Nurungukal...contd...

                Come winter it is time to start the cultivation of vegetables. The field which we used to raise paddy nursery was our ideal place. The basal preparation will be managed by our workers. Other works such as seeding, irrigation, management etc is a family job, in which the involvement of the children is a must. Of course mother will monitor various stages of cultivation. In other words it is a family farming. This has imbibed in us a sense of participation in the food and nutrition security of the family. Not only in the cultivation of vegetables but also in rearing  poultry and dairy children’s contribution is ensured in those days. It was an inbuilt mechanism in the family itself.There was no need of any motivation from an external agency as we experience nowadays.

                The main crops grown were cucumber, melons, ash gourd, snake gourd. Bitter gourd and beans. The first three are intended for storage to be used when other items are not available. The cucumber and ash gourd are harvested when they are fully ripe and hung in slings made out of coconut leaves. In old houses you can see a facility to hang them in the roof of the corridors. This practise ensures the availability of vegetables at any point of time. In our child hood  sambar  was not an essential item in the daily menu. It used to be served only on special occasions such as birth day, marriage etc. So it was molakosium or karinkalan or olan or any edible leaves prepared in kanhi vellam and mizhuku peratty and occasionally a chutta papadam in the menu. Every house will preserve a seed bank. There are traditional practises of storage,e.g  the seeds of bitter gourd are pressed into a cow dung cake and kept hung in the kitchen. This will avoid the attack of borer beetles and will ensure viability.  Other seeds will be coated with coconut ash and stored inside mini bamboo baskets, which are also hung in the kitchen. The smoke generated from the fire wood can provide adequate protection though out the year. Now the new generation seeds supplied by MNCs can not be  self propagated at farm level technology.

                In kumbam it is time for raising tuber crops viz. Chena, chembu,katchil or kavuthu. The summer rains in this moth will initiate sprouting. The interesting fact is that in a family farming the crops are cultivated just to meet a fmily’s requirement for an year. Commercial out look came much later. In fact I would say that each house hold was self sufficient to meet their food security demand . They seldom depended on market.

                It is hopeful that an awareness has occurred in the minds of youth now to revive the time tested practises of our  elders. Let us hope that this movement will gain sustainability and save our earth and health.