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‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’

‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’

Apurva’s blog emphasizes how valid this quote by Margaret Mead is.  We are sure this blog by Apurva will inspire many, will encourage many to give composting a try. 

Hello friends.

When Aditi asked me to write a blog for Brown Leaf / Jeevitnadi, I was a bit surprised since I was not driven person (like her or my sister Shivangi Datar) for any environmental cause. But after a turning point in my life I became ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’more conscious about the environmental issues.

Once you are conscious you tend to meet more driven people (it is like a vicious circle in a good kind of way).

The turning point came when my younger son was very small, the traditional practice of burning leaves continued in my apartment building as well. And we had to close all the doors and windows once our watchman started burning the leaf litter. It was very suffocating for us and the young one too.

During the same time, I had gone to Pranjal Nursery with my sister and bumped into Aditi. My sister explained Aditi’s initiatives (both Brown Leaf and Jeevitnadi) and we exchanged numbers.

Aditi promptly included me in Brown Leaf WhatsApp group. I was rather muted and skeptical while on the group for initial few months, as to how things would work out as donor-acceptor model for brown leaves. Till then I had instructed the watchman in our building to not burn the leaf litter and store it in gunny bags.

Any project will always have some impediments and that happened in my case too. Some individuals from the building started complaining that the leaf litter stored in gunny bags is attracting mosquitoes (well a very un-heard of reason, while the same individuals were OK burning of leaves right under their nose (literally)).

That was when I first put out leaf litter donation advertisement on the WhatsApp group, and could not believe I immediately got an acceptor. This donation worked pretty well for next two seasons.

During that time, I met very nice and kind individuals from Brown Leaf group and was reading success stories of gardens grown on leaf litter and various composting techniques. As time passed, the inventory of leaf litter gunny bags with me started growing.

That was the time when I decided that it was high time to start consuming this leaf litter (sounds funny I know, me chomping off on dried leaves :)) and start my own Brown Leaf garden.

What started with only two barrels (of 500liters each) full of leaf litter has now become a nice green corner on my terrace. This green corner of mine can consume daily kitchen waste from my house and the leaf litter in my apartment building.

During the brown leaf kitchen garden journey, there have been many pest attacks including, snails, aphids, rats along the way.

Though I was tempted to spray organic pesticides on them , I quickly decided not to, since I learnt (of course from gyani members of Brown Leaf) that all these are an integral part of the environment and just to increase my output, it is not fair to drive them away.

My Brown Leaf garden gives me, Shevga (moringa), pudina, tomatoes, aloo, kadhipatta, mulberry, strawberry, lemons and lots of varieties of flowers. Also, I am a proud grandparent to three small ‘sunbirds’ ready to spread their wings from my garden.

Besides the loads of happiness and sense of fulfillment from the garden, there is the satisfaction that very less waste is sent to the landfills from my home.

A garden is a happy place for all, the gardener and the birds as well

As I said earlier about the ‘good kind of vicious circle’, once you start composting and giving back to the environment, you also start thinking of what other vices you might be doing from environmental perspective.

After learning about how we as human race have been polluting the rivers which are our lifelines, I started making conscious effort of sending back minimal chemicals back to the river. This is not easy since many lifestyle changes are needed.

But then those changes then become your new normal.

Below are a few things I have tried to incorporate as a part of my changed lifestyle towards a more conscious and sustainable living:

This that are OUT from my House:

1. Detergents for my washing machine

2. Soap

3. Chemical Based Hair color

4. Shampoo

5. Conditioner

6. Cosmetic Face Masks

7. Lip Balm

Things that are IN:

1. Soapnut + Vinegar based liquid for Washing Machine

2. Utane, scrubs made from mango and orange peels

3. Heena

4. Shikakei

5. Citrus peel-based bio enzyme

6. Aloe + home ‘grown and ground’ turmeric

7. Lip balm made from bee wax and essential oils

(For details about Toxin-free Lifestyle, https://www.jeevitnadi.org/toxin-free-living/)

I am completely aware that this is nowhere to living a completely self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle, but one step closer to it.

Apurva Pushkar Shirolkar

Pune