….continued from February issue – ‘Give Green a Chance’
Despite all challenges, a four-month-old experiment has brought about its results and we take pride in sharing our journey ‘from garden waste to black gold’. Though it took longer than expected but was worth a wait and quite a learning.
Usually, composting is thought of as a dirty process and has common apprehensions like it’s too complicated, it’ll smell bad, and attracts mosquitoes etc. A quote by George Meredith – ‘Earth knows no desolation. She smells regeneration in the moist breath of decay’ – answers this well.
During our journey we learnt that all these are just misconceptions. Rather the process is quite simple if done the right way and only needs a lot of patience and perseverance from you. Our gardeners did regular churning, watering plus adding all that was advised by the experts from HCL to ensure we get a good produce. After every churning, the same curiosity persisted… Is it ready?
Finally, cometh the time to harvest. The feeling we had is comparable to a child, whom no one expected to even pass, has cleared the Board Exams with fairly good marks.
But wait, now what? “मैडम, छलनी चाहिए पड़ेगी, तभी बढ़िया महीन खाद निकलेगी”! . Aaaaand…. By God’s grace and the untiring effort of the support staff, including carpenter Yusuf who made this indispensable apparatus (Nyuh), all was done well in time. Approximately 7 quintal of fine compost was harvested on 30 May 30. Few sacks have already been spread into the gardens of Utopia while others are waiting for their turn.
We wish our fellow residents, who took a generous portion of the compost produced, a healthy, happy and green balcony!
Nevertheless, there were some lessons too learnt during the course of journey which we may share later.Till then, we hope this article inspires you to take another look at that pile of leaves near your house.
Remember! There can be a Plan B, but there is ‘No Planet B’.
by Lata Agarwal (Eldeco Utopia, Sector 93A)
