Kitchen Garden Day: Rain fails to dampen farming spirits

“This day was initiated by Kitchen Gardeners International in 2003 in response to the US food industry’s annual Snack Food Month celebrated in February. The idea is to reap what you grow and eat what you sow,” said Preeti Patil,a founder of Urban Leaves.

The city’s urban farmers celebrated by pooling the harvest from their own terraces and balconies and spontaneous,non-cooked recipes were prepared from this produce. The event was held at Urban Leaves’ community farms at Nana Nani Park,Chowpatty and Maharashtra Nature Park,Dharavi. “We began community farming at these places two years ago. The idea was to have more green and productive places in the city for sustainable living and also to encourage community spirit. Community farming reduces the effort per person while also doing something good for oneself and society,” said Patil.

Anju Venkat from The Health Awareness Centre talked about the benefits of eating raw saying it is the best for the body. However,eating local is equally important. “Out-of-season crops have a tendency of requiring more pesticides for their growth. And India has been blessed with great biodiversity and unique flavours which we need to discover,” said Patil. The day ended with a film on Urban Leaves and everyone enjoying the feast made out of local produce.

Due to the recent food inflation and increased instances of issues with food security,urban farming has become the need of the hour,feels Patil. “As our cities grow larger and produce comes from further away,we are increasingly eating unhealthy or waxed food. Urban farming is a great way of ensuring healthy,sustainable living while doing something good for the environment,” she said. And contrary to popular belief,no space is too little to do farming. “I grow 10 varieties including spinach,turmeric and other herbs in my 10 feet by 3 feet balcony. It enhances the flavour of food,” Patil said.