What is value (of anything) ?

I am not talking of the value in terms of money which is ever changing but the core intrinsic value of anything. For eg: if 1 kg of rice can satiate the hunger of "x" people that is its value and it is required irrespective of the market value of rice. Money value which is only a convenient mechanism for exchange of different goods has no intrinsic value in itself. For eg: what is the value of Rs 100 if there is no rice to available to buy? However associating a money value distorts our own value system and priorities over time. For eg: some one was commenting growing off-season crops in the garden would give great satisfaction since we get it free when the market prices are high. I feel the real satisfaction is in the challenge of growing a crop (some might be easier compared to others) and also in relishing it but it should not be linked to the market value in Rupees. A pomegranate tastes like a pomegranate and it should be enjoyed as such irrespective of its price. Whether one grows tomatoes or strawberries the joy is in growing process itself and not really in the end product. Many a times it is painful to pull out the robustly grown carrots or radishes!

Farming visits - an observation

Recently have been visiting Sahaja Samruddha an organization working on safeguarding the genetic diversity as well as a friend who is doing farming apart from his regular IT job. My good friend CM has blogged about both of this saving me the effort!
There was one interesting observation which I thought I should mention here.
On the farm visit whenever we happened to encounter the other farmers our IT farmer would exchange pleasantries and generally enquire about them, how their farming was coming along etc. He would specifically ask about the usage of chemical fertilizers and knowing his views they would go on the defensive rarely admitting to any such usage! The term they used for fertilizer was what picked my interest. They referred it to as "mevu" which is literally fodder in Kannada instead of "gobbara" which is fertilizer. Perhaps it is a reflection of the transition which has occured over a period of time in the usage of fertilzer from being an external additive to an essential part of farming!