Krishna’s Solitude Farm

Exploring Natural Farming and Local Foods to Create a Social Redemption

Krishna Mckenzie, who studied at Krishnamurti school in the UK, is a farmer, musician, educator and actor. He is at the heart of Solitude Farm, located near Auroville, where he arrived in 1993. Inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka, his vision and passion guide the activities on the farm, which he started in 1996. The important question that inspires him is "where does our food come from?" Following the precepts of Masanobu Fukuoka, he has developed a farm that values over 100 different plants that grow locally in the fields. The focus is firstly on their nutritional and medicinal value, then their cultural and social relevance, their ecological value and their economic potential.

“Food and medicine are not two different things: they are the front and back of one body. Chemically grown vegetables may be eaten for food, but they cannot be used as medicine.”

Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution

Solitude Farmacy Preserves Local Culture

Solitude Farm is a place to understand the value of local food, and the understanding of the local food emerged because they had the vegan cafe and farm to play. At Solitude, the local food is grown by nonintervention farming, which is thanks to mother nature. Because the cafe wanted to have local food, they could explore the cultural heritage of different seeds, weeds, roots, fruits, and leaves. The fabric of Ayurveda derives from the fabric of culture.

The farms are not just farms; they are pharmacies. The characteristics of the local plants and vegetables are that they grow quickly in abundance because they are grown without expertise. Because they grow in abundance, they are exclusive and have economic irrelevance. Because they grow easily, they need less water. They also have high medicinal and nutritional value. Local food is a fundamental base for any society. When we look at things around us and access them, a culture is born. The world is running behind worldly desires, and Solitude farm is trying to preserve the culture

Benefits of Having Local Food

Local food has unifying value. If there is one collective value that no one argues about, such as the local foods that people know where it comes from, which are very healthy and have no economic cost, and do not harm the environment, that would unify people. Food benefits everybody, animals, insects, microorganism, and plants. A community should be inclusive of all beings.

The Link Between Health and Food

First comes food, then comes the mind. Food is the incarnation of the body, its matter, and from there comes the mind. To have a clean environment, we need to have a healthy society. Firstly we need to have a healthy body for that we need healthy food, so we need healthy agriculture and healthy soil. Food is the foundation for all life. Culture derives from mother nature. Earth gives us food, and that's the base foundation for all. We can't have good Health without having healthy food. All the major health issues we are facing today are because of industrial agriculture.

Specificity of Solitude farm

Solitude farm represents the road back to nature. Firstly returning the organic matter to the soil is the most significant technique of any farming. The second is to eat all the local food and honour mother nature joyfully by celebrating it. The third is to share it in society, valuing it in education and music, which brings people together. Celebration is a key to returning our love to mother nature.

Krishna started this farm in January 1996, and Solitude has been his home, school, and mother, which taught him many things. He also shares his learnings with the community. Solitude has a profound role in making people understand the importance of where their food comes from.

Non-inclusive farming or natural farming can be done by anyone today. Local food is the foundation for our Health, the Health of our planet, society, climate, and the Health of every single level of the environment and ecosystem. We should explore the cultural heritage all around us, and eating it is the first step. This can be done easily; if we do that, we can be healthy on all levels. The main objective is to get this cultural identity to schools, this is something we could do today.

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