Valentine's Weekend at Native Place, Kamshet

This Valentine’s day weekend Native Place hosted “Color’s of Love” an event where people came together to celebrate Love of nature.  The event attracted a beautiful set of people looking to escape the city, immerse in  nature and have a change of scene. The highlight of the weekend was the Natural Dyeing workshop conducted by Anushree Chitnis.

Besides, there was rooftop music performance, a bonfire, nature walks and simply chilling out in the flower filled Native Place garden, harvesting veggies and making flower mandalas. People were blown away by the beautiful Jade vine, a gorgeous sunset and then there was a music performance on the roof where B Mohanty charmed us with her beautiful voice. 

Anushree Chitnis a Landscape Architect and Permaculture Designer with a penchant for plants and all things natural took the eager participants through the history of plant-based dye making transporting them to the times when colors were all natural made of ingredients from one’s kitchen or garden.

Participants collected palash flowers, sorted onion peels, tore up purple cabbage and pounded turmeric. The ingredients were brewed in the outdoors on a wood fired stove that added to the feeling of stepping back in time. 

“Another great weekend  at Native Place - learning new things, making new friends, rooftop party, bonfire, nature walks and great food.  From insane blue/green Jade Vine flowers, to the beautiful indigo and ochre shades we made, from the beautiful sunset to the vivid greens - this weekend was truly colourful :)” Roly Saraswat,  participant

About Anushree Chitnis
A landscape architect by profession, Anushree is a gardener at heart. Her observations and experiments have led her to design spaces that encourage not just people but also, birds, bees and insects to spend time in these eco-niches!

Her love for nature also extends itself towards her art work including murals, sketches, up-cycled objects and recently, paintings with natural dyes and inks. She believes the world of natural dyes is a complete sensory and unwinding experience, always full of surprises when embraced with an open mind.

Anushree currently runs an independent design practice, Studio Folium, offering landscape and permaculture design, interior design and art commissions representing bio-diversity. 
Follow her Instagram Page: @anushree_la 
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/anushree.chitnis 
Linked In : https://in.linkedin.com/in/anushree-chitnis-b2212234

Yoga teacher and organic farmer Teruko Maehara from Japan visits Native Place.

Yoga instructor and practicing organic farmer from Hiroshima, Japan visited us in February.  She shares her experience:

My yoga friend Ivan Stanley from India told me Native Place was definitely a nice place to visit. Its India but not the India we imagine – people find India crowded, chaotic and noisy but that is the city – this place is a tranquil space. 

Being close to Pune – Iyengar centre she found it convenient and practical to visit the Iyengar Yoga Center in crowded Pune and return to the peaceful atmosphere at Native Place

Its good for permaculture, meditation and yoga.  Local food, garden veggies good for yogis.  One can also have a paragliding experience

My travel -  I took a plane to Delhi and a domestic flight to Pune. The guesthouse organised a taxi to pick me up from Pune airport – one hour’s drive. So, it was all very convenient. Not difficult at all for a single traveller.

I hour from the crowded city of Pune Native Place is a fresh oasis of green. Filled with many beautiful native trees and lots flowers, birds and overlooking has lots of greenery. It is dry and brown outside but a fresh green oasis here.

What to do here - If you wish farming, cooking, paragliding, swim in the lake, enjoy the sunset by the lake or from the terrace, join a workshop is one is going on. There are many hidden places to spend quiet time and be alone. To read a book or meditate when you need Or enjoy conversations with other guests from all over the world and local people . The air is fresh and unpolluted, there is lots of place for kids to play so it’s good for families as well.

Most can speak English, so it makes it easy to converse with guests and staff.  I would think / recommend it as a good place to escape the winter for people from Europe and Japan. I came end of January and it was sunny in the day time, dry weather, I could walk barefoot. In the evenings and early morning its cool and fresh.

 I found people visiting the Native place to be like a family – Saturday night reunion of paragliding pilots and friends, a community atmosphere, chill out, catch up with each other.  It’s definitely a  nice place to meet people as well.

I’m really happy I came and spent a quiet week here – my next stop is the Vipassana center in New Bombay after which I travel back home to winter in Japan.