Sunday, 30 May 2021

20210529 Insect hotel

 

This is a close up picture I took of our insect hotel that we made on Monday.  The sticks are full of little nooks and cranies where different sorts of insects can live.

I took pictures for the video which I made today and which is scheduled to go live tomorrow morning.


20210528 Good food for covid recovery

 

I am eating a lot of our sprouts and microgreens and feeling that they are really helping my recovery from covid.  We plan to give them free to other recovering people in the next 10 days.


20210527 Insect sculptures

 

While I was working on repairing the gate notice I came across these soil sculptures.  I presumed they were made by white ants although when I looked closely there were a lot of very small black ants busy around the holes.


20210526 Shadow patters in the pond

 

It rained heavily enough last night for the ponds to start filling up.

I loved the shadow patterns in the water of the vegetation around the pond.


20210525 Farmers' shadows

 


I took this picture yesterday as we walked back from doing our work in the Garden of Unseen Helpers.  The shadows of farmers and potential farmers on the earth.


20210524 Insect hotel

 

With the lockdown we’ve decided to just keep the farm ticking over rather than trying to keep up the usual schedule of planting and harvesting.

As a result I had time to make this insect hotel in the Garden of Unseen Helpers.


20210523 Storm coming

 

This is a picture I took last Wednesday of the storm coming.  We had no rain from these clouds but it did rain several hours later during the night.

I hope we are not in for a generally stormy time with the pandemic and all its related problems.

 


20210522 Snake gourd with sunburn

 

I had to take a picture of these valiantly struggling snake gourd that were planted rather late in the season and are struggling with sunburn.  They are a tough plant though that loves the sun so I have every hope they will survive.


20210521 Wild guava

I couldn’t resist taking another picture of wild guava after the rain.  The colours looked particularly intense.


 

20210520 Wetness

 

We had rain last night the sound of which kept me awake for quite a while.  Woke up to relative coolness and everything wet.  No puddles because the dry earth had soaked up all the water.


Wednesday, 19 May 2021

20210519 New tamarind

 

This is the first of the new season tamarind.  I’m not sure how much there will be this year given that the tamarind tried to make two harvests this year.  I think because of the exceptional rains we had.


20210518 New fence

 

Today we put up a new fence at the entrance which will stop cows walking all over Buddha Garden if they get in.

It was much easier work than we thought as the fencing was longer and with stretching it a bit we covered the whole length of what was needed.  I’m very pleased as we had talked about doing this when the new gate was put in but then we all got sick so it didn’t happen.


20210517 Pineapples ripe at last

 

So very pleased that at last we were able to harvest some pineapples this morning.

After all that work they have come out beautifully although a few of them have already been eaten by birds and animals.


20210516 Wild guava

 

While walking around the Buddha Garden forest today I came across a tree that had dropped all its leaves and was filled with these flowers.  I thought at first it was an Indian almond but later found its called careya arboreta - sometimes known as wild guava. 

I’m not sure whether its edible or not.  Nothing is edible right now although the fruits are forming.


20210515 Dried out

 

Finally our big pond is completely dry.  So no more birds there in the morning and evening.


Tuesday, 18 May 2021

20210514 Beauty through the lens

 

I love this picture of a succulent I found in Buddha Garden.  The photograph makes it look much better than the rather dull plant that it looks in real life.  I think because the colours are brighter.


20210513 Doing things the old fashioned way

 

The volunteer in the picture is making peanut butter the old fashioned way.  Now that the machine she used in the kitchen is broken.

Mahindran is explaining to her how his mother taught him to make it using the same sort of device!


20210512 More babies

 

More babies in the form of this chick which is only a few days old and which I saw for the first time today.

Another symbol of hope for me.


20210511 Dropped

 

There were a lot of these flowers dropped from the trees in different places in Buddha Garden this morning.

It’s the end of quarantine today and we all got together in Buddha Garden for the first time to talk.  It was lovely.


20210510 Back together


 

Rajan is now coming in regularly and here he is talking to Mahindran who has come in to help.

I am so grateful to feel I am not running things on my own anymore.

20210509 Carpet of blue

 

Saw these lovely blue flowers everywhere in Buddha Garden today.

I don’t quite know why but blue flowers always feel very special to me.  Especially at this very difficult time.


20210508 Harvest

 

Despite the fact I have been sick and with no Rajan until the last few days we have managed to find some harvests.  Like these papaya and micro greens in the white bag.

I am so grateful.

 


Thursday, 13 May 2021

20210507 New leaves new life

 

After feeling really ill for about a week with covid infection I felt good enough to take this picture of the new leaves on our peepul tree today.

I feel it symbolizes a new life for me although at this stage I have no idea about what that is going to look like.


20210429 Nature continues

 

Two of us have tested positive with covid and while the other one tested negative he has covid symptoms and cannot work.

Whatever difficulties we are experiencing nature continues…..


20210428 Banana sculpture

 

These are so called ‘cooking bananas’ that grow in a different shape to ordinary eating bananas.

They remind me of a sculpture.


20210427 Our first maize seedlings

 

Finally we got our first maize seedlings in – rather late but I suppose better late than never.

They will need plenty of water and mulch to survive.


20210426 Mulching

 

With the summer temperatures upon us we are having to do a lot of this mulching.  Even so, plants are getting burnt in the sun.


20210425 Beauty

 

I thought these flowers in Sangeeta’s garden were just beautiful.


20210424 Stubbed my toe

 

Was out walking in one of the orchards and looking up at all the trees to see what, if any, fruit there were. 

Stubbed my toe really badly on an old glyricidea root.  I fear that I may have to say goodbye to the nail that will probably drop off.


20210423 Lifting my spirits

 

Things are so difficult at the moment what with the pandemic, me not feeling very well and everyone abandoning the farm, these flowers of the desert rose lifted my spirits.

Fortunately we have a group of volunteers who are still managing to help.


20210522 A leaf by my door

Our peepul tree in the middle of Buddha Garden is in the process of losing all its leaves.  But one of them got stuck in the om sign by my door.

I hope it’s a good omen because we could do with something positive right now.  A lot of people are sick and I don't feel very well.

 

20210521 Another new sign

 

One of our volunteers is repainting all the signs on the road.  I love the colours she has chosen.  They seem to glow in the sun.


20210520 A discrete sign!

 

This is the sign I put up at the entrance to the private land.  I was asked to keep it discrete and I’m rather pleased with how discrete it looks.


20210519 New sign

 

I had some new signs made and this is the one on the main entrance to Buddha Garden.


Tuesday, 11 May 2021

20210418


 

Today we got a JCB to come and they made this path across the private land and to the new Buddha Garden entrance.  They also put in a new path within Buddha Garden to the parking place.

It was hot work but the new entrance just for us felt very good to use.

20210417 New entrance

 

Heard today that we are going to have a new entrance.  For the last months our neighbours have harassing us in various ways about using the common gate and path through their farm.  Someone has managed to organize a new path over this private land for six to eight weeks.  During this time we have to negotiate a new entrance somewhere else on Auroville land.


20210416 First onions

 

These are the first ever onions that we have grown in Buddha Garden.  We have grown small spring onions but never anything as big as these.  It has taken so long though to grow quite a small amount so I am not really sure about growing these in large quantities.


20210415 Outside nursery

 

I am really pleased that finally we have put the shade net up over the outside nursery in the Seed garden.

We are growing roccolla on the beds with sprinklers rather than drippers.  This hopefully means we can keep growing roccolla for a little bit longer as it is obviously struggling in the heat.


20210413 Green

 

Today we did a lot of work in the Seed Garden preparing beds for the coming hot season – although I fear we may be a bit late for that.

I loved the colour of this fenugreek plant and we were able to cut some of it and send small bunches to Foodlink.


20210413 Last Year

 

This time last year I was working on my colouring book and had just completed this picture.  We were still in lockdown and now this year, with the numbers going up again, it looks like a lockdown is on the cards again.