This blog has been pretty quiet lately. There are lots of reasons, but for me part of it was the end-of-semester crunch, immediately followed by a trip to India. Yes, India. Thanks to a grant from the Christian A Johnson Endeavor Foundation, six colleagues (including two of the only people who know about this blog -- Hi, Amys!) and I are in the middle of a two week trip to India to help broaden the colleges curriculum. I could write about all kinds of things about the trip, ranging from a visit to a slum to the Taj Mahal. But I figure I should stay on topic for this blog and write about beans.
Today we visited the headquarters of the Moraka Foundation, which helps spread organic farming techniques throughout India. They teach farmers in 17 states about composting and natural herbicides and the like. It was fascinating to hear from the farmers and see the varous techniques in action -- who knew that you could use buttermilk as an herbicide? -- and at the end we went to an organic market they run. It was filled with chutneys and spices and, yes, beans. Here are just some of the beans and lentils that they sell, grown in India by the farmers they work with. I would tell you if I bought any and which ones, but that would give away the fun for K when I bring her back presents.
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