Trees planted around the estates provide mulch for the tea plants, fruit for the villagers and shade from the sun. Villagers all have their own cows that provide the cow manure to fuel biogas units for cooking. The cows provide milk that is sold in the market; the women don’t need to carry heavy piles of firewood home, or deplete the forest and burn health damaging poisonous fires. The biodynamic way helps to supplier this self-sustaining lifestyle. As a result of the biodynamic and uber-organic farming, insects have evolved as the Tea protectors. Enter the "Tea deva" – a living, dancing insect disguised as a tea leaf that feeds on the aphids each spring, saving the delicate new leaves for the coveted muscatel second flush. Giant bamboos grow fast and furiously enclosing the estate in a cocoon far away from harmful pesticides. Walk around and you will see the ultimate organic certification – glistening spider webs ready for insect action. Women are the lifeblood of any society and it is no different on Tea gardens, in herb farms, in factories the world over. They dexterously pick tea leaves, choosing the bud and 2 leaves; they run the community Fair Trade “durbar” or town hall. Family squabbles, illness, childcare and education are all topics dear to a mother’s heart and problems are aired and resolved at these women run durbars. Fair-trade premiums are disbursed to help give back to these women & their communities.
Empfohlen
