DECEMBER 2015

By Daily Diary

Tuesday December 1st

WEATHER; after raining most of last night it was still raining in the morning. The entrance to Buddha Garden was flooded as was the guava patch and Souryan garden. The rain eased a bit during the day and the floods receded but it started raining again in the afternoon.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Caroline, Orianne, Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob with Priya

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We had to find work out of the rain today. So two people sieved soil and made nursery mixture. After which they planted the rest of the lettuce seedlings that were ready.
  2. We took the mess of irrigation pipes that we took up in the Pryog orchard and took it all apart. We now have a reasonably well organised pile of irrigation materials that can be reused.

 

Wednesday December 2nd

 

WEATHER; more rain last night and it was still raining when we started work. Then it stopped and we were able to do some work in the garden at last.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Orianne, Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Shyam, Celia, Sushila with Priya

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We finished planting the rest of the cherry tomatoes in the nursery.
  2. We unravelled and rolled up a lot of string.
  3. We cleared a bed in the Pryog garden.
  4. We weeded several beds in the Pryog garden because it was so easy with the soil being so wet.

 

Thursday December 3rd

 

WEATHER; it stopped raining last night. It was extremely wet and muddy this morning.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Orianne, Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Celia, Sushila, Alex with Priya

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We spent most of the time organising everything in the new Pryog orchard. We moved four cement rings which we are going to use to grow herbs of various sorts. We already planted two of them, one with tulsi and the other aloe vera. We moved an orange tree, took out various other trees that were not needed and collected up all the bricks and stones. It looks and feels very good.
  2. We planted out some cherry tomatoes in the nursery.

 

Friday December 4th

 

WEATHER; after showers overnight it had stopped raining by the time we started work. We saw the first sun today which was great. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that this is only the fourth day of rain. And they are having a much worse time in Chennai where there is extensive flooding and the airport has had to close.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Orianne, Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Celia, Sushila, Alex, Siddharth, Vinod with Priya

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked ladies finger, bassella and roccolla. I was so pleased that we had something to send to Foodlink as with the rainy weather some farms are struggling to produce anything.
  2. We continued working in the Pryog orchard. We moved a coconut tree and replanted a Murungu tree in the same place where the coconut used to be. We took out a huge glyricidea root in the corner so there is now room for the tree that Pierre planted in the corner to grow. We levelled out some beds and planted a jackfruit tree – one that we had grown from seed ourselves. We did a bit of clearing out of some of the beds. When the soil has dried out a bit we will take some of the soil to the nursery.

 

Monday December 7th

 

WEATHER; we had some heavy showers over the weekend so it is still very muddy underfoot. There has also been a little bit of sun so slowly things are starting to dry out.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Orianne, Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Celia, Sushila, Siddharth, Ortal, Florian, Herman with Priya and Pierre

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked basil, the last of the bassella spinach, amaranth, ladies finger, brinjal, roccolla and basil. Considering the weather that was a very good amount and variety of vegetables.
  2. We weeded a very weed infested bed in Le Jardin.

 

Tuesday December 8th

 

WEATHER; there have been a few showers but everything is starting to dry out. There is still a lot of cloud.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Orianne, Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Celia, Sushila, Siddharth, Florian, Kartik, Alex with Priya

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. It was dry enough to start planting today. We started by composting and planting a bed with lettuce in the Pryog garden.
  2. We cleared, composted and planted about half a bed with lettuce. Once again in the Pryog garden.
  3. We composted and planted a bed in the Souryan garden with tomatoes. Normally I would not have planted out tomatoes until after the rain had finished. But these tomatoes were very large and would not last more than a day or two. Since they are also local tomatoes we think they will probably survive any rain. We planted tomatoes on three of the new bed ends in the Pryog garden.

 

Wednesday December 9th

Soil is still drying out so able to plant brinjal (aubergine) and lettuce as well as pick ladies finger, brinjal and basil.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked ladies finger, brinjal, basil and a little roccolla.
  2. We very quickly finished planting lettuces on the bed in the Pryog garden that we started planting yesterday.
  3. We weeded the roccolla bed where we it had earlier picked it.
  4. We cleared, composted and mulched a bed in the Souryan garden which we then planted with brinjal (aubergine).
  5. We weeded beds in the Pryog and Souryan garden. With the soil still wet it is still an easy job.

 

WEATHER; rather cloudy but no rain.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Celia, Sushila, Siddharth, Florian, Kartik, Alex with Priya

 

Thursday December 10thAfter a heavy shower it was very muddy this morning. Too muddy to do planned job of setting up seats in the Pryog orchard. So planted roccolla instead.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We cleared and composted a bed in Le Jardin. Then we planted it with all the roccolla seedlings that were ready.
  2. We cut down the glyricidea next to the roccolla bed and took it to the Shambala area so that Pierre could make compost.
  3. We planted lettuce seedlings in the nursery.

 

WEATHER; heavy shower last night. Cloudy this morning with sun breaking through occasionally.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Spiros, Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Kartik, Alex, Arjun with Priya and Rajan

 

Friday December 11th. Picking in sun glorious sun – ladies finger, brinjal basil and roccolla. Then weeding before the soil gets to dry to do it easily.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked ladies finger, brinjal, basil bunches and roccolla.
  2. We finished weeding a bed in the Souryan garden. The weeds were looking rather tall. I was worried that if we left it much longer the soil would get dry and it would be much harder to do the job.
  3. We finished planting lettuces on the bed that we started planting yesterday in Le Jardin.

 

WEATHER; proper sun today. At last! It looks as if the rain has finished apart from a few showers.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Arjun with Priya

 

Monday December 14th; picked beans, basil, brinjal, ladies finger and roccolla. Then onward with the planting of the lettuces.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked beans, basil, brinjal, ladies finger and roccolla. A magnificent harvest given the weather we have had in the last two weeks.
  2. We cleared and composted a bed in the Pryog garden which we planted with lettuce seedlings.
  3. Now it is drying up we were able to work in the Pryog orchard. We finished off the four rings, filling them up with earth and planting them with lemon grass and turmeric.
  4. We started clearing a bed in the Souryan garden. There are a lot of tomato seedlings in the nursery that need to be planted out as soon as possible.

 

WEATHER; sun a blue skies.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Mario, Nitzan, Jakob, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Artik, Virti with Priya

 

Monday December 15th. Tomatoes planted and glyricidea cut.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. The first job we did today was to finish off clearing the bed in the Souryan garden which we started yesterday. It was quite a difficult job as the after rain the weeds were very large. We then composted and mulched the bed and planted the first of the cherry tomatoes.
  2. As there are no dry leaves anywhere we are using glyricidea leaves as mulch. A group of us cut the glyricidea plants in the Pryog garden and stripped off the leaves which make a good mulch.
  3. We also did quite a bit of clearing up which consisted mostly of taking sticks and odd bits of wood to the firewood pile at the back of the fire place near the stone circle.

 

WEATHER; sun and blue skies.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Krishna, Virti, Alesso, Pablo with Priya

 

Tuesday December 15th

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. The first job we did today was to finish off clearing the bed in the Souryan garden which we started yesterday.  It was quite a difficult job as the after rain the weeds were very large.  We then composted and mulched the bed and planted the first of the cherry tomatoes.
  2. As there are no dry leaves anywhere we are using glyricidea leaves as mulch.  A group of us cut the glyricidea plants in the Pryog garden and stripped off the leaves which make a good mulch.
  3. We also did quite a bit of clearing up which consisted mostly of taking sticks and odd bits of wood to the firewood pile at the back of the fire place near the stone circle.

 

WEATHER; sun and blue skies.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan,  Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Krishna, Virti, Alesso, Pablo with Priya

 

 

 

 

Wednesday December 16th

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked roccolla, ladies finger and brinjal.
  2. We cleared, composted and mulched a bed in the Pryog garden which we then planted with cherry tomatoes.
  3. We started taking down the very overgrown glyricidea plants along the side of the Pryog nursery. Since it was taking so long we decided to get someone with a chain saw to come and take them all down, hopefully very soon.
  4. We all worked together in the seed garden. We weeded all the beds and then cleared, composted and mulched two of them which we then planted with tomatoes.

 

WEATHER; sun and blue skies.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Krishna, Virti, Alesso, Pablo, Mitali, alan, Aniket, Elise with Priya

 

Thursday December 17th. Someone came with a chainsaw this morning to cut down the overgrown glyricidea next to the Pryog orchard. After a lot of clearing up there is now a lot more light around the orchard trees.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  • We picked 5kg of basil. For five helpers this took most of their work time.
  • After all the cutting of the overgrown glyricidea we cleared up as much of the wood as we could.
  • We cleared an area in front of the office which we are going to turn into a vehicle park for non residents of Buddha Garden.

 

WEATHER; sun and blue skies

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Virti, Alesso, Pablo, Mitali, Alan, Aniket, Emilie, Eduard, Natasha, Joke, Kim with Priya and Rajan

 

Friday December 18th. A very busy day starting off with picking. We then carried on clearing up in the Pryog orchard where we installed a bench made of granite pillars in one corner. It’s a beautiful place to sit.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked another 5kg of basil plus ladies finger, brinjal and beans.
  2. We carried on clearing up in the Pryog orchard. Rajan led a group of people making two sitting benches in one corner of granite pillars. They were very heavy to carry around but it was a good example of the sort of job that requires everyone to work together for it to be achieved.

 

WEATHER; sun and blue skies

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Virti, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Aniket, Mitch with Priya and Rajan

 

 

Monday December 21st   First we picked basil, ladies finger, beans and brinjal and then we carried on clearing up in the Pryog orchard.

 

WORK COMPLETED

 

  1. We picked basil, brinjal, beans and ladies finger. Some of the maize looked as if it might be ready but it wasn’t. Maybe by the end of the week it will be ready.
  2. We carried on clearing up in the Pryog orchard and have now almost finished. A group made a beautiful oval bed for some lemon grass. All the posters are now ready so perhaps we can put them up tomorrow.

 

WEATHER; sunny and quite hot.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Alex from Canada, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Verity, Siddarth with Priya and Rajan

 

Tuesday December 22nd

 

  1. We picked basil and roccolla, both needed for special Christmas meals being made in Auroville.
  2. We more or less finished clearing up the Pryog orchard. Then we put up the information boards so we are ready to go.

 

WEATHER; sunny and hot.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex,Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Elea, Joke, Damien, Deborah, Ketaki, Roshan with Priya

 

Wednesday December 23rd Second picking day of the week when we picked ladies finger, roccolla, beans and brinjal. Then we planted lettuces – again.

 

  1. We picked ladies finger, roccolla, beans and brinjal.
  2. We cleared, composted and then planted a bed in Le Jardin with lettuce seedlings.
  3. We did a lot of nursery work planting roccolla seedlings out in trays. Apparently they are much easier to plant than lettuces.
  4. We have planned to set up a garden in the Visitors centre this afternoon. This is for information purposes so guests can learn something about how we do organic farming in Auroville.

 

WEATHER; sunny and hot

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Joke, Ketaki, Roshan with Priya

 

Thursday September 24th Everyone did a magnificent job in Le Jardin orchard. We cut glyricidea and mulched trees with these leaves and compost. It felt like we had tamed a jungle.

 

  1. We cleared up in Le Jardin orchard. Spiros had cut the grass the previous day so first job was to rake up all the grass cuttings. Then we cut the glyricidea, cleared around the bottom of the trees and then mulched them with compost on top of which we put glyricidea leaves.
  2. We finished weeding a brinjal bed in Le Jardin that we had started yesterday.
  3. Later we picked kumquats which are ready this time of year.

 

WEATHER; sunny with a bit more cloud than usual.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Celia, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Ketaki, Roshan, Mario with Priya

 

Friday December 25th After picking we worked around the stone circle. We cleared up the grass and the wood, made a mandala and planted two trees. Pictures on Facebook.

 

  1. We picked ladies finger, brinjal, beans and roccolla.
  2. We cleared up in the stone circle. This involved raking up all the grass and making several organised wood piles. We also made a beautiful mandala right in the middle of the circle. Finally we planted two trees, one of them especially in memory of Kim.

 

WEATHER; sunny and warm with clouds.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Kartik, Jakob, Spiros, Sushila, Florian, Alex, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Ketaki, Roshan, Mario, Matteo, Catherine with Priya and Rajan

 

 

Monday December 28th We picked a huge amount of maize together with basil, beans, ladies finger and brinjal. Then it was on to planting tomatoes.

 

  1. We picked ladies finger, brinjal, beans, basil and a huge amount of maize. The maize grew very well with the rain but didn’t start to ripen until the sun came out. Then it all ripened at the same time.
  2. We cleared and composted a bed in the Pryog garden which we will plant with lettuce tomorrow.
  3. We cleared, composted and mulched a bed in the Souryan garden which we planted with tomatoes.

 

WEATHER; sunny and warm with a cool wind. Very pleasant.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Jakob, Spiros, Sushila, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Ketaki, Roshan, Mario, Matteo, Cata, Urvi, Celia with Priya and Pierre

 

Tuesday December 29th A planting day today – lots of lettuces and tomatoes.

 

  1. We planted the bed we prepared yesterday in the Pryog garden with lettuces.
  2. We cleared and composted a part of a brinjal bed that had a lot of space on it. So that we could plant lettuces there and not waste the space.
  3. We cleared composted and mulched a bed in Le Jardin and then planted it with the last of the tomatoes.
  4. We weeded a brinjal bed in the Souryan garden.
  5. We did a lot of work in the nursery planting lettuce seedlings and replanting some kumquat trees into bags.

 

WEATHER; sunny and warm with a pleasant breeze.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Jakob, Spiros,Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Ketaki, Roshan, Mario, Matteo, florian, Max,Urvi, Celia, Sayaka, Sejal, Wendy, Mahima, Eduard with Priya

 

Wednesday December 30th Most of the work time was spent doing a huge amount of picking. This included the first lettuce of the season.

 

  1. We picked basil, roccolla, young maize and the first lettuce of the season. We also picked a huge amount of kumquat.
  2. We planted a bed in the seed garden with beans to grow for seed. We are running out!
  3. We weeded the bed where we had cut the lettuce. Tomorrow we will compost and replant the second harvest.

 

WEATHER; first misty morning of the cool season. When the sun came through it was sunny and warm.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Jakob, Spiros, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Ketaki, Roshan, Mario, Matteo, Urvi, Celia, Joke, Alex with Priya and Rajan

 

Thursday December 31st. We picked maize, ladies finger and brinjal. We then planted two beds with roccolla and lettuce. Cleared, composted and mulched a bed ready to plant with beans in the next year!

 

  1. We picked maize, ladies finger and brinjal.
  2. We planted the bed in Le Jardin that we prepared yesterday with lettuces.
  3. We cleared, composted and planted another bed in Le Jardin with roccolla.
  4. We cleared, composted and mulched a bed in the Souryan garden ready to plant with beans as soon as they grow.
  5. We worked on one of the gates trying, with a spring, to make it self closing. We had mixed success. If you don’t open it completely and walk straight through then it works. If you open it completely the spring gets stuck and doesn’t work.

 

WEATHER; sunny and warm with some cloud.

 

VOLUNTEERS; Nitzan, Jakob, Spiros, Alesso, Pablo, Alan, Mitch, Cindy, Ketaki, Roshan, Mario, Matteo, Urvi, Celia, Eduard, Wik, Thomas with Priya and Rajan