Mice in my hair

Last night I woke up to a mouse in my hair. I don't know what it was doing, but it had somehow made its way under the mosquito net and into my hair. This encounter with the mouse of the house has helped make our decision to vacate the jungle house earlier than planned. We will be heading into town, Kumily, today, after just two nights in the jungle. The farm here is not what we expected and there is not really any work for us to do. On top of that, the owner left the same day we arrived, so we have been alone in her house, on the farm, supposedly looking for work to do. Of course, neither Hannah nor I have experience in cardamum or coffee cultivation so without direction, the work we can do is extremely limited. In terms of research for my thesis work, the owner is an ex-pat from Germany and is married to a woman from Tamil Nadu, and they export to Germany, so the community development side of this organic farm really has nothing to do with India and its development. As for HAnnah's interest in organic farming, there was a man spraying pesticides just near the house...we are unsure of where the property ends, but cross contamination seems inevitable if it isnt their land he was actually spraying. So this, added together with the resident mouse, has helped us decide to pack 'er in and head to town.

From town I think we will visit the nearby wildlife reserve and see some elephants and tigers!
We will be staying in a tree house! That will be neat!! Hopefully there will be internet nearby and we can spend some quality time doing research and writing for our projects.

We came from Munnar, which is an area of vast, green, tea trees that don't grow taller than our thighs. It was beautiful and quite chilly up in the mountains. We visited the tea museum and the processing plant and wandered the hills with trees and met some of the women pickers. We learned how white tea, green tea and black tea are made, their prices, and their history. This is all black tea, just oxidized, and sifted differently.
We also saw many pesticides being sprayed on these trees. We visited the "welfare" project of the tea plantation, called DARE. The entire area of tea plantations is owned by one company, TATA, who also makes cars and electronics, among other things. They have owned the plantations since the early 20s. They have a welfare centre where "differently abled" children attend classes and then are given jobs dying fabrics, or making jam or paper. Although it is neat to see such an old initiative, of what we now know as "CSR, Corporate Social Responsibilty", it was disturbing to see how many physically disabled children and young people are living in the tea plantations. This made us wonder why, is it because of the pesticides?
The interesting thing about the towns in the hills is that they are communes, funded and set up by TATA to house, school, and provide health care for the workers and their families. So everyone lives, works, and grows up together under TATAs care. Those who are disabled end up at DARE. The men seem to spray and process the tea, and other care for the trees, and the women pluck the buds for processing. Anyway, more research into this concept of commune living and abundant labour needs to be done.
Needless to say, we didn't purchase any tea from the outlet. We are in search of some small plantation or locally owned grower to sell perhaps some local, organic tea? We'll see if that is possible.

This is the amazing backwaters tour that we did in Cochin.
Cochin was probably my favourite stop so far. We spent the first two nights couchsurfing at a guys place about half hour from Fort Kochi. Then we moved to town when we played his music all night long and we didnt sleep well. We did some shopping and took a spontaneous tour of stores, a woman's cooperative, a ginger processing plant, and a candle making shop. Our tour guide was a rickshaw driver who sang the Barbie girl song, called his 3-wheel Baja a Ferrari, and bahhed at the goats on the road.
The next day we took the back water tour up the back waters nearby. It was a 7 hour trip on a boat with about 15 other people. We were punted up and down the cannals. It was very peaceful. We also stopped to see a Lime powder factory where they make lime out of a shell they extract from the river water. Then we stopped to see a demontration of twine making from coconut. Then we had lunch. It was relaxing and peaceful.
On Sunday, we visited the oldest church in INdia, St. Francis Church in Fort Kochi, but the english service was cancelled so we tried at the Basilica (KErala is a highly Christian state), but no english that day either. I went back and sat through most of the Malayalam service at the St. Francis church which was interesting. Later that day we visited the oldest synagogue in India. It is located in a neighbourhood called Jew Town in Fort Kochi. We arrived COMPLETELY soaked!! It poured possibly the hardest rain we've seen on the ride to the synagogue, and the roads were all flooded. Then we had a snack and brushed paths with the manager of the Australian cricket team who was in town for a match, but was rained out.
That night we went to a show of Kathakali, a traditional dance drama from Kerala. The make up application takes longer than the show!
Oh, and we found a great cafe that served real coffee!

Hannah and I have yet to find an organic farm or organization that integrates community development, gender equality and sustainable agriculture here in India. Yesterday we pondered the idea that maybe all that is incompatible...or maybe we are looking in the wrong areas. Anyways, we will keep searching...we have some leads of offices in Delhi we will visit once we are back up north...and we might have a week or so to visit some other places up around Uttarakhand as well.

So we are travelling alot...we are in Cochin, couch surfing again...and off to Munnar, tea plantation region in a couple of days. Before that we will go on a backwaters tour here in Cochin, along with some sightseeing.
We spend about a week at an organic farm near Bangalore. That was very nice. They had 2 litters of puppies and one litter of kittens! So we played lots. We also harvested a whole bunch of Rosela, or Jamaica, staked tomatoes, prepared a new bed for lettuce, weeded carrots, harvested cherry tomatoes and Chikoo fruit. The farm is comercial...small, family owned, but meant for earning money small scale, a different idea than Navdanya, but we learned some techniques from them.
We did that through WOOFing, and will do that again, woofing, after Munnar, in Kumily.
Our host here is a fish exporter...not organic haha.
We visited JewTown today, the old Jewish quarter of Fort Kochin. We also saw the St. Francis church...and will try to get to mass on Sunday. Kerala has a large Christian population, and so it should be intersting to go to a service. I wanted to go see the Franciscan church, for Uncle Dave is a Franciscan friar, but also because it was the first church built in India! It also had Vasco de Gama's remains for a short period of time. The basilica is also impressive, although we didnt go into it.
Hannah really wanted to see the synagogue today, but it was closed, so we might try to go on Sunday afternoon. It has only a few open hours a day and has an entrance fee...so must be good! haha
Our plans for the rest of our travel time is changing slightly, and we are reconsidering the 3 day train trip to get back to Haridwar...we are a bit tired of trains...especially sleeper trains. So we are looking into flights.
We have to take a short ferry back, and then a half hour bus ride to our host's house...which is waterfront!! we've really been lucky with our couch surfer hosts!!

Goa

We are couchsurfing here in Panjim, Goa. Our host is very accomadating and kind. We have been staying at his riverside house with a couple of other girls who are travelling. We have our own room and private bathroom. Its been much more than we expected! Daniel, our host is also a mango biodiversity conservationist. He has grafted several varieties of mangos from the Goa region onto his trees on his property, and intends to increase his collection. He also has a large variety of fruit and nut trees on the property.
We have tried to see the city today, but haven't been very succesful, maybe this evening. Tomorrow we are going to check out an organic Spice Plantation nearby. Hopefully get to interview and chat with the owners. We've planned our trip around visits to organic plantations and farms, and hope to get a larger, wider perspective of what Organic Farming and food sovereignty is like in India and be able to combine that with what we have seen with Navdanya.
Some things still need to be planned, and we are squeezing in visits to the beach and to the temples, etc. as well.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon on a beach in North Goa, where we "hiked" to a fresh water swimming hole and mini waterfall. The night we arrived we went to a beautiful beach right near Panjim, and cooked a fish that Daniel and the girls had caught earlier that day. We stepped into the water just a bit. Goa has been a sigh and gulp of fresh air for us in terms of no-stress travel. Nobody harasses us or even approaches us while walking or travelling. People are very helpful and calm. Even the streets are calmer and quieter! We can't tell if this is from the beach or just a Goan trend. Whatever it is, we like it!
Our stopover in Delhi went fantastically with friends of Hannah's from UPeace. They showed us the city, took very good care of us, and let us in on some Delhi secrets. We plan to meet back up with them just before I fly home. We didnt make it to Agra, because our day that we planned it, Friday, it isnt open to public...silly us, so we will have to get there just before I leave.
Amritsar was amazing! The golden temple was just gorgeous and so peaceful! The history in Amritsar is so rich and really made it feel special to be there. We went to the Wagha Border ceremony and that was interesting. I dont think I would go again...it is a lot of men yelling and showing their testosterone is running, but it was an experience. Such a change to be in the south!
We are trying to plan and book the rest of our time in India to make sure we see and do everthing we want and need to; get to farms, organizations, interview people, visit offices, see the sights, meet up with friends and have fun!
I hope to be able to visit an SOS Children's village in the north after Diwali. I will spend Diwali with Meera and we should be able to solidify our arrangement. I also hope to be able to hold some sort of workshop for the children while we are there. We hope to be able to go to Rajastan with Abhyudai as well, but we will see how that pans out. Our next 2 months will be super busy, but I think everything will work.

Chandigarh

We have found the most organized and clean city of India I believe! Chandigarh roads have lines on them and the cars, autorickshaws, cycle rickshaws, buses, bicycles, scooters, motorbikes and pedestrians seem to obey their lanes and the lights! The streets are lined with large trees and green grass and there are many parks and gardens. The city is divided into Sectors that are 1km squared blocks that were thought to contain everything for living. The city is one of the first or the first planned city of India and it shows! There is less caos and although the city is more spread out, it is more peaceful.
Yesterday we spent the day at Sukhna Lake, which has paddleboats that we didnt ride. Then to the rock garden/amusement park and then to the bougainvillea garden. We were pretty pooped after all that. We ate an amazing meal at this really fancy Italian restaurant. We kinda blew our budget on that, but I think it cost us each 6$, so a relative splurge. Today we went to check out the Tagore theatre, and it was a nice, wooden building, but unfortunately there are no shows on tonight. Then we went to the rose garden and smelled the roses and took lots of pictures. We had planned on going to the city museum and the art gallery, but both are closed on Mondays, so our not so well planned plan was ruined.
Tomorrow we head up to Amritsar. We hope to arrive there fairly early and be able to go to the border closing ceremony at the border with Pakistan. Then on Wednesday we will visit the Golden Temple, and Thursday morning we are off to Delhi. We fly to Goa on Saturday. We had thought of going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal on Friday, but it is closed on Fridays, so we will just sightsee in Delhi and catch the Taj on the way back up.
I got my sandals fixed from a shoe maker on the road and today we bought umbrellas. I forgot my raincoat at the farm, so I am without rain protection from the monsoon rains (which were supposed to stop on the 15 of September but dont seem to be letting up much).
Today we ate lunch at a Food Stop outside the Art College and our table was overrun with young students who "secretly" took our photos while we ate. We have contacted 3 farms down south. One in Karnataka, and 2 in Kerala, and it looks like we will be able to visit all 3 if we plan our trip right. 2 are organic farms, one of which is a spice and coffee farm, and the third is a Shakti farm. They grow their organic produce within the jungle so as not to deforest but rather reforest the jungle. That will be neat to be able to compare with the work that Navdanya does.
I'm still hoping to hear back from a few other gender and womens focused NGOs about possible visits, but haven't heard anything yet.

The past week...

So I haven't written in awhile...and there is lots to tell. I dont have the photos with me right now, so that will have to wait.

Krishnas Birthday was last week. We celebrated it at Sheela's house. We went there first thing in the morning, had chai and some snacks, and then walked to temple. We sat and listened to chanting and waited for people to arrive. Then we did the walk through to "greet" Krishna's statue. Then it was time to eat. We all went outside, like at a church picnic, and had a wonderful meal!

Then there was dancing, and then we headed back. We were some of the few people who danced, but everyone expected us to!

I went to Rishikesh the next day. The others stayed back for the course that was being held here. I spent the weekend relaxing at the Ashram where Meera works, and visiting with her. Nina, Hannah, Rachel and Matt arrived on Monday and we stayed in Rishikesh until yesterday. We came back for the Sunday market at Mona's.

Nina and I have been ill...Nina has been to a doctor twice now. Once for a diagnosis, and once to change the antibiotics that she thought might have been too strong for her. I wasn't as sick as her until yesterday. We went to a couple's house for lunch and afterwards I fell really ill. I made it back to the farm with Vanessa and Rachel, with only one emergency stop. I took some of the antibiotics that I had brought with me, and slept, and this morning I feel much better.

It was really nice to visit with Meera up in Rishikesh. We also saw Elivan, a visitor to the farm. It was Meera's brother's birthday while we were there and him and his wife and daughter drove up from Mussepor for dinner with us all.

Hannah and I were supposed to go to Piyusha's farm yesterday, but due to the circumstances, we have postponed that. I'm not sure if we will go at all because of how I am feeling. We have promised Mona we will be at the Sunday Market again next sunday, and then that same day we plan to take a bus to Chandigar, then up to Amritsar, then Delhi, and on the 25th we have a flight to Goa! We'll spend about a month down south...hopefully visiting other organizations and projects, but also to see the sights and the beaches!

Most interesting day!

Today was the most interesting day! Hannah and I went to Dehradun first thing in the morning, expecting to meet Piyusha at the farmer´s market. It took us over an hour to arrive, and when we did, it wasn´t anything like we expected! Piyusha hadn´t made it, but we were welcomed by Navid, who showed us into this house. Inside was a woman, Mona, who is a 75 year old jewish woman from Florida who runs this market from her house! There was a man selling apples, some onions and potatoes, and inside, there was a whole lot of organicly grown products, like rice, soy, tumeric, spices, breads, etc. We spent the whole morning just chatting with Mona and experiencing her market! She fed us baked samosas and homemade veggie burgers. We learned lots, she intrigued us to return, and I have agreed to help tutor a young woman who works for her in computer skills. She wouldn´t tell us how she had arrived in India, but she is very wealthy, and has lived here for 27 years now! She is such an interesting and funny woman!
I´ll go back this week, with other interns and to help out some. Maybe learn how she got here!
I will go to Rishikesh on the 3rd,. maybe earlier, spend some time with Meera and talking of our projects as well as doing some yoga. Hannah will come up on the 6th and we will spend a week up there, yogaing and stuff. Then off to the Punjab!
We are having some difficulties here at the farm, so we are looking for other ways of learning about the organic and sustainable agriculture/sustainable development movement throughout India. I have some things I still want to do with Navdanya, but I think this might not be the time.
So we will take a break. Meet new people, new projects, new places...then return.
Good night!

Nina and Abhyudai walking down the river to the road to catch the bus. The same river I walked Raquel down to catch her taxi that never came.

Since yesterday I didn´t add any photos to the blog, I thought today that I could.


This is Abhyudai hanging out of the bus as it passes the overflowing river. We later got off the bus because it couldn´t get up the hill and caught an auto-vikram into town. The bus was packed, this is why he is outside of the bus, and he seemed to enjoy it.

We had rain again last night, but not nearly as much.
It´s looking pretty bad for Pakistan though...good to see that the Canadian government is matching donations to the cause...at least through the Humanitarian Coalition...maybe others?
It´s Rakhi tomorrow...another festival!
Here are the rice paddies, looking good! They have labels now...I helped paint them! And to the right is Sheela, weeding in between the rice.

Rain!

Today I woke up at 3am to make sure Raquel, a Spanish volunteer made it okay in her taxi to the train station. It was pouring rain when we woke up, and when the taxi didn´t arrive by 4am, we walked to the end of the road and waited a few minutes, but it didn´t show up. We walked through the river at the end of the road, that appears when the torrential rains pick up, and back up the farm. Apparently the taxi couldn´t cross another spontaneous river that had formed further up the road, and never made it to us. So we went back to sleep, Raquel a little concerned about having missed her train and about her clothes in her bag that were now soaking wet. We woke up for breakfast and she set off to take the bus that thankfully was passing the rivers, to the interstate bus station where she was to catch a bus to Delhi. Luckily her flight isnt until Tuesday, so she wasn´t missing that and the train was really cheap so she didnt feel too bad about losing her ticket.
The rains apparently are really late and really heavy for this region. Some of the rice even looks tired of it!
Many of the roofs are leaking, luckily not my bedroom one! And as long as the rain continues so continuously, the mosquitoes aren´t bad, but I can only imagine how they will be once the rain stops!
Things are so moist all the time too that I think I will send home some of my clothes and some of the gifts that I have purchased already. Sending things is fairly cheap (compared to Canada Post) and I think it will be the only way to avoid them ruining by the mold.
The temperature is something that now one is complaining about! It´s so lovely and fresh. Even working in the fields isn´t bad, if you don´t mind getting wet. I have to admit that I haven´t been out there as much as I should though...
This Tuesday, the 24th is the Raki festival, where girls give bracelets to their male friends and it means that they are now brother and sister and the brother has to protect the sister. In return the brother has to give the sister sweets. Hannah and I bought enough bracelets for everyone on the farm (and looking forward to so many sweets! haha)
The guava trees, all three varieties are ready to be eaten so today we are picking them and maybe make something out of them. There are two white varieties and one pink one.
We might also set up the badminton/volleyball net today!
As for work, the job descriptions for future interns is ready to be posted on the website. I have to learn/figure out how to do that and then its all ready. We have changed the system slightly, but those who reviewed it seemed to think they were good changes, so we´ll go ahead with them. The system they use, for the website, is Jhoomla, so if anyone has any tips or crash course sites I could go to, that´d be helpful!
Off to help pick those guavas!!

Interesting Christmas Ideas (maybe a little early, but doesn´t hurt to think ahead!)

Dear friends,

As you all know, I am in India right now. I have been working for an organization that advocates food sovereignty and although I have been busy learning about organic farming and other aspects of the organization, I have also met some really amazing people outside of the organization who are pursuing their own endeavours.

One such girl is Meera. She is a 24 year old whom we met at the yoga Ashram that she manages in Rishikesh (a town just north of here). She is a graduate of the Master in Social Work program and has focused on community development. Her desire to work in this field stems from the work her family, driven by her mother, have done in her home village of Mussepur. Mussepur is nearby the holy city of Haridwar. There they have opened a children´s centre for physically disabled children and for abandoned or orphaned children of the area. Meera herself grew up at the centre and her family continues to live within the children´s centre.

I have just come back from visiting the Centre (ASSA) and have met the children. I plan to return for a longer period of time maybe in October, when I will run a type of children´s camp for the children. We tried some of the games this weekend (all have to be seated games as many of the children cannot stand) and they all really enjoyed them.

Due to their lack of mobility, and being creative children, many of them have become very talented artisans. They have perfected many skills such as embroidery, painting, sewing, etc. and would like to be able to continue to use these skills. Meera has set up a shop on site where these products are sold, but unfortunately they are out of town and few people stop in.

So, I have talked at length with Meera about this and have decided to purchase an order of crafts and try to sell them in Canada. I haven´t worked out how I will do that, but thought I would start with you, people who I know, who know me, and can trust me when I say this is a good cause and the most direct fair trade there is. It is important to know the children do the arts and crafts as an after school activity, they are not made for production and sale in the industrial sense. The idea to take advantage of such talents and be able to sell the finished product was somewhat of an after-thought, but most certainly helps with necessary operations for many of the children, daily costs of the centre and projects for upgrading the centre.

I have attached a list of items that I have purchased and which you could buy from me along with photos of some of the things. If you (and I would love it if you did) want to purchase more than I have purchased already, I can buy more. I will cover the costs of transport (bringing them with me at the beginning of December, in time for Christmas!) and all mark up cost will be re-invested in specific projects for the Children´s Centre and will be discussed between Meera and I.

Please take a look at the products and if anything interests you let me know! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. (julia.ey.norman@gmail.com, julia-in-india.blogspot.com) Finally, if you feel you could pass this on to anyone else, please do!

Thank you so much! Love Julia

Item	Photo/Description	Price
1. Square cloth painting		$6.00
2. Rectangle cloth painting (without frame)		$8.00
3. Gift tags – Christmas theme	Gift tags the size of a business card, embroidered with a Christmas design.	3 for $2.00
4. Gift tags – other themes	Gifts tags the size of business cards, embroidered with various designs (flowers, Hindu symbols, etc)	3 for $2.00
5. Greeting cards (medium size) – painted		$2.50
6. Greeting cards (med size)-embroidered		$3.00
7. Mini greeting cards with envelopes		$2.00
8. Christmas greeting cards		$3.00
9. Bookmarks (painted)		$2.00
10. Make-up bags	Fabric make-up or bathroom bags with an embroidered design on the corner and a zipper opening from on top. Size is roughly 20cmx15cmx5cm.	$10.00
11. Placemats with cloth napkins (set of 4)	Various fabrics and designs. Napkins have embroidered design in the corner.	$10.00
12. Christmas tree ornaments (hanging)	These are made of felt or other fabric.	$2.00
13. Christmas wreaths (green and red)	These are similar in material and design to the picture below, but obviously in the shape of a wreath.	$10.00
14. Red and green garlands (toran)		$14.00
15. Gift pouches – red	These are different coloured gift pouches that close with a draw string. They are about 15cmx10cm. The material varies, but I have seen them made with a lace-type fabric.	$1.00
16. Gift pouches – green	These are different coloured gift pouches that close with a draw string. They are about 15cmx10cm. The material varies, but I have seen them made with a lace-type fabric.	$1.00
17. Gift pouches – gold	These are different coloured gift pouches that close with a draw string. They are about 15cmx10cm. The material varies, but I have seen them made with a lace-type fabric.	$1.00
18. Gift pouches – other colours	These are different coloured gift pouches that close with a draw string. They are about 15cmx10cm. The material varies, but I have seen them made with a lace-type fabric.	$1.00
19. Dolls with sari	These dolls will be made from felt. The size will be about 5 inches, so a toy doll size.	$6.00
20. Key chains (assorted)	Assorted key chains with figurines and symbols made from felt and stuffed.	$4.00
21. Picture frames	These are standard size picture frames made with cloth that are either painted or embroidered.	$7.00

Home again, home again

Bija Vidyapeeth is very quiet today. It´s Independence Day here in India, and so everyone is on holiday at their homes. Anand brought his little boy Arien this morning, and Bindu brought us sweets (sweet meats they call them but really they´re just sugar and milk). Nobody from the office came in today, and none of the farm workers who don´t live on the farm came either.




Bindu then invited us (Hannah, Raquel and I as we are the only volunteers on the farm now) to see her three girls perform at the school. We didn´t make it in time to see the performance though, so she invited us to her home, and then for chai at her parents home. Bindu´s sister Poonam was there visiting. She met a Belgian volunteer here and they got married last year, so now they live in Belgium, but she is here for a couple of months. Bindu also has a younger sister named Chandni (moonlight) and a brother Sunu. In total they are 5 girls and 1 boy and the parents. We might get to meet her other sisters too because one comes from New Zealand and another from Delhi tomorrow.

After chai, we caught the bus back to the farm, but as we got off the bus we picked up the clothes from the tailor! I just tried mine on and they look good…just the pants are a bit big…I have to go see if he can change them a bit and perhaps the sleeves too…they are really small.

Hannah and I came back from Mussepur last night. We spent two nights at Meera´s family´s orphanage/centre for physically disabled children. Our stay was really interesting. Meera and her family are lovely, and we felt very comfortable and at home. The dormitories of the children were a bit gloomy, quite different from what I experienced at Casa Guatemala. I am thinking of making a project for next time I go, to paint the dormitories and brighten them up somehow; Maybe the dining hall too.

When we arrived on Thursday night, the children were all lined up on the courtyard and we greeted them by walking up and down the lines. It seemed so institutional and formal. This gave us an odd first impression. In the morning they also were all lined up and singing their morning prayers. It seems like they are very disciplined. After their classes we were able to interact more informally with them. We arranged a few games and songs and they sang and danced for us too. Rachel and I sang the Princess Pat and they loved it! We played games sitting down, as many of them cannot stand. They enjoyed them though I think. Even one boy who can´t stand did a dance. Many of their dances seem to be interpretations of the songs, so he was able to act it out. It was really neat.

We talked a lot about the arts and crafts that they do and how we can sell them. They have a shop, a very nice one, but because they are out of town, and not well known, they have very few customers. Some of the children are amazing at embroidery, painting, and so many other things! Suman, one girl who has just received surgery on her legs and is learning to walk, is the “expert” embroiderer. They make cards, wall hangings, etc. and also made some neat make-up bags and other things.

Apparently a couple of the boys are really good painters. They paint on cloth, and some are made into bookmarks, and others are framed for wall hangings.
I ordered a number of things, a variety, and hope I can sell them back home. I ordered some gift tags for Christmas, as well as greeting cards. They will be a variety of embroidered and painted.

I got many ideas of activities and projects I can initiate if I spend time there in October. They only thing is the language barrier. If Meera is not there (which is quite often as she is the manager of a yoga Ashram in Rishikesh), there is no one who speaks really good English. Oh well, we´ll have to figure something out.

The night before we left for Meera´s place, Hannah, Abuydeh, Raquel and I arranged a treasure hunt for Amy, Rachel and Benedetta as it was their last night on the farm. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we got a lot of great pictures!

Just some thoughts

photos are courtesy of HANNAH!!! i dont appear in my own photos....

Food!!

Transplanting Rice

Rice bundle

Rice varieties

"forest"

oooo

Pretty Flowers

shelling peanuts

yucca..HUGE

the Mountains!!!

sorting rice   

Today I think I sweated more than any other day in my life. It was so hot and so humid!! I went for a walk into the field and was sweating profusely just from the walk that the thought of working in it was unimaginable. We found the women working though…in the heat of the day in the sun, and Sheela has a fever! I couldn´t believe it! She has an infection in her arm and it has given her a fever, so Hannah and I gave her some Tylenol. Her sore was bandaged with a corner of a newspaper, so we also helped her wash it with clean water and gave her the sterile gauze that we have with bandages. Hopefully it helps.

Last evening we walked to the market and Raquel (from near Burgos) and I bought fabric for suits. We haven´t decided on the design yet, but when we do, we will have to visit the tailor.

The dogs are now permanently guarding Hannah and my door because we give them treats! We bought dog treats in town and give them to them. The littlest one, Bean, doesn’t seem to have many teeth, so the “chew” toys are kind of hard for him to eat. He kind of gums them I think. Haha.

Dr. Shiva was here today and they had a policy meeting with some “learned” people about how to mainstream organic farming in policy. It was kind of interesting, but I didn’t attend in the afternoon. Matt has also arrived with many projects for us who have time! It is an interesting dynamic now…it´s always changing, the community and dynamic of the farm, so it is really neat to see what each person brings in terms of character, personality, energy, ideas, etc.

There are some neat school gardens ideas, and also the Bhoomi festival sounds fun too.

I had a good conversation with Dr. Shiva about gender and eco-feminism today. The conclusion I drew is that the feminist movement has been kind of pushed aside due to lack of resources and time, but she welcomed me to rejuvenate it. So I have some ideas for that, and now I just need to figure out which projects I will focus my energy on.

We had a mouse in the room the other night! Hannah and I both got up and Hannah picked up the bag where we heard the noise and it ran out! Right over our feet! It was just little, but so quick! Where´s that cat when you need him!

We had a really nice guitar session and sing along the other night too, with feet soaking, lotioning, and toe-nail painting, a very relaxed evening.