Darryl D’Souza of Earth Keepers Market has taken to organic farming in Candolim !
One small-time but heartwarming farming story is that of Darryl d’Souza! He is alchemist, healer, promoter of vegan lifestyles which protect the earth who recently posted on his Earth Keepers site the following thoughts of how he became a farm. We reproduce them here to inspire you too look at a piece of land with new eyes as in how you can restore it and turn it into a garden of paradise for food and peace of mind! Help Goa to be the original lotus-eating land of plenty to be happy about… says Darryl d’Souza:
“NOW I have to grow my own organic veggies around my house because I don’t want to eat chemical infused veggies from Belgaum and you can’t even get some organic produce in a natural place like Goa, because few Goans are farming, thanks to their land being bought out by every other real estate company in India and hand-in-glove with Goa’s politicians who converting agricultural land in Goa for residential or commercial properties through devious schemes in favor of some unnecessary commercial projects which Goa really don’t require now.
So I’m forced to become a farmer as well in one more lifetime, but hey, this is good work and I love being close to Mother Earth for some time every day. I have just 400 sq mts at my place in Candolim in Goa. About 200 sq mts goes to the house, front lawn and car park and only 200 sq mts is left for me to grow vegetables. I stay near the beach, so it is sandy soil as well, but I managed to convert it to good growing soil. In situ composting is the key.
I’m wondering why fate didn’t make me a big bhatkar instead, where I could have had over 100 acres to turn into a huge organic farm to feed family, extended family, friends, neighbors and our Earth Keepers Market community which gets together on Sundays. That would have made me really proud.
I’m wondering about all the big landowners in Goa who are just waiting for a “good offer” to sell off their piece of motherland to someone who wants to build another building or hotel for profit with no care for nature, or culture of this land. Can we please make some sensible appeals to such folk. Yes, they gain in money, but they lose what’s theirs – they lose what’s theirs, they lose their chance for healthy food, they lose their chance of creating employment in Goa, they lose their chance to protect Goa from concretization, pollution, more garbage and finally, their children lose a good natural inheritance.
The only consolation for me now is that I have my ancestral plot of 600 sq mts just two minutes walk away from my place. It has no water connection, electricity supply. So I am preparing this land now to grow monsoon veggies, mother nature will give free water in the rain. So I’m hoping to get more agricultural produce from farming this plot. This post of mine is not about me. I am writing it just to inspire you to also do what I have and am doing.
I was also just another person living in a flat in a metro city with a high paying job. I gave it all up and now I make more than twice that money and I have a beautiful world to wake up to every morning. Please do not sell your land off to be converted into another piece of concrete jungle! Our planet is dying because of it. The urban city model is a terrible failure as some of you are now experiencing. Many are leaving cities and returning to their own countries to save their lives. Enjoy the pictures here and leave some comments and photos of your own vegetables. God bless!