👀 It's the Smell of the Earth

#413 | The Farm-to-Heart way of life

Lettuce wraps with homemade cheese and pureed onion leaves. "Monkey-faced" baby potatoes in a coriander gravy. Rice powder rolls with mushroom, and Kalmi leaves.

These were the opening numbers at a pop-up lunch I was part of this weekend. Hosted by Debal and Aparajita, this was a meal born and raised (and eaten) at their Smell of The Earth farm in Ruppur, a village near Santiniketan.

There were two main courses: beginning with Modhusal rice, fried duck egg, stir-fried broccoli and sweet potatoes, with roasted eggplant, followed by Bheemsaal rice, Tilapia fish broiled in capsicum sauce, and roasted cherry tomatoes.

In a world where the phrase "farm to table" gets thrown around like confetti, this meal served beneath a bluish Spring afternoon sky under a canopy of trees between two emerald ponds stood out like the breath of fresh air that is abundant at the farm.

For dessert, we had Roselle sorbet- dollops of pink coldness plated in terracotta bowls topped with mulberries- a perfect ending to a perfect meal.

Each grain, each leaf, each egg and each piece of fish came from the farm itself (some from neighbouring farms), cooked by the same people who nurtured them with natural farming practices and without chemical fertilizers.

Today's thing is the Smell Of The Earth Facebook page, where Aparajita shares glimpses into their life and work at the farm. Apart from all that comes with growing one's food, this work, for her, also includes raising a child, holding space for nature's whims, and witnessing age-old practices that are losing the battle against time.

Explore the page when you're feeling particularly dejected about the future of our planet. You won't find all the answers, but your heart will know there is still hope: for the children of the future to know the wave of the grass, the slant of the light, and the smell of the earth. 

Proiti