Editor's Note: Long roots of unknown weeds, pruned branches and fallen twigs... what is it good for? Absolutely everything! Explore the world of Basketry and find out how crafts can help us combine tradition, values and sustainability. In south India, if you can't buy organic, you can sell it: discover OFM, a novel way to eat and share organic food. --Ragu & Nisha

The craft of basketry might be one of our species’ most important and diverse technologies, creating homes, boats, animal traps, armour, tools, cages, hats, chariots, weirs, beehives, shelters and furniture, as well as all manner of containers. Basket weaving makes use of fast-growing biodegradable materials -- branches, twigs or shoots -- that requires the forest to be cultivated rather than cleared. Basketry allows almost anyone, with little or no money and few tools, to create a large variety of useful goods in a way that is one hundred percent sustainable.
 

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Members, who range from IT professionals to homemakers, stock organic products in small outlets at home or in shops in their neighbourhood. Sourced from a wide network of organic farms across the country, the products are sold with a “small margin, without involving middlemen”... IT employee Dhamodharan Chandrasekaran and his wife have set up a 9 x 10 square feet shop with OFM products; Rajesh, who was an HR software consultant, sells organic food at his electrical service centre; Seethalakshmi displays products at her meditation class; Rekha, an IT-professional-turned-farmer, has started a store at home… these men and women meet at the head-garage every month to discuss and ideate.
 

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Be The Change Idea

Explore a world of low-tech solutions at Lowtechmagazine.com. Can you find some room in your home to promote healthy living for your neighbours in some way?