Sadhana Forest is happy to be collaborating with The Cookbook Project in Children’s Land.  This past Friday a group of street children from Tribal Villages came to Sadhana Forest for the first time.  These 11 children have had very little connection with the natural world and were mesmerized as soon as they stepped into Children’s Land, climbing trees, investigating all the vegetation and feeling that exisquite sensation of the contact of bare feet with the Earth.  After an opening call and response song (I SAID A BOOM-CHICK-A-BOOM) the group headed into the forest to investigate the buzz of organic life pulsating all around.

After the forest investigation the group moved to the Dosa Kitchen to begin a Cookbook Project  workshop focused on Food Culture, hygiene, and nutrition with Adam and Lissy.  The group began by discussing food culture and each person drew their favorite food from their culture along with the ingredients and those who were able to included a recipe.  Everyone loved drawing their favorite foods and learning the English words for different ingredients and sharing with the group.  After all the  discussion about food we made our way to the Main Hut to enjoy a Sadhana Lunch.  Addmittedly the children were hesitant to try this food, especially the sauerkraut, but after many asked for seconds, thirds, and even fourths (!!!!) it was clear that they enjoyed the delicous, and compassionate food whipped up Sadhana Chefs.

For round two in the Dosa kitchen the children tried to identify South Indian ingredients while blindfolded using their sense of smell and touch to figure out the ingredients.  After we discovered which ingredients we were working with we played a round of Food Geography during which each children was in the Americas, Africa, Asia, or Middle East group and tried to identify the original location of each food, exploring the globalization of food culture.  The children were astonished to learn that the chili pepper, a staple in most Indian cuisines is originally from the Americas!!

In our final Day 1 activity we investigated snacks!! Snacks are such a fun part of the day but unfortunately most people, especially children reach for highly processed, chemical-filled snacks rather than reaching for a gift from nature.  We examined the ingredients on a pack of strawberry biscuits, most of which were unpronouncable versus the ingredients of a beautiful yellow banana or a handful of peanuts.

The children were able to quickly recognize why whole natural foods are much better, tastier, and healthier than processed junk food snacks.  And then of course, we filled up on bananas and peanuts.  After all this hard work and eating, we finished the day with a glorious mud pool bath.  Stay updated for news from the second day of the Food Project workshop coming soon!!!

Text and photos by Adam.

In Children’s Land we’ve been very busy lately!
With the financial support given by our friends and family we started to make the dream come true:

The construction of basic infrastructure of the Children’s Hut, the pillars of support!

We want to thank all who contributed in different ways for this first victory.

We are very happy, felling strong and motivated to continue!
The next step is to raise more funds so that we can move to the next phase of construction!

So thanks to all who believe in this project and thanks for the support given at all levels for the realization of this dream of the children of Sadhana Forest.

The Children’s Land is with many new trees.

Enjoying the monsoon, getting wet in the rain, hands on the earth, making holes in the soil, giving a new house for the little plants that will emerge as a new forest.

Before going to the land, we get together and make some activities to get equilibrium in the vital. The kids love laughing yoga, the motorbike game, hugging their friends in the market and throwing the laughing stone to make the world happy.

Then we relax for a while, listening to the sound of the birds, the rain and all the nature. After that the mind is ready to focus and to be in a peaceful state to talk about the importance of planting trees,like give us fruits, fresh air, shade, flowers, wood houses, etc.

And then, time for action!!

We take the tools and we go to children’s land to plant trees. Each child plants one tree with love and writes their names. They say they will come to take care of them and to see the plants growing.

We are really motivated and hopeful that a big forest will be the reality of this magic place made by the children.