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

Cooming Soon! Wwoof India # 2




Our 'capsule'

  As a sneak preview we can reveal that we are on a farm outside of the world's IT capitol - Bangalore...

Wwoof India

The house

Banana and coconut orchard

After two months on the road in India we grew a little tired of visiting tourist hubs where too much was customised for tourists, from the Western food to the hippie clothes. We felt like we were just seeing the tourist India, the sliver of the country that is set on display for us. What were forts and sights really showing us of the "Real India"?

So naturally our solution was to go WWOOFing (volunteering on organic farms, organisation WWOOF; World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), this is how we met and seems to be our saviour in many ways! We thought this would both give us an insight in the exotic plants grown here and also be a doorway to see the Indian community from the inside.

We got even more than we anticipated, a lovely Indian family that welcomed us into their home and took us to many functions. We got a good insight to the local culture and traditions going to various temples and a wedding. We were invited to many feasts where we got to sample up to 20 items of traditional South Indian food! Everything was served on plates of cut up banana leaves and everyone ate together sitting in a row on the floor.

Us with our host Mahadevi

The extended family

Feast

Feast

The bride and groom about to walk around the fire.

Our room

In the house lived the mother, her husband and the husband's mother. The family spoke only a little English which was enough to get along with everyday needs, though it sometimes brought some misunderstandings! In their garden they had coconut trees, banana trees, areca nut trees, pepper, tapioca, pineapple, mango trees, papaya trees, cashew nut trees and various vegetables. We got to harvest both coconuts and papayas, most food cooked in the home contained coconut and we were feasting on a papaya a day plucked straight from the tree ourselves! The mother cooked the most delicious meals and we all ate together sitting on the floor and scooping the food into our mouths as they traditionally do - with our fingers only! The father of the house was a man of few words and every evening he would call us to dinner by an obscure grunting sound! 

Laundry time!

Who needs soap and a brush when you can wash up with ash and a chunk of coconut husk

A thing that strikes you in India is people's good personal hygiene, which can seem surprising in a country that otherwise is dirty and dusty and a grime-free spot is hard to come by. Being nicely groomed and respectably dressed is of utmost importance, especially for the women. Women wear brightly coloured sarees and dresses, often alternating with a different one everyday. Dressing nicely is very important to everyone, even poorer people and people living on the streets will have a nice dress (which can sometimes be confusing to distinguish the poor beggars in fine clothes). People bathe and wash their clothes everyday.

All this became evident to us when we were on our first wwoof farm. As we were getting dirty everyday it seemed pointless to give too much attention to getting clean, thus showering a little less frequently then one normally would do. So one morning our host inquisitively pointed out why we had been wearing the same clothes for three days straight and indicated that she herself changed hers everyday! Funny to think that us coming from countries of utmost cleanliness have what is considered to be bad hygiene in India!

Patrick get to the centre of a coconut

Tara grooming a small banana tree

Neighbour harvesting Banana leaves for plates



Young pineapple



Tara planting a Papaya tree

Patrick having rice with tasty sambar. Yum!

Tara having some dosa's and coconut chutney

Patrick with some rare orange coconuts

Our host Mahadevi, getting the husk off a coconut

Areca nuts.

Cutting the grass, the old fashioned way

Tamarind

Patrick poking down a papaya

Rice

Lunch!

Adding another layer to the pavement. Yet another great use for cow shit.

Tara about to be devoured by the 'Malabar Giant Aloe'

Black pepper vine climbing a tree

Papayas

Chaff from rice