A range of courses on hydroponics
at the Women’s Christian College is teaching women to be entrepreneurs and
eco-warriors simultaneously
The humidity of the city is
nothing compared to the environment inside the one-room hut tucked away under
the trees of the Women’s Christian College campus. The walls are lined with
burlap sacks; the floor caked with sand. All means to retain moisture and lower
temperature, for the sake of what grows in 170 straw-filled plastic bags
suspended by 170 ropes from the ceiling. The plastics gleam, the walls ooze,
the floor crackles: it could be a scene from a horror show. But the things
growing inside the bag are tools — of economic empowerment and ecological
education.
They are oyster mushrooms, grown
by the students. What looks like a mix of straw, spawn and mulch on the inside,
results in the blooming of flawlessly snow-white little caps that gush out
through the flimsy plastic barrier, as if asking to be plucked and cooked.
Mushroom House is a part of the
college’s one-semester-long, mushroom cultivation course. It is part of WCC’s
Green Box initiative, which includes a trifecta of ecology projects — including
the Shadow House and a five-tier hydroponics unit — that helps departments in
the college generate their own revenue, besides showing students how to earn an
income and understand the business side of things. The mushrooms, for instance,
are edible ones that are sold on campus. “There is a quite a demand for them.
The investment is small — you just need some straw and spawn. The yield is
good, and it definitely tasted better than the button mushroom that is common
in the markets,” says Pauline Deborah, associate professor, Department of Plant
Biology.
Students dedicate about a
semester to mastering this craft. The course is compulsory for Botany students,
elective for those pursuing other subjects. “Our students do it for 75 hours,
elective students do it for 30.” The latter is less theoretical and more
hands-on: how to prepare the spawn, how to maintain and harvest, analyse and
test.
Mushroom House is the result of
Central Government funds given to the college a couple of years ago.
“The star college fund from the
Department of Biotechnology: we used it to develop a shade house. In a place
like Chennai, we can create a space with controlled temperature to grow plants
that we would otherwise see only in hill stations. We have ferns and other
shade-loving plants,” she says, leading me to it. As we stroll, we go from one
part of the green campus to another, passing by decades-old trees (there are
about 105 species in all).
Pauline points out the ones that
have stories to tell. She unlocks gates to mini gardens, desert gardens and
miniature fields, pointing out vegetables sown by students and trees gifted by
prominent friends of the college. “Last year we got a very good harvest of brinjal
and lady’s finger. This year, it was lady’s finger and turnip,” she says.
‘College with potential for
excellence’ is another grant — of about one crore rupees — that was given in
2016 to a few city colleges. It was with that, that WCC got its hydroponics
unit. It is an interesting structure, like a broad, white stepladder made of
hollow pipes through which water is pumped constantly, passing along
micronutrients to nourish the soil-bereft greens. “In the beginning, we would
only grow different kinds of basil: Thai, sweet, peppermint, purple, lime...
But now I have asked my students to try new plants.”
A few tiers of the unit are
dedicated to these experiments, which, she says, are coming out well: micro
greens, spinach and tomatoes are a few of them. Pauline gently plucks a little
tufted plant from its seat, to point out the rounded tangle of roots beneath.
“They have almost grown too big for their space; it’s time for harvest,” she
mutters, before placing it back and retreating so that her students can figure
it out for themselves. The basils, however, still dominate the unit, and also
make their way to the college market — especially to the Home Science
Department’s kitchens.
What sell like hot cakes, though, are the
mushroooms. “They’re easy to cook into a tomato-based gravy. Or else, just fry
them with some butter,” suggests Pauline.