Our In-house Urban Forest !

                   Our Wild Front Garden.

Our urban forest in Mumbai is a small, tropical wonderland. Hundreds of plants happily co-exist as part of our family. Mostly, they were chosen from seeds or saplings for their edible and medicinal value. But we have let all the plants run wild, and we find that welcome guests keep appearing out of nowhere in the pots of  the ground. One of them is the blue pea flower (gokarna), both white and blue that appeared out of the blue and is now winding happily around other plants and pillars in Rashi’s ‘Studio Karva’, on our roof top.

            The Mini-Forest in the Backyard

The mulberry tree is  a feast  for both the birds, us and the neighbours and fruits almost every season. This one too invited itself. The small ‘Rai Amla’ is  a wild variety and a large tree. Bay leaf tree, neem trees; creepers and shrubs like Madhumalati, Parijata, Lakshmitaru, Tamarind (remains short because over-shadowed), Alphonso Mango tree, Hibiscus, White Exora, Adusa/Vasa, Muchkund, and a wild Supari mammoth tree;  creepers like Giloy, Gunja, Shatavari, Paan (Betel), Long Pepper, Black Pepper, Jasmine, RaathRaani, Insulin plant, Cardamom, Green Nirgundi and many more. Backyard - Drumstick tree which profusely flowers also (we use the leaves, flowers and pods to eat), Guava tree, LakshmiTaru, Karanj, Red Nirgundi, Avocado, Vasa and smaller plants and creepers sourced from different parts of India including yams which are winding around various potted plants. Often, some vegetable seeding or a lemon tree sprouts out of a pot where it had been thrown by one of us. Herbs like tulsi, lemongrass and wild edibles are used by us in our everyday cooking. 

      One Part of Our Roof-Top 'Studio Karva'

On the terrace of our bungalow, we grow a profusion of indegenous seed vegetables like pumpkin,  bittergourd, many kinds of turmeric, ginger, lemon (gonduraj lemon), some fruit trees like custard apple, herbs of common varieties like  lemongrass (our cat Tara loves it), tulsi, and Kapur tulsi, Thai basil, Sabja tulsi, mint (in season); wild edibles like Punarnava, Makoi, Kutki, Amaranth, different spinach like Malabar spinach (poi), Spanish Catalan Spinach and many more. Often, along with us, my daughter Rashi’s students make tea out of them. In Ruchi’s room, in the meditation corner, black turmeric, yams and giloy creeper perpetually wind around the wall. Through our social enterprise ‘Taru Naturals’ and as Natural Farming and Kitchen Garden teachers, we freely distribute saplings, cutting and giloy stems. 

We aim to be a zero-waste house. All the leaf matter and vegetable waste is converted into eco-enzyme, compost or mulch. The urban forest is allowed to be just what it is without any interference, no fertiliser, no pesticide and no natural manure either. The leaves fall and natural mulching has created its own bio-fertiliser system. We don't call for pest control or use any chemicals. Indegenous cow urine and cow dung, eco-enzymes and water and tea of the various leaves growing around, leftover herbs from our herbal teas, ash of some of the medicinal herbs and Agnihotra ash. These are some of the natural means used to keep our plants flourishing and  our house pest-free. Our mini-forest protects us from city pollutants and smells besides cooling our space.  

               Front View of our house.