Himalaya mountains, solar energy, local sericulture and natural dyes … it’s not the lead-in to a bad joke, but rather what I’ve been up to for the past month or so. Rick and I have spent the first month of a five month trip to India working and living at AVANI, a voluntary organization in the Kumaon Himalayas. We’ll be here through the beginning of December working on various projects, learning about the sustainable projects AVANI has initiated in this region, trying to improve our paltry knowledge of Hindi, and just generally enjoying this peaceful yet innovative place.
Renu and Hansa at work in the dye unit … and Sachin at play
Some of the ongoing projects I’ve been involved with …
identifying local dyeplants that yield blue and red
working to develop a line of pigments using natural dyes
printing with natural dyes
cultivating a mini-indigo fermentation vat
I’ll post more pictures and news soon!