URBAN COMMUNITY GARDENS An Experiment in Community and Urban Permaculture Chennai
Jun 26, 2015
URBAN COMMUNITY
GARDENS An Experiment in Community and Urban
Permaculture
Chennai
Chennai and Urban Gardening
• Individual OTG and OTGG
• Prison Farms
• Community gardens – private spaces
• Community gardens – public spaces
• Pavement gardens
• Working with nature
• Open source and open
access knowledge
• Healthy Food for All
• Building Community
• Gardening as a Political
Act
reStore Gardens
Initiatives • Events/Workshops
• World Kitchen Garden Day
August 2012 (Launch)
• National Urban Gardening
Conference Jan 2013
• Permaculture Intro workshops
• Joy of Giving 2012 and 2013
• Locations
• Pavement Gardens (Dharmesh,
Anita, Shakuntala, Radhika)
• Kottivakam
• Urur Kuppam/Pudiyadhor
• Cancer Institute
Two initiatives
• Urban
• Public Spaces
• Many stakeholders
• Difficult spaces to work
with
Urban Permaculture
Build Community
Open Source Open -
Access
Pudiyador’s Urur Kuppam CenterA GARDEN IN THE SAND
December 2012 SAND – LOTS OF IT! Replete with concrete chunks and litter.
December 2012:
We cleaned up the backyard. Then created beds from leaf litter from SPACES. Beds lined with green coconut shells – waste collected from the beachside vendors. Urban waste being put to good use.
We started with planting Karpuravalli and moong/ green gram.
Karpooravalli because its indestructible and grows quickly.
Moong because it grows quickly and fixes nitrogen.
When growing with children, we need to see quick results.
We started a nursery in re-cycled containers – juice boxes, plastic containers, milk sachets.
Sack Garden, Jan 2012
Jan 2012: The spinach (palak) started as a small stem in a sack. The cutting we got from a visit to Solitude farm in Auroville.
The Palak, still rooted in the sack. But growing lush.
Climbing on a lattice we created out of waste bamboo
October 2013: Forming a dense canopy. Jaya (in the pic) takes care of the garden with the children.
The rocky hillock – Now growing papaya, cucumber, greens, drumstick. You can see the chunks of rock coming through as the leaf litter and bagasse decompose
Brinjal – after several being cooked, we left this one for seeds.
Before…..
…After
Jan 2013
October 2013
There is still a LOT of sand
But we also have a garden in the sand. One that nourishes the children in many ways.
As we learn and reflect….
• Importance of constant visual results
• “Eek” to “Wow!”
• Reconnecting children with growing and nature
• Introducing traditional herbs
• Creating access to fresh and nutritious food
• Provides positive opportunities for children to contribute
and see capability from physical activities
• Spreading the message – other centers want to grow their
own
• Therapeutic effect on children
• Continuity and Management of garden
Adyar Cancer Institute, ChennaiTHE “URBAN” IN PERMACULTURE
Vision
A natural, sustainable and edible community garden that is created by volunteers and the CI Community in the spirit of voluntary engagement and the joy of giving.
An environment which is happy, peaceful, safe for the children and sustainable for the environment
An edible community space, where people contribute and share in the garden’s “fruits”.
Scope of work
Mahesh Memorial Pediatric
Ward
N
Ward
Kitchen
Gate Gate
Site identified for permaculture based natural gardens
What we started with
April 2013
June 2013
October 2013
Banana Patch
April
Aug
Oct
Front beds
May 2013
Oct 2013
Outcomes
“Waste” Biomass
from Local Resources
Other “Waste”
Rain water harvesting using debris
Sheet Mulching
Composting
May 2013 July 2013
Building
Community
Eco-
system
Harvest
Lessons
• From principles to practice to results • Herb Spiral
• Raised beds
• Amrit Mitti
• Match of expectations between stakeholders
• Generate soil at scale
• Scale needs committed volunteers
• Consistency – seeing the same people doing a-typical
things.
• Waste is a HUGE resource
• Spreading and sharing the commitment – made easier by
the fact that it is a pediatric ward.
You can do a lot with
very little.
The journey is as
important as the
destination
For more information: [email protected]