As a part of the ongoing Negotiating Food/Community Urban Farming project, Khoj had an afternoon of workshops, demonstrations and conversations surrounding the food we consume, from seeds to waste. The afternoon included a walking tour of Khirkee’s sites of urban farming, a presentation on composting, an organic seed sale stall and more,
Top soil is continuously displaced through urbanisation. Through explorations in digging, sowing, alternative composting and the reaping of organic plants at Khoj and across other community sites in Khirkee, we explored these growing disconnects with a hope to find fertile ground for discussions. In the first phase, Ita and Srishti worked with the Khamba composting unit at 3 windows cafe; Khoj then initiated the process of creating a composting unit at a public park in Khirkee. The artists also grew a set of edible organic plants whose seeds were sourced from the Save the Seeds campaign and Vividhara. The saplings were distributed within different homes in Khirkee to establish a network of organic planting within the area. Kush and Shraddha engaged with communities in Khirkee and Hauz Rani to build a network of stakeholders for urban farming: residents stepped forward to grow, water and take care of the plants in the community park and in their homes. The seeds sourced were distributed as well as sowed on the Khoj terrace.
Asim grew creepers that were scheduled to make a long journey from the Khoj Studio terrace to the derelict building across the street eventually providing shade, colour and fragrance to the neighbourhood. This project was set to take some time: for instant gratification, people joined us for target practice and seed bombing.
