Grass cutting 20200831

 

I was so pleased with the grass cutting I did today I decided to take a picture of it.

As always a picture of the finished job doesn’t do justice to how much work it took to remove the jungle of grass before it was cut.

 

Embroidery day 20200830

 

As is now usual on a Sunday I did a lot of embroidery.  Looking at this picture of it I am rather pleased with how it is coming along.  In the course of doing it I’m not always clear how it is coming along, but this picture helps me see it more as a whole rather than just the piece I’m working on.

Hot 20200829

 

It seems to have got very hot and dry again.  Looking at this picture reminds me of how fresh and damp it felt less than a week ago!

Ants again 20200828

 

I’ve got bitten yet again by an ant that dropped down onto me from a tree.  Fortunately it wasn’t a scorpion ant so not too painful.

The picture is of a whole group of ants who tried to carry away some of my lunch.

Wire and trenches 20200827

 

We are having our solar electricity system upgraded to put in some booster pumps for the irrigation on the research beds.

There are trenches and wires everywhere.

The start of something new 20200826

 

This shows the first step of putting in granite pillars in the Seed Garden.  We will put a metal framework with a plastic sheet on top to create a different kind of nursery. 

Our aim is to grow tomatoes, or any other rain hating plant, on the beds during the monsoon. 

A little night rain 20200825

 

After a little night rain everything was beautifully wet and sparkling this morning in the bright sunlight.

Unfortunately it meant I couldn’t finish the grass cutting which I started yesterday.

 

Monday and the work goes on... 20200824

 

A special kolam drawn for Ganesha’s birthday puja on Saturday.

Quiet Sunday 20200823

 

Another lockdown Sunday so very quiet.

Was able to get on with formatting the Buddha Garden Good Growing Diary.  The picture shows a draft version of the cover which has already changed several times and will probably change again before it is actually published.

Ganesha's birthday 20200822

 

Had a really nice puja for Ganesha’s birthday today.  What was especially nice was that everyone from the Buddha Garden team came and participated.  And then we had a meal together afterwards.

 

For next year 20200821

 

This is a picture of next year’s snake gourd seed.  I had time this morning to go around and pick all the ripe snake gourds that are turning a beautiful red colour.

I expect that processing the seed will be my weekend job this week.  We can’t leave them too long to dry as the ants get to them very quickly.

Wild passion fruit 20200820

 

I saw some of these beautiful wild passion fruits this morning.  They taste nice but are very small unlike the variety that we grow to sell.  At the moment the plants are all over Buddha Garden and obviously providing food for animals and birds.

Sugar cane to go 20200818

 

After we had cut, weighed and taken samples of all the sugar cane yesterday we still have a huge pile of sugar cane to get rid of.  Who will want it?

Maybe with Ganesha’s birthday on Saturday we can find someone who would like to take it for the many temple pujas that will be held on the day.  Or maybe we make our own sugar cane juice somehow….

Curly sugar cane 20200817

 

Today we cut the sugar cane which was quite a job because its part of the irrigation research project we are doing in association with Heriot Watt university.  I took this picture because I like the shapes that the cane made as they grew, although of course conventionally they are supposed to be straight.  Apparently its easier to make them grow straight when you have a whole field of them rather than just two beds which is what we have.

 

A new needle 20200817

 

With my eyes being not as good as they were I’ve been having some difficulties threading my embroidery needles.  I went and bought this self threading needle as I thought it would help.  I found today it doesn’t as I can’t seem to get the technique to thread it properly.  It also unthreads itself too easily.

So I’ve had to go back to conventional needle threading…..

Book ready 20200816

 

I finished off the rest of the book which is now more or less print ready.  Next step I’m getting a preview copy to see what it looks like on the page.

I feel this butterfly is an appropriate symbol for this day.

DAy off - haha 20200815

 

Today is Indian Independence Day so a day off – which for me means time to do things other than the farm work.  Spent the day doing the video and managed to upload it.  I also went through all the book edits.

I took this picture yesterday of the New Horizon orchard/vegetable beds which some would call agroforestry.  As they have had some consistent work from one of our volunteers they are coming along very well.

 

Revelation by grass cutter 20200814

 

It’s the end of the week and I realise that I have few if any video clips for the video.  I decided to do a ‘walk around the garden’ and went out and took a lot of photos.

I love this one which shows how the grass cutting has revealed a rather nice tucked away corner where we can sit if we want to.

 

Cover 20200813

 

Today I spent a lot of time doing the combined front and back cover for the new book.  This is the first draft and I’m rather pleased with it. 

Although I’m not sure whether a proper graphic designer will be needed to make it properly print ready.

Growing seeds 20200812

 

When I was doing the weekly pictures of the research beds this morning I came across these snake gourds seeding.  I love their colours and shapes.

My hand is almost better but my foot still swollen although at least I have been able to walk around.

 

Those ants! 20200811

 

I got TWO more ant bites today, one on my hand that was bitten yesterday and one between the toes on my right foot. 

As the picture shows, it feels to me as if the ants around here have grown teeth!

 

Time to spare 20200810

 

The sky has cleared and the sun has been shining.  Today I seemed to have a lot more time to spare today than usual so I did more embroidery.

Got bitten by an ant – probably a scorpion ant – as its still very swollen and rather itchy.  If it was a scorpion ant I’ve got another day of this.

A dim day 20200809

 

It was a dim and damp day today as it was raining on and off all day.  There was enough rain to make these puddles in the pond.  It remains to be seen how long they stay there as if we get some sunny days it probably won’t be very long.

Not as healthy as we thought! 20200808

 

Yesterday I spoke too soon!  We picked our first harvest of ladies finger today and found out that the plants are not quite as healthy as we first thought.  As the picture shows, they have been attacked by borers. 

There didn’t seem to be too many of them and hopefully we have removed them all from the plants.  The trick to dealing with them is to cut them off the plant as soon as possible after they have invaded it.  Then they can’t get into the plants more generally through the stems or into the ladies fingers.

New harvest 20200807

 

I seem to have done a lot of different things today but feel that each thing I have done has moved on one or more of my tasks.  I even finished one task. 

This is the first ladies finger of the new harvest. Amazingly the plants were grown from seed and look unusually healthy.

I love this flower 20200806

 

I took yet another picture of this flower which I really love.  I found out that it is a type of wild passion flower.  I just love how all the delicate parts come together.

A special corner 20200805

 

I started another corner of the embroidery today.  It’s a task that really helps me to centre and soothe myself.

Good to do during another day of work and followed by much thinking and writing.  Which was how it was today.

Transformation 20200804

 

A picture of some of the material that I am transforming in my embroidery.

Another symbolic picture.  Today I was talking for a long time with someone about how the energy of a place, where there is a lot of conflict, could be transformed.  And how I might be able to help with that.

A new path 20200803

 

This is a picture of a path I opened out between two parts of Buddha Garden.

It was a very symbolic task as I feel I am on a new path although at this stage not sure what it is or how it will manifest.

 

A very quiet day 20200802

 

A very quiet day when there was another curfew – there will be one every Sunday through to the end of August.  I did some embroidery and despite feeling that it is not coming along very well, by doing a little every day I see that it is.

Magic work! 20200801

 

I was so pleased when I went to this Vaiyu Bhoomi orchard this morning to see that after I had cut the grass yesterday Rajan and co had come along and cut the glyricidea and used it for mulching some of the trees.  It seems to create so much more light between the trees.

I was so pleased as I wasn’t well enough to work this morning.

Life giver 20200731

I took this picture earlier this week just after a lovely gentle yet persistent rain.  Although Rajan said it ‘wasn’t very much’ rain our plants seem to be growing very well.

It’s the start of the first planting month in the Tamil year.  I can feel things stirring on many levels.

A morning's work 20200730

I cut grass in this fruit orchard this morning.  It’s a peculiar place in that most of the trees are still struggling three years after they were planted.  I think its because the monsoon failed the year they were planted and although we watered them they didn’t get that monsoon boost.  As a result, apart from a few really hardy trees, none of them have done very well.

 

New life 20200729

This was a calf born at the farm next door yesterday.  With the grey skies and very gentle rain it seemed to be a positive symbol for new life coming.