A step towards organic, chemical free, sustainable living and an exploitation-free environment and society |

Monsoon is here and so are traditional and modern festivals to celebrate relationships. Let’s not limit these celebrations towards our siblings or friends and family only. Let’s also revive our forgotten relationships. The relationship with our natural ecosystem, our agriculture, our farmers and the artisans who spin, weave and add colours to the fabric of our lives.

These seed bands are made from non-GM (Genetically Modified) indigenous cotton grown organically by farmers in our village Paradsinga (Tehsil Sausar, District Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India), hand-spun into yarn on charkhas by women of Wardha, naturally dyed by artisans of Erode and converted into beautiful bands, homemade and handmade by women of Paradsinga, Kelwad, Satnoor, Khairi and Boregaon. These bands are embedded with non-GM, non-hybrid seeds directly from the farmers of Wardha, Nagpur and Paradsinga. So let’s celebrate these new relationships in our lives and strengthen these bonds by buying, tying, sowing these seed bands and spreading the message.

Some interesting facts about our seed bands;

1. Cotton used for making the yarn of our seed bands is the indigenous species Gossypium Arborium variety Phule Anmol.

2. While government refuses to implement a Swaminathan commission recommendation to pay farmers the cost of cultivation + 50%, we have gone ahead and given 50% over the minimum support price (MSP) to our farmers.

3. We have started the process of reducing our cash transactions & slowly replaced it with local currency of barter. Seed band makers are being paid a part of their making charges in kind, i.e., through the safe, poison free and nutritious food we grow in our farms.

4. These seed bands hold local seeds of the plants; Ragi, Rajgira, Jowar, Rice, Purslane, Amaranthus, Mustard, Roselle, Tulsi, Indigenous cotton and Touch me not which can even be grown in pots or in a small garden at home and consumed in forms of vegetables and medicines. Along with it these seed bands also hold the seeds of some small and big indigenous trees of Sandalwood, Bixa, Bael, Prajakta and Khair.