Sunday mornings at OES Farm campus are very joyful because of the conglomeration of many excited young farmers. They spread their excitement around the farm. During the 6th session of the Be A Farmer program, children were very happy to see the Fenugreek (Menthi) ready for harvest in their farm patches.
Each Sunday, the first thing every participant of the Be A Farmer program does is to go to their patches and see the growth of their crop, the moment they arrive at the OES Farm. This shows how much they care about the crops that they have sown. This time they observed that methi and some coriander plants were ready, so they asked their coach if they could be harvested. As soon as Ms.Garima Goel, OES Program Coordinator told them to do the de-weeding of their patches before harvesting, all the children started removing the unwanted weeds.
When they were all ready for harvesting, Ms. Garima Goel and Mr.Vijay Ramana, Farm manager at Organo Eco-habitats, demonstrated how to harvest methi. All the children keenly observed them and started harvesting Methi along with roots as shown by their farm coaches. Some children’s patches had coriander too, ready for harvest, so they were told to pinch coriander plants, just above the soil level, so that it grows again and they will be able to harvest it once again in 2 weeks time.
The next activity of the day was to stake the tomato plants, to support them to grow erect. Mr. Vijay Ramana demonstrated how to tie the main branch of a tomato plant using a rope supported by a pair of sticks installed at both ends of the tomato bed. He told the children about the precautions they had to take while the staking process. All the children successfully stacked their tomato plants following the instructions given to them, in no time. They looked pretty happy after completing this task. Today they learnt that stacking will prevent their ripe tomatoes from touching the soil, bending under their own weight, and thus preventing them from rotting.
Children, after completing the staking, were called to gather around Mr. Vijay Ramana to learn about making a biofertilizer called Gomeras. He prepared it by squeezing the cow dung tightly within a muslin cloth, using it as a filter. Children were told that the liquid obtained by squeezing is to be mixed with the same amount of stored cow urine. And then this mixture is to be diluted by adding water in 1:18 ratio. The participants mixed water to the liquid in this required proportion and filled their sprays with this biofertilizer. Each of them used this diluted bio-fertilizer to spray the plants in their respective patches.
All kids after completing the Gomeras activity, were called and addressed by Mr. Manpreet Singh, a renowned clay artist and a full-time potter. He introduced them to the art of making objects with clay and the world of ceramics. They were all given a handful of clay and required tools to make objects of their imagination. Snakes, birds, wells, nests, butterflies and comic characters were some of the wonderful things they made with clay.
Children enjoyed this workshop a lot and took the objects of their creativity home along with them. At the time of bidding goodbyes, they were offered some cabbage and carrots, grown as part of a natural farming initiative at OES farm. They all happily collected the fresh vegetables and ran up to their parents.
Organo Et School strives to empower people to embrace eco-living mindsets, behaviors, and habits. We recognize that for any positive impact to be sustainable, it must be long-term and inter-generational.
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 3000+ adults participate over the last 5 years.
You can find our upcoming workshops here → https://www.organoetschool.co.in/registration
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