Rhythms Of Peace

Nature is a cure. The earth, the plants,the flowers, the land, the soil, the water, the green fields, the waving plants, the petrichor, the dew on the edges of the leaves, the warmth of the fields etc gives us immense pleasure and happiness . Living in between the nature helps us to know and explore ourselves better amidst the hectic chaos of digital life.

Being a horticulture student in south asia is pretty much a bitter sweet thing. As a horticulture student we need to be on farms more often. Some days are too sunny and hot that its terribly difficult for us to stay on farms for longer hours whereas some days are cool and windy that it feels heavenly!

I have been allotted a village and all I need to do there is know the pests and diseases, what all strategies the farmer is adopting to control and manage the pests, the package of practices he is following, the variety which he used, the cost economics, the yield ,the returns and finally the cost benefit ratio.

This was my first experience living in a rural place, living very very close to nature. From here begins my diary!

One thing which I would like to share very in the beginning is the people of the countryside, the villagers are super hospitable. They are too caring that they will never make you feel as if you are new to that village or place. Well, my host farmer was very much welcoming and I have learnt many things from the farms rather than books because books teach you theories only whereas farm exposure teaches you practicality.

The field which was allotted to me was a little far from the main connecting road and I used to go there along with my friend. We had to cross the paddy fields in order to reach there. My host farmer cultivates roses and chrysanthemums. He has a vast area of roses. The roses are deep red in color. The variety used was 'bullet'.

Walking through the rose fields is such a darling experience I say. I used to go in the middle of the field and turn around to see the the red flowers around me giving the sweetest fragrance and the sweetest vibes. The young buds, the fully opened flowers, the perfumed rose fragrance, all of it is worth visiting.

I enjoy watching the petals, the buds and the mechanism of flower formation. Each petal is too soft and delicate and rolls outwards to form a pretty flower. Watching and learning every such single detail is very precious to me. Roses are always my favorite but now rose orchards and cultivating roses has become very close to my heart.

Rose harvesting is done once in two days and they are plucked early in the morning. Roses fetch good price in the market. There are many value added products which can be made from roses. Some of them include rose petal jam, rose syrup, rose floral tea, rose wine, rose water, Gul Khand etc

Life in rose farm is very therapeutic. Spring season is the best time to visit rose farms. Rose flowers have 2-5 days as their shelf life. Cultivating roses in your backyards is pretty easy and one can easily make home garden full of colorful roses.

Roses are propagated through stem cuttings. Potting mix should be aerable and you are good to go. So, whenever you visit rose farms make sure you carry a secateur with you so that you can bring your favorite rose cuttings home and grow a plant out of it on your own.