Solitude Farm – a work experience

If we throw mother nature out the window,

she comes back through the door with a pitchfork.
-Masanobu Fukuoka

Introduction

As this year’s work exp., our class of forty was divided into three groups, to travel to three
different locations around South India and pick up a few physical and labour intensive skills. The three
locations that were chosen were; 1. An NGO based out of a small hill station, Valparai. The NGO worked
on wildlife conservation of the Annamalai Range. The group that was to go to Valparai would actively
involve themselves in the process. 2. A farm called Solitude run on the ideals of Masanobu Fukuoka
(Japanese agricultural revolutionizer). It was at the heart of the dwarf-city, Auroville. The group that would
go there would have the pleasure of participating in the unique process of permaculture. 3. Kanyakumari,
where the group that would go would get involved in the local cottage industry that dealt with coir (coconut
husk) and sea shells.

The group that I was in, was picked to go to Solitude. The intent with which the school wanted us to spend
the week at solitude was:

1. To understand permaculture and natural farming and the influence of Masanobu Fukuoka in the
revolutionary type of farming adopted at Solitude;
2. To know more about Auroville by our visit to the Unity Pavilion;
3. To beware of the importance of knowing where our food comes from. Hence the whole attempt at
creating one’s own Rock n’ Roll Permaculture Circle Garden;
4. To share our learning with the larger Auroville Community on World Food Day at the Solar
Kitchen;
5. To be inspired by the two people behind the Pebble Garden;
6. To familiarize oneself to alternative approaches in learning at the Isai Ambalam School.

Solitude Farm
On the evening of 12th October, at around 4:30 pm, we reached the Pondicherry bus-stop. We were greeted
by a foreigner dressed in t-shirt, lungi, chappals and a turban made from a duppatta or something. We
found it quite amusing to see him fluently speak Tamil. We had all gone with the preconceived notion that
this trip would be really bad. I had thought that, from what we were told, that 4 hours of farming under the
Pondicherry sun would be torture, and that we were in for painful physical labour. We reached the farm,
Solitude Farm, at around 5:30 pm. By then the sun had already starting to set and darkness in this “hell-
hole” (what we thought of it as a first impression, which obviously changed for most the very next day)
was already dawning. We were shown to our quarters by Khaled. Four of us guys, ie. Amshuman, Malli,
Sid, and I were to stay is clearing, past a hedge, and Nihal and Neel were to stay in an elevated shack, off
the main path. We were warned of mosquitoes and so some of us had carried mosquito-nets. The dinner
that night was Mediterranean-style plantain and amazing, spicy sambar and rice. We all slept early.

The next day we were woken up by Shanky at 6, and were told to wash up and head over to the
kitchen/dining area/meeting area, or as it was called, the Community centre. In the morning light we finally
saw the farm in its absolute glory. It was straight out of Enid Blyton/Hans Christain Anderson/Lewis
Carroll book. It was breath-taking. Sub-consciously, I think other than the people at the farm; it was this
sight that also helped us completely open up to the trip. The first thing we did at Comm. Cent. was to sit
from 6:45 to 7:00 (as a routine), silently, then do some chores such as clean the Comm. Cent., sweep the
path leading to the Comm. Cent., etc. Then we had breakfast. The breakfast was usually bread and peanut-
butter and various jams and some other accompaniment. Then we met and were divided onto groups and
were put to work. I was to work at the nursery with Nihal, Malli, and Asmi. I am a very lazy boy. But I
enjoyed working and I feel over the 8 days, I worked hard and rarely complained. I loved the atmosphere in
which we were working, staying and learning.

The other amazing thing about the farm was the also the best, the people. They were so warm and accepted
us so quickly and without hesitation. They never showed a sign of difference between them and us.

The core of the workshop is:

 The application of Permaculture and Natural farming techniques (hands-on in the fields!)
• Traditional preparation of indigenous grains and food stuffs
• Daily reading of the “One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka
• Field trips to related projects
• Lectures and discussions
• Morning meditation
• Emersion in local Tamil culture
• Project based learning
Located near the Visitor Center , behind the Tibetan pavilion, Solitude was started in January 1996 by a
group of young Aurovillians with the vision of creating a self-sustainable farming-community. Krishna,
one of the pioneers, has developed the farm with the ideas of Masanobu Fukuoka (one straw revolution)
and permaculture techniques. This lifestyle demands energy and enthusiasm but they also aim at an
integrated lifestyle, finding space, equally for arts, music and inner exploration.
Permaculture is about understanding relationships: These workshops aim at dynamic, integrated hands-on
experience, covering diverse activities that are part of daily life at Solitude farm.
The farm is a 6 acres plot and grows indigenous millets and rice, oil seeds, grams and pulses, a wide
diversity of vegetables and 16 varieties of fruit trees. They aim of creating a dynamic integrated lifestyle,
leaving space for music and arts with farming as the foundation of the community.
The farm also runs an organic restaurant; called CHANDNI' S and serves lunches and dinners with food
grown on the farm and from other Auroville farms. The produce from the farm also goes to Auroville shops
and the solar kitchen.
There are 6 people living at Solitude with a healthy floating population of volunteers who are welcome to
dive into the life on the community.
The farm is self sustainable financially due to the restaurant and contributions from volunteers, but they
seek donations for infrastructure development.
The farm has just submitted a project to get funds for the construction of an educational centre, to develop
courses on experiential sustainability, a new dormitory and a food processing unit/kitchen/restaurant.

Unity Pavillion

On the first day, we visited the Unity Pavillion. It was an apt choise as we were given a orientation, of sort,
of the principles on which Auroville was based on, its current status, etc. There we were warmly met by
Jaya, a Swedish woman, who participated at the Unity Pavillion. She talked to us about the Unity Pavillion,
Auroville, etc.
Auroville wants to be the first realisation of human unity based on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo, where
men of all countries would be at home.
 - Mother, January 1972
Auroville is planned to have four different zones radiating out from the Matrimandir at its centre, and the
International Zone is one of them. In this zone all countries will be represented in a concrete and living
way, providing a dynamic base for Auroville's work on realising an actual Human Unity.
 The Present
In the International Zone, on the future Crown road the first building of the Unity Pavilion complex is
completed and actively being used. Although this was supposed to be mainly an office building for the
International Zone and Pavilion groups, it is, for the time being, used as a multi-purpose space. The
International Zone group has been using the building since January, 2004.
There are regular weekly meetings of the International Zone group, whose representatives are responsible
for liaisoning with the Auroville Planning and Development Council. The Pavilion groups are being
inspired to renew their efforts: India , Russia , France , United States , Britain , Italy , Spain , Germany ,
Africa , and three new Pavilion groups have been formed representing Switzerland , Scandinavia and
Kazakhstan . The International Zone Planning group, as well as several of the Pavilion groups and the AVI
liaison are looking into the possibility of opening their office space in the Unity Pavilion.
Five workshops on Planning and Development open to all those interested in discovering a deeper
understanding of the raison d'etre of the International Zone and the national Pavilions have already taken
place between January-March, 2004. These workshops form part of a larger series which will continue
throughout the year and are documented as part of the work of the research team of the International Zone.
As a follow-up to the Unity Walk of February 8, 2004 , an “Intro-spection meeting” was organized in the
Unity Pavilion, aiming at a deeper understanding of how to live closer to the dream of Mother. This initial
meeting resulted in several groups being formed, who now meet regularly in the Unity Pavilion: some of
the themes covered are: Human Interaction/Communication and Respect, Youth, and Money.
 The Finances
The first building was financed through donations from AVI-USA, Swiss Liaison, AVI Berlin meeting,
Dimitri von Morenschildt, the Vitalis Association in France and personal donations, with 1½ lakhs still
needed to complete and furnish it. For the main building (which will contain the exhibition,audio and
video, lecture and meeting space and, eventually, the Hall of Peace), the construction was supposed to have
started this spring. Due to a delay of funds for all CIRHU projects, the work has been delayed, although all
plans and drawings are ready and approved and the foundations have been dug. We hope, seeing that
within 3 months so many activities are already taking place in the Unity Pavilion, that the funding will be
made available in 2005.
Proposed programmes and activities:
Student exchange programmes:
One of the functions of the Unity Pavilion in the International Zone is to organize and support student
exchange programmes. These programmes share the common goal of developing students’ civic
consciousness and raising it to a global level, and therefore promoting the ideals of human unity and
understanding. In this way, mutual understanding of both the elements of our common humanity, as well as
our social, cultural, political and economic
differences, is enhanced.
Research:
In the Unity Pavilion, there is an ongoing research into topics such as Human Unity, World Peace, East
West Relations, Sustainable Development and Human Potential. In these areas of study, the Unity Pavilion
invites participation by known experts, individuals and groups who can interact with Auroville through
lectures, seminars and artistic creations. It would participate in the research towards finding “the soul of
each nation” and its “dharma” – its true work, as a part of the development of humanity and the evolution
of life on earth.
The Exhibition Hall:
The Exhibition Hall will present themes such as national and cultural diversity in a clear and dynamic
manner. Exhibitions highlight the positive achievements of national and international initiatives for
understanding, as well as giving room to explore the common roots of man on the communal, national and
global level.

Permaculture Circle Garden

On the second day, we were divided into four groups. Three of them were to go with Khaled, Krishna and
Ananda to three locations to make permaculture circle gardens. To make them sound appealing, Krishna
had named it the Rock n’ Roll Permaculture Circle Garden. I was in the fourth group that was to help in the
nursery. But the next day we made a movie that I eventually edited it (on the 7 th day) and posted on
YouTube. It narrated the steps involved in making a Permaculture Garden. It was accompanied by clips of
us performing the various steps.

The steps were:

1. Step 1 – Clear a circular area of three meters in diameter.

2. Step 2 – Dig a trench that is one foot deep and half a foot across, around the circle of the marked
area.
3. Step 3 – Fill the dug trench with mud and any organic matter such as branches, twigs, weeds,
leaves, etc.
4. Step 4 – Add some compost and mix it in with the mud.
5. Step 5 – Spread mulch in the bed.
6. Step 6 – Select your choice of saplings, seeds, etc. Be creative and choose a large variety.
7. Step 7 – Install the sprinkler.

The permaculture garden is a fun activity that is not labour intensive, inexpensive, and produces a range of
organic healthy fruits and vegetables.

World Food Day

On the 16th, we went to the Solar Kitchen. It is at the heart of auroville. It was where on that day, World
Food Day was being celebrated. We had gone there to exhibit our ‘Rock n’ Roll Permaculture Circle
Garden’. We had made posters to lead visitors to our location. I was made in charge of the setting up of the
posters. After a couple of trials we finally got into a rhythm of nailing up posters on flimsy sticks with
thumb tacks. After which Krishna kept calling me the Engineer. We then set up a garden at the entrance to
the Kitchen. Another small group went around offering people free ‘Annadana’, which was made of a
millet called Varagu, cooked like lemon rice. Personally I found it not very pleasant tasting (not the
seasoning, but the millet itself). Varagu was a nearly extinct mllet but a few Aurovillians revived it.

Pebble Garden

Deepika and Bernard live off the Tindivanam Road behind Aurobrindavan. They have created a lush
tropical vegetable garden – with no original soil! When they first came here 14 years ago they called their
place ‘Pebble Garden’ as there were only pebbles on the lateritic wasteland. “One can say we have become
specialists in soil-building,” said Bernard. They built soil without any input from outside, such as compost,
earth or manure. they started to create soil by recycling the existing pioneer vegetation in various ways. For
example, they built layers of acacia leaves and silt from a few small ponds into heaped, layered beds, and
then left the work to the termites and earth worms. While the work of soil building continues each season,
the garden slowly extends. They now have 1,000 square meters of vegetable garden.

The purpose of this garden is not to grow vegetables but to produce seeds of hardy varieties of vegetables,
root crops and medicinal and herbal plants which require little water. Now it has evolved into the Organic
Farm Association of India, an active group which does seed exchange. . For example, they now have 15
varieties of organic brinjal – and that is of great interest today as nowadays big companies are seeking
permission from the Indian government to grow genetically modified so-called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)
Brinjal!”
They make small packets of seeds that they produce and sell or give them away to Aurovillians and also all
over India. They go to Seed Fairs and display their collections and try to encourage people to grow their
own garden. Deepika and Bernard now produce about 3,000 packets of vegetable seeds a year. These are
for home gardens, they stressed. Commercial farms would get their organic vegetable seeds from
Annandana in Auroville.

Bernard explained to us that when he had bought the land and just moved in, it was a waste land. It was
barren and was covered only with pebbles, hence the name pebble garden. He then experimented with a
couple of plant species and found that a certain species of Australian acacia grew very well in barren land.
He then broadcasted this inexpensive seed across his farm. They began to grow. Then he slowly chopped a
few down. He then dug small pits all around his farm, at the elevationally lowest points. During the rainy
season, runoff filled up the pits. The water carried along with it silt and mud. Now he not only had water
supply from the ponds, but also mud. He then mixed the silt with the chopped acacia and faeces. After
some time he had manure. This way he continued and developed his farm into a lush green paradise.

Isai Ambalam School

Isai Ambalam School is located on the northern periphery of Auroville. Its name means 'Place of Harmony'
and it draws an increasing amount of students from five major local villages surrounding Auroville.

Aurovilian Subash (55) from Madhurai, India, who has been fluctuating between Ashram and Auroville
from 1973 onward and who joined Auroville in '93 for good, is presently the school's main driving force.
During the last four years he has been painstakingly instrumental in introducing and implementing newer
and livelier methods of education than the traditional system prevalent in the area, with success!
Started off in 1982, Isai Ambalam School initially was catering to the learning needs of Young Adults in
the age group of 8 to 15 years, who were considered “drop-outs” from other learning establishments, and
who came from villages in the immediate Auroville area. In the course of time it has evolved to the present
stage where it has pre-school, primary and young adult sections, and these sections are divided into 7
groups. It has 115 students and 12 teachers, and is providing for the students to receive education up to 8th
and 10th standard levels.
For the last 4 years the school has been specialising in conducting experiments in education by adopting
innovative and comprehensive educational methods which make learning easier, faster, more joyous and
context-oriented. Many of these methods have been effectively and successfully used elsewhere in and
outside India.
Glenn Doman method
Creative and play-way activities are daily given to the pre-school children. Apart from these activities, the
teachers apply the 'Glenn Doman method' for imparting reading skills in Tamil and English and general
knowledge to the children, and found that they joyously respond to this method of learning. Since the
inception of this method in 1996, three batches of 12 children each have learnt to read using this method.
One of the three batches learnt the reading skill completely, thanks to the continuance of the learning
practice for the full-specified period of 2 years. Last year the staff's effort to involve some parents in using
this method for the children at home became fruitful, giving a hope for shortening the learning time

Rishi Valley method

For the Young Adults the school is aiming to impart all the skills needed for their self-directed learning. As
one of its steps, it has transcribed in Tamil the educational method discovered and successfully used by the
Rishi Valley Rural Schools in Andhra Pradesh. This method consists of a number of study cards in Tamil,
mathematics and environmental science which are arranged in a graded manner and can be used by the
primary level students to learn most of the subject matter by themselves. Creative and play-way activities
are in-built in the study cards. A regular primary section was opened in June 1999
and this method is used there now.
English is learnt by all the students and teachers using a need-based approach. That is, all those who wish
to learn to speak English are taught the spoken skills, and all those who wish to read and write and pursue
higher studies are taught to list out the details of this learning, and then to learn them using
appropriate methods.
All the methods experimented in and implemented by the school conform very well to the 3 cardinal
principles of education enunciated by Sri Aurobindo, all of them being based on joy, freedom, learning by
doing and self-learning. Out of the 8 methods now used, 4 have yielded good results. The experiments with
the other methods have not yet been completed, but so far they have been giving a positive outcome. Three
of the successful methods have become ongoing ones, and the fourth one will be institutionalised within a
few months.
List of the methods and their potential
1. Glenn Doman method for learning to read well in Tamil and English;
2. The Phonic Sounds Method used by the student to learn to read any English word on his/her own;
3. Rishi Valley Method used by the primary level students to learn all their primary level subjects in a
complete manner. After a certain point this method enables a student to learn most of his/her subject matter
on his/her own;
4. Audio Tape Method combined with Language Games enables the student to learn English
comprehensively. This method can be used for any student to enable him/her to learn any language other
than his/her mother tongue;
5. Basic Sentence Structure Method enables students or teachers who are familiar with English to a certain
extent to write in good English on their own, and that too without mistakes, within 6 months;
6. CIEFL Method, developed by Central Institute for English as Foreign Language, Hyderabad, enables the
students at the secondary or higher secondary level to acquire a very good proficiency in English in 400
hours. This method uses 50 language lesson units and 500 reading cards prepared in a gradually increasing
complexity. (This method is currently used by the teachers in the school for improving their English
language skills.);
7. Education By Design Method.
Resourceful and intelligent use of this method, apart from enabling the students to learn their subject matter
comprehensively, can also bring out the innate talents and faculties in them and lead them to access the
deeper or higher regions of consciousness.
When we reached there, we were warmly welcomed by Mr. Subhash and a teacher and given a quick
overview. Then we set out to classes in small groups. We spent some time in each class and were
introduced to their methods and talked a little about them. Then we had some time to spend with the little
kids. They were very happy tohave over some visitors. They showed their work, made some presentations,
etc. Then we also had lunch with them. Lunch was amazingly spicy, Andra style rasam, sambar, rice, etc.
Although many of did not agree with their methods as we found them practically ineffective, we still
enjoyed ourselves.

Conclusion

I think this trip was by far the most amazing excursion we have ever had. It was fun, thrilling, exciting,
tiring, and eventually emotional as well (when the good-byes were said). Krishna, Deepa, Khaled, Sara,
Giovanni, Ananda, and Chandani couldn’t have been better hosts. They went all- out to see that we not
only learn a great deal about what they do but also have the greatest time ever. Like the music after dinner
was EMOTIONAL! I also very badly miss the well. It was an educational trip also. I learnt many farming
techniques whose names I had never heard of or would dream of hearing. I actually enjoyed working in the
nursery and setting up the sprinkler system thoroughly.