BENGALURU: City-based NGO, Garden City Farmers (GCF) and Organic Terrace Gardening (OTG), a public forum promoting organic food farming in urban environments, will be organising the 22nd edition of ‘Oota From Your Thota’, a fair that will host a variety of eco-friendly and urban terrace gardening-related activities.
Spanning over two days, from June 10 and 11 between 10 am and 7 pm at St. Joseph’s Convent, Frazer Town, the event will see interactions and discussions with experts, gardening workshops for children, composting workshops, food stalls with millet recipes, and about 70-80 stalls by vendors of different gardening products.
The event started about five years ago, and will be held once in three months.
What initiated this was the lack of a common platform for gardening enthusiasts to buy gardening resources.
“When we first began holding workshops and expert discussions, participants would approach us and ask where one could purchase seeds, saplings, compost and other gardening products. As there was no common place where all these items were available, we realized the need to organise this event,” says Dr. Vishwanath Kadur, founder and president, GCF.
Calling it their flagship event, Anil Nadig, one of the trustees of GCF, believes that Oota From Your Thota provides an opportunity for the city’s vendors and gardening enthusiasts to interact. “As vendors started joining the event, we had people selling organic manure, food, groceries, etc. Many entrepreneurs then started their own private gardening services, filling the gap in the market,” Kadur says.
This year, the organisers have a number of organic gardening-based programmes lined up. Interested individuals can take part in workshops like millet cooking,food and nutrition and urban water management. While the event is free for all, activities like ‘Chinnara Kaitota’, organised to teach children organic gardening, and ‘Kasadinda Rasa’, a composting workshop for adults, will be held only for registered participants.
Popular among the visitors is the seed and sapling exchange stall, where local OTG members share produce grown in their home gardens.
The organisers also honour one farmer during every edition to felicitate their hard work, and also bridge the gap between urban and rural organic farmers.