Tihar

This past week has been the festival of Tihar, the second most important holiday after Dashain. Tihar is a five day festival that started on Monday.

Each day of the holiday is dedicated to a different animal. Monday was Kaag Pooja (crow day) where people gave pooja (offerings) to the crows of Kathmandu, placing plates of rice and sweets for them. The next day was Kukur Pooja (dog day). People honor their own pets and also invite the stray dogs of Kathmandu (of which there are many) into their homes. Dogs are given malas (garlands of flowers) and tikas (a mark on the forehead signifying sacredness) and are offered all sorts of treats. Wednesday was Gai Pooja (cow day) where cows are celebrated. This day is also Lakshmi Pooja, where the goddess Lakshmi is honored. Thursday was Goru Pooja (bull day) where the male bovines get some love.

The final animal celebrated was on Friday, which is Bhai Tika (younger brother day). On this day brothers are honored by their older sisters (who sometimes probably consider them animals). In Nepal the brother/sister relationship is broadened to include first cousins. I took time off starting on Lakshmi Pooja to celebrate the holiday with my family. I am pretty young in my family so I had six older sisters give me blessings. During Bhai Tika gifts are also exchanged.

Another pretty cool part of the festival is Lakshmi Pooja. On this day people make beautiful circular patterns (rangoli) out of colored sand in front of their houses. People also light candles and oil lamps and drape lights over their homes (this part of the festival is also called Diwali). They leave their doors open and draw paths out of red clay from the rangoli to the inside of their houses in order to invite Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, into their homes. Young people take this opportunity to go from house to house playing music and singing and dancing, for which they receive sweets and money. This is also the festival of fireworks!

The nights are lit up during Tihar

It's a good time to be a dog in Kathmandu

Gai Pooja, honoring cows

Sun Up to Sun Down

I’ve been at the farm here at Kapan for about a month, and I’ve gotten into a sort of routine. Here’s what a typical day looks like.

I wake up around six, just as the sun is starting to rise, and do an hour of yoga. Tea (green, black, or with our own buffalo milk) is served around seven, and we start working. In the morning, the main task is harvesting and packaging vegetables to be sent to the market. We do this every morning, in addition to other tasks that need to get done. We just transplanted cauliflower and broccoli on the former rice terraces, so I’ve been watering them every morning for about a week now. There are dozens of beds of the transplants, so it usually takes me until the first meal to finish.

In Nepal, we run on a two meal system. After tea (and maybe some fruit) the first meal is eaten around nine or ten. A typical Nepali meal consists of dal (lentil soup) bhat (rice) tarkari (veggies, usually cooked into a curry). With a little bit of spicy achar (pickle) on the side, this is a meal I never get tired of.

After eating it’s back to work. Weeding, cutting grass to feed the animals, digging beds, building/repairing structures, collecting firewood, tilling soil, transplanting, the list goes on. We work until the sun goes down. At around one or two we take a break and take tea with a snack, (khaja) usually of chiura (beaten rice). As it starts to get dark we bring the animals back in and put tools away. Now is also a good time to water plants.

After dark I wash up and then start to help in the kitchen. The farm house also serves as a restaurant/bar, with almost all of the items being grown/produced/fermented on the farm itself. I’ve been helping with cooking and preparing dishes, as well as serving guests. The spots to sit and eat/drink are placed throughout the farm, making for a unique (and pretty cool) experience for diners.

At the end of the day, around seven or eight, we eat dinner (dal, bhat, tarkari). After cleaning up we hang around for a bit, maybe to play cards or just generally kick it, and then I go back to my room. It’s lights out for me around ten, and then after a good night’s sleep I'm up again with the sun.

Broccoli we transplanted onto the terraces

Beds of simi (green beans) with cauliflower in between

Seats and tables at the edge of the farm (comes with a great view of the city)

Hello Mr. Goat!

Mixed beds of cauliflower, tomatoes, salad greens

A young cow we got just two weeks ago

A view of one part of the farm

Do y'all remember the book Holes?

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