India: At this home garden, health is a green gain
The couple now hold online courses on aquaponics for people in south Delhi and Gurgaon.
By Kushagra Dixit
TNN
Jan 3, 2024
Excerpt:
NEW DELHI: When Delhi resident Peter Satwant Singh learnt that a possible remedy for his wife’s leukaemia was sattvic or unprocessed food, he turned his home in Sainik Farms into a model of sustainability. Now, years after his wife Neeno Kaur’s recovery, the septuagenarian couple continue to grow their own fruit and vegetables through aquaponics, besides having a fish farm.
Their house echoes with the sound of flowing water alongside the gently uplifting Shabads. The temperature is regulated without heater or air conditioner and the air is fresh even on a severely polluted day. The home garden produces lettuces, spinach, parsley, tomatoes, onion, radishes, carrots, broccoli, guava, fig, grapes and plum. The Singhs even grow maize and mustard, while three ponds give them fresh fish and prawns.
“We moved to Sainik farm in 1989. When my wife was being treated at AIIMS for leukaemia, the doctor also told us about this ayurvedic doctor in Dehradun. We met him and learned about the positive effects of sattvic eating, meaning consuming unprocessed food. We minimised certain food kinds and eventually started growing our own spices and veggies,” said Singh, a 78-year old who studied mathematics at St Stephen’s College and gave up research for progressive farming and bee-keeping.
