I am volunteer for the Grow Your Food Project (gyfProject) and since last week, I've had the most fulfilling weekends ever because of this association. gyfProject has taken up a stall at Farmers market and it gives us an opportunity to promote the cause of reducing the urban food load by encouraging urban dwellers to grow a part of their own food. Growing your own food is about getting directly involved in the basics of life, i.e. food, apart from generating oxygen and upcycling plastic bottles by using them to grow vegetables. It is extremely satisfying because it directly tackles several environmental and social issues at the same time.
But even more satisfying is the action involved in this project as a volunteer. Typically volunteers grow some plants (that which can be used as food) and give some of these plants for sale. A part of my volunteering role is to make these plants easy to upkeep and make them look attractive. Last weekend we sold 9 planters of Basil and Green Chilly. This Sunday (2nd December, 2012) we propose to have about 20 planters of Basil, Green Chilly, Curry leaf plant and Lemon grass and getting these ready kept me busy till late Friday night.
But that's not all, we also have a gyfProject Organic Food Counter, one that serves 'cultural' food, made from authentic recipes handed down through generations. Volunteers prepare these dishes and its even more exciting for me as I volunteer my kitchen's use for preparing these dishes. Till late into Saturday night there's about 50 cold-meals being prepared. 5 am Sunday morning, another 50 hot-meals are readied, all set to leave for the Farmer's Market stall by 8 am.
From 10 am to 3 pm, we promote gyfProject counter at the market by selling food, encouraging visitors to buy plants and discuss their different challenges in growing food in their urban homes. This Sunday, our target is to double the collections, all of which goes back into promoting the gyfProject causes.
My weekends have completely changed since I started volunteering. If you're interested in giving your time or space to this project (only in Mumbai currently), please call or sms (with name, age, interest) Saurabh on +91-9930331488.
But even more satisfying is the action involved in this project as a volunteer. Typically volunteers grow some plants (that which can be used as food) and give some of these plants for sale. A part of my volunteering role is to make these plants easy to upkeep and make them look attractive. Last weekend we sold 9 planters of Basil and Green Chilly. This Sunday (2nd December, 2012) we propose to have about 20 planters of Basil, Green Chilly, Curry leaf plant and Lemon grass and getting these ready kept me busy till late Friday night.
But that's not all, we also have a gyfProject Organic Food Counter, one that serves 'cultural' food, made from authentic recipes handed down through generations. Volunteers prepare these dishes and its even more exciting for me as I volunteer my kitchen's use for preparing these dishes. Till late into Saturday night there's about 50 cold-meals being prepared. 5 am Sunday morning, another 50 hot-meals are readied, all set to leave for the Farmer's Market stall by 8 am.
From 10 am to 3 pm, we promote gyfProject counter at the market by selling food, encouraging visitors to buy plants and discuss their different challenges in growing food in their urban homes. This Sunday, our target is to double the collections, all of which goes back into promoting the gyfProject causes.
My weekends have completely changed since I started volunteering. If you're interested in giving your time or space to this project (only in Mumbai currently), please call or sms (with name, age, interest) Saurabh on +91-9930331488.
