Good to welcome a new bunch of young and enthusiastic farmers on OES Children’s farm campus. Start of a fresh batch of Be A Farmer program for this spring crop cycle was exciting for us as well as children. Eleven kids aged 9-13 from Hyderabad’s urban families joined us on Sunday the 6 Feb 2022.
These young farmers in the making were introduced to a natural farming program by our expert permaculturist Ms.Shilpa Teja. She asked them some basic questions, what is soil? They were asked to identify the seeds that they were about to sow in their patches. Then she told them the names of 4 seeds- coriander and onions 2 green leafy vegetables along with 2 root vegetables - beet root and radish. In addition to these 4 saplings each of brinjal and tomatoes were also shown.
Then came the most interesting activity of the day! Sowing and transplanting of saplings in kids farm patches. Shilpa demonstrated two methods of sowing seeds to our Be a Farmers. Broadcasting and row sowing. Now came the children's turn to sow these seeds given to them presoaked by Organo Et School farming staff in terracotta deepams set on Erica plates along with 8 saplings each. Children followed their farm coach broadcasting the coriander and onion seeds by disbursing them on raked and loosened soil. Then they covered these seeds with the remaining soil layer, so that all the seeds were evenly covered. Row sowing involves digging a line, 1-2 inch deep in loose soil, spreading the seeds within this line and covering the seeds with soil properly to cover them. Children sowed Beetroot and Radish seeds by row sowing method.
Having done that, they saw Shilpa demonstrate transplanting the Tomato and Brinjal saplings. Then they followed suit….. by digging a hole 3-4 inches deep, with their trowels. Then they placed the small plants within these holes ensuring the delicate roots are inside the soil and the sapling is erected properly to face the sun! This is done by pressing the soil lightly with your fingers around the plant.
Once they were through with sowing, they all went to get water in their watering buckets. Shilpa demonstrated watering the sowed seeds and saplings carefully. Children were to ensure they sprinkled water over the seed beds, avoiding over watering. Watering the saplings was also carefully demonstrated by Shilpa. Here kids made sure not to over spray water, to maintain the sapling stood straight and not droop under the weight of water or fall because of loosened up soil, due to over watering.
Having done with sowing and watering, kids learnt how to mulch their farm patches properly to prevent over exposure to harsh sun and conserving soil moisture.
This brought the first session of spring batch to an end.
The children enjoyed themselves learning these farming activities.
The parents enjoyed too, as they got farm fresh vegetables, grown 100% naturally at OES farm.
We recognize that for any positive impact to be sustainable, it must be long-term and inter-generational. Organo Et School strives to create an apt learning environment that will support and empower families as well as individuals to embrace sustainable living mindsets and habits.
Organo Et School is a learning initiative set up by Organo in 2017 and has been facilitating field visits and workshops for Schools and Interest Groups. Organo Et School has had over 25+ schools, 6000+ students and 2500+ adults participate over the last 4 years.
We believe in connecting children & adults with nature. Connecting children with the natural world at a young age is the first step in creating responsible stewards for our collective future.
If you or your children are interested in future Be a Farmer programs, please contact us at oes@organo.co.in and by phone 9154100775 today! You can also click here to express your interest. We will keep you posted on our future farm cycles.
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