Trip to Wild Eden

 

TRIP TO WILD EDEN ORGANIC FARMS

On 17th April of 2021, my classmates and I went on a trip to wild eden organic

farms in Kotagiri district (Nilgiri hills). It was a day packed with fun and education ! We departed from the school campus at 7:15 AM with 11 students, 2 staffs and 2 bus drivers.

Despite it being an early

morning trip, everyone was enthusiastic and super energetic. To fuel our morning shenanigans, we

had some sandwiches. The route was scenic and we couldn’t take our eyes off the

beauty nature had offered us. We had to even shift vehicles so that we can take the right path to the farm and it was truly once in a lifetime experience. A ride in the open air car was extremely fun and we enjoyed every minute of it. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Mr.Ganesan (owner), Mr.Dileep (wildlife expert) and Mr.Kannan (tracking expert). We refreshed ourselves, had a few beverages and sat to attend an informational workshop. It was a very interactive session as it was not just the instructors speaking, but we took part in it. The instructors attempted to make us

comfortable to the new environment as much as they could and it was helpful.

Then, we took a small tour of the farm. It was an amazing trek. We walked around looking at their sustainable practices, harvested lettuces for making a salad out of it for lunch and even took a detour to visit a sustainable house ! We enjoyed a lunch made of fresh organic vegetables and it was nutritious but tasty at the same time.

We slacked off for some time after that and then took another walk around - but this

time we trekked to a small waterfalls. Some of us took a bath but most of us just wet our legs and called it a day. Back to the main area, we continued our earlier session of learning and even had a Q&A session. Here are some of the topics we learnt :

1)       Why do we need nature farming?

2)       Role of insects in farming

3)       Natural fertiliser production

4)       Compost pit production

5)       Zero budget farming methodologies

6)       Traditional cows in nature farming

7)       Apiculture - live demo

Here are some of the notes I took from the lectures:

-    there are 2 types of insects : good and bad / wanted and unwanted

-    Herbivore insects lay eggs on leaves and reproduce. For population control, carnivore insects are introduced to eat herbivores and protect the plant.

-    3 types of insects chasers (natural insecticide) :

1.     Yellow blinding : Insects are mostly colourblind and can only see colours related closely to yellow in the spectrum. Insects can be prevented from coming near the plant by attracting them with yellow flowers and plants

2.     Making a mixture of pungent smelling plants like eucalyptus/neem and cow urine. The solution is then diluted as per requirement and sprayed on plants

3.     A fire mixture containing green chillies, garlic and ginger is added to neem leaf oil. The mixture is diluted as per requirement and sprayed on plants.

 

We also did a small activity to showcase our artistic skills. We drew a small scenery from the farm. My teammate and I drew the hills, the sustainable house, yellow flowers that were planted for yellow blinding, happy farmers, variety of animals and even the water falls ! This is the best field trip we have been on and was greater than what we expected. Due the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we wore masks, sanitised regularly and applied social distancing rules wherever we could.