Cultivating Seeds of Regeneration at Beejvan

Episode 170: Join us on a journey to India to explore the inspiring Beejvan project, a remarkable two acre demonstration farm and community-based initiative in Karjat, Maharashtra, India. 

In this interview with co-founder Sanjana Krishnan, discover how Beejvan is revitalizing the land, promoting biodiversity, and empowering the local community. 

Sanjana was inspired to start Beejvan when she returned to Karjat a, a place she had loved as a child, to find that the rivers had dried up, soils were depleted, the forest was mostly gone, and that local farmers were suffering. 

Sanjana then made it her mission to repair what has been broken through Beejvan, a farmer-led project dedicated to seed saving, land regeneration, ethnobotany, reforestation, and holistic agriculture practices. An integral part of Beejvan is working closely with the local inhabitants of Karjat, the Thakars who are traditional herbalists, healers, and keepers of sacred groves.

Get ready to be inspired by this incredible story of hope and renewal and find out how you can help grow this beautiful project. 

To read more about Beejvan, visit them at: https://springprize.org/shortlisted/beejvan/ 

You can also follow them on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/beejvan/

More on Sanjana: Sanjana Krishnan is a Political Sociologist with a passion for regeneration. Her work focuses on the potential and impact of local initiatives in dealing with socio-environmental concerns for India. She is the cofounder of the Beejvan Biodiversity and Collaborative Research Foundation. Sanjana has worked/volunteered with a range of conservation/permaculture projects across India and Germany. A winner of the Erasmus scholarship, UGC Ph.D. Fellowship, and the German Chancellors’ Fellowship, Sanjana has a Master’s in Rural Development and a Ph.D. in Political Science.

Beejvan recently won a Lush Spring Prize for Intentional Projects. The Lush Spring Prize honors those who repair the earth’s damaged systems and leave the world lusher than they found it. For more information and to see if your project is eligible for a prize, visit: SpringPrize.org.