Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva

In Hindu tradition, cosmic change is represented by a trio of deities. Brahma is the first, the initial outpouring of the energy of the universe. He represents creative energy, life-force, growth. Vishnu is the maintainer. He represents all of the varied forms that the energy takes, all of the plants, animals, minerals, elements, and all of their interactions. Shiva is often conceived of (especially in the West) as the destroyer, but I think a better way to think of him is as the renewer. Yes his final dance is one of total destruction, but only to make way for a new start, to make room for Brahma to begin again, for the trio is cyclical.

In farming this cycle becomes apparent. By planting a seed we are unleashing the creativity and growth within it. Then comes the maintenance. This means transplanting, watering, adding compost, weeding, thinning, initiating interactions with other plants/organisms, the list goes on. And then comes the destruction. Harvesting a crop often means ending a life. But it’s not simply destructive. Whether you are cutting grass to feed to livestock, cutting and harvesting rice that will feed many people, or digging up a field to plant a new crop, the destruction gives way to renewal. Life goes on and the cycle continues.

Striking rice against stones to loosen the grain

Feeling particularly Shiva-esque

After cutting all of the rice, we tilled the terraces to make way for many new beds of crops

Fruit Tree Scavenger Hunt

Trees with edible fruit are a great have for a farm. They are perennial, meaning you only have to plant them once, and once they start giving fruit they will do so for many, many seasons. Compared to other crops, especially annual veggies, trees need less access to water and soil nutrients as well, so they are easier to manage. In addition to the fruit harvest, trees can serve many other functions as well, including reducing/diverting wind, providing shade to ground plants, and providing shelter to many beneficial organisms

Today I went around the farm to find all of the different fruit trees growing here. 

Amba (Guava)

The whole time I've been here it's been peak guava season, so I've been eating good...

Bogote (Grapefruit)

Aap (Mango) sapling

Kera (banana)

The fruit with the blossom below

Mewa (papaya) sapling

Suntula (orange)

The new kid: a tiny avocado sapling, not native to Nepal, but ideal for the climate

Here's a song I think is relevant

Rice Harvest

Like most other parts of Asia, rice is the staple in Nepal. Rice is central to the culture here. In Hindu practices, a meal is not considered a real meal unless there is rice. Even the way of asking if someone has eaten literally translates into, “Have you had rice?” (“bhat khani?”). Rice patties (dhaan) are found all over the country. They spread out into the horizon in the plains of Terai; green-gold patchworks are scattered across Kathmandu valley; devotees of the sacred grain carve terraces into mountain faces.

And now is one of the best times of the year: the rice plants have turned from green to gold, and now is time to harvest. Yesterday (meaning Wednesday) we started harvesting the rice, and today we finish. Harvesting rice is a team effort. Some of us are in the paddies cutting the long stalks and making bundles. The bundles are taken up from the muddy terraces by others. At the top, there are people who take the bundles and swing them against rocks laid out on a large plastic tarp to loosen the grain from the plant. The leftover plant material is collected to make hay to feed the buffalo, and the grain is collected to be processed at the end of the harvest. Processing consists of removing the husks from the individual pieces of rice, and then storing the finished grain. These two or three days of harvest will last the whole year.

After the harvest comes the celeration. Dashain, the biggest of the Nepali holidays, is the week-long celebration of the harvest and of family. All schools and public operations are closed for two weeks for the preparation and celebration of the holiday. It starts this year on the 19^th. As it is the most important of all the festivals, I will be taking the week off to be with my family and to celebrate. I’ll be back on the farm and on the blog right after, but until then, bhijaya dasami (happy Dashain)!

Building with Bamboo

In case y’all didn’t believe me, here are a couple of the projects I’ve been working on with bamboo:

Where there was just earth, we built stairs

Steps and railings all made from bamboo, with some help from clay-rich mud

Here is a shelf I fixed up with bamboo, cut, split and sawed

Where the magic happens

Irrigation

As with everything else on the farm, irrigation is done by hand. There are hoses which are connected to a central electric water pump, which pumps groundwater upwards. We water the plants in the evenings, because the daytime sun is so strong that surface water would very quickly evaporate. There is also a rainwater collection pond situated on an elevated part of the farm, with hoses coming down.

A lot of the plants on the farm are sheltered by plastic tarp. This is because during the rainy season (around June-August) it rains so much that many plants wouldn’t survive. So many of the crops (such as cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes) are under cover and watered with collected rainwater at a more controlled rate. Other plants such as the rice and the asparagus gladly welcome the downpour.

Rainwater collection

Asparagus is a plant that wants a lot of water, or else the stalks will be too thin to go to the market. We dig ditches in between the beds and flood them and the water slowly permeates the beds

Make Your Bed

One of the many things I’m doing here on the farm is making and preparing beds for planting. For those who don’t know (though I think most of my readers do know/who even is reading this/is this too meta of a moment?), prepping a bed consists of first clearing the area of vegetation, whether that means clearing old crops or removing grass and weeds. We do this with hoe and then till the soil by hand. Compost is then added, and the soil is further mixed. Here the soil is especially difficult to till, because the almost perfect clay structures in the ancient tropical soil means that the soil aggregates are super strong (shout out Simkins!).

Beds that I dug around some old asparagus plants. In between the asparagus we planted bush beans (also peep the papaya sapling in the back)

A border bed for curry leaf transplants and later flowers

A close up of a transplant, which will one day grow into a 5-6 ft curry tree

Earthquake-proof

Here at the Farm House there is currently being constructed an experimental, earthquake-proof house. The house is built using stacked bags of sand instead of bricks or concrete, and then is plastered with clay. The design was thought up by Sangam, who wants to build a sample house here made of completely local materials to see if it is feasible to build in more remote areas.

By the time I arrived the sandbags had already been stacked within the frame of the house (built with bamboo, of course). The sandbags have more give than concrete or bricks, and so during an earthquake would be able to give flexibility while maintaining the integrity of the house itself. A metal net was then put around the house for stability. We dug into the clay rich earth and mixed up some mud and plastered the netting, and then the roof was added last. It was cheap and relatively easy to make, and provides for very stable housing. This sample house provides much hope for future building projects; there is the potential here to create many spaces that people can call home.

The house is made completely from mud from the farm

Sandbags are used in the walls instead of bricks or concrete

The Many Uses of Bamboo

Bamboo, or bas in Nepali, is an incredible plant. It grows prolifically and is extremely useful. Here on the farm bamboo is grown and cut, then stacked to dry. It is stacked by the cowshed, where it is used to mix into the manure to prepare it for composting.

After it is dried, we move it in large piles to be stored. Once dried and stored it is used as fuel for the outdoor stove, used to cook rice and heat water. Bamboo is also fermented here to make into wine, served at the restaurant. Bamboo shoots are also cooked to make tama, a traditional (probably the most traditional) Nepali dish. Also Bamboo makes for an excellent building material, being used here for everything from fences to terraces to housing material.

Bas (bamboo), stacked and dried

A Buddhist Conception of Heaven

In addition to the farm and restaurant, Sangam also runs a travel agency and so there are sometimes foreign guests who come through the Farm House. Today a Chinese Buddhist nun accompanied by some friends came from Singapore. They are in Nepal to provide aid to schools in remote villages. I helped make care packages that will be going to the children tomorrow.

Along with the Chinese guests there was also a young Nepali guide who was with them. He and I talked for a while. He lived in France for some time, studying French culture and also Buddhism at University there. We talked about the current state of Nepal and the rapid Westernization of the region. We also talked about what it means to balance a dual cultural identity. We talked also about living in the West versus living in Nepal, and how difficult it can be to feel at home in either place. I asked him what home meant for him. He told me that in Buddhism they say that Heaven is in fact everywhere and in every place, it is simply a matter of seeing it.

"Do you really know what goes in food?"

The Organic Farm House in Kapan is a truly one of a kind place. It is an organic farm of 2.5 hectares located high up on a hillside in the middle of an area of rapid urbanization. An organic oasis in a concrete desert.

There are many local vegetables grown and also a ton of rice. In addition, there are three buffalo, five chickens, and five goats. The farm is run by Sangam and his family, as well as a few people who call the place home after their own houses were destroyed in the recent earthquake.

In addition to the farm the place serves as a restaurant and welcomes neighbors and guests to come and visit to raise awareness about the importance of organic and sustainable farming in the city.

In addition to farm work I also work in the kitchen, helping out with cooking and serving food

Bagote (grapefruit)!

The city unfolds below

An Odd Day in Kathmandu

The spot in Kavre was very beautiful and tranquil indeed, but truth be told there was not a whole lot of work to be done. And since I have come to Nepal to do good work I decided that I must move on to where the work is.

I connected with a man by the name of Sangam Sherpa who operates an urban organic farm in Kapan in the Kathmandu valley. While driving back to Kathmandu I noticed that there was almost no traffic on the roads (something very strange in Kathmandu), and so I joked to my cousin, who I was staying night, that it must be some kind of holiday. He said not exactly…

Here’s the short version: the Nepali government had just one week ago signed a new and improved constitution. India, however, was not happy about it. You see, India operates in this part of the world much like the U.S. does internationally, that is by expanding its sphere of influence and bullying smaller countries to its will. And so, saying that Nepal should have asked them before writing a new constitution, India has closed the border and there is now a petrol shortage.

Because of the shortage, the government is enforcing strict driving regulations, such as having only even numbered license plates drive one day, and odd the next. And so my cousin and I woke up early the next morning to drop me off in Kapan, trying to avoid the police as we drove through the oddly quiet streets on his even numbered motorcycle.