A Higher Plane of Thought

Groveling, as we were, in indecision and dubiousness as to what we should do to revive the dead, depleted, depressed dirt that cumbers the orphanage property, we decided we needed a new higher level of thinking and inspiration. The answer came in the form of Sandra telling us of an organic farm, run by a British lady, way up in the nearby mountains.  A couple of days ago we literally moved ourselves to this higher plane of thought and altitude.  For nearly four hours we climbed higher, in the orphanage's van, with the road becoming more treacherous, the mountain more precipitous, the surroundings becoming greener, the air fresher and colder (we were unprepared for that, going in our tee-shirts and all), and the scenery ever more beautiful.  As we made our ascent the only life we saw were the lethargic monkeys sitting by the side of the road like hypnotized spectators watching for the end of an eternal race of vehicles chugging up and down this winding perilous racetrack.

We finally reached the office of the organic farm, located in a little town called Ketti. There we encounter, Vanya Orr, the founder and director of The Earth Trust.  We had a pleasant discussion in the which she provided excellent tips on how to resurrect our poor bedraggled dirt.  She explained to us the process of green manuring and creating biomass and putting the right ecological balance back into the earth.  Even white grubs and cut worms can become our friends.  Of anyone we have met she would know. Vanya has not just been doing organic gardening for years, but has been doing it here in India for over 16 years, so she is a pretty knowledgeable resource.  We were glad to have talked to her.

Nestled even higher up the mountain from her office is one of her farms.  Very well organised and aesthetically pleasing, it was fun to tour the ground.  we saw many many different plants, vegetables, and herbs.  She even had raspberries and strawberries and because the raspberry season was over they let me scour the bushes and devour whatever remaining berries that were hiding. It was delectable! Our main purpose in trekking into the mountains precisely involved these succulence raspberries and strawberries.  We had come to secure some starters for ourselves.  However, because of some seasonal discrepancies which we did not completely understand they did not have any for us an would not cut any at that time.  Though a little disappointed in not accomplishing our mission, we were glad to have visited this gorgeous part of the country and have enjoyed the cool climate. After a quick trip a botanical garden we started on our way home a midst the gathering darkness.  Leaving this higher plane we eventually arrived home later that night and crashed into our beds exhausted and slept soundly. All in all it was  a fun trip but fruitless, as in we came back without the fruit. The moral of the story is if you do something with fruit make sure you take extra fruit so your work does cannot be completely "fruitless".  Actually, a better moral would be to prepare everything ahead of time in order not to waste time (but if you are going to waste time make the most of it. heehee!)
Here are some more pictures of our trip!

On the way up!

 The compost pile.

 Where are the raspberries?

 Mani, the guard of the botanical garden.

 David by herbal India (Botanical Garden)

The strawberries, but there was a sign warning not to touch. Too bad!

Thank you! This is David your Post Host and I hope your watching because you never know when I will post. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!