Born and taken up in Vellarada village close to the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border, amidst the luxurious greenery of nature, Padma Suresh deeply overlooked her village. Raised in a circle of relatives rooted in farming traditions, she inherited a love for agriculture from her father. Younger Padma would spend maximum of her night time after college within the fields, finding out the artwork of natural farming.
This early publicity instilled a profound reference to the land and an appreciation for homegrown produce.
“I might tag together with my father to the sector and assist him in managing small chores of the sector. That’s how I learnt other ways to develop greens organically,” she says.
After transferring to Thiruvananthapuram post-marriage, she took those recollections to her in-laws’ domestic. Confronted with the problem of restricted area, Padma felt the absence of clean and homegrown greens within the bustling city panorama.
Dissatisfied with the style and high quality of store-bought greens, she made up our minds to take issues into her personal palms and develop into her small 500-square-foot terrace right into a flourishing vegetable lawn.
Now 48, Padma has faithful the previous 12 years to cultivating a thriving lawn — boasting 200 crops of 20 forms of greens. With Onam across the nook, she is stocking provides to arrange feasts for the approaching competition!
Via rising her personal meals, the gardener has no longer handiest discovered some way to supply a constant provide of natural greens to her circle of relatives but in addition a strategy to generate a secondary source of revenue. We sat down along with her to be informed extra about her pastime for reaching self-sufficiency in rising meals for her circle of relatives.
Greater than only a pastime
To start with, Padma focussed on rising vegetation akin to orchids and jasmine. She handiest became to rising her personal greens after studying more than one information articles that highlighted the perils of eating chemical-laden greens that ruled the marketplace.
“It isn’t an unknown undeniable fact that chemical-laden greens are unfavorable to human well being. I assumed simply by sparing a while within the morning and night time, I may just get wholesome nutritious and chemical-free meals for my circle of relatives. Moreover, I didn’t just like the style of meals cooked the use of greens I purchased from the marketplace. So, I sought after to develop my very own greens,” she stocks.
She transitioned to rising a number of crucial greens — akin to chillies, cherry tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, brinjals, curry leaves, cauliflowers, okra, and extra. With over 200 crops thriving in develop luggage, the terrace lawn has transform a continuing supply of pleasure and sustenance for Padma; and likewise a hyperlink to her rural roots.
“I handiest have to buy potatoes, garlic, tamarind, and onions from the marketplace. Rather then those greens, my terrace lawn provides the entire fundamental produce,” she issues out.
Whilst the greens from her terrace are enough to supply for her circle of relatives of 4, Padma sells the additional harvest available in the market. So, rising greens is not only an insignificant pastime for her but in addition a method of source of revenue. “Each Sunday, a large number of gardeners succeed in Gandhi Bhawan to promote organically grown greens. I too have a devoted stall the place I promote additional greens. Inside of an hour, all my greens are bought out. This earns me as much as Rs 1,000,” she provides.
“Via getting rid of the wish to acquire greens from the marketplace, I’ve no longer handiest accomplished self-sufficiency but in addition considerably diminished my per 30 days bills on greens through saving round Rs 1,500 per thirty days,” she says.
Padma says with little effort, somebody can develop greens organically at domestic. She will depend on herbal fertilisers like vermicompost, cow dung, poultry dung, bonemeal, and neem cake, guidance transparent of destructive chemical compounds.
Moreover, she employs leading edge strategies like getting ready liquid fertilisers from jaggery and fish, which act each as a nutrient supply and pesticide for the crops. Sharing the approach to get ready this fertiliser, she says, “Take mathi (sardine) fish and chop it into small items. Then, upload 1.5 kg of jaggery and blend it with the fish. Stay the contents in an hermetic container. Stir it each day.”
“The fertiliser shall be in a position to be used after 45 days. Combine 3 ml of this liquid fertiliser in a single litre of water and upload to crops. It must be given to crops at an period of 15 days. This acts each as a fertiliser and herbal pesticide,” she stocks.
Padma additionally steadily displays her lawn for pests. “Within the night time, bugs most often depart the plant. At the moment, I attempt to manually take away them from crops and break them. I additionally use biopesticide to spray it on crops to eliminate insects,” she stocks.
This proactive method no longer handiest safeguards the vegetation but in addition guarantees the well-being of her circle of relatives through offering them with nutritious, chemical-free meals.
Her husband Suresh Ettan, who’s these days running in an oil and gasoline corporate in Oman, misses the natural meals cooked through Padma. “As I’m a vegetarian, I’ve restricted meals possible choices right here. Secondly, I don’t just like the style of greens. For the previous 4 years, I’ve been surviving on undeniable rice, lentils, and curd,” he says.
“On every occasion I sit down right down to consume, I deeply leave out our home-cooked meals. Each morning, my spouse sends me a just right morning message. And together with it, she stocks pictures of her day’s harvest. I take pleasure in showcasing the ones pictures to my colleagues,” he provides.
In the meantime, Padma says she reveals solace and connection to her village during the conventional recipes and flavours of homegrown greens. “I will be able to now get ready feasts with veggies from my lawn for festive events like Onam. We experience savouring the freshness of cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and different lawn delights,” she says.
“This no longer handiest supplies bodily nourishment but in addition enriches my soul. It gives me a way of function that transcends subject material beneficial properties. All my worries fade away when I’m busy nurturing my crops,” she remarks.
Edited through Pranita Bhat. All pictures: Suresh Ettan.