On Sunday the 5th of June'22, Kids, and their farm coach Garima Goel met at the OES Farm campus to discuss and learn new natural farming techniques. It was a nice morning at 7:30am on the OES Childrens farm.
There were interesting activities lined up for the Mandala Gardening participants. They were all looking forward to this Sunday. Finally, when they all collected at the farm, they were eager to know the day's activity plan.
As they all assembled at the Mandala Garden, farm coach Garima asked one of them to read the list of planned activities for the day. Vibha was more than happy to read this list.....
She read, “1. Weeding, 2. Neem cake application, 3. Neem oil solution spraying as natural pesticide, 4. Harvesting bhindi and mint, 5. watering”.
Now was the time to roll up the sleeves and get into the farmer's shoes. Kids went up close to their mandala sections and started weeding out the weeds from there. This time there were more weeds to be pulled out as compared to last weeding session. Last time, coach had asked them to remove the thick layer of mulch from these sections to harvest the beetroot microgreens better. As mulching prevents too much weed growth, they noticed more weeds this time, in absence of mulch cover. Once weeding was done, kids were asked to apply Neem cake powder to their vegetable beds, very carefully. While they were applying this powder, the nice breeze at the farm was carrying the powder a little away from the desired spot of application. Finally, despite the windy odds, kids were able to apply the neem cake powder in the entire vegetable patch, respectively.
Having finished these two activities, it was time to learn making Neem oil solution as a pest control spray for plants. This is an excellent natural pesticide, widely used in natural farming. So, each of them was asked to make it as demonstrated by the coach. They filled 1 liter of water in the mugs and measured 5ml (about 0.17 oz) of Neem oil and 10ml (about 0.34 oz) of soap nuts solution to add to the water. They mixed it well and then they filled it in the spray bottles. Eventually spraying this on the tiny leaves in their respective patches was fun. Having sprayed this neem oil solution evenly, they kept the bottles aside and washed their hands well.
Everyone moved to the last leg of the session to the OES farm patches with bhindi and mint ready to be harvested. This was exciting as the bhindis they harvested were nice and long as well as some short ones too. The mint sprigs they harvested were very fresh and fragrant. Having filled the harvest bags, all of them were ready to wash up and load the harvest on their vehicles. This brought session 4 of this program to an enjoyable and productive end.
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, 6500+ students and 2800+ adults participate over the last 5 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 program, 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.
Follow OES on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/organo_et_school/?hl=en
Subscribe to our channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVe5InTKtgyGsGgNVNZ5sOw
