Take a trip to Vanvadi, a 64-acre forest farm at the foorhills of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, to understand and experience ecological living at its best. This place has no electricity, piped water, mobile network, or fancy cottages, simply bamboo huts with mats to sleep on. Its large-scale rainwater harvesting efforts, together with the forest’s dense roots acting as an underground sponge, have ensured efficient groundwater recharge. With an abundance of nutricious and naturally growing vegetables, and medicinal plants, Vanvadi is open to the public for workshops, forest food walks and their Van Utsav (Forest Festival) held every year in October during Dusshera. Go foraging for jungle foods in the forests with the local tribals of the area, learn about uncultivated wild foods and get together for a traditional community meal cookout with the forest foods that you gather.
