Sarla Garg has created a green heaven on her one-acre plot as well as her terrace in Faridabad. There’s no chemical in sight — just Jeevamrut, cow dung, mulch, and the rhythm of nature. Rosemary and rocket leaves, expensive in the market, grow abundantly here. Kale leaves rustle in the breeze, cherry-sized tomatoes shine red and purple, and under one canopy, brinjal, strawberries, and turmeric thrive together.
“This is Jeevamrut-fed soil that kills germs and helps in pollination,” says 68-year-old Sarla Garg, walking barefoot between rows of leafy greens. “I water once every five days. The earthworms do the rest.” Her grandchildren chase butterflies nearby. “No coughs and colds, no BP, no blood sugar in the family,” she adds with pride, peeling ridge gourd for lunch.
Turning Point: From Grief to Green Shoots
The transformation began two decades ago. Her husband had been in a coma. Her family’s auto parts business was not helping either. But she felt better when she was working with the soil. In 2004, she found herself at the Art of Living Ashram, learning to make bio-enzymes. That was the seed. A few years later, she came back to study natural farming.
Pooling savings with 11 others, she began a community farm. “Five-kilo radishes came out of cracked, barren land,” she recalls. Farmers from nearby villages arrived to watch. “I didn’t give advice,” she laughs. “I just handed them a bottle of Jeevamrut.”
Then came the disappointment. Soon, their shared land was reclaimed. Not one to lose this passionate battle, Sarla Garg turned her own terrace and a one-acre plot into a demo farm. Using just 20% of the land with multilayer cropping, she harvested 125 kg of rice. “Brinjal, greens, papaya, strawberries — all grow together. And I’ve never used a single chemical.”
Her fencing is see-through. “Let people see the difference,” she says. And they do. “Didi, no chemicals?” visitors ask in disbelief. She smiles and offers saplings.
A Living Classroom for the Next Generation
Every morning, she lights the Agnihotra fire, her hands moving with purpose. “Main Agnihotra jeeti hoon (I live Agnihotra),” she says softly, as the smoke rises with the sun. Sarla shares her experience: “Agnihotra ashes are added to the seed-boxes to prevent spoilage.”
Her son, once unsure, later trained by her, now tends the soil beside her. Four helpers trained by Sarla, support her efforts, multiplying her reach and care. Neighborhood kids come with banana peels in hand, eager to learn composting. “Failures will come,” she reminds them, quoting Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. “But something inside you never fails.”
She plants avocado not for today, but for a memory—“One day, my grandkids will say, ‘Dadi grows the best ones!’”
Sarla is not alone. The Art of Living Natural Farming movement, under Gurudev’s vision, has trained over 3 million farmers in 23 states through 2,267 trainers. More than 15,000 have learned at the Bangalore Ashram — soil care, bio-inputs, and growing without chemicals to live healthier.
This is more than farming. It’s healing. Of the land. Of the body. Of the self.
And it starts, just as Sarla shows us — with bare feet, open hands, and a patch of living earth.
