What is their favorite thing to grow, or area of expertise? Did they influence your own gardening journey and in what way?

Dad was an expert in Agriculture and has totally influenced me to be a gardener and I can proudly say, what I am today is only because of him, because he engaged me in all agricultural activities from an early age, when I was in my teens, more than three decades back. He holds a Master degree in Agricultural Science, so you can imagine how knowledgeable he was. After serving in Agriculture department for few years, he switched to Banking sector because the career growth was not happening as he wanted. Being a honest and transparent person, he was not fit for a government job, otherwise people make a lot of money from unfair means. He did not entertain anyone who would come for a favor for exchange of some benefits and has been honest all along in his life (thus inspiring me to be the same). However, the farmer inside him has been always there, even till today. You have seen few of my posts where I have shown him being involved in some activities.

Back then, every Sunday was a must to work in garden for both of us, as at that time, there was no off on Saturdays. We had a small home at my native and rest of the entire area was (more than 15000 sq ft) at our leverage to grow our own food and we both worked hard, me taking the higher load digging and making the soil ready. Back then, we had a lovely adorable cow at home, giving 14 liters of milk and all the organic manure that was used for farming. What now sells with a organic tag now was by default organic then. People were not using any chemicals, cow manures, composts were only used and vegetables were very tasty - you could literally feel the authentic smell and taste of vegetables, which I miss today. We produced all kind of vegetables at home and were buying only potatoes, onion, ginger and garlic - all green vegetables fresh from garden. And to feed our adorable cow, we even grew grass for her - she was treated like a family member.

Dad was always active as you can see from these photos from November 2022, just three years back. Even though he was diagnosed with dementia five years back, his natural instinct for gardening has always won over his disease.

Can you guess what he is doing ? Living in full greenery around our home at native, he does not like to come and stay with us in the city - after all who does not like to stay in a peaceful greenery, free from all pollution. Our native home even feels like a holiday home to me, whenever I go there - no rush of life, calm and peaceful living.

Back then Dad gave me a contract to prepare fifty pits to put teak stumps, at fifty paise for each pits. Fifty paise was enough for a mini snack during that time. Most of those plants are gone in natural disasters, but we still have three and one of them is really big - big enough for entire furniture needs of couple of families. May be I will show you in some other post. Some of them lasted till a few years back and were uprooted in cyclone Phani and we have preserved them for our own use because you don't get the authentic look of those teak in market.

And Dad has not only influenced me, but also Mom who would do occasional gardening, because she was occupied with too many things, taking care of the entire home. She has got a golden hand and anything she puts on soil, grows. Hailed from a very rural place, she knows the in and out of farming and even gardens today. You have seen how she leveraged the Mango plant to grow Pumpkin plant in this post, I will show you the amazing outcome in another post......

This post is in response to the Week 32 of the Hive Garden Question. Of late, I have not been able to write posts frequently but I did not want to miss this one - this post will be a memoir explaining how or why I like gardening and how I have been associated with plants.


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