AYUDH-Italia reports on
GrowIN – planting peace one seed at a time
National level activity – 18 Aprile 2010

 

“Nowadays the greatest threat to humanity is not a third world war, but the loss of the harmony of nature and our increasing separation from it. When we live in harmony with nature, we have the strength to overcome any crisis. As a child feeling towards his mother of birth, even we all should feel an obligation to liability in respect of nature.
Even if we had only a small plot of land, we should try to grow some vegetables using organic fertilizers. This relationship with nature will give us a new vitality. ”    – Amma

 

“Growin’-a seed at a time”-is a green initiative of AYUDH to encourage young people to grow their own food, anywhere they have learning to cultivate vegetables, whether on a balcony of the city, a window or a garden.

 

As a first National-level Italian AYUDH meeting in 2010 , we chose a cozy location on the shores of the Lake Monate in Osmate (Varese province) of Northern Italy and we started by creating a garden from a garden plot.

 

After freeing the soil from all weeds and stones we sprinkled with organic fertilizer and created flower beds elevated for water drainage. Thanks to the mild temperatures we could sow directly in the soil and then covered the area with tarpaulin sheets to protect future shoots from Crows, sparrows and other birds.

 

 

As a part of this exercise, we planted potatoes, onions, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and even the tulasi.

Two of our most enterprising members, Erica and Carol had prepared a “grow’in surprise”. In peat pots filled with Earth have planted seeds of various vegetables and …amongst them a giant sunflower! The fun exercise will be to discover in the next days, who took vegetables back home and who gets the sunflower?

Even our lunch was themed to protect the resources of the world. It is said that the amount of water used in production of the average cow is sufficient to float a destroyer ship. So our lunch was styled naturally vegetarian.

Through internet meetings, we scheduled and connected with our peers in Germany, France and Austria simultaneously to hear their activities and share their ideas on this initiative …

The project GrowIn intends to support initiatives at the individual level by encouraging young people to the cultivation of at least one plant and to reconnect to the cycles of nature and understand the importance of nutrition in everyday life.

The project aims at the National and local levels of the society by creating and supporting youth groups for the exchange of ideas, projects, seeds, knowledge and spread the green homes and cities while works at the Global level encouraging awareness of global challenges and on behaviors which may induce a positive impact in this world.

Like the big tree that comes from a little seed, the open themes of the GrowIN are many and range from green farming and agriculture to the many issues dealt by the upcoming Milan Expo 2015.