Thousands of Fruit Trees Given Away

June 25, 2010. They came on foot with tubs on their heads, with bags in their hands, by bicycle, by ox cart, tuk-tuk, truck. The news of the plant give away had spread throught out the valley and the demand for our seedling plants exceeded our imagination. This is our first success.

We had hoped to save some of the plants for SNET to begin to create a source of income to cover manufacturing water filters, but how could we turn these people down? So more than 5000 plants went to the homes and farms of our neighbors in nearby villages.

The village of Kelthane has a very active woman’s organization and they alone took 300 plants. This is the same nearby village that asked us last year to help them build a community center which was estimated to cost about $3000 in materials. We have not been able to help. This year they asked us to help them build a residence for school children whose parents cannot afford to feed, house and send them to school but instead demand that they stay home and work in the brick making fields or farms to earn money for their own food and clothing. Obviously there is such a great need to help these people get out of poverty. How do we help them help themselves we ask?

And now here they are accepting our plants to begin to grow their own cash producing crops. This reminds me of the saying that I believe comes out of Africa. “Give a man a fish he eats for a day, Teach him how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” Here we are teaching our poverty level neighbors to “fish” but by growing a cash crop. This gets us of out of the loop as only a provider of cash but gives a means by which the villagers can begin to take care of themselves.





SNET is working to help our neighbors get on this ladder out of impoverishment. We need your help.
Please give.  http://www.shreenityanandaeducationtrust.org/.

The Plant Give Away Project Has Begun

Now what to do with all these seeds? Fortunately, SNET has MotiRam supervising the landscaping and gardening for Fire Mountain Retreat Center who has many years experience of agriculture and farming in the Tansa Valley.

Based on Dr. Bhore’s suggestions, we bought 5000+ plastic bags, soil, and organic matter which we had our staff fill all of these bags for seeds. For over four weeks, our staff filled and planted these precious seeds.

Ananda and Shuresh filling the 5000+ plastic bags.

Once the seedlings started popping up out of the soil, we started feeling protective of them. An occasional cow was still finding away into our compound through our plastic fence. Last year we had cows coming into the compound on an almost daily basis. We knew we had to do something to keep them out this year but we didn’t really have a budget for building a fence out of stone or brick. So we tried something new: we bought enough shade netting to cover the entire boundary. And it worked: only two or three cows figured out that they could break their way through the thin veil of plastic.

The drumstick plants shot out of the ground quickly and strongly but the papaya were very slow to emerge. We were a little concerned that we might lose all those papaya seeds. We were aiming for a mid-June plant give-away and had begun to tell our neighbors to get their holes ready to receive the plants. We certainly wanted to have viable seedlings available for the give away.

Creating Enthusiasm for a New Future in Farming

Dr. Nitin Bhore's enthusiasm for creating a new future through agriculture and organic farming has inspired the staff and volunteers of SNET. He is somewhat of a pied-piper with everyone excitedly listening to his message of hope. He suggested that SNET grow saplings of fruit trees and create a give away program for our neighboring farmers and villagers who struggle so hard to create any kind of profit or value for themselves and their families. (Please read the previous blog entry, June 8, 2010). His advice included not only giving away plants, but also providing instruction on how to prepare the soil by digging big enough holes for the plants to grow into, utilizing organic fertilizers of local cow and sheep dung or manure, and providing water to the trees by recycling household water. The villagers with no land of their own were told to dig holes around their homes so that they could monitor the care and watering of their trees as well as protect the harvest from scavengers.

So on April 23, 2010 Sunil Anaokar, Pervez Kazi, MotiRam, Dewa and Jeanetta Haley traveled to Pune for the day to meet Dr. Bhore in his home town and "go shopping," but not for mere household items or clothes, but for seeds. Dr. Bhore offered to take them around Pune and find the best papaya and drumstick seeds.

He graciously took us into his home in Pune which vibrates with love from the hearts of entire family: himself, his wife, his mother, and two boys. The home reminds me of a Mexican country farmhouse, hand carved doors and furniture. In fact, Dr. Bhore is of Mexican descent but I don’t think he has ever visited Mexico. But it is obviously in his blood, for he is immensely creative with the construction materials available in India. His mother served us homemade “starters” which might be called “tapas” if we were in Mexico. Little pie shaped dumplings.

Before shopping he took us to a Blue Nile for lunch of “the best Briyani in Pune” and it was good. Because of the increased threat of terrorism in Pune there was a metal detector and security at the door like there is airport and cameras on the walls. The world is a different place even in Pune, where there was a bombing of a German Bakery in the past few months. In contrast, on the walls were these cute photos of animals, from a more innocent era. One had a quirky photo of a lamb with the caption, “Pleased to meet you, Meat to please you.” Guess I am kind of quirky to remember it.

Afterwards we bought our papaya seeds, drumstick seeds, marigold seeds and a few vegetable varieties we hadn’t seen before. Dr. Bhore recommended various other supplies he thought would help us in our agriculture venture. We were thrilled to have his expertise and connections for getting seeds. At one seed shop, he actually opened up the seed package to see if it contained good seeds. Now, we would not have thought to do that. And what he discovered was poor quality dried-up seeds. Needless to say, we did not buy those. Thanks Dr. Bhore.

At the Pune Agriculture Marketing Center seen to the left, we were approached by a man from northern India selling his last bags of Basmati rice out of the back of his little motorcycle type truck. Dr. Bhore asked to see the rice. He took it into his hand, examined it, and then smelled the rice, just like he might do if it was wine. He thought it was good. When we each took a little into our hands, we understood what he meant. What an education to be with someone who knows the field of agriculture. Four of us bought the man out of his last bags for a very good price.

After the shopping adventure, we made a short trip to visit Hazrat Babajan again for Kazi and MotiRam to experience. This evening was a special day at the shrine and it was not open for visitors as in the past visit. But we were allowed to take her darshan through the windows. Kazi put on his white little cap that is part of his Muslim culture, which proved to be his entry ticket. The person at the door could see his earnest and he was lucky enough to be allowed inside for the first time. You can see him peering into the window to the right. What bliss for all of us to visit her again.

Dr. Bhore had us return to his home where he entertained us in his garden patio in the front of his yard that is magically lit by twinkly lights and surrounded by tall bamboo and flowering hibiscus. He described to us how many people walking by his home will stop and ask if this is some kind of restaurant. He brought out a very good red wine for us to try which we rarely see living in Nimboli. One of his contacts, who has become a friend, like us, makes wine. It was a nice touch after a long day. Fortunately when you hire a car, you already have a designated driver and we were escorted home.

SNET Explores the Challenges of Indian Farming

Jan. 2010. Shree Nityananda Education Trust (SNET) staff member, Sunil Anaokar suggested that SNET should consider attending an agriculture exposition in Pune, Maharashtra to see what could be learned about benefitting the local farmers in India in their plight of trying to make create a livelihood through farming. So we, Sunil, Dewa and Jeanetta Haley, traveled the three hours to Pune to immerse ourselves in learning about the most modern farming practices in Maharashtra State.

We arrived early enough to search out one of our favorite saint’s samadhi shrines, that of Hazrat Babajan. She was born into a royal Muslim family of Pakastan, but being a realized being, she had little use for material life, and spent most of her later years on the side of a busy street in Pune. People of all faiths would come visit her there for her darshan and blessings and continue to do so even now at her tomb. She was the one who first assisted Meher Baba in awakening to his life as an Avatar with a kiss on the forehead. (See this website for more information http://mehermelb.jimdo.com/perfect-masters/babajan). The three of us have a personal devotion to her and wished to have her darshan before we began our exploration of the world of agriculture. We hired a tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw or motorcycle type taxi) to show our driver the way through the winding streets of Pune. Kudos to Sunil who thought of this successful tactic. It was a quiet day at her shrine and we were allowed to soak in her grace and blessings with little distraction. As two westerners and Dewa being over six feet tall as well, we always get many stares and many hands reaching out for a few rupees, but once those who revere Hazrat Babajan see that we are there in devotion and not just sight-seers, we are given room to bask in her love and bliss which is so present there at her shine.

Filled with this special blessing, we moved on to the exposition. We met many people and located many possibly valuable farming venders, but the one that literally jumped out in the aisles to greet us was Dr. Nitin Bhore. His 12’ X 12’ booth was lined with big green billboards and photos describing the various successful roles he plays in the world of agriculture, and peopled with many young students who were very inspired and devoted to his thoughts and ideas about agriculture and organic farming. He has a big presence! We told Dr. Bhore of the charity SNET and its desire to help improve the conditions for the local farmers and he agreed to help. We were so excited to enlist his help but little did we realize that our meeting was the beginning of a new and deep friendship as well as a very significant flow of grace and benefit to our neighborhood farmers and villagers.

Dr. Bhore thinks of farming as an investment and teaches farmers to begin thinking about the entire financial picture of what they are farming. Twice in the early spring, he visited SNET’s headquarters at the Fire Mountain Retreat Center (www.firemountainretreat.org) to begin his instruction to the staff and volunteers of SNET about “smart farming” practices. Dr. Bhore advises that a farmer would be wise to plant crops for cash profit in about six months, such as papaya or drumstick, marigolds, ayurvedic herbs, or other plants that there is a high demand for but little availability. With Mumbai only 2 ½ hours away, many big hotels are clamouring for organic vegetables. Most farmers grow the same things that their neighbors are growing, such as tomatoes, or cabbage and hence there is lots of competition for the same ten and twenty rupee note. But after the first successful crop helps put food on the table and some money in the farmer’s pocket, he should begin to think about growing fruit trees that will provide fruit in about five or six years. This is a photo of a four month old papaya tree. As you can see, they grow very fast, providing fruit by the sixth or eighth month.

At one of the early "smart farming" lectures, our neighbors listen with great earnest and enthusiasm to what Dr. Bhore advises.

We read of an Indian man in the state of Bihar who planted mango trees when his daughter was born. It has become a practice in his area to abort or kill female children due to extreme poverty. Why? Because young females grow into adult women who need a dowry and marriage. If the father has no idea of how he will feed his children now, and much less provide a dowry in the future, this seems like a plausible solution. But instead this man planted mango trees. When she reached the marriage age he had already been saving over $ 4000 US per year for three years and had the necessary money for the marriage. (see link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10204759).