Tell us about yourself
I am Eda, 39 years old, married and mom of two kids. Originally being an industrial engineer, I turned to be a yoga teacher & holistic health coach after working 7 years in private sector. I moved to Dubai 9 year ago and started organic gardening in UAE in 2017. I am currently working as an edible gardening mentor, teaching people at any age how to grow their own food in this climate in their own garden.
What inspired you to embrace eco-friendly practices and make a shift towards sustainability?
Being an empath, I always cared about our planet, animals, nature and plants. After watching some documenteries, I first decided to go on plant based diet which minds the damage made by animal farming for milk & meat production. Researching more about health of human beings & our planet, I decided to start composting and turn my kitchen & garden waste into very precious soil. To decrease carbon foot print, decrease use of plastic on food and reach the freshest food in a secure way, I started organic edible gardening.
What are the primary steps you take to integrate eco-friendly practices into your lifestyle?
I stopped buying plastic water bottles, started carrying thermos and put a water filter in the house for drinking water. Switched most of the one-time-use items to reusable items to minimise the waste. I am using my kitchen scraps and all the cardboards coming with deliveries to make my homemade compost for my organic garden. I am using composting worms to make worm castings which is called “black gold” and the best manure in the world to increase soil health. We seperate our plastic & glass waste for green garbage. I can say our bin at home doesn’t even get full in one week after seperating all of these. I am growing luffa to use as sponge in bathrooms & kitchen and all over the house. I installed drip irrigation to minimise water consumption in the garden and mulch my soil to minimise evaporation. I have a pesticide free garden to save all the beneficial insects which are very important for sustainability of our planet. I am saving my own seeds from my plants for the future. I am also doing beekeeping for the last two years to support honey bees.
Share some of the most effortless yet impactful eco-friendly changes you’ve made in your daily routine.
Collecting kitchen scraps is such an easy task everyone can implement to their lives. When we think the amount of food thrown to garbage all over the world, I believe this is something everyone can easily do and make a huge overall impact. We need to start composting if we are not doing it yet.
What difficulties have you encountered while striving to live in an environmentally conscious manner?
I am sadly observing people with lack of knowledge about environment. It is really sad to see the use of pesticide around residential areas and kill of all the good insects which are very much needed for our future. It is also sad to see theat human beings are only caring about themselves but not the future, taking all resources of animals (for example honey of bees) and leaving them to death. There should be more sustainable ways to work with nature rather than against it which I am constantly working on and trying to spread the word.
Describe a rewarding moment on your sustainability journey
My intention when I first started composting, gardening and beekeeping was very different. My ultimate goal was never the end product but the sake of reusing organic material, increasing soil health and supporting bees for the future. It is really rewarding to see we are producing our own food almost 10 months a year with our own kitchen waste and keeping that loop continue. And it was really rewarding to taste the natural raw honey directly from our hives.
How do you plan on continuing your sustainability journey? What other aspects do you plan to change?
It has been around 10 years on my journey and I walked a good amount of way from where I started. Currently, I really feel confident about all the steps I took and they are now part of my life. I am planning to increase the scale and attract more and more people through my gardening workshops to start composting, minding the soil health & use of water, saving all the beneficial insects and growing their own food in their backyard and save their own seeds from their own plants.
Lastly, how do you think we can ensure that eco-friendly options and choices are available and attainable for a diverse range of individuals?
Sustainable habits don’t come in one day. Although we mind about environment and want to be a part of this move, on the other hand, it is really important to be gentle to ourselves and take one step at a time. Otherwise, it can be very overwhelming and we can easily give up what we started in our busy life. I do suggest anyone to start with a very simple step rather than inviting a huge change in their life and make a habbit of it before taking the next step. All of us are different from eachother and there is always a great match to your lifestyle that you can do your own impact, either big or small.