“To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul”Alfred Austin
A transect walk has been recognized as a valuable resource which serves the major function to introducing researchers to the socio-geographic layout of the studied area. During the walk, one is certainly able to practice the mapping exercise especially locating the various institutions- education, health, social services, common utility places as well as resources of the village, namely, village ponds, water sources, drainage system etcetera.
PU Research team happened to use this methodology tool once again on during the first visit of the new members (Amanjot Kaur, Radha Kanwal, Sukhdarshan Singh) on February 03, 2021 accompanied by Dr. Jaswinder Kaur who is quite familiar with the area and have the experience of conducting various activities in both villages – Gopalon and Bagh Sikander.
We met S. Nirmal Singh (Sarpanch of the Gopalon village) at the Gurdwara Sahib and then he suggested sitting at the common place of the village which is popularly known as “darwaja” (gate). This “darwaja” presented a picture of eye-catching traditional structure of the villages wherein people used to sit and discuss the political, economical and social issues of the nation as well as the matters of the concern of their villages. S. Nirmal Singh shared that “Asi thora sma pehla hi eh jagah tyar keti hai par sanu grant nhi mili” (recently this place has been restored though the village has not received their promised funding so far).
Pic credit: Dr. Amanjot Kaur
As the discussion was going on, Kulwant Kaur, 50 years old, walked in and said “Ethe ki gal baat ho rehi hai te sanu kyo nhi bulaya” (asked about the details of the discussion, and lamented that why the other villagers are not part of this talk). Usually, arrival of team is always announced by Gurdwara sahib staff, but, due to non-functionally of the speaker, this visit was not announced to the villagers. After learning about the event, she “Eh mera number hai, jad v dobara sade pind aaye mainu jaroor dasna” (shared her contact details to be part of this discussion as and when it happens).
Gharelu bagichi (Kitchen gardens, also popularly known as nutrition garden, home garden, backyard garden) exist in almost every home in studied areas of Fatehgarh Sahib. Location, size of the garden and variety of grown vegetables vary from home to home. Some families had grown onion and potatoes whereas some have sowed seasonal vegetables. During the transect walk, the team observed that some of the kitchen garden were developed at the front; some had this in the backyard of their houses; showing a clear understanding of need for direct sunlight for the veggie/plants. This practice had showed their interest and awareness for healthy living and certainly a way of preserving cultural practices and knowledge.
A culture of sharing is actually the foundation of the villages. We also come across many instances wherein people grow different vegetables and then distribute with each other. In this way, everyone is able to taste healthy seasonal and nutritional vegetables. Even the families keep seeds for sowing to be used for next season. Usually, the seeds- the major agricultural input, are borrowed from each other or bought from market. Head of the village Bagh Sikander, S. Harpinder Singh, shared that “Beej vadhiya company da hona chahida ta hi fal vadhiya lagda” (quality of seeds is really important in order to get fruitful results). Manjit Kaur, a 45 years old; working and pro-active staff of MBCT, former panchayat member of Bagh Sikander village, showed her gharelu bagichi (kitchen garden) passionately to the team. Asking about the different plants of her garden, she shared that she had sown different types of seasonal vegetables – okra (bhindi), onion (pyaj) carrots (gajar), green leafy vegetables (palak, bathu, methi), etcetera. “Saag and Maki di roti” is the all-time favourite food of Punjabi people and she happily distributes the same to her neighbours, friends and relatives. She also shared that“sada ta kharcha kaffi ghat gaya hai te naale sanu gunkari sabziya mil jandiya ne” (her expenditure on buying vegetables has reduced drastically after having a kitchen garden with added advantage of having nutritious food). Manjit Kaur and all family members go out for work purpose so the family find it difficult to maintain the garden as cleaning is required on regular time to remove grass and other substances.
Pic credit: Sukhdarshan Singh
During the discussion on conducting a kitchen garden workshop in the village, Amrinder Singh, a youth club member of Gopalon village expressed “Oh ta bs lecture de k challe jande ne, sanu kuj samaj nhi aunda” (the indifferent behaviour of the knowledge extension units of their district) and stressed that an activity-based workshop with real application can be fruitful to them instead of having a theoretical workshop.
Our transect walk clearly made us familiar with the ongoing practice of having and maintaining Gharelu bagichi (kitchen gardens) in Gopalon and Bagh Sikander village and a hope to visualize its expansion due to interest and passion of residents in this field. The communities were also quite eager to work in collaboration with the PU team to share their success stories and learn about innovative solutions for their kitchen gardens.
Food for thought: Towards a Greener Revolution 