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With city schools having little space for gardens or studying the practical aspects of growing crops or other plants, a group of fresh-food enthusiasts has come up with the novel idea of a nomadic garden. Completely mobile, it will travel to school students and familiarise them with the concept of organic farming, help them grow food, and learn more about nature in an interactive, hands-on manner.
This effort could succeed in bridging the gap between rural and urban in a practical way, enabling students to put their learning to use. Farming and growing food have come to be seen as remote activities, something that happens only in the hinterland. The Nomadic Garden could help dispel that notion.
The initiative attempts to connect classroom lessons to a larger picture, says Aditi Punj, a member of the project. For example, when students learn about the different climate zones, the weekly Nomadic Garden workshop module will showcase why and how the soil and water resources affect the crops that grow in those regions.
One of the project’s stated aims is to equip students with the skills and knowledge to green the spaces that surround them and grow some of their own food. It also involves developing an intensive workshop curriculum and transforming a tempo-truck into the workshop vehicle, complete with a built-in garden and teaching tools. Part of the 2014 UN-Habitat Urban Youth Fund, the project is supported by the Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation. Punj said the pilot programme aimed to reach 100 students from various socio-economic backgrounds.
The Nomadic Garden is slated to take off in January, but is being publicised ahead in order to make it a volunteer-driven exercise. To begin with, a website has been launched and many enthusiasts have already signed up to design the programme. Under the open-source design model, ideas and concepts will be uploaded online, so that people anywhere in the world can use them, or adapt them to their needs.
The Mumbai group Fresh and Local, which came up with the nomadic garden idea, runs the ‘Flyover Garden’ on a terrace in Mohammed Ali Street. Since 2011, it has been converting unused city spaces to grow fruit trees and vegetables, with the produce going to the community .
The writer is an organic farmer based in Dahanu, Maharashtra
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