From soil to sanctuary मिट्टी से जीवन तक

We want to farm this land on permaculture and natural-farming principles: feed the soil, catch and hold the rain, plant mixed and dense, and invite the insects and birds back. At the centre of it all will be a food forest — layers of trees and shrubs chosen so that whenever the girls run into it, there is something to pick and eat: jamun and guava, mango and ber, amla, moringa, bananas, papaya, and whatever the season is offering. Not a manicured orchard, but a place that feels a little wild. It should also be our weekend gateway — a break from the city's noise, traffic and air. A place to wake up to birdsong, eat what we picked ourselves, and sit under the trees doing nothing at all. The longer dream is that it stops needing us. As the trees grow and shade one another, as the soil holds water and the fallen leaves build up, the farm should ask for less and less work and slowly begin to behave like a forest — looking after itself. Then our only job will be to come, walk around, and have some fun. And more than anything, this is for our daughters. We want them to know what the earth smells like when the first rain hits it, what it feels like to hold an earthworm, what it is to wait for a fruit to ripen — and to see where their food actually comes from. We want a part of their childhood spent away from the crowd and the pollution, learning to notice these small, natural things. That is the whole plan, really: a small farm, a food forest, weekends together, and two girls who grow up loving the ground under their feet.