A little less than a decade ago, Reema Gupta, who now lives in Goa, founded The SLOW Farm. SLOW stands for Sustainable, Local, Organic and Wholesome.
The SLOW Farm is a lifestyle brand covering organic food, beauty and craft for the mindful and eco-conscious soul. Its core concept is restoring biodiversity and to reduce the impact our current choices are having on the environment.
Reema and her team are working hard to better the world for our future generations by creating and consuming responsibly. She says, “SLOW living is sustaining our needs within the capacity of our environment.”
TAKE THE SLOW ROUTE
In Goa, Reema shares her knowledge on growing by teaching balcony and home gardening. She uses the hands-on method so that you can easily pick up the skill to sprout seeds, make soil mixes, grow herbs, medicinal plants and vegetables, tilling and composting.
She also shares her tips and tricks to make this a sustainable habit, even if one just has a window sill. And, if they have more, Reema helps plan for larger gardens and organic farms using local materials. She implements the permaculture and regenerative farming techniques to create self-sustainable eco-systems, just like in her farms.
The SLOW Farms are located in Uttarakhand and Karnataka. Reema’s family have planted over 600 trees of 70 different varieties in the span of 17 years there. They range from those that have seasonal produce like cashews and pomelos, medicinal ones like kokum and bullock’s hearts, spices like nutmeg and bay leaves and other indigenous vareties.
They intercrop vegetables, mango ginger and more through sustainable farming practices.
Beyond that, what sets The SLOW Farm apart is their ethical beekeeping practices. They only harvest 30% of the honey available, and that too, only in the non-monsoon seasons. This is done keeping in mind that honey is primarily for the bees to feed on and during the monsoons, the bees cannot fly out to feed on the 100 varieties of fruits and flowers grown on their farm.
They strongly advocate and practice extracting honey without harming any bees or their lives. Therefore, their honey is called Ahimsa honey.
The organic ingredients used in The SLOW Farm products are crafted through conscious recipes and sourced from their very own farm. This includes beeswax, coconut oil, herbs, turmeric, allspice, honey, dried whole ‘guntur’ chillies, dried flowers and kokum fruit peels.
The skin care range has skin salve, beeswax, pure salts in pink and black versions, moringa and neem powder, cold pressed soaps for sensitive skins and coconut oil for sale. Fifty per cent of the proceeds from the product sales go back into the organic soil.
The SLOW Farm takes pride in creating strong collaborations with local artisans working with eco-friendly materials. They then create a fantastic collection for your home or closet.
They also support the local communities by working closely with other farmers. The cold pressed oils like almond, apricot and walnut come from their farmer friend in Kashmir. The handmade foot scrubber comes from Uttarakhand. The cotton for cotton bed linen is grown in India. The bamboo for the reusable straws comes from the North East.
The SLOW Farm also has a collection of jute table mats, a planter kit and a handmade muddler. Their handmade jewellery comes in the form of necklaces and rings made with Japanese beads. The plantable blooming envelopes are made with 100% khadi cotton scraps, dried flowers and orange marigold, red chilli and mustard seeds.
The SLOW Farm is truly committing to sustainability by continuously changing their packaging. They package minimally in glass bottles, wraps made with recycled paper and also reuse boxes.
DETAILS
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/TheSlowFarm/
WEBSITE: https://theslowfarm.com/