Some visual updates!

Here I thought Id just post some photos of the farm, the crops and my living quarters...to give an idea.
We went into town yesterday. It took almost 2 hours! we had to take 2 different vikrams and then we walked and walked and walked. Some of the volunteers were looking for a hooka bar to smoke shisha, and Hannah and I bought markers and I also bought some crackers and cookies.

Last evening we went to the market here nearby. It was only about a 10 or 15 minute walk, it wasn´t very big, but it was nice to leave the farm for a while and see things. We bought some fruit: apples (really small ones!), bananas, and a citrus fruit that they call a grapefruit but that really doesnt taste much like a grapefruit.
Then we came back and Hannah and I had organized a volunteer meeting to discuss some of the organizational issues that we have noticed with the intern program here at Bija Vidyapeeth, and to ask for feedback from the other volunteers, many who have been here for a significant amount of time and have heard many of the same complaints.
We had previously thought that a few simple things like an activity board that could be updated daily would help to direct interns to where and what was being done on the farm that day, and a volunteer manual that is complete with a self guided map and orientation guide to the farm for new interns. We also think that an intern coordinator is necessary on the ground here at the farm, which apparently has been mentioned before, but there isn´t currently which makes it very difficult to organize anything.
The was a girl who was supposedly acting as a coordinator here, but her role and leadership was minimal. the other volunteers gave us some really good feedback and we have decided to take on the organization of the intern program at the farm as a project during our time here. We have sent an email to Dr. Shiva who will have to accept and support such a project, but we hope it will be a go as we think both the interns and volunteers as well as Navdanya as an organization would really benefit from some more structure and organization.
There is an amazing amount of knowledge and skills here that are not being taken advantage of and used because there is a lack of direction and confusion. So in order to help channel some of this talent, we have drafted a job description for an Internship Coordinator and sent it to Dr. Shiva.
I am really excited to perhaps have my first project, and one that I really think would be beneficial to all. I didn´t work in the fields today, instead we set up the lecture hall for a group of visitors that came for a presentation. Then we shelled peanuts, LOTS of peanuts. They cook the morning rice with peanuts.
Because we had visitors, lunch was delicious!!! We had chickpeas in a sauce, a flour or bean (I couldn´t tell) in a spicy kurd sauce, and a squash/pumpkin dish that was a bit sweet and a bit spicy. Of course rice, and a sweet dish to finish.
I spent some time researching for my paper today too, and this evening, after dinner, will hopefully get to do more of that, granted the power doesn´t go out.
Again, because of visitors and the fact that they needed power, they had the extra generator going, so there was a constant supply of power and therefore perfect condition for work ont he computer today.
We have finished transplanting now! Now the work in the field has moved onto weeding the peanut/corn fields. I don´t know what will be next!
I think tomorrow is the mango festival, but no one has said anything.
The cat was in our room today! I scared it out, and then I felt that it must be lonely so I talked to it for a minute. It talked back. I didn´t approach it though, can´t have it getting too friendly.

Friday today. Dehradun has a Friday market Hannah and I were thinking of going to, to buy fabric to take to the tailor to get suits made for us. The loose pants and long shirts would be really condusive to working in this heat. I think in the end we might wait until Delhi to do that though.
My clothes are getting super dirty from the work in the fields, and my novice hand washing ability doesnt help! I´ve washed some of my clothes twice already in the past week and they still smell funny!
So today a few of us woke up at 5am and Geet, the gardener in charge of general upkeep and the herbal gardens took us on a nature walk to the nearby forest of Salve that is behind the fields. We saw some peacocks, males, and really pretty flowers, and an amazing sunrise! The sun was a bright orange behind the trees.
I am now waiting for breakfast, then we will head into the fields, and continue transplanting the rice and millet. I have so far only been involved in pulling the plant out, and another group is planting it in another field. It is really amazing the different varieties they have, of grains, pulses, rices and everything. We have mentioned that we would like to see this reflected in our food. I´m not sure why, but we seem to get the same rice every meal. The pulses vary, as do the vegetables, but the rice doesnt and i´m not sure why.
Navdanya has a network of fair trade markets where farmers in their network can sell to and recieve 10% more than the normal market, and I believe we buy from this market, so perhaps the rice is from that.
Yesterday, after the work in the field, I came in and cleaned our room. I swept and wiped surfaces. Then I had a shower and did some yoga. There are many people here who know a lot of yoga, and there are Ashrams close by that I think I will try to go to for a week or so to learn some more.
A yoga and meditation instructor was here with a friend of his who is studying international business in Manchester and they are looking into creating a similar, organic farm as Navdanya, but with a spiritual side to it. That sounds neat.
Then in the afternoon I spent time researching for my paper and also reading up on Organic farming. Matt Dil, a good friend of mine, has sent me some information about the work on Biochar that he is doing and I would like to see if that would be something we could implement here as a fertilizer or fertilizer agent.
Hannah and I then sat down and discussed some things that were on our minds with the organization of the place. There is a lack of organization with the volunteers, and there is no volunteer coordinator on the farm, which makes it difficult for volunteers and staff to relate, and the work potential of the volunteers is wasted in my view.
So Hannah and I thought up some recommendations and sent them to Matt, the intern coordinator from Delhi to see who we should address these issues with. Hopefully we will get some little things accomplished that would make the process smoother.

Side note: the cat came INTO our room last night and freaked both Kayla and I out!! It meows so strangely! We quickly scared it out with our yelps.

Today I had my tour of the farm! We have over 500 varieties of rice! They are in need of transplanting now, so that is our task when the rain slows in the afternoons. Today I didn´t get around to helping, but plan to tomorrow. We also have: corn, amarynth, but, and at least 5 other things are planted in the same field as multi-crop fields. A girl from Italy, Giulia, has fields of ocra as part of an experiment, and there are some others doing some field experiments too. I have to learn more about all the varieties and crops.
We have a closed composting system too that uses cow manure and kitchen waste and with bio-gas turns it into methane that they use to cook with, again, I have to learn exactly how that works, but soemthing along those lines. The farm is partially solar powered as well. There are other composting systems for farm waste, one of them is the open pit layer system and one is something to do with worms that eat nitrogen or soemthing and then the fertilizer is an equalizer?
Today for breakfast we had a biulger type porridge and chai. After my tour I helped clean the rice. We had a big bag of rice we had to sift through and remove little stones and imperfections of the rice. Even small or broken rice was discarded and will be fed to the cows.
Lunch was a fruit, curried, with rice and lentils, but the fruit tasted and looked a lot like artichoke, so I dont know if it was or not.
The power has just gone out. so I will have to finish this later, my computer isnt charged.

I´ve made it to the farm! Bija Vandepeeth...I´ll have to check on that spelling.
It´s so peaceful and nice hear!
The people around are so far really nice as well. I dont know what I will be doing yet, perhaps just helping out weeding, etc.
Tomorrow I plan to figure out some sort of structure.
I didn´t miss the mango festival! It´s next weekend I think!

Another 4am morning...I have the tv working though, so I watched Friends and CSI:NY before 7am when the restaurant opened for breakfast. I ate breakfast with a family (I think) and a few buddhist monks (I think). I don't know what all the colours mean, some were in blue, a light blue, robes, and one was in yellow and some were in a kind o burgundy. There were women as well dressed in Western clothing, and children. So I need to investigate a bit more to find out what all of those mean.
I didnt find a plug converter yesterday, but succesfully reserved my train ticket, and was able to pick it up this morning. The travel agent that booked it was quite helpful. He gave me an eticket with a window seat in an Air conditioned coach! He explained the layout of the terminal, and I will have to catch an auto rickshaw at around 5.30am from here. Shouldnt be a problem waking up in time, but I might try and find a watch with an alarm on it today.
I hadn't noticed before, but from one end of my hotel, I can see a river (not the Ganges) and there are a few homes along it and on the other side I think there must be fields, because I saw some work animals I think.
So far the bugs haven't been a problem...haven't even seen a mosquito! The large, constant ceiling fan probably helps with keeping them out!

it is hot.
i have safely landed in Delhi and spent the night at my hotel, in the New Tibetan Colony in north Delhi. I got in after dark, almost 11pm so didnt see much other than traffic and some animals (wild boar and a bull and many many wild dogs). This morning I woke up with the sun at 5.15am and showered and read a bit. i went down to see if i could get breakfast at around 6.30 but no luck...didnt open until 9. the internet was open at 7.30 though so that is where i am!
I will try to book my train ticket up the Dehradun, in an air conditioned coach. Hopefully I can go on Monday. I have to figure out how far I am from the centre. I think I am quite a ways, so I dont know if I'll venture there to see some sites before Monday or not.