Our time at Amrit Farms was very positive and inspiring for us, and easily one of the highlights of our 3 months in Nepal. We only wish that we had visited sooner in our trip so that we could have spent more time there. The entire Bastola family was so welcoming to us, and we truly felt at home. Everyone was very patient in teaching us what they knew so well about permaculture farming, cooking, and daily life in rural Nepal. The family was able to speak and or understand English very well, which made communication easier, us more at ease and even taught us some Nepali. They were happy to answer any question we had as we learned new ways of doing things. One of the times ‘Ama’ (Mother) was making Dal bhat, the traditional meal of Nepal and what is eaten twice a day, she had me sit in the kitchen and took the time to teach me all of the spices she used, how to grind them by hand and their Nepali name. She was also very patient with our relearning to peel potatoes when we helped out! ‘Baba’ (Father) was extremely knowledgeable about traditional medicine/farming and was enthusiastic about teaching it.
We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Teej festival with the family and all of the visiting relatives, welcomed by all. Family is one of the most important things in Nepal and we were honored to be included. Since we came during monsoon season and a festival, there were less intense projects to do on the farm at this time but we were able to help with smaller projects such as tilling a vegetable plot by hand, harvesting grass for livestock, and preparing seedlings of black pepper plants. We learned a lot about both permaculture and traditional medicines even in such a short time frame. We really hope to be able to come back to Amrit at some point and would highly recommend them to anyone else.If you have any questions we would love to answer them.
All the best,Kendal and Ian Smith
(aka Radha and Krishna)