Another picture

I did another picture for the dance diary today.

Maybe making time to create pictures is more a matter of habit than I am willing to accept.  Do it once and more follows.

Dance diary picture

For the first time for a very long time I made the time to create a picture which arose as a result of one of my dance sessions.  I felt pressed for time while I did it but I’m glad I carried on and finished it.

Back to work

After two four day weeks and then a proper day off yesterday it felt like back to work today with a bang.  Busy with work like picking bassella seeds in the picture and then farm tours and a discussion with someone from Switzerland who grows micro greens.  Then talking to an Aurovilian about a project which is now to be paused as it doesn’t bring with it the house he and his wife wants.

A sinus on the left hand side of my face is hurting and I fear I may be coming down with a cold.  Maybe its telling me I need another four day week!!

My birthday

My birthday today and as it is a Sunday was able to go to the Ashram where there was a deep quietness.  The picture is of the things I received from the Ashram.

When I went out someone asked me if there was anything to see in the Ashram.  I didn’t know what to answer and finally said that there was something to feel and absorb.

Chaos

This was the chaos on the road outside Buddha Garden.  The Visitors Centre car park was full and everyone was trying to find places to park.  Cars completely blocked the Buddha Garden gate and there were cars parked on both sides of the road.  Which with a JCB trying to drive along the road made for a very chaotic scene.

I wonder if anyone in Auroville has thought about how to control the traffic when the 50^th anniversary is on?  I’ve written letters to the relevant groups but doubt very much that they will have very much effect.

Holidays ha ha

As today is Republic day in India it was a day off for everyone.  We didn’t do the ordinary work but a group came on what is called the Volunteer Introductory Program.  This is for all the long term volunteers who come through SAVI.  Apart from having to get up early it wasn’t too bad.  I sent them on the Farm Tour with the audio companion and then we planted a tomato bed.  After which we talked for a while.  They were a nice group.

Then later I talked with Dirk and Jeff and didn’t get to my computer until 5.00pm.

School garden

Went to the school garden today to find the gardeners making the climbing frames for the beans and tomatoes.  I thought that idea was that the students did all the work!

In fact the gardeners had only made a start and it was good for the students to have what they had made as a model.  I think they would have found it quite hard to make a frame straight out of their heads.

Jeff again

Jeff has just returned to Auroville after two years in Australia and is staying in Buddha Garden.

I’m really enjoying having him here.

Last year

Was looking through my pictures for last year and was amazed to find this one of the seminar we gave as part of the Farm Festival.  On the same day last year.

It was SUCH a lot of work and as far as I can see had no effect on anything at all!

My pot garden

Had a good night’s sleep last night and have felt really good today.  Managed to get a lot of work done this morning and went to see Auroculture this afternoon. She is obviously very frustrated with not being able to speak properly and having to spend a lot of time in bed.  The results of her stroke seem to be worse.

Watered the pot garden and found that the two pots which are supposed to be self watering are not working.  So for the time being I am going to be doing ordinary watering every day.

Birthday boy

Sam’s 5^th birthday today.  Was very amused to hear that Elsie commandeered the balloon!  As the picture shows, Sam seems to have dealt with it very well.

Jeff

Jeff has just returned to Auroville after being in Australia for two years.  He’s staying with us before he moves into another place at the end of February.  He works at Dsicipline farm but helps us in the morning before he goes.

Tired

Have been so busy today what with the Farm Tour starting at 9.00am by people who want to come and do the cooking class as well.

I spent a lot of time talking to various people coming on the Farm Tour.  It was quite enjoyable but I feel tired now.  I had a dance class last night and didn’t sleep well afterwards.  I hope after yoga today I will sleep better tonight.

Anna's elf

Got a lovely letter and this photo from my sister Anna.  I sent the children this elf balloon which was apparently quite  a hit.  One of the good things about it was that it was filled with air and came with a straw to keep him topped up.

I rather like it.

Pongal day off

Usual sort of day off which I spent catching up with things that I haven’t had time to do yet.  Managed to stay in Buddha Garden all day thank goodness rather than have to deal with the outside chaos of visitors to Auroville with no one to organize them and so they do what they want.

Had lovely food.  Jeff brought me (expensive but tasty) lunch from Well café and then one of the volunteers cooked me some food in the evening.  Lovely

Finding jobs

With so many volunteers coming at the moment Rajan has run out of jobs to give them.  So we walked around the farm this evening to see if we could find jobs that need doing but we don’t normally do through lack of time.

We found a lot of jobs like this but some of them will need careful supervision.  The picture is of some holes we have dug for teak trees.  We can plant them now but if we do so it means they will need manual watering every week until the rains come in June/July.

Pongal

Jeff arrived in the early hours of the morning today.  The dogs made such a commotion that both Rajan and I got up to show him where to go.

This evening Sangita led a ritual for Pongal by Ganesha.  This included making Pongal rice in front of Ganesha on a fire.  This seemed to take a long time and maybe all the people watching didn’t help.  As the saying goes – ‘the watched pot never boils’.

We then had some German food cooked by German volunteers which included a very large fruit salad.

A special guest

Got the cabin ready for Jeff who is coming back to Auroville after spending a year in Australia.  I hope he will find it OK although we think it might feel a bit hot during the day.

I realise there are lots of things I should have told him – like where the cabin is - but its too late now because he is already on the plane!

Pots

Went to a frantic Pondy today to get pots.  Pondy was frantic because it is Pongal time so everyone is shopping.

I’ve got lots of different sizes and varieties to see what works the best.  The picture is of small terracotta pots with water in the bottom so that it is self watering.  I want to see to what extent the water is sucked up by the pot and keeps the soil moist.  The string is supposed to act like a wick and helps with this.

Excited

Ridiculously busy with meetings and the Farm Tour, but very excited to get all the stones dug up which we are going to make into a new terrace.  The stones were originally nice black cadaper although as they have been buried for a while they don’t look very good now.  I’m hoping it will scrub up OK.

Tomorrow we are hopefully going to go to Pondy to get pots for the pot garden that is going to be on the terrace.

New Year in the new garden

Had a good time at Transition school with the first session of the new term in the New Year.  Unfortunately the birds – probably peacocks – have been having a good go at the plants.

Moorthy knows where he can get a second hand fishing net to put over the beds and hopefully eventually the whole garden.  The students are also going to make bird scarers with shiny bits of paper.

Another sitting place

After breakfast these two volunteers and myself made another sitting place in the corner of the New Horizon orchard.  The pieces of granite that make up the seats are very heavy and I was really grateful for their help in putting them up.  I simply cannot do too much heavy lifting these days.

Looks like they were pretty happy with the results as well.  We now have four different places in Buddha Garden where I can sit with people to talk.

Surprise!

We had a lot of people come this morning for the Farm Tour and just as we were finishing the new granite seats arrived.  This is how the entrance looks now and I am really pleased.  It helps a lot to have somewhere for people to sit when everyone comes at once.  It is also somewhere I can speak to a group of people.

We also received a lot of granite kitchen equipment that we are putting around Gandesha.  This was Vivek’s idea to bring the quality of food processing into the garden.  It looks wonderful.

Catching up

The group who booked on Friday came today and after I had spent two hours or so with them I have spent the rest of the day catching up.  One thing I did was to make the above poster to put on the gate at Pongal.

The whole of Auroville closes down on this day but people still come and wander around everywhere and there is no one to stop them.  This poster is to ensure they don’t wander into Buddha Garden – I hope.

Ganesha decorated

Had an extra session in the garden this morning to plant the research beds.  While everyone did that I picked some roccolla.  We have so much that we have to pick every day to get rid of it.  Hopefully Rajan can secure a large order next week.

Went to a dance class this evening instead of yoga.  I want to take advantage of Sabine and Phillippe – Sourya Soul – as they are only here until March.

For some reason Ganesha had special decorations today.  I think its to do with Pongal coming up next week.

New product

The group of ten people didn’t come because there was some confusion about the date.  They want to come on Sunday, so no day off this week.

The picture is of a new product called ‘baby leaves’, in this case the leaves of radish before the plant starts to grow radish.  Think it goes rather well with the micro greens which are coming along very well.

So busy this afternoon I forgot to go to the Udavi school session.  They opened this week while the Auroville schools don’t open until next week.

Working hard

Feeling rather light headed and very hungry after an extremely busy morning finishing off the course and talking to people on the farm tour.  Then cycling to yoga this afternoon.  As the picture shows we have also started making compost again now that we can get leaves since the monsoon ended.

A group of ten people have booked to come and work and then be shown around the farm tomorrow.  The person who booked sounded really nice and said that all ten people are ‘passionate and committed to sustainable living’

Can I live up to their expectations?

Teaching

Teaching the course every week takes up a lot of my work time.  At least yesterday and today I was able to teach several things at the same time and show the students the whole planting process.  Which integrated well with all the other work we did.

More stuff

More negativity today in the form of a Farm Group meeting where there was a lot of shouting.  Somehow I ended up having to do the notes.

Thank goodness for yoga.  Although I fell over doing one of the asanas.  It was a moving one where I think I probably moved too quickly and lost my awareness.  According to Nadia I wasn’t secure enough on my feet.

The picture shows one full basket of food ready for delivery.  At least one task completed successfully!

New Year

I feel I have hardly had time to acknowledge the new year. Although for me this is the end of the New Year process which starts on December 21^st.

Got up normal time this morning and then picked roccolla and spinach.  After which I talked to people who came on the Farm Tour.  This afternoon started with an argument over water with a neighbour and then a discussion about how the course is going to be run this week.  There doesn’t seem to be much let up in the busyness.

I did manage to spend a few minutes lighting some incense sticks and using the smoke to clear my room.  If the new year continues like today the smoke will need to be pretty powerful to clear out all the negativity!

New Year clean

I am still busy! This morning it was an early start to help Rajan to plant two of the research beds.  Followed by a good clean of my room.

Still busy

This morning, after picking some roccolla, Mani and I put out pieces of granite in the Pryog garden by various trees.  I had to give some of them a good wash to get the dirt off. 

Tomorrow when they are completely dry I will paint the tree names on them.