In 2013, watching the documentary Urban Fruit by Roman Zenz. I was fascinated by the story of Rishi Kumar a highly educated engineer by training who gave up a promising career in information technology to choose a different path.
Along with his mother they had transformed their once wasteful and nonproductive meticulously landscaped yard into a productive bio diverse urban farm which uses about 1/3 the water it took to keep their lawn green.
I sought them out and attended their demonstrations at Pomona College. Over the years we traveled in the same circles volunteering on urban farm and gardening projects and developed like-minded friends in common. I attended Q&A’s and speaking engagements by Rishi and his mom, followed Rishi for gardening tips and updates on social media and even listened to a radio show he used to host.
Fast forward to 2021…. What started out as “The Growing Home” …a model for sustainable urban living grown has morphed fantastically! It is a nursery, a farm, learning and demonstration programs, a bee club, online learning videos and so much more.
The Sarvodaya Institute focuses on agri-education, hands on demonstrations in gardening, farming how-to’s, healthy living, the benefits of urban farming and creating bio diverse mini ecosystems that give back to our environment as opposed to simply taking. To read their farming journal. learn more or become a member visit https://sarvodayainstitute.org