Irrigation schedule

Very pleased that we have managed to sort out an irrigation schedule for the three places that are served by the Siddhartha farm well.

I hope it works so that we all get the water that we need and don’t have to fight about it.

Hot elsewhere

Emma sent me this lovely picture of Sam and Elsie in the new paddling pool.  It was the first time for Elsie.

They are having good weather for the bank holiday weekend.  But the temperature there is only 29C whereas here it has gone up to 40C again.

Watering

This is a picture of what the electric control panel for the new watering system looks like

Doing the watering is not too complicated as it only requires that one switch on the right is turned on.  Even so I somehow managed to put on the AC system for the pump instead of the DC one!

A new garden

Today I went right over to the other side of Auroville to look at the garden of Naturellement.  Geeta, who is going to be in charge of it, has been coming to Buddha Garden to learn how to do organic food growing.  I went to have a look at the garden and help her with how to get it going again.

I think the main issue is how she is going to work with the gardener who obviously has his own ideas about how things should be done.

First rain

All afternoon we have had a thunderstorm rolling around.  There was even a little bit of rain.

The first since our failed monsoon last December.

Digging a very big hole

Today our diggers had to dig a very deep narrow hole for the lightening conductor.  Fortunately they were both quite small, otherwise I don’t think they would have been able to get down the hole.  Rajan had a lot of problems when he tried! You can see the pole in the picture, the larger one just behind the man standing in the hole.

Last time we installed a similar conductor it didn’t work.  We had one for the pump panels but the lightening still managed to blow the inverter on the panels.  This new one has to protect a lot of equipment related to the automatic watering system.  It will be very expensive if it doesn’t work and the equipment gets damaged.

Solar system on the move

A big job got started today with the moving of the solar system.  Makes me realise how well Vivek managed to do this on his own last time.  It is a lot to organise and keep track of.

It has been easier this time because we the pump has been connected up to the new system.  So we could take more than one day to finish the moving job.  In the picture the panels and the framework on which they sit are just being dug up.

A special birthday

It was Elsie’s first birthday today and here she is playing with the balloon I got her.  I remember last year how she literally hung between life and death as her placenta gradually stopped working.  Then all the drama of the caesarean birth and her being in special care and needing blood transfusions.

I feel she often expresses a very special joy because she is so pleased to be here.

Stuff moving

Had to rush out this morning and do various work for my ADHAAR card – a sort of Indian identity card.  I didn’t come across any images for today so I looked up the image for the same day last year.  I was very surprised at it was a picture of this banner which we moved.

This year we are still moving things.  But this time it’s the solar system and the installation of the automatic watering system.

To Pondy again

After not going to Pondy for months and months, suddenly I go twice in two days!  Went out to lunch with a friend today which was short but sweet.

I loved this old Pondy house that I saw.  It’s the sort of place I would do up, but I guess it will probably be knocked down and a soulless block of flats put up instead. More money to be made that way, especially in the middle of town.

Panels go up

The solar panels went up today amazingly quickly.  The batteries have also been delivered but something spilled onto the packaging and they smell really peculiar.

Had a lovely meal out with Vivek this evening.  I haven’t been to Pondy for ages and I really enjoyed it.

Crazy digging

Digging started in earnest again after the solar panels and all the metal pieces for the frame were delivered today.  This is what it looks like.

Its so hot that the diggers are coming in early at 6.00am when we start work so they can dig in the relative cool of the morning.  Rajan and I tried to work out what the solar panel frame was going to look like, but could only come to the conclusion that it is going to be very large.

Exciting new equpiment

This afternoon Vivek got out the new equipment that has just arrived which is all you need to do a wide variety of soil tests.  It seems to be very comprehensive with all the reagents and bottles as well as the electronic equipment and the possibility of sending the results direct to someone with SMS.  Its obvious that we are going to have to set up a lab here.  I think Vivek really enjoyed himself.

The place is in chaos again, this time because they are digging trenches so that we can move the solar panels as well as install new ones.  There are odd holes everywhere where they are waiting for equipment to be installed.  Oh yes, and this morning we had to clean out the entrance store room in readiness for the new batteries.  I think Rajan is feeling the pressure as he is the go to person for everything, especially for things like the digging.

Research is supposed to start at the beginning of June.

Morning magic

I love it when I take a picture and I get a totally unexpected result.  I took this picture this morning and am very pleased at the way the sun’s rays come over the trees.  It seems to express the magic I often feel in the mornings as we work.

I had no idea it was going to look like this when I took the picture.

Visualising the chipped

Have had to lay aside writing my book because we had a meeting this morning for which I had to write the notes. As in writing the book I felt I was still having to chip away at writing the notes to get them read correctly.

This is a picture of the actual stone that was chipped.  One of the images that often come to my mind as I write.

Another old picture

Another day when I have (literally) sat and sweated over the book which is gradually coming together.

Another old picture – of the layers of a compost heap – which I will have to change to make it fit in more with what I have now written about making compost.

More chipping

I feel I have exerted a huge amount of energy on the book today.  Have re-written a big chunk of it and simplified it a lot.

The heat has come back with a vengeance so feel very sweaty and tired.  Yet pleased with what I have managed to do.

The above picture about natural soil erosion is a very old one which I will have to re-do.

Still chipping away at the book

Had a really good day doing a lot on my new book.  For which I now have a title – Working With the Earth - as well as the above picture for the cover.  Although to save money printing,  the picture will be in black and white not colour.

Yoga visualisation

Went to my Pranayama class today which wasn’t cancelled because two of us turned up.

As I was breathing it was as if the sea and the tides were rolling up and down inside me.

Wonky

Yesterday, along with all the trenches, wire and pipes we sprouted these wonky granite pillars.  These are for the fences which are going to go around each of the three areas where the research is going to take place to protect the equipment.

I hope that everything will be completed by June 1^st when the research is supposed to start.  At the moment this looks most unlikely….

Simply successful

Have been doing some more writing for the book today about water.  I came across this beautifully simple and yet attractive diagram about the water on the earth.

I want my writing to be also beautifully simple, but am having a bit of a struggle getting it like that.  

Trenches, pipes and wires

Buddha Garden is suddenly a mess of trenches, wires and pipes and equipment everywhere.  As the new electricity system for the research beds is installed.  First it was the trenches and pipes for the irrigation system and now the electricity system.  Surely it should be finished soon?

During the last few days I have been asking ‘when will it be finished?’.  Every time I am told ‘Maybe tomorrow’.

Dry

Yesterday I walked around trying to create a picture which expressed how hot and dry it is.  I was hoping I could find something that tapped into a universal feeling of heat and dryness.  I wasn’t very successful as this was the best I could do. 

The picture shows three beds in the Seed Garden which we have stopped using to save water.

Report writing

Have spent quite a lot of my day writing reports for the three educational projects which we did.  This meant going through all the pictures I have taken during the year and they showed some very nice memories. 

I decided to use this picture today because it reminds of the student who wouldn’t do this job because she would get dirt under her fingernails.  I was SO cross and frustrated!  But as the picture shows, most of the students didn’t mind at all and got on with what needed to be done.

Sitting in sludge

Yesterday I went to a Forest Group meeting and this is what it felt like.  As if I were sitting in sludge.

Maybe it’s the hot weather……………

A wonderful moment

This morning we had three students from Udavi school come and join the volunteers.  All three come from the most recent group we have been teaching at the school in the last few months.

We watered the fruit trees in New Horizon where all the trees have been mulched with coconut fibre mat recycled from some mattresses.  One of the students pointed out to me that the matt probably had some glue on it and questioned whether it might be leaching chemicals into the soil.

I was SO pleased to see that he was thinking about what he was doing and had obviously listened to what I had been saying when I was teaching at his school.  I explained that because of the glue I wouldn’t use the mat for vegetables but that for trees it was OK. They grow much slower and can actually help to break down any chemicals. 

Corn hair

I was walking around the beds this morning and noticed these heads of hair on some growing maize cobs.  I loved the way the sun sparkled on the hair and the coppery colour was lovely.

Moving along

I was really pleased this morning to see that Rajan has got the hydroponics system going.  Apparently it still needs some tweaking to make it work properly but its looking good.

Had what I felt were two positive meetings today.  One to talk about the new Foodlink and the other was a Green Group meeting where we had a nice lunch and talked about the Green Belt plan.

Hot

Holidays, like the one yesterday, don’t really agree with me.  I lie around all day and then can’t sleep at night so I feel tired in the morning.  Fortunately after a yoga class this evening I feel REALLY tired so I should sleep.

The picture comes from the same day last year.  When it was just as hot as it is now.

Orange thoughts

Went to Deepanam school today and a wonderful discussion with Honor and Mahavir about a possible food growing project for the next school year.  I felt we all wanted to build on what we have done already and so a good project developed out of the discussion.  I felt very energised and in tune with what they wanted to do.

While at the school I had a look at the school garden most of which I thought did not need watering.  There were these lovely marigold flowers there which were such a vibrant orange.  I felt suffused by the colour as I wrote the project proposal in the afternoon.

A quiet day

My turn to do the watering this morning and spent most of the day in the house writing.  In the morning I had a lovely conversation with Jasmin about the local water problems.  This for a piece that she is going to write.

By the afternoon I felt I must get out so later when it was a bit cooler I went to see Auroculture.  This is the garden of the place where she lives which looks pretty good although I wish they would cover up the soil a bit more.  It made me think about how I would create a garden here; one that could cope on only a little water but would still look beautiful and be good for the soil.

Chipping away

I managed to get quite a lot of writing done today.  I was pleased to discover some pictures and writing which I did some years ago but never printed/used.  It is just right for the student book I am writing although obviously there is still more work to do on it.

I feel a bit like these stone workers who were here yesterday.  Patiently chipping away at it until the book gets to be in the shape I want.