{"id":11227,"date":"2026-09-20T20:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/?p=11227"},"modified":"2026-09-20T20:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:06:24","slug":"a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“You helped us build this Vriksha Mandir \u2014 this Gramvan \u2014 and more than 5,300 trees are now flourishing here. We have over 45 different species growing on this land. Our school children come here on trips. They come and learn to identify the trees.”

That’s how Jagdishkaka, from Chotasan village in Sabarkantha district, described the Gramvan (village forest) that now stands where degraded grazing land once was. Hearing this from him was genuinely heartening for our team \u2014 the whole point of this effort was to help the next generation grow up recognising and valuing trees, and that purpose is clearly being fulfilled.

Chotasan’s young sarpanch, Chetanbhai, has been personally committed to nurturing these trees. In 2024, he invited us to raise a Gramvan on the village’s own land \u2014 land that had been overrun with gaando baval (invasive prosopis scrub) and left as unused grazing ground. With support from Dr. K. R. Shroff Foundation, VSSM took on the work of clearing that land and planting trees across it.

The village handled the site clearing and arranged for water supply; on our side, trees were planted and a designated “vriksha mitra” (tree-friend) took charge of their upkeep. Beyond that, the village took on full responsibility itself. As VSSM field workers Tohidbhai and Maheshbhai put it: “If we get more sites like this, imagine how much we could achieve. We don’t even need to visit regularly \u2014 the village takes care of it on its own.”

There’s an ambition to replicate this in Sabarkantha the way it’s been done in Banaskantha, and the intent is strong \u2014 if more villages come forward as genuine partners, this kind of meaningful work can take root in many more places.

Beyond the trees themselves, the Gramvan has quietly become something else too: a home for thousands of birds and voiceless creatures who now have somewhere to live. We remain grateful to VSSM’s founder, Mittal Patel, whose commitment has made Gramvans like this one possible \u2014 with more to come.

As one caption from the site puts it simply: the height of these trees has grown to twice the height of the people who planted them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n



<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“You helped us build this Vriksha Mandir \u2014 this Gramvan \u2014 and more than 5,300 trees are now flourishing here. We have over 45 different species growing on this land. Our school children come here on trips. They come and learn to identify the trees.” That’s how Jagdishkaka, from Chotasan village in Sabarkantha district, described […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan - DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan - DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“You helped us build this Vriksha Mandir \u2014 this Gramvan \u2014 and more than 5,300 trees are now flourishing here. We have over 45 different species growing on this land. Our school children come here on trips. They come and learn to identify the trees.” That’s how Jagdishkaka, from Chotasan village in Sabarkantha district, described […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-20T15:06:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-20T15:06:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"krsfgrassyenchanting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u0aa6\u0acd\u0ab5\u0abe\u0ab0\u0abe \u0ab2\u0a96\u0abe\u0aaf\u0ac7\u0ab2\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"krsfgrassyenchanting\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u0a85\u0a82\u0aa6\u0abe\u0a9c\u0abf\u0aa4 \u0ab5\u0abe\u0a82\u0a9a\u0aa8 \u0ab8\u0aae\u0aaf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 \u0aae\u0abf\u0aa8\u0abf\u0a9f\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"krsfgrassyenchanting\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/person\/b92cf8319408a24771b4b92c7f6fadeb\"},\"headline\":\"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-20T15:06:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-20T15:06:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Climate Change\"],\"inLanguage\":\"gu-IN\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\",\"name\":\"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan - DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-20T15:06:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-20T15:06:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"gu-IN\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"gu-IN\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/\",\"name\":\"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"gu-IN\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#organization\",\"name\":\"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"gu-IN\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/krsft-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/krsft-logo.png\",\"width\":138,\"height\":126,\"caption\":\"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/person\/b92cf8319408a24771b4b92c7f6fadeb\",\"name\":\"krsfgrassyenchanting\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"gu-IN\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53b5b15efc7d1d7bee31bcb2fafd84c95bc4fe41c7bc6bcce096d52c749932f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53b5b15efc7d1d7bee31bcb2fafd84c95bc4fe41c7bc6bcce096d52c749932f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"krsfgrassyenchanting\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/krsf.in\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/author\/krsfgrassyenchanting\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan - DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan - DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation","og_description":"“You helped us build this Vriksha Mandir \u2014 this Gramvan \u2014 and more than 5,300 trees are now flourishing here. We have over 45 different species growing on this land. Our school children come here on trips. They come and learn to identify the trees.” That’s how Jagdishkaka, from Chotasan village in Sabarkantha district, described […]","og_url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/","og_site_name":"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation","article_published_time":"2026-09-20T15:06:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-20T15:06:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"krsfgrassyenchanting","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u0aa6\u0acd\u0ab5\u0abe\u0ab0\u0abe \u0ab2\u0a96\u0abe\u0aaf\u0ac7\u0ab2":"krsfgrassyenchanting","\u0a85\u0a82\u0aa6\u0abe\u0a9c\u0abf\u0aa4 \u0ab5\u0abe\u0a82\u0a9a\u0aa8 \u0ab8\u0aae\u0aaf":"3 \u0aae\u0abf\u0aa8\u0abf\u0a9f"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/"},"author":{"name":"krsfgrassyenchanting","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/person\/b92cf8319408a24771b4b92c7f6fadeb"},"headline":"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan","datePublished":"2026-09-20T15:06:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-20T15:06:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/"},"wordCount":370,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg","articleSection":["Climate Change"],"inLanguage":"gu-IN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/","url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/","name":"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan - DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-20T15:06:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-20T15:06:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"gu-IN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"gu-IN","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9L3A0133-1-scaled-e1789916765729.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/a-living-classroom-children-learn-trees-by-name-in-our-gramvan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Living Classroom: Children Learn Trees by Name in Our Gramvan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#website","url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/","name":"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"gu-IN"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#organization","name":"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation","url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"gu-IN","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/krsft-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/krsft-logo.png","width":138,"height":126,"caption":"DR. K.R. Shroff Foundation"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/person\/b92cf8319408a24771b4b92c7f6fadeb","name":"krsfgrassyenchanting","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"gu-IN","@id":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53b5b15efc7d1d7bee31bcb2fafd84c95bc4fe41c7bc6bcce096d52c749932f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53b5b15efc7d1d7bee31bcb2fafd84c95bc4fe41c7bc6bcce096d52c749932f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"krsfgrassyenchanting"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/krsf.in"],"url":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/author\/krsfgrassyenchanting\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11231,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11227\/revisions\/11231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krsf.in\/gu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}