Make your own forest food

In our place there is a plant called Baranga. It grows only in the monsoon. It is not cultivated in fields; it grows wild in the hills. You can eat it. It grows only in Panchgani Mahableshwar-Plateau.
Here is how to cook it
You need
Onion
Garlic
Tomato

Chop the Baranga finely. Boil it. Cut the onions and garlic. Make a curry out of them with some tomato. Remove the Baranga from the water. Make it into small balls. Brake the balls of Baranga up and mix them with the curry. Serve your dish with hot Jowar Roti.

The Buffalo Calf

Our Milkman’s buffalo gave birth to a calf so I and my mother went to see it.
On the way to the village where our Milkman stays I collected some grass for the buffalos.
At the house of the Milkman saw the calf. It was sitting. I gave one of the full grown buffalos little grass. Then the Milkman took the calf out. I played with it. It didn’t eat any grass because it is just twelve days old which is too small to eat grass.

The cloud forests

In the place where we stay there are cloud forests. But what is a cloud forest? A cloud forest is a forest that is always in clouds. They are dank and damp and are covered in clouds. A cloud forest is a perfect place for mushrooms, ferns, fungi, mosses and lichen. But where do cloud forests grow? They grow high up on tropical hills and mountains. The higher you are it the more cold it is.
We have forests like this in our place. Near our place there is a forest called Lingmala. It is a cloud forest. We often go there.

The bulls in our place

In my place there are beautiful bulls. These bulls have red horns and are white. There are called Khilare. And guess what? These bulls horns are sometimes painted blue or yellow. They are used in the fields to plough the land.
Every year in July there is a festival called Pola festival. It is a festival to thank the bulls for ploughing the fields. It is monsoon so it is the time the bulls have to plough the fields. I and my mother went to this festival last year. The bulls were nicely dressed. Some people had coloured they bulls with turmeric. They horns were freshly painted. They were really well dressed. After that they went running out of the village and on the road with their owners holding them. We were scared so we followed a safe distance behind. After that we went to some ones house. His bull had taken part in the Pola festival. The bull was sitting inside the house. He was eating fodder. There were more cows inside the house. There was also a calf.

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The peacock

One day I and my mother went for our nature walk. We went up to a rock we called council rock, because it was a big rock like the one in the Mougli movie. Just as we were reaching it we heard the call of the peacock Meow meow. It was so close. As we came closer I saw the outline of a peacock. It was not too far away but as it was late we could just see its outline. It was walking. It looked so beautiful.

Snake in our garden

Snake in our garden
We have had a type of snake in our garden two times. It is a snake with black and white bands. This snake is called the common krait.
Once we were returning from our nature walk and I saw the house cat pawing at something. It was a baby common krait. The cat almost killed it. Then my father put a kundi on top of the snake and killed it.
Another time our neighbors were shouting “snake snake”. We went to look. We saw a baby common krait. My father killed it.
I was searching my cat so I kicked the scooter’s cover and something cold touched my foot. I looked and I saw a snake had fallen on the ground. It was a snake with black and white bands. It was a baby common krait. It was really tiny. My father killed it.

Common kraits are very venomous snakes. There are one of India’s four venomous snakes. The four venomous snakes of India is the cobra, saw scale viper, the rustles viper and the common krait. These are four snakes that are incredibly venomous.
The common krait comes out at night.

The paradise fly catcher

The paradise fly catcher is a bird with a white body and a bluish black crown.
Sometimes these birds come to our house. A few times I spotted them. They are extremely beautiful.
Once I my mother and father went to a place in Mahableshwar called Lingmala. It is a beautiful forest. I was cycling on my cycle when I saw a bird. It was the paradise fly catcher. I called my parents and they saw it.

Our visit to Gureghar

One day I and my mother decided to go for a nature walk in Gureghar, a forest in Panchgani-Mahableshwar plateau. It is a thick forest with dense and leafy undergrowth.

We were walking in Gureghar forest when I saw a snake Slither on the forest floor. I said “snake snake”. My mother looked but the snake slithered away so fast that she had no time to see it. It was a long snake and I guess it was thick. The shake was a dark blackish brown colour. Maybe it was a cobra.
After that we came to a stream. Last time we had come to Gureghar we had followed this stream. But my mother hadn’t enjoyed it so this time only I followed the stream. It was wonderful. The branches were low and it was fun to walk in the water of the stream. Only bad thing was that I spoiled my trouser. I went further than when we had gone before. Finally my mother got worried for me and called me back.
We continued our walk. As we were walking we saw a group of buffalos. My mother is scared of all animals including buffalos. I am also scared of buffalos but I insisted that we continue because I did not want to turn back and we also couldn’t wait till they go. We continued. At times it was scary. Once a buffalo took a few steps towards us and looked at us. We got very scared. We walked as fast as possible. But we escaped. The buffalos didn’t charge at us.
We were walking farther away from the buffalos when we heard a grunt and then heard a creature crashing in the bushes. I and my mother got behind some bushes and we stayed very still. Then we heard another grunt and then silence. The creature then went away. The creature mostly was a wild pig because the noise we heard sounded like grunts. We continued the walk feeling a bit scared.
As we continued our walk we saw a big poodle. It was so big that it wasn’t a poodle but a pond. The water at the sides of the pond almost reached the top of my boots. In the middle of the poodle I think the water would have reached my knees.
After that we got out of the forest.

The cobra

I and my mother go for nature walks every day.
One day on the nature walk I spotted a piece of bark lying on the middle of the path. As I came closer I discovered that it wasn’t a piece of bark but a cobra. I said “snake snake”. The cobra turned and slithered away fast. My mother had just enough time to see it.
Its body was so thick and big. The cobra was so large.
That day other people had also spotted it.

1. Cobras eat fish, frogs, toads, chicks and eggs. They also eat small mammals.

2. Cobras live for twenty years or more in the wild.

3. Cobras are at the top of the food chain. They have only two natural predators. Mongoose and man.

4. Cobras are venomous but there are not poisonous. They have venom in there sacs, but the rest of the cobra’s body is safe to eat.

The Malabar giant squirrel

We often go for walk in a forest called Guregar in Panchgani-Mahabaleshwer plateau. In Guregar there are Langurs, snakes and deers. But the sight I like most is of the Malabar giant squirrel. It is a redish brown squirrel [fox color]. The Malabar giant squirrel lives in the Western Ghats of India.
It is the state animal of Maharashtra.

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The Langur monkeys

The Langur monkeys live in the forest but sometimes they come to our house. They have black faces and grey fur. That is why it is easy to recognize them. These monkeys live in groups. Each group of monkeys has a lead monkey. When there is danger the lead monkey makes a call sounding like boo.
Often me and my mother go for walks in a forest in Pancgani-Mahabaleshwar Plateau. There we saw a huge lead Langur. He was sitting on a rock just like a human and he wasn’t scared of us. Then he jamp onto a tree branch that was thin and wobbly. We hoped the tree branch would not break because then the monkey would get angry and may attack us. But we escaped.
For Hindu’s the Langur monkey is sacred because Hanuman was a Langur.