitter-gourd getting ready for the next harvest



The Harvest



Tessa. the enthusiastic farm helper



LJ Antony: Farmer, School Principal, Student, Husband, Dad and Grand dad,












The bitter-gourd plant in our balcony farm



On our plate