Collecting, Gathering and Segregating

Source: Marudam Farm School, Thiruvannamalai

Objective:

1. Learn the skill of identifying
2. To understand the process of segregating and classifying

Age: All age groups

Activity (I)

1. Collect sticks of various thickness, lengths and branches of trees, shrubs, grasses, herbs, etc. that are fallen
2. Segregate them for various requirements/needs
3. Mulching for trees or plants
4. Making stands, hangers with ropes and sticks
5. Fire wood
6. Brooms
7. Fences, etc.

Activity (II)

Collect dry leaves for mulching and composting.

Note down:

1. How was the soil below the leaves, wet or dry?
2. Write down the colours of the leaves.
3. What do you see in the pile of leaves?

Make a compost pile:

1. Dig a pit - 1 ft, 1ft, 1ft
2. Arrange big sticks in a square.
3. Add the dry leaves and also vegetable peals, etc. in layers

Activity (III):

Collect medicinal herbs and make a health drink.

Make a list of medicinal herbs and collect them:

amman pacha arisi, aruvamanaipoondu, keezhanalli, moo kutlipoondu, kuppamei, karporavalli…

Example one: health drink for phlegm:

1. Crush a handful of Kuppameni, Karpooravallai and Moringa leaf together
2. Add 5 pods of garlic, one teaspoon of jeera, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper
3. Grind it. Mix 5 cups of water to the paste.
4. Children can drink this before lunch (½ a cup/glass is good). [The phlegm will come through the potty the next day]

Resource persons can be someone who has village background

Activity (IV):

We often think of fruits as banana, apple, grapes, watermelon.

Collect fruits from trees, shrubs and plants (on roadsides, scrubby patches, next to your school, homes etc.)

These are a list of fruits you could collect:

jamun(naval), tamarind, lemon, narthangail, big lemon, guava, jackfruit, fig, palm fruit, kattuelanthai, vilvam, wood apple, perianellika, seetapazham, noongu

Eat them raw, they are enjoyable, tasty and nutritious.

Segregate them based on what you could make with them.

Make jams, juices and pickles.

Make a snack:

Cut the fruit into pieces and dry them after adding salt/jaggery.

Discussion- How do you preserve fruits? Make a health chart on the above fruits based on their nutritional value.

Activity (V):

Go to a scrubby patch near your house.

1. Collect berries that you can eat.
2. Name the fruits/berries.

nana berry, kala ka (sometimes you find peria kala ka in the market), kattuelantai, sudaly, sura pazham, ooty apple, mookusalipazham, nellika, etc.

Taste them and segregate them based on their taste.

Make a candy:

1. Mix all the berries you have collected
2. Melt 4 spoons of jaggery to a thick consistency
3. Add the berries to the jaggery and dip sticks into the mixture.
4. Cool it.

The candy is ready.

Activity (VI):

Collect seeds (which are seasonal) from the roadsides, your campus, open areas, hardens, parks.

Here is a list of seeds that you could collect:

neem seeds, tamarind seeds, pillaiyarkannu, poovarasan, ground nut, sesame seeds, chilli seeds, ilupai, manjadi, amanakku

Segregate what you can grow into trees, herbs and shrubs.

Make a mother bed for seed germination:

Activity (VII):

Collect all the things that are thrown in your campus .List them.

Segregate them into “Reuse”, ”Recycle” and “To be composted and burnt”.

Note: Remember you can burn plastic.

Upcycling is a concept where you make a product out of trash and give in extra value .

Making a baniyan (vest) and make it into a bag with knots on both ends.

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