All posts by Suraj Juneja

This lockdown the one thing that comes to mind as most important, not just to us as people but for us as a country too… is self-reliance and sustainability.

While people were/are home and having various insecurities about the future and their survival, especially those not privileged enough to sustain through smoothly, we realize that if we just had food, water, and a shelter on our heads and would not have to worry about these basics in life, most of the insecurities and anxieties would have gone, and we would have lived through any time frame of a lockdown without worrying about survival.

Most of the other things are what we don’t need, what we buy for comfort, luxuries, to pursue passions, or are advertising induced.

If we all did just one thing and that nature provides for free i.e. ‘Growing our own food’ it would lead to a happier and more secure society.

Now, this doesn’t mean we grow everything we consume but even if we grow a few things or some exotic things too, it means at least technically and conceptually that we could trade it for other things we consume. That’s the way life was always meant to be for humans – “live in loving communities, grow our own food, create art and not work day and night until we die”… well, at least we can get close enough.

In today’s day and age, you don’t need to own a farm or a piece of land. You can grow your own food even from space in your balcony, terrace, kitchen, space in your backyard, or building driveway if any,

or at any space that you can utilize for it.

There’s also a concept called ‘Hydroponic farming’ where you don’t even need soil and can have small plants growing in little spaces you create and with water-soluble nutrients only.

Whatever be the case, I think it’s imperative we all do this, it’s also important we teach our kids this in school rather than a lot of mundane things they learn. It’s also important we grow some at home and be self-sustaining in such a way that if everything is taken away from us, we still can survive with nothing at all…the way nature was actually supposed to be.

From a start-up idea point of view, I think it will make a brilliant business case especially at this point in time where these gardens/urban home farms can be set up for people and then regularly service them with seeds, planters, pots, etc and also help in getting the surplus to market. Also, there is an amazing opportunity for a co-owned/shared/fractional ownership farming on a real piece of land, where parts of it are assigned to many owners and the managing company services it, provides the product to their homes and markets the surplus. Organic food is the flavor of the day and it can be the U.S.P of the produce too where owners get fresh, healthy organic vegetables and it seeks a good price in the market. Those who want to get back to nature can help in farming too!

I’m tagging a post of a friend Monica Khosla Bhargava where she had shared a design of a beautiful home with a small area to grow plants, and also the post of another friend Pravin Singhania where he shares his perspective on the same and is an avid farming enthusiast. Food for thought? ….Well almost literally

#freeflow