Himalayan Farm Project(HFP) is a 6 acre farm in the lower Himalayan hills of Uttarakhand.

The farm aims to become a model to demonstrate a viable way of living a stress and disease free life, where man and nature / environment heal each other !

The HFP is an all volunteer global community that aims to be an experiential learning center exploring food security, sustainability and shared community living. The farm is a lab to develop a viable sustainable way of living for the future.

India’s rate of urbanization brings us closer to the tipping point where more Indians will be in urban centers than rural areas. The HFP sees this as an opportunity to offer youth (rural, urban, Indian and global) an opportunity to reconnect with farming. We believe that we are at the beginning of a movement where a diversity of concerns, (food security, increasing materialization,life style diseases, obecity) are encouraging a new generation of young people to reconnect and heal with nature, while nurturing Mother Earth.

The Farm also aims to offer local youth of State – a highly educated population with few livelihood options in the hills – an opportunity to reconsider and reconnect with farming as a vocation.
HFP offers urban youth from India and elsewhere - a space to reconnect with the source of their food and issues of sustainability. We aim to offer them a hands-on experience that will influence them in their personal and professional life.

Problem

The Mission of The Himalayan Farm Project (HFP) is two fold - 1. To Create a sustainable organic training center for budding farmers. 2. To educate and reconnect young people from all corners of the globe to the source of their food from farm to fork. The farms aims to - - Develop as an experimental farm center for low cost organic, sustainable agriculture. - Share ideas and learn about traditional farming with the local farming community and volunteers from all over the world. - Attract volunteers from across the globe to expose them to a unique way of living and caring for their planet. - Inspire young people locally and elsewhere to consider organic farming as a vocation.

Solution

In Kumaon Hills of Uttarakhand educated youth are abandoning the land of their forefathers and head for the bright lights of the cities. Agricultural land is being converted to summer cottages. More and more young people are now disconnected from the land and their roots. They no longer know the pleasure of seeing a flower bloom into a bright purple Egg Plant or seeing Okra defy gravity and grow upright. The children in urban centers are totally disconnected to the source of their food. Is it not ridiculous that people on Facebook play games about farming (Farmsville) but have never watered any plant and are far removed from the source of their food. The Himalayan Farm Project is more than a farm - 1. It is an EXPERIEN-TIAL learning center. 2. A place run by volunteers from all corners of the globe, where community living is order of the day. 3. A place where we experiment with farming methods; old; new; and permaculture. 4. A place where we practice sustainability and build with locally available material. 5. A place where we innovate. 6. Create new leaders - grow a farmer campaign. 7. Lead a truly sustainable life compatible with the ecosystem. 8. Helps us to see that a stress and disease free, healthy life can be lived devoid of many so called necessities of modern day life style. The HFP emphasises on community living and giving. Volunteers realize that we all are a product of community and NOT, just, me and myself world.

Example

The Himalayan Farm Project (HFP) is in its infancy, barely nine months into existence. The HFP is an experiment to demonstrate a sustainable life in practice. It is an attempt to learn how to recycle and harness natural, sustainable resources, live a simple off grid life and how to reduce our carbon footprint. As our Facebook albums and blog posts show, we have transformed barren land into a home for volunteers and a thriving farm land imn less than nine months. A stream of volunteers from all over the world have contributed immensely by clearing the land, digging / ploughing the fields using bulls, making compost, sowing seeds, transplanting, irrigating, harvesting and cooking. Recently (may 18 to June 18)we had a month long building workshop conducted by Steve Morison from Ireland, during which dilapidated room in the 100 + years old farm house has been restored as the best room for volunteers. The workshop was attended by architects and engineers from India, besides volunteers and members of the local community. During the workshop a dilapidated room was restored using compressed mud and stones.

Marketplace

The Himalayan Farm Project, is a unique project in the hills of Uttarakhand. The HFP is all about nature, sustainable land use & community living besides ecological design for a sustainable agriculture effort. HFP is the place for any one who likes to live close to nature and live with Mother Earth, NOT off the Mother Earth. We believe that all human activities should be compatible with the demands of Earth's ecosystem and all our efforts are in that direction.Our dream is to develop a model farming community that would offer - 1. A platform for individuals to emerge as leaders and innovators in sustainable organic farming and living. 2. An incubator for innovative approaches to agriculture and sustainable living. 3. Cross fertilization of ideas for rural, urban and international youth. 4. Completely off the grid - live with solar solutions. 5. Reliance on independent water source and water harvesting. 6. Emphasis on innovative energy solutions; micro hydel, wind and solar energy. 7. Conversion of solid waste to organic manure. 8. Creation of low cost infrastructure like mud huts; cob houses.