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Spring 2019 Update from swaYYam, India

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Our colleague and friend, Malvikaa, continues to move forward on her life’s work at ‘swaYYam’ permaculture project in India. 

Here are some updates! 

Kids Camp

“Glimpses from the 4 day kids summer camp we’re hosting! Kids are naturally wild and unadulterated and understand the ways of nature effortlessly! So much so that our young teenagers were ALRIGHT testing out the red chillies from the plants and smelling the compost!

They all sowed seeds of wellness and health – lettuce, Palak, radish etc after making their own potting mix. Most of the food was from the farm. We had 15 kids. The many questions on the farm walks, the eagerness to spot the birds during their birding session@and to resist chatting during the quiet nature walks 😍 humbling and@a@lot@of unlearning for@our adult minds. we love working with kids!”   -Malvikaa

New Life on the Farm

“Welcoming ‘Subba’ into our lives! Gowri came 2 years ago and she gave birth to ‘Ganpa’ and now it’s this little one…

Animals are an integral part of any regenerative practises for the land in most parts of the works. Indian farming has always had animals integrated farming practises.

Next on our cards are chickens for our eggs and meat for our dogs and a couple goats for milk. Working towards close loop systems and providing for the needs of our residents in-house.

We also need co-partners who can come join us in stewarding this farm that is slowly transforming into a beautiful place buzzing with life, love and energy.”  -Malvikaa

More On Traveling to India and Volunteering with Malvikaa 

Herb, Vegetable and Tree Starts

“Our amazing team of women working on starting the chilly seedlings to grow along with turmeric (which we saved from our last harvests) and bunching onions which we’ll source locally. We couldn’t save our own last time. We’ve begun to save our own seeds and make all seedlings in-house now.

The women seen here are Meena, Manjula and Bhagya, all from the local village. Learning by doing! 😊

We’ve harvested enough moringa, Glyricidia and Sesbania grandiflora and made hundreds of saplings for the “Open Shell’ site, for our 1000treeproject and also to share in our village. Many other farmers usually come to us for saplings once the rains start. We’ve started harvesting the Calathropis gigantea (milkweed) seeds too to make saplings.”  -Malvikaa

For a lot more detail, visit the swaYYam facebook page.
We donate to Malvikaa and this project on a quarterly basis.
Sign-up for swayyam emails and/or to donate here.

Malvikaa, Becky and Bill
Malvikaa, Becky and Bill

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