Volunteers from the Chennai Resilience Centre along with members of the Residents of Kasturba Nagar Association (ROKA) set up a terrace garden in the month of September at the Chennai High School, Kamaraj Avenue, Adyar. Through the garden the volunteers aim for a dual purpose of providing healthy food for the children while also helping grow their own food.
A variety of greens and vegetables – four bags each of Parupu keerai, arai keerai, siru keerai, palak, ladies finger, and karamani, were grown at the terrace of the school, as part of this initiative.
On Oct.18, the team reaped their first harvest of the variety of greens, which were used by the school management in preparing healthy midday meals for the school children. The harvest included: 1.8 kgs of Paruppu keerai, nearly 1 kg of Palak and Siru keerai each, and 1.3 kgs of Arai keerai.
It was a jubilant day for everyone and all faces beamed on seeing an almost 100% germination of the seeds. The garden had been cared for by the school management and staff – the watchman, and the kitchen staff, who were more than happy to serve the organic healthy pick from their garden to the school children.
As part of our Urban Farming Initiative, Chennai Resilience Centre helps establish mobile vegetable gardens in urban spaces like schools, residential and commercial establishments, communal spaces etc., with a focus on vulnerable communities, in a bid to improve food security and livelihoods. They can be contacted at [email protected].
