November 21, 2022
By Keystone Field Centre – Wayanad
It’s a rapidly urbanising world where each generation strays further from the natural world than the one before. Modern society is grappled by a loss of language and knowledge of the earth. With fast-paced development and climate impacts changing our landscape, people are losing grasp of a majority of traditional methods of working with nature, be it through gardening, farming or composting. Keystone’s field centre in Mananthavady is working with local stakeholders to enable our future citizens to harbour a connection with their natural environment beyond the bounds of their schoolbooks.
On November 21, two children whose kitchen gardens exceeded expectations were handed an award for their dedication. Joswin Binu, a class 9 student and Amaya James, a class 5 student from National Lower Primary School, Moolithod, were the awardees. Joseph’s garden was abundant in cauliflowers, bird’s eye chillies, lettuce, brinjal, tomatoes and ginger, while Amaya’s garden grew Amaranthus, carrots, tomatoes, bitter gourd and brinjal.
Eco Friends is a local farmers’ collective working on this project, bringing outdoor environmental education to children in two schools through farming – National Lower Primary School, Moolithod, and Government Lower Primary School, Pallikkal. Their diverse nursery of native, climate resilient crops is not only supporting the livelihoods of over 30 farmers, but also provides scope for students to pick up practical application of farming techniques at a young age. Around 50 students took home saplings from the collective. Under the guidance of Immanuel from Eco Friends, along with the support of their dedicated teachers and parents, vibrant kitchen gardens have bloomed across the town in just two months. And with them, nutritious, clean meals were brought to families and a deep love and understanding of plants inculcated among children.
Eco Friends is doing some of the most understated work in this region – led by Immanuel, a veteran farmer who has been documenting his traditional knowledge of plants and soil into several books in Malayalam on maintaining soil health and organic methods in farming. The group grows and distributes native varieties of crops, including nine types of medicinal and edible ginger, and flood-resistant tubers like taro, as well as what they call ‘air potatoes’, which grow in the air like creepers! Immanuel is one of the last members of his community with such a vast knowledge of traditional farming, and his guidance is paramount to securing the livelihoods and health of the community.
