Sowing and Reaping

On seed farming, our trip to the hills, karma and grace.


For the past 35 years, Mr. Mahajan and his family have carved terraces in the steep, lush hill country of Solan to grow crops. These stepped gardens give life to mounds of cucumbers, nearly a ton of yearly kiwi, strawberries, chilies, beautiful flowers, and a host of other fruits and vegetables. The switchback trails wove around the fertile tiers like cucumber vines twisting round the kiwi trees – seemingly random but quite purposeful.



Cool breezes brought to us the sounds of waterfalls, crickets and birds as we walked along the path, often stopping to marvel at a cactus, flower or vegetable we never knew existed. All organic and hand cultivated, Durga Seed Farm, Floriculture, and Plantation was a haven for a guy like me that reads food labels and Wendell Berry with the same agrarian passion. This family with a couple of cucumber seeds 35 years ago has blossomed into a worldwide seed distributor and we were fortunate to experience what their love and labor has produced.



As we drank our tea on the veranda and chatted with our hosts, I looked out and noticed the men weeding in the terrace below - busily yanking out that which they did not plant. Our conversation drifted towards religion and Mrs. Bajwa (our host and vice-principal of the school where Jen teaches) asked me whether Christians believe in reincarnation or not. It was kind of ironic that I was wearing a t-shirt which said YOU HAVE ONE LIFE – DO SOMETHING (from World Vision) as I attempted to answer her question. Rebirth seems to be a theme within most all religions and I did my best to explain the process of spiritual rebirth as Jesus described it. As she alluded to the judgment and rewards intrinsic in the concept of karma, I thought of the U2 song “Grace” and the idea of not actually having to reap everything you sow - especially the bad things - because someone else chooses to do it for you. It was easy to imagine Jesus hanging out at a place like that and casually talking about sowing seeds, vineyard management, plant care and harvesting while actually meaning something deeper.

Though I'm no expert on seed farming or faith, I'm pretty sure both take much longer to cultivate than we'd like them to and the weeding's impossible to do alone.

Jimmy