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Nahapur village in southern West Bengal (Paschim Medinipur district), India
Unavailability of fresh, diverse food year round which is grown without agrochemicals
Designing food gardens with families to produce more vegetables in smaller spaces with minimal intervention
Each garden is between 150 sqft and 300 sqft in area
5 food gardens named as following made by different families-
1.Chamak (meaning surpise) by Bapi Singh
2.Arombho (meaning beginning) by Sujit Das
3.Udyam (meaning positive energy) by Jharna Das
4.Pathikrit (meaning the one who shows the path) by Suvendhu Das and
5.Ananta (meaning infinite) by Ashwini Roy.
This has inspired other community members especially kids to create such gardens around their homes.
To know what are forest gardens, click here. (https://bonforest.in/home-gardens/#)
To know more about forest garden makers of Ankur,
click here (https://bonforest.in/garden-and-the-gardeners/)
As the name suggests the garden is located right next to your home. In our context, a home garden will produce varieties of vegetables, herbs, spices, flowers, and fruits with minimal or no external input. Out of many existing names like kitchen garden, nutrition garden, etc. we preferred “home garden” for two reasons:
a) We want to emphasize on the home consumption of the produce.
b) We believe in this common phrase “home is where the heart is”. We all want to live in beautiful homes. So, we want to create gardens that not only produce the food, but which will look aesthetically appealing too. This beautiful landscape will help the inhabitants of the home to connect with their land and give them a sense of pride to create such spaces.
It is often argued population boom is contributing to food insecurity heavily as the land is getting scarce for per capita food production. However, we will argue otherwise, i.e., it is not how many we are but what we do with our land that matters! From history and even from contemporary times we find many examples where we see humans have successfully tended their land working nature. Through that, they have produced an abundance of food in and around their surroundings. Small spaces can be extremely productive with effective planning and efficient management. Home gardens will add buffers to the demand for food and meet the nutritional need of the families. More importantly, these spaces will provide microclimates to help the local ecosystem thrive.