Finally the main destination has been reached; all the way to Jammu & Kashmir State to Lal Mandi, Srinagar's Mushroom Village.
The late Dr. Agha with cap to the left, husband Pieter, Coen van Beuningen from The Netherlands and Dr. Parimoo, Pieter's long time friend.
Rain has left wet spots on the fields... The ever present snow capped Himalayan Mountains in the back.
Flooding caused holes...
Mushroomfarms Village it reads...
Department of Agriculture Lal Mandi Srinagar...
Heart breaking to see how other people often have to fight for making a living...
Here is the compost rick and it will be filled into those wooden trays...
This is how they have to store their casing soil...
Husband Pieter suggests that this could be THE perfect spot for building a concrete compost slab under a roof, with the help from the Dutch Government's Development Aid money...
BUT it never happened in real time because of frictions between Hindu and Muslim powers!
This is one of a few water spouts available...
Dr Parimoo is leading the way towards some Mushroom Growing rooms...
Women washing their dishes at the communal water spout.
Dr. Parimoo inside a growing room.
News Papers are used for covering the compost during spawn run...
Without running water it is nearly impossible for hosing down the floors and keeping hygiene levels high; as needed.
In the end, some mushrooms do grow but it is a very slow process...
Spawn run, under News Papers.
This is the grower that was seen earlier walking in the street...
It is all such a primitive sight and than again back to thinking that part of the Dutch delegation was in favor of adding a wing to the University in Delhi; for mushroom research. Gee, these poor souls need some basic help and no scientific publications that often only serves as self promotion!
Another Mushroom Grower asks husband Pieter: 'How does the mycelium growth look?'
Well, the answer was that most likely it was NOT going to yield anything.
He broke down in tears and was granted some money to try again.
Tough for Pieter to be fair in his answers...
YES, this is also their home; they sleep here too and with their body heat they try to reach the optimum growing conditions for the mushroom mycelium to grow.
They all look so desperate at the expert, my husband Pieter... How is it?
This grower has been using a kind of an oil drum for creating some heat...
To the left you see the trays with compost stacked for Mushroom Growing and here in the straw the family sleeps... No windows; just wooden planks.
No electricity, no water and no heating...
This gentleman would become the next kind of mayor or leader, with his wife.
She is barefoot and one can only imagine how that feels!
Hope this did give you some insight as to what Pieter did experience there.
Next chapter we will show you more about this Mushroom Village's People!
