Nine Crops and Newness in New Delhi

rishikesh--> navdanya--> new delhi

writing has been scant this past month as i was volunteering on an organic/ seed conservation farm known as bijavidyapeeth (seed knowledge place), which is part of a larger environmental group known as navdanya. the name navdanya means "nine crops" and represents the organisation's concern with india's food and seed sovreignty, which have been severely threatened by the so-called green revolution.

i have to admit that i was expecting bvp to be a little bit of paradise, and for the most part it truly was. most days consisted of waking up early, doing yoga, working in the fields and eating delicious organic meals. i got to take part in the harvest of almost 500 rice varieties that the farm preserves in a seed bank each year as a means to protecting biodiversity. i also got to harvest soybeans, millet and peanuts! it's amazing how many times you can eat something without any idea where it comes from, how it grows or how much work it is to produce. we should all try to remember to be grateful for every morsel of food that we ingest. other jobs included washing and medicating a sick dog, concocting chocolate brownies for the cocoa-deprived interns and making chains of marigold flowers. an amazing experience with amazing people and place i hope to return to in future travels.

i left the farm over the diwali holiday, which was a mad and crazy thing to do. i even managed to miss my train for the first time ever! luckily i arrived in delhi in time to pick up tristan in the middle of the night, fireworks and firecrackers punctuating the arrival of the new year. since then we've been touring delhi and seeing beautiful things that i didn't know existed, despite my many passes through this mad mess of a city. it's been wonderful, but our lungs will be glad to make a quick exit in a few days time.