Archives: Blog Posts

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 Biowin Biowin is one of the projects of WSSS, a company created to process and market the products of the thousands of organic farmers they work with.  It is very much like Vanamoolika, only on a grander scale.  Being a social enterprise, the farmers are ensured their fair share.  More than that, they are valued and respected as partners in a system.  (Not the usual treatment for farmers in this part of the world.)  Any profits yielded by Biowin are cycled back to the community in … Read more

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 Fr. Babu It’s another beautiful day and the first unexpected order of business was to meet Fr. Babu.  He had somehow caught wind of the fact that someone from ARI was in town and came all the way from Ooty to meet me.  Ooty.  Yet another one of those fun names to say.   The Oo part is like “Oops” with a “tee” at the end.  Apparently, it is a popular tourist area.   Fr. Babu is a Catholic priest who practices and teaches herbal medicines, following in … Read more

Monday, February 10, 2025 Busy Siby Though Siby is no longer employed at Vanamoolika, he continues to support them, providing training on various organic farming topics whenever asked.   Presently, he is helping a new co-operative that formed four years ago get organic certification.  On his own twelve acres you can find him farming as well, raising black pepper, coconut, nutmeg, cloves, rice, coffee, and vegetables.  He grows areca nut, too, the culprit in making red tongues and lips across South and Southeast Asia.  Also, known as betel nut, a lot … Read more

Monday, February 10, 2025 Spice country Not wanting to repeat my last night-bus panic, Thomas Mathew took me early for the bus to my next destination – Mananthavady.  We were a full hour early, in fact, for a bus that ended up being a full hour and a half late.  This is referred to as Indian Standard Time, but 90 minutes was overdoing it; 20 to 30 minutes is within the range of the acceptable, I was told.  There were no beds this time, but super reclining seats called “semi … Read more

Sunday, February 9, 2025 The snake boat When Thomas Mathew started telling me about Snake Boats, I couldn’t quite fathom what he was talking about.  Then he took me to see one. Sleek, black, serenely ominous; its stern jutting high into the sky, there really is no better name for it.  Each of the fifty villages around the Aranmula Temple has its own Snake Boat, built, cared for, and decorated in their own style.  That means fifty boats, you know.  Once a year they push these crafts into the river … Read more

Sunday, February 9, 2025 Backyard supermarket After breakfast Thomas Mathew took me around his farm, which you can reach by simply walking around his house.  It consists almost completely of trees that bear fruits and spices and reminded me of the food forest I had seen at another ARI graduate’s place in Indonesia, though he had never heard the term “food forest” before.  His preference for trees, which do not require daily maintenance, is because of his busy schedule and frequent traveling. Be warned, I am about to give the … Read more

Saturday, February 8, 2025 35 families The second Saturday of each month is a national holiday, and the day all the families come to SEEDS India. “Families? What families?”   The families of the children being sponsored for their education, of course.  There are 35 of them in total.  Always 35.  When a child reaches 18, that child graduates and another is invited into the group. SEEDS has been doing this for 25 years.    SEEDS doesn’t just pay off the kids’ school fees and be done with it. No, they form … Read more

Saturday, February 8, 2025 String hoppers and curry leaves This morning’s breakfast was Idiyappam or string hoppers.  They are cute little bundles of noodles, each one a mouthful or two, to be eaten with curry.  Sally picks the curry leaves fresh from their garden every day.  The essential job of these leaves is to flavor the curry and not be eaten.  Thus, they lend themselves to the expression, “throw him out like an old curry leaf,” in this example referring to an old boyfriend.  ARI memories This morning’s breakfast conversation … Read more

Friday, February 7, 2025 ‘This medicine to be taken with food’ Next, we went to check out what Yamanoshita san was doing.  Yamanoshita san is a longtime volunteer from Japan, coming to SEEDS since around 2000.  COVID and the occasional visa problems sometimes keep him away, but for a good part of 20 years, this place has been where he calls home.  A slow and meticulous fellow, he prepares each food bag with bread and a banana – the bread is high quality, from a local bakery, which SEEDS pays … Read more