Living in Harmony with Nature

Recently I was on a trip to village Sunkiya near Mukteshwar. While roaming around in the village, the heaps of Oak leaves mixed in cow dung made me curious. It looked like something I have never seen before. Can you guess looking at the picture below what this might be and what is being done here?

Its the organic manure in making. Vermi-composting of leaf litter mixed with cow dung and other waste.  

So here goes the process - 

The oak leaves and bark are collected from all over the forest during autumn (April - May).

          

These are then used as bed for the cattle. 

  

The leaves/ bark etc mixed with cow dung and urine are then collected and stored. 

It takes a few months for it to convert into organic manure. Litter of the Oak tree leaves is composted and then converted into vermicast by the action of earthworms. This manure is the basis for soil fertility and the renewal of degraded soils year after year.

Yes, it’s so simple yet so alien to city people. We keep talking about organic food, but do not really know what it means. The food grown using natural fertilizers. And here's this natural fertilizer in making.  These simple village people do it so naturally, without even knowing the importance of it. 

It’s amazing to see how the villagers live in harmony with nature. Nature provides them with all they need and inturn they have taken the responsibility of conserving the surrounding forest. They do not let anyone cut the trees and new trees are planted every year.

May this relationship between villages and forests keep flourishing in times to come.