Woof India # 2

Our host John

One of the gardens

The ‘capsules’

The shower (left) and the composting squat-toilet

Composting squat toilet

Having a break in the courtyard

 
The hosts on our second Wwoof farm were a 28 year old American ex-pat hippy, John and his Indian wife, Shweta. The 5 acre farm was located outside India’s major IT city Bangalore. They had taken over an established Mango and Chickoo farm two years ago and were in the process of turning it into a forest garden. They had planted many exotic trees like avocado, cinnamon, lemon, orange, pomegranate, rosewood, ebony, mahogany, sandalwood, papaya, banana, clove, etc, interspersed with gardens of hot peppers, amaranth, sweet potatoes, ragi (finger millet), peanuts, aubergine, and all the usually western favorites (tomatoes, spinach, etc.)

Mango orchard

Mahogany tree

Lemon tree

Chickoo tree

Amaranth

Avocado tree

Papayas!

Cinnamon tree

Orange tree

Clove tree

Henna shrub

Pomegranate tree

 In addition to us there were 3 other wwoofers (a couple from Minnesota and a guy from Romania) and many guests coming and going. Our evenings were spent around the fire, drinking lemongrass tea, baking in the tandoor oven, playing music, making peanut butter, learning Indian cooking from a few of the neighbours and reading books from John’s interesting and random library.

Shelling peanuts for tonight’s peanut butter

Having a bite

Tandoor oven made from clay and cowshit

Tara making dosa

Our accommodation was a partially enclosed outdoor hut referred to as a ‘capsule’ made from all natural local materials by former wwoofers. The frame was made of logs from the neighbouring Eucalyptus forest, the planks for the walls and floors were made from hand-split Areaca nut trees, and the thatch roof was made from woven palm tree leaves. All this was tied together with coconut fibre ropes and to keep it safe from termites, was sitting on slabs of granite from the quarry down the road.

Our room

Tying on a wall in the new ‘capsule’

 Our work included building the walls for the newest ‘capsule’, planting Banana trees, digging trenches for compost in the mango orchard, preparing garden beds for next months’ food, and erecting a fence to keep the cows from eating the spinach.

Patrick planting a Banana tree

Planting and watering thew new beds