The nutritional situation is therefore becoming increasingly difficult, whereas the number of those searching for assistance is growing – those who are ill and an increasing number of those who are victims of the Maos.

MG already started with self-sufficiency a short time after Shanti was founded. She purchased the site in Budhanilkantha, approx. 11 ha. It was situated in the centre of the forest, in a very hilly areal. When she went there after the purchase, there was not a single tree left on the land. The neighbours had felled everything for firewood for cooking.
After the first shock, she started the tree project: people were encouraged to plant a tree in Nepal for a fellow person who they wanted to do help or who they wanted to be reminded of. Not only deciduous trees or conifer trees were planted, but also fruit trees: pawpaw, mango, orange, kaki, peach, etc..
This ensured that the population was provided with vitamins by Shanti. The roots of the trees also retain the terraces on the very precipitous site.

Six years ago, MG started having the station's kitchen and garden waste composted, albeit with little success at the beginning. However, with persistent awareness work, an idea gradually manifested itself as to the treasures which could be hidden in this waste and the surplus uncoated paper from the protective workshops.
Not only that: one of the patients is an old gardener, Jiri Bai. His father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather were all gardeners. MG encouraged him to recall cultivation methods from former times. He gradually taught his fellow patients, taught them meaningful fruit or vegetable sequences and proximities and all of those who allowed themselves to become "infected" are amazed at how good the fruit and vegetables are which are cultivated and harvested or picked respectively without the use of poisons and they are becoming increasingly proud of the results of their work.
A few months ago, MG encouraged him to tell his son (who is also a gardener) about his gardening secrets. This was recorded and Nepalese friends are currently translating the tape into one of the normal Nepalese languages and ultimately into English, so that his knowledge his retained and can be passed on.

In the meantime, the patients are cultivating more than 20 ha land, most of it being their own, a part of it being leased however. Up to three harvests per year are possible. Every day, 85–100 kg biological fresh vegetables are being harvested for approx. 1200 meals, which are served in the kitchen for poor people at the temple.
Important: the seeds and saplings are not sold but drawn from hybrid plants. Our own tree nursery also contributes to this.
The fruit trees are now not only standing on 11 ha in our small village in Budhanilkantha, but also border a large number of streets, turning them into avenues – apart from the numerous trees which have obviously grown legs overnight and which are now growing their fruit for someone else somewhere in Nepal …
600 chickens run around between the tress, the vegetables, the trees and the herbs, Beehives especially provide honey for the children.

About the houses in Budhanilkantha: they were built by the patients themselves, using a constructional method which has almost been forgotten: they formed the suitable clay which they found on the site into thousands of bricks which they then allowed to dry in the sun before using them to build their houses. The doors and window frames come from our own carpentry.
Up to now, 38 families have been provided with their own small "terraced house" (each with one room, approx. 25 m²).