Have feet, will travel…

Our goal was to build a greenhouse for the monastery so that they can get vegetables year-round including in winter. Spiti has an extremely cold winter and the horrendous roads during summer are inevitably closed in winter and I can now see why. So for half a year very little produce gets to this part of India and so they rely on stored dried food stuff. The greenhouse concept is simple to offer a temperature controlled structure so vegetables can be grown all year round.

The structure is built of mud as mud actually retains heat. I learnt that the monastery is built of mud and so are many of the village houses. So even though the temperature outside would be -30 degrees, it was possible to maintain temperatures of 20 degrees inside the greenhouse and in summer there are vent doors in place to regular the temperatures within the greenhouse. When we visited the greenhouse at the Key Old Aged home I saw the different vegetables being grown and I felt really excited for this building project.

Our duties were simple compared to what everyone else had to do; we would make 250 mud bricks, we would learn to lay the brick walls, then use mud to plaster the bricks together, we would stuff grass between the mud wall and the mud brick wall for insulation and finally we would be painting the greenhouse white except for one wall black as this is in line with how the temperature is regulated with the black wall used to retain the heat from the sun. We did have loads of help, preparation was already on the way before we arrived with a rock foundation being built, and while we worked mud walls 7ft high were being built by the workers, monks were also in full force helping to lay the brick wall and doing the roof. It was quite a big project with us only doing a small portion of the work but mainly being the financial sponsors for the project.

First off we had to make 250 mud bricks, Sonam thought us how to make them and that was what kept us busy for two days. The method was simple; we had a metal mould that needed to be soaked in water first. Then mud would be put in and we had to use our hands to compact the mud inside the mould then another shovel full of mud and same process till it was full then we had to sprinkle some water and level the top with a flat spade. Finally, we then had to lift the mould out leaving a wet rectangular mud brick. It was actually quite fun after getting the hang of the process. I started enjoying levelling the mud brick as it was almost like putting icing on a cake. The bricks had to lie in the sun for the next 2 -3 days to dry solid.

Next came the laying of the brick wall, this was very difficult as the mud bricks are not evenly shaped as they are handmade so we had to pile on a layer of really wet mud and then place the brick securely using stones to stabilize it. And aligning the bricks to make a straight line was an even bigger task. I was very slow at this and wondered how we would build the wall. Luckily, we had the experts around helping us and I realized I was a better assistant to the mason. So I ended up carrying bricks for him to lay and while we were off trekking for 3 days the wall and roof was finished.Its best that the wall was left to the experts as the wall needs to be sturdy to withstand the severe weather conditions of snow and rainstorms.So when we came back from our trekking break we had to do the plastering of the walls. At first it was tough learning how to fling the mud onto the wall before levelling it but once I got the momentum it was actually quite fun. In the beginning mud was flying everywhere even into my eyes.

Stuffing grass s insulation was easy and lastly the painting part was also easy as it’s something we are all familiar with. Painting the white walls was a bit strange as it was a pouring and drip concept which at first was weird but after some practise it was actually quite easy. And finally we painted the black wall with brushes, that was really our last task and then the greenhouse was done. It was a great feeling seeing the structure being built and I felt very happy we managed to get it done but sad at the same time as it was time to say goodbye soon.

There was a huge ribbon cutting ceremony which I wasn’t expecting. The prince of Spiti and a gov official was going to be there to official open the greenhouse. I was totally stunned to arrive at the site and see like 30 junior monks all in line to welcome the VIP guest. They were absolutely adorable and screamed ‘Julee’ which is hello in the Spitian language when the guest arrived. The Gov.Official was over an hour late and not a peep out of the monks, they waited patiently but did goof around with each other while waiting. It was so fun observing them and watching an older monk scream and all of them quickly listened and went back to order.

We planted some seeds together with the Gov.Official and that was a great feeling. I envisioned the green plants growing like what we’ve seen in other greenhouses and that warmed my heart. I can’t wait for the day I visit Spiti again and can go visit the Monastery and see the greenhouse in action.

Thank you for the wonderful experience, I’ll forever keep the memories shared and friendships made.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2011 at 9:00 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.