Back to my village

Back in my village:

A cute little calf is calling me moo!
She shares her mom's milk with me too!
The cow-calf duo gets the best of feeds
And they are a source of manure for the seeds;
Organic is our choice as we mind what we eat,
It's quite a feat in the village with local treats and moods upbeat!

And there-
On each terrace of land a garden stands,
Unwanted weeds are uprooted by seasoned hands!
Vegetables grow fast like in a fairy telltale
And, in a short period of time it's up for sale;
The vendors are a whisper away to collect all
And off goes the produce to the market hall!

Meanwhile, a big little cat is calling me mew!
I share with it my butter-rice; it's nothing new!
Ìt has a persuasive voice and piercing eyes,
It's rubbing its fur, too often, against my thighs!
Well, I assume, there aren't many rats and mice;
A biological natural balance is always nice!

Farming: Nostalgia and Need

My kamshing is a land category dry
With terraces and slopes on rainfall to rely;
It's a precious piece that's able to yield
Most crops in narrow stretches of field!
While, a healthy meal is my regular need,
Excess produce is sold or used as cattle feed!

My chushing is a land category wet,
Like the plates we eat from and in terraces set
With water to keep flooding for its care
And its cultivation, a show of festivities and fanfare
It's a paddy field getting us the daily rice
That's our staple food with a better price!

We also have our land category of community forest
It provides many worthy items at its best
It stood for ages, as it stands now, for our needs of wood
And, its produce for food is simply too good!
It protects our water source, keeps our flora and fauna intact
It is precious too, in fact, with generations of contact!

Another category is the orchard or cash-crop land
A cash-cow to my income story as affluent I stand
The outcome is always at full blossom, full go
Even with prices at rock-bottom low!
Meantime, I feel, each category is sacrosanct to fill a gap
And each type is each feather in my cap!

As the focus shifts with the pandemic threat
My basic needs, as always, are set to be met
Farming is the backbone to keep me going
And a stretch of land is enough with good seeds for sowing
Recession is kept at bay and there are lesser bills to pay
And there is no boss around to call off a day!

Glossary: 1. Kamshing : Dry Land 2. Chushing : Wet Land

Food Security

Each tongue and each tummy wishes for the food to be good
And each one of us eats, too, for a well satisfied mood;
Small organic farms have sprouted as import restrictions harden
While each home starts to depend on one's own little garden!

The plinth and the balcony above are crowded with pots and pans
Along with used broken baskets and cut jerry cans;
A cherry-type tomato is climbing up the wire-mesh trellis
And no sooner it will ripen to fill-up our small bellies!

Spinach and coriander are already a part of our potted plants
With a variety of chillies too for our needs and wants!
We haven't lost our farming habits; we are still in love with it
And very soon, we are going to eat the better kind quite a bit!

Too much of cash crop as cash cow could have costed us now
For, we need to eat in any situation and anyhow;
We are conscious of the link between food security and statehood,
Thanks to finer-side of the pandemic that kept it understood!