The Wait Is Over- Green Thumbs

The Wait is over and finally the new store is to be unveiled for everyone at Mylapore, Chennai on 26th of June.

Here’s a small glimpse of the new shop and what’s in store for everyone to view.

Green Thumbs – Your ..One Stop Garden Shop is finally ready to hit the road!

 

Watch out for more updates!!!

COMING SOON …..

Landscaping at Egmore

Check out the pictures from the latest project undertaken by SPACES at Egmore for an Indian Overseas Bank Complex. We have always wanted to undertake spreading greenery to buildings in our city and this looks like our first step toward it. Our favorite feature is definitely the bamboo wall mount for the creeper support which also adds a little rustic look to the outside decor.

 

This time ,we thought it would add a nice touch , so we equipped all the plants with their own name boards so this could educate people about different plants and their uses, which we see everyday.

Tell us what your favorite feature was –  the vertical wall , the bamboo structure, the beautiful Rock garden in a quiet rugged corner or the beautiful Adeniums that adorn the side wall.  This list could clearly go on as i have missed a couple more unique features which you can find in the pictures. SPACES , shall be back with more pictures, until the next project.

Green notes – The Hindu

Green notes – The Hindu.

Article published on the Hindu – downtown edition March 23 , sunday !!

Green labs – define , design , sustain is a garden based curriculum designed for children and its poised to be more of a fun learning , entirely activity based! And we plan to include the community as much as possible, where we create a sense of ownership for the children by making them take care of the garden and observe and experience it. 

Very proud of the entire team who helped out .. still a long way to go. A great platform provided by BHUMI. Thankyou for the great article Liffy Thomas! 

A Peek into Green Labs!

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

-Nelson Mandela

We often want to attack a problem from the core, the root, the point of origin. But usually we find it difficult to get that opportunity. But universe always finds a way. 

Bhumi, when it came out with the ICUBED (B-plan competition) themed as ‘Environment’, our elation knew no bounds.We were sure we could contribute to it wisely.We knew at least the exposure of the competition would give us the confidence to pursue the idea if it was worth it. Of course what we didn’t realize is that we would actually win the whole thing. BHUMI has been materialistic in bringing the idea this far.

It was a rather significant moment when we were announced that we would be getting a one lakh rupee grant for the start-up along with bhumi volunteers to help us mobilize the idea off the ground. Our idea is basically to create a system where children and gardens go hand in hand.An activity based learning. A model garden to help children understand how nature works,and thereby applying their understanding into a garden of their own and grow out of their own hands. Where children own these gardens. So here we come to another important problem.How do we teach them the significance without having to ‘teach’ them? Since this is a habit you inculcate. This is where the community pitches in. We realized it’s not just the children who get affected, but the whole community.

It was definitely eye-opening and very liberating , the whole experience and the various stages of the competition. Starting from the very first ideation of the concept to the presentation to the budgetary constraints and finally the pilot project.I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the people involved with the project. SPACES only had a brief role in this. There were many more significant players involved with getting this idea up and running and without which we wouldn’t have reached so far. Suvasini,Uma.C, Anirudhra,Krithiga, Manigandan,Palani,Adi have all played a major role!! Thank you guys. You guys are the pillars of this project.  

So we are all geared up for the next more challenging stages of this project which has now taken a turn into real existence and ceased becoming just a project.Cheers!       

MAD with SPACES!! – Dream Camp!!

Dream Camp organized by M.A.D

A dream indeed, not only for the thirty five to forty kids present there, but even to us at SPACES who got the opportunity to interact with them. They were the most charming and intuitive little bunch of  people that we had ever come across. None too as innocent as they seemed.

SPACES as part of the MAD event organized a small workshop for the kids aptly named “Little Farmers”. All of them were super excited and running about with increased energy, increased adrenaline, climbing every tree top they could sight with the pretext of getting more green leaves or plants or saplings.In fact, I met a mentor who seemed to be in-charge of just that – getting the kids back to the original place. 🙂

The whole day was enlightening and in retrospect we were very much in awe at the level of interpretations of some of the kids and their ideas and thoughts. There were a few instances where we were completely mind blown at their creativity and ability.

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

MAd camp – ECR – conducted by spaces

As soon as we were ushered into the lovely In-Deco resorts at Mahabalipuram which had a very lush green outdoor, we quickly gave a brief talk on the current scenario, what the children could do to preserve the environment and some basics of gardening, waste disposal and recycling. What followed next was the outdoor session where the kids learned how to compost, what were the steps involved and more importantly they all learned how to plant a sapling along with a small exercise in recycling.

Hands down, the recycling part of the workshop was the most favorite, even the mentors got right down to the nitty-gritty. Where paints and brushes were involved, the children went to a happy place and got real serious. We got to see some beautiful pieces of art, very tastefully and creatively done.

There were a lot of chaotic moments, sweet ones, thick friendship, loyalty, naughtiness, every possible trait we could think of, we got to witness in that short period.  SPACES had an awesome time and hopes to meet the kids again real soon. Usually, these sessions with children often works out the other way around.We are the ones who take back a lot more than we expect to give!

SPACES featured in “Kungumam Thozhi” March Edition,2014!!

SPACES was featured in popular tamil magazine “Kungumam Thozhi” . Very proud and thankful to Vaidehi madam who was patient enough to interview and get to know us and giving us the chance to tell our story.

Rendezvous with Rotary Club

SPACES had the wonderful opportunity to talk at the meeting conducted by the Rotary Club of Madras East. All thanks to Mr.Bharadwaj and Mr.Gopalakrishnan for introducing us to the world of the elite. Shainika had given a fine talk about the urban life crisis and ways to re-track the severed connection with nature.

She equipped her talk with a lot of informative methods and ideas about accommodating gardens within small space. There were lots of questions thereafter regarding different herbs and other common myths about having gardens at your own home.

SPACES was thrilled to make a presentation at this meeting and looks forward to more ties with the Rotary club.

 

Revisit to Red Hills

Sixteen days had gone by since the group of twelve volunteers had battled it out in the terrace to equip a vegetable garden for the kids at the Shelter at Red Hills. Tentatively, we arrived at the gates , the children were busy attending Sunday Mass, and we went straight into the terrace , eager to see the results of our handicraft. There were so many doubts .. did the structures still stay strong, had the saplings grown for all the veggies, had the pandal structure stood the test of the winds.

The sight which was awaiting us was one which would rise our spirits by the double.

The children had taken care of the seeds like they were their own, everything looked healthy and was growing fine. All the structures were intact and pretty strong. happy and content, we set about with transplanting some of the tomatoes , brinjals and the chillies into separate containers thereby avoiding crowding and stunted growth.

We also removed the plastic covering underneath the bigger pots,afraid of stagnation of water.We gave them instructions to keep changing the position of the containers slightly every 2 weeks.

 

By the time we were done transplanting, the kids were done with their prayers too and were eager to come up, curious to see what the annas and the akkas were up to. We taught them how to transplant , how to water without doing excess , and how to keep cuttings of plants and propagate them like indian borage, perandai  etc

One little fellow followed my suit and started watering the plants and the rest followed.

Soon the two hours just flew by and it was time to leave and we had time for one last photo session.

 

 

Until next time. 🙂

Not Just Another Workshop!!

SPACES was fortunate enough to be invited to conduct a session on Ornamental Gardening. It was indeed a unique way of blending both the organic methods of farming and the utilization of the space available in cities. Yes , space is the most important constraint even for garden enthusiasts and that proves to be a block for setting up gardens. Sometimes this block is less physical and more of an immediate rejection without exploring the available possibilities.

This very novel effort on educating the audience on such options was conducted by SUBHAM in association with Kasturba Residents Association. The organizers did a brilliant job by roping in notable groups working toward similar goals.

There was a talk by Ms.Lakshmi Sriram madam who explained about the little details that most of us tend to worry about and these were the precise information that would go a long way in producing better, healthier produce .. and that too at our own backyard! And then the famous organic shop – Restore‘s owner Mr.Anantu gave an inspiring talk about food security and there were some innovative products, specifically Eco-pots ,designed by Mr.Vijayan and his daughter. Not to forget the informative talk about different indigenous herbs and their uses.

SPACES gave a presentation on the terrace and other recent technologies coming up among which Hydroponics and Aquaponics were topics covered. Other than that we also gave a general idea on the important things to take care while having a roof garden and the concept of vertical planters. The topics were well received and the audience were full of questions later and hopefully many would want to take up the same.  Space saving techniques have become the order of the day and we were just too happy to share our knowledge.

All these aspects added quite a bit of dimension to the normal format. And in the afternoon session, we had group discussions with each of the resource,talking about their ideas or products or basically clearing all general doubts.

The whole atmosphere ,no doubt, presented a very healthy discussion platform for creative garden enthusiasts to get more and more of a clear perspective. A great initiative by the community and SUBHAM. SPACES hopes to see next time larger audiences and much more resources coming and putting forward their ideas and innovations.