ANNAI LEA ORGANIC AND HERBAL PRODUCTION UNIT
ISS has a small siddha herbal medicine production unit where 13 different types of body care products are manufactured. These products include tooth powder, herbal bathing powder, hair oil, well known health enhancers like tripala, amla, natural sysigium powder as well as a few herbal teas. The herbs required for the production are collected from the Annai Lea Genetic Garden.
Should it be mentioned that siddha unit is a initiative to support ISS economically and make the organization more economically independent of donors. ?
Natural Camp
Natural Camp is an initiative to promote knowledge on health, nutrition, natural medicine and how to cure disease naturally with other methods than conventional medicine. Farmers, students, staff and other community members are all invited to this monthly event that invites experts who share their knowledge and/or personal experience with health and natural medicine.
Third Saturday of every month. Natural food eating habits and organic farming being promoted
Annai Lea Community College – The School of Bio-Dynamic farming
In 20?? ISS started the first bio-dynamic college in India. In the state of Tamil Nadu there is an urgent need to heal the earth and also to promote organic and bio dynamic farm practices for sustainability purposes. The school offers an advanced diploma in biodynamic farming, a residential 2-year programme with an emphasis on all-round development and employability. Previous two batches, the first one consisting of 7 students, 4 girls and 3 boys and the second batch consisting of 12 students, 10 boys and 2 girls all secured employment in certified organic farms across India. All students have had socially and economically poor backgrounds and some of them have previously been part of the Foster Children Scheme.
The long term plan for this biodynamic farming training facility is to be able to train around 1 000 youngsters in the next 15-20 years for the biodynamic movement to take firm roots in Tamil Nadu. The long-term plan is also to have an independent campus for housing and training 100 students. The architectural plan for this phase has been done, and a renowned architect from Auroville will help design the new campus, using eco-friendly techniques, and anthroposophist features as well.
Practical Information:
The course is designed to have 6 academic terms of 16 weeks duration each, during the course of 2 years. Each term has 12 weeks in classroom and remaining 4 weeks as practice school in other biodynamic/organic farms. Soil science, irrigation management, agronomy, animal husbandry, agro forestry and horticulture, seed production, farm equipment maintenance, life coping skills, computer science, spoken English, art and culture are courses taught by the College.Education is carried out in the local language Tamil.
