Grow your herbs in every nook, in every old vessel

If every household of this country, however rich, however humble, began the trend of cultivating our everyday herbs in every inch of garden space and in every conceivable pot or vessel, we would have moved our nation’s immunity one notch higher – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

What if every Sri Lankan grew their own turmeric, coriander, garlic, gotukola, ginger, tulasi, spinach and whatever other herbs/vegetables they needed in whatever cast off basin and vessel and jar? What if every used up plastic bottle was severed to become a mini pot for herbs? Would this not be the beginning or food sovereignty in a serious health challenged world where the wealth of a nation is now more than ever directly linked to its health? 

If every household of this country, however rich, however humble, began the trend of cultivating our everyday herbs in every inch of garden space and in every conceivable pot or vessel, we would have moved our nation’s immunity one notch higher. 

What we should realise as a nation is that we have had and still have people dying daily due to diseases like cancer, kidney and heart failure as well as diabetes and that we should have a mechanism to prevent these deaths as well as much as we prevent COVID-19. The preventive mechanism is through the regular consumption of herbs that ward off such ailments. 

As a nation Sri Lanka is blessed to have a wide variety of herbs and plants that are a powerhouse of nutrition. For example Kos and Murunga. What if we eat more of these and reduce the immunity compromising bread (which has Gluten) which is not a traditional food of Sri Lanka. Sadly we are so preoccupied with thinking that wearing masks is the only way to protect ourselves from disease that we miss a common sense approach. Mourning about the shortage of turmeric we have lost the basic rationality to realise that such a shortage is because we are not growing our own. 

In the not so long ago past we grew up in a culture where we grew some of our basic herbs and this was not just for those who had the luxury of garden space. This writer recalls diligently watering my own herb assortment which came to life in mismatching old basins and pots. These herbs served the everyday purpose and we rarely spent money purchasing these. In school many other youngsters used to boast of their own collection of herbs and bring some to school. We did not shy away from touching the soil and we did not wear fancy gloves to handle the earth that we all one day will return to. 

It is high time we seriously look at ‘normalising’ such healthy habits (of production and consumption) in children and youth at a time when technology addiction is killing off most of their minds mainly through meaningless 

video games.

Any educationist who wishes to research the effects of nature on the human mind will strike upon a vast body of valuable information. The healing effects of directly handling soil is well known to those dealing with holistic health. Added to these factors is the end result; of being self-sufficient in some of the most powerful herbs that have curative and preventive properties. It’s time that each of us adopt such a measure for our own individual wellbeing and encourage our families and friends to do so. It is the single individual and their influences that make or break a country. 

(SV)