Surfing the Soil

This morning was spent digging furrows across the land. In the afternoon we'll transplant hibiscus seedlings into the new furrows.

Yesterday, my first full day at Dr Vandana Shiva's farm near Dehra Dun, I helped plow a field behind two Indian bulls. Jai Singh, a field worker, helped me direct the plow and keep the bulls going in as straight a line as possible. It was as difficult as it sounds, and I'm in admiration of the people who've been doing it all of their lives that make it look effortless. Still, there's a lot of yelling and whacking the bulls with a stick involved, which Jai Singh mostly did, to keep the plow going.

After turning up the earth, small black beetles who had been dozing underground buzzed all about, angry at the disruption.

Fitting a flat, heavy plank behind the bulls and removing the plow, we flattened the plowed field by surfing it. Rather than a surfboard or a snowboard that points forward, this long plank you ride horizontally. Standing on the plank your weight squashes the furrows back down as you ride along behind the bulls. You've got to keep your balance by bending your knees and rocking back and forth between your toes and heels. Jai Singh did it alone at first, then I hopped on and we stood side by side (I kept throwing both of our balances off), then I tried it alone which actually made it easier to stay steady. Then, when I came hurtling forward off the plank, Jai Singh took the bulls back under control. But, while I was riding it was really a unique experience, coasting across the land at a clipping pace.

Afterwards we moved on to the next task: threshing the wheat that had been harvested last week. Most of the wheat is threshed by small machine, but since some of the seed must be saved for next year we did some of it by hand because it does not damage the seeds as much. Squating on the ground we whack the bushels with sturdy bamboo sticks, grains of wheat flying up into the air. Once all the wheat has been unclasped from its casing, we sweep the grains up from the concrete patio and bag them in sacks.

My hands are blistered, my feet caked in dirt, and I couldn't be happier to be here.

Vandana Shiva's farm, Bija Vidyapeeth is part of her organization Navdanya. Navdanya has been working to save hundreds of varieties of traditional seeds across India, protesting the growth of multinational corporate agriculture which is enslaving millions of Indian farmers to using genetically modified seeds, packaged fertilizer, dangerous pesticides and increased amounts of water. Navdanya is working with farmers to show that traditional seeds can get just as much output for lower cost, natural input, and the methods don't deplete the land and pollute the air and water.

I've seen Dr Shiva speak several times at environmental conferences in the States and along with some fellow Colorado College students managed to bring her to our college this past October. It's hard to believe that now I'm actually here at her farm.

Two other long term volunteers are here currently, Dennis from Belgium and Diana from Switzerland. They're both about my age. Everyone else is from different parts of India, and such a happy, joking crew that I felt part of the family and included within the first hour of my arrival. Every meeting is a Hindi lesson and a laugh.

All the food that we cook and eat was grown right here on the farm. The wheat flour in our chapatis, the rice, beans, lentils, vegetables, spices, milk, everything!

I walk along the pathways smelling jasmine, onion and peppermint.

The weather is incredibely cool compared to Rajasthan, plants are green and water flows in abundance. It's a pretty idyllic setting to work and live. I was planning on staying a week, but I'll probably end up half a week longer.