lets picture our last few weeks spent cooped up in the house umm planning meals looking up recipes cooking repeat the only reason to step out was to stock up on more food see the leitmotif here it is food or rather food security be it an economic downturn crop failure a cyberattack or a virus breakout the only ones who dont have to scramble for food are those who grow their own to cope with the pandemic people are farming in their balconies and signing up for hydroponics and permaculture courses online also getting hands dirty in the soil and seeing your seeds reap results is almost like a quiet rebellion against constantly washing hands and scouring empty food shelves in these dismal times the coronavirus outbreak is not the first time that concerns about food security have led to more kitchen gardens during world war one us president woodrow wilson asked americans to plant victory gardens to prevent food shortages so use this time to grow a survival garden that can sustain you and your family on the garden produce alone follow your instinctnew world system has made us all mere consumers what we need is to go back to our most basic instinct of foraging and growing food the pandemic has highlighted the need to grow your own and be a selfsustained primary producer more than ever while some may have just a balcony and others a farm house each one can grow their own food depending on time effort and help available just follow sustainable practices like composting mulching and seed saving at home says puneet tyagi coowner of a sustainable farm in noida use what you havesurvival food is something that grows easily and lasts longer small is big in urban farming go for bags boxes buckets containers you can grow herbs on your window sill and staples like potatoes and onions in bath buckets says sharma use what you have yoghurt cups salad containers folded up newspapers or anything else you have around as a pot now is the time to be scrappy and resourceful about plantingmake immunity balconiesimmunity is the buzzword right now consuming clean chemicalfree produce and constantly working with soil is the need of the hour freshlyplucked produce has more nutrition than store bought food your house can provide small things that can greatly work on your immune system we need to relink immunity with what we grow cook and eat at home we need to build immunity balconies and immunity kitchens says sanjeev kumar sharma a hotelierconservationist from uttarakhand