Earthy Goods and WWF, India

WWF India is proposing to promote alternative conservation-based livelihoods for local communites in two villages - Thembang and Zimethang located in:

1. Chander-Thungri area of West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh under Dirang CD Block. The area is traditionally owned by Thembang Village.
2. Nyamjang Chu Valley Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The area is part of Zimithang CD Block and the customary right over the area is with Zimethang village.

The communities residing in these villages have traditionally been carrying out various livelihood activities. In year 2003, WWF- India introduced organic farming and cultivation of fodder as two activities for complementing community incomes.

In order to find out the viability of these options in long term as well as to explore other livelihood options, the services of “Earthy Goods” was used to carry out a feasibility study of setting up a community based enterprise.

The study conducted by “Earthy Goods” led to some interesting observations: Both these villages still have the traditional Barter system existing, which is very rare to find. Though surrounded by forest, the villagers refrain from hunting, fishing and even extraction of milk from the cows, in some cases. There is a great sense of belongingness for the forest which has led to conservation efforts. Both these areas are a perfect example of how Common Property Resource Management is practiced.

In the study conducted by Earthy Goods, the feasibility of setting up several livelihood enterprises was carried out based on the Human, natural, physical, social and financial capital available in the area. Some of the livelihood ventures that came out to be a possible alternative to generate income for the people were handmade aggarbatti, handmade paper, vegetable cultivation and fruit processing unit.

Deepak

The Great Himalayan Sale

“To succeed... you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.”

Last week, Earthy Goods organized a sales promotion event at the ICICI Bank Towers, New Delhi which was called " The great Himalayan Sale”.

It was not just another run of the mill sales promotion activity. It was different--- every sales that took place through that and which will be taking place as a result of this, will have a positive trickle down effect on the producers located in the remotest parts of the country. With more revenue being generated the producers will be better off both financially and socially.

The one day long event at the bank was a huge success and gathered a huge footfall. The event was used to promote the products of the existing partners of “Earthy Goods” and to increase awareness amongst the consumers about these products. From Jams and marmalades to Soaps and scrubs, it was all there. The event was also used to launch the “Breakfast cereals” the latest offering by the team.

This sales promotion event was followed by a similar event in one of the residential pockets of Gurgaon which again met with huge success.

Deepak

Organic food Business sprouts

The business of Organic food is spreading fast with more and more people going for healthy lifestyle and nutrition rich food.

Check out this interesting article:

Organic food business sprouts; Deli.in targets 25 branches

The complete article is available at: http://www.livemint.com/2007/08/16005136/Organic-food-business-sprouts.html

Journey to Seabucthorn

Seabucthorn!!!! Haven’t heard about it. Is this the name of some sea animal? No idea!!!!

These are some of the general reactions of people when asked whether they knew about seabuckthorn. But, my belief in the potential of this plant took me to the far and remote areas of the Himalayas to find more about it.
Seabucthorn is a plant with miraculous healing power. It is known for its anti-ageing properties, protects from harmful ultraviolet rays of sun and is highly rich in Vitamin C, besides several other benefits. Each part of the fruit is useful from the pulp, peel to the seed. It is generally found between 11,000 feet to 13,000 feet. In India it is found mainly in Ladakh and Spiti (Himachal Pradesh). It grows in wild in both these areas and has been used by the villagers traditionally as a fuelwood and for fencing their home. For the past few years some organizations have been working to process Seabucthorn for making Jam, Juice, Squash, tea and many more value added products.
The region of Ladakh and Spiti are cold desert and a plant like seabuckthorn can uplift the economic status of the people in these regions if used properly.

Earthy Goods is always on the look out to work with producers and organizations in the remote parts of the country so as to improve there livelihoods. To realize this vision, I set out on a road trip to Ladakh to locate and discuss with people involved in processing Seabucthorn.
This was a journey of the lifetime. I met organizations and entrepreneurs in Leh who were working under extreme weather conditions and were making extremely good and healthy apricot and seabuckthorn products. These were genuinely healthy products with no preservatives but due to lack of marketing were not known to consumers.

After exploring leh, on my way back, the trip from Leh to Manali left me spellbound with beautiful landscapes and some of the highest passes in the world (I crossed Tanglangla pass at an altitude of 17582 feet!!!!) I was just lost in time amongst the glaciers and silence of the deep valley. To add to the nature’s beauty was the hospitality of the locals in Ladakh.

When I reached Manali, to start on a journey to Spiti, another destination to explore Seabucthorn, already I had started visualizing Seabuckthorn products in all retail outlets in the country. Seems challenging!!!!! But then the real challenge lies in achieving the not so possible. The journey to accomplish this dream has already begun.

Deepak( From Leh)

Learning on the ground

I went to Bhuira Village to train the women on packaging the gift boxes. But, they had more innovative solutions on packaging the box than me.

It was great fun to work with them with new ideas continuously pouring from all the participants at work. One has to salute the enterprising skills of the members at the unit.

Deepak

Earthy Goods has attained another milestone. We now feature on greencorporate.com

Check out the link below:


http://www.envindia.com/nandck/index.php?/greencorporate/index/earthygoods

Deepak

We are now on Indianngos.com

We are now present on the home page of Indianngos. Check out the link
www.indianngos.com

Dressing up the products from the hills!

Don’t know what it is but the word gift has a special ring to it, young or old, man or woman or your pet dog, gifts can lighten up anyone’s day…..So when the team was planning to launch its partners’ products for the summer months, we just had to introduce a gift pack range…..Now all’s well when its an idea…

But dressing up these products proved to be quite a challenge, how to show the natural beauty of these products without doing expensive photo-shoots? This entire exercise has been a learning ‘Gift’ for all of us.

Endless discussions within the team, with the partners and with right-brained Shikha (our Deziner) to decide the shape, size, colours, the copy…everyone had an opinion and since its our launch you don’t want to hear ‘I told you so’ at the end of it……Well luck , hard-work and creativity all resulted in gift-packs we are proud of and are confident well sell like Hot Cakes (rather soaps and jams)!!!

Demand outstrips supply in organic foods, Drinks

Check this interesting article

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/03/24/stories/2007032401590700.htm

Is this what you call adventure

Reached station not to miss out, Old Delhi Rly station only to discover that the train got delayed by 2 hrs, wow! what an opening to begin with your 1st ever field visit of life.
In few hrs I was breathing in the purest & freshest air on earth. Things moved swiftly as per our travel plan for Rajgarh in Himachal 2hrs from Solan. The place was simply heaven; Linnet’s place at Bhuira was nothing less than a dream house of a fairy tale. Not to skip out, the beautiful, picturesque wooden house of Pratibha in the middle of orchards thick with white & baby pink blossoms of peaches & apples. Lately it was evening; time to leave! The light drizzling, lush green mountains soaked in rain drops and that pleasant smell of earth was simply romantic. In that zig-zag snake-like road, the fun with the bounty of nature halted when the drizzling gradually turned into a furious hailstorm crushing down to nothing less than a slush of ice on the windscreen of our taxi. It was pitch dark, sturdy mountains on one side and deep valley on the other side. Our car cutting through the storm with long streaks of roaring lighting (never seen such long streaks before) in which barely anything was visible. Can you beat any Hindi film thunder sequence with that! Thrilled with this journey, we reached station only to discover that the train will be locked for another hr. It was biting cold with rain drop hitting us from all the open ends of the platform. We stood curled right at the centre of the platform till the train finally got opened. Rushed in, felt lost for few min, then the only words which came out before retiring to sleep were God! What an adventurous trip to begin with!! Now when I sit back to think about it everything is still fresh in my memory & I feel it was simply an astounding experience!

Earthy goods Photo story

Hi

Just created a photostory for our partners. Hope you all like it. To check it out follow the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93I7dNBxUKk

Deepak