Elisa's Blog - Chati http://www.chati.org.uk en 15.3.2011 Lunch at the neighbours' farm Sat, 21 May 2011 18:14:59 GMT Elisa One day I was kindly invited by the neighbours to have lunch. As soon as I arrived there they offered me food and let me eat before anyone else. They had cooked many dishes with the best ingredients and it surely was delicious. When something was about to finished on my banana leaf plate they made sure that I got more as much as I could eat.

Never in my life i have encountered such generosity, hospitality and interest towards a foreigner. People came even from their neighbouring dwellings to watch me and were very happy to even shake my hand. I felt myself very privileged. The only thing I could offer them was my smile and for them it was the greatest reciprocation.

I will never forget this kind gesture of these neighbors who were really happy and simply enjoyed their life in the most modest way. All the locals visiting the farm were very kind and everybody helped always each other.

]]> 5.2.2011 Harvesting foxtail Sat, 21 May 2011 18:08:10 GMT Elisa In the morning for breakfast I ate the ragi porridge made from the freshly ground seeds from yesterday and it definately tasted very much better than usual.

After that I was ready to go to the foxtail field where the harvest was in progress done by a few of the local people. We used hand sickles and our arm power. A local woman was very keen on showing me how the sickle works and she was very conserned that I did not cut myself. We cut a bundle at a time and slowly my work seemed more succesful although not even closely as efficient as the locals. The bundles were collected into bigger heaps which were tied and left waiting for the machine to separate the seed from the stems.

]]> 4.2.2011 Preparing the ragi seeds for grinding Sat, 21 May 2011 17:58:14 GMT Elisa I got change to watch when two local women were separating the ragi seeds from the chaff. They used a stone base in which the seeds were placed, and a wooden mallet with metal end to pummel the ragi. I tried it too for a while and it was really hard work. Later they winnowed the small stones and husk away from the seeds using a base made of coconut leaves. After that the ragi was ready to be packed and transfered to the mill.

All this made me think how much work it reguires to get ”the bread on the table” - in this case for me to get the morning portion of ragi porridge. First harvest the field manually, remove the seeds from the stems, separate the husk and stones from the seeds and finally grind the seeds, and of course prepare the actual food. This surely made me to appreciate more the origin of the food and the food itself.

]]> 25.1.2011 Milking Lakshmi Sat, 21 May 2011 17:50:22 GMT Elisa Every evening before sunset it was time to milk Lakshmi, one of the cows on the farm, and go to sell the milk in the nearest village. Usually the milking was done by the neighbouring woman and one evening I got the change to try it too.

It was my first time to milk a cow and right from the beginning it went very well. Every now and then Xavier and the woman allowed the calf to suck the teat of the cow for pruducing better milk. The final result was some couple of litres of milk. After milking, the mother cow and the calf returned to their shelter. It felt really nice to participate in the normal routine of the farm.

]]> 23.1.2011 Weeding in the paddy field with local women Sat, 21 May 2011 17:32:27 GMT Elisa I approached the paddy field with my camera where the rice has put up nice green shoots already. Three local women were weeding, their backs bend down and chatting a lot. Soon Xavier came too and I took courage. I left the camera on the bank and sank my feet into 20 inches of mud and water. It was like the best mud treatment for your feet and felt amazingly cooling after the hot ground under your feet.

The weeds were surprisingly similar to the actual rise plant and looking from the bank of the field you didn't recognice which was weed or rice. Closer inspection revealed the weeds and a moment of observing the local women showed me the method of work. You gathered a bundle of grass from nearby leaving the rise bundle in place and pressed this waste under the mud with your foot. This would then biodegrade releasing the nutrients to the rice seedlings and finally turning back into soil.

There I was working with local people in the local way in the method that has been used from early days. The sun started to go down and it was time to finish the days work. Later when I turned to watch towards the paddy field the peacocks were returning from the dense coppice to the open ground to feed in the cool of the night.

]]> Elisa's Blog Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:17:40 GMT Bob Welcome to the new blog by Elisa.

Good luck

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