When I first arrived in India I remembered one of the things I forgot-basil seeds. I quickly emailed my friend, Heather, and she said she would try to find some and and bring them to me. And then I heard a rumor I could get fresh basil in Easy Day (aka Indian Wal Mart). The rumor was true and I made delicious tomato sauce, only to mess it up if you all remember my previous post. To keep the basil fresh I clipped the stems and put it in a glass of water. To my surprise the stems began sprouting roots. I am not sure what this says about our water supply as I have never had this happen in Michigan. But whatever! I had fresh basil growing!
My next plan involved a pot and some dirt.
Our play area has been under massive construction. There are 3 feet deep trenches dug directly under the monkey bars. It has been hard to keep the children out of the ditches and safe with all the construction going on.
What? I am done working for the day? I think I will leave this board with 12 sharp nails right here on the grassy knoll. This sharp metal pole? I think I will place it right at the bottom of the slide. It will be safe until I return tomorrow for work.
So one day as we all sat amongst this construction asked another mom where I could get some dirt to plant. She laughed and gestured towards the piles of dirt that had previously filled in those ditches and that were surrounding us. I collected a bit, put it in a pot, added my rooting basil pants and brought them inside. Although I knew it about my place, somehow bringing a potted plant in confirmed it. We get NO direct sun. Sure for 30 minutes or so the morning sun hits our window ledges but with the bars covering the windows (very normal in India) I can't get the pot to fit. And then there is the fact that the dirt is actually red clay, which must have some nutrients as other vegetation grows here, but this red clay did absolutely nothing for my basil pants excelt hold them upright. They withered and died. My mother in law sent us petunia seeds as we live in Petunia block, so I put those in. My cook suggested we add some chili seeds to see if they grow. I tried for a week to shuffle the plants along the small patches of sun I could find but nothing came up. I decided it had to be nutrients. At the store, back to Easy Day, I found potting soil with pesticides, no fresh basil and a bag of neem organic matter. I opted for the neem. I brought it home, took it on the balcony, used Flip's sand buckets and mixed it all in. By this time Heather had passed on the basil seeds so I added them to the collection of seeds.
So now what do I have? 3 pots on my balcony with a whole lot of mold growing. And they stink like, well, let's just say they attract lots of flies. I need to dump them. But here in India, everyone is watching. People are everywhere! Where do I go? And how do I explain that yes I am dumping this pile of putrid and walking away? And how do I get more basil?
My next plan involved a pot and some dirt.
Our play area has been under massive construction. There are 3 feet deep trenches dug directly under the monkey bars. It has been hard to keep the children out of the ditches and safe with all the construction going on.
What? I am done working for the day? I think I will leave this board with 12 sharp nails right here on the grassy knoll. This sharp metal pole? I think I will place it right at the bottom of the slide. It will be safe until I return tomorrow for work.
So one day as we all sat amongst this construction asked another mom where I could get some dirt to plant. She laughed and gestured towards the piles of dirt that had previously filled in those ditches and that were surrounding us. I collected a bit, put it in a pot, added my rooting basil pants and brought them inside. Although I knew it about my place, somehow bringing a potted plant in confirmed it. We get NO direct sun. Sure for 30 minutes or so the morning sun hits our window ledges but with the bars covering the windows (very normal in India) I can't get the pot to fit. And then there is the fact that the dirt is actually red clay, which must have some nutrients as other vegetation grows here, but this red clay did absolutely nothing for my basil pants excelt hold them upright. They withered and died. My mother in law sent us petunia seeds as we live in Petunia block, so I put those in. My cook suggested we add some chili seeds to see if they grow. I tried for a week to shuffle the plants along the small patches of sun I could find but nothing came up. I decided it had to be nutrients. At the store, back to Easy Day, I found potting soil with pesticides, no fresh basil and a bag of neem organic matter. I opted for the neem. I brought it home, took it on the balcony, used Flip's sand buckets and mixed it all in. By this time Heather had passed on the basil seeds so I added them to the collection of seeds.
So now what do I have? 3 pots on my balcony with a whole lot of mold growing. And they stink like, well, let's just say they attract lots of flies. I need to dump them. But here in India, everyone is watching. People are everywhere! Where do I go? And how do I explain that yes I am dumping this pile of putrid and walking away? And how do I get more basil?
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