Pune – organic farms, distribution of organic produce

Pune – organic farms, distribution of organic produce
Pune is in many ways similar to Bangalore – climate, people, easy and quick access to naturally beautiful places, and more importantly has some close friends and hence inviting. Probably it was the right time of the year (September'11), all around Pune was beautifully lush and green. If one were to go a few kilometers away from the city it was even more attractive with an undulating landscape and waterfalls and green hills everywhere.
It was not friends, food and chitchat but also peeked into a couple of good organic farms and more importantly a closer look at collection (from multiple small organic farmers) and distribution of organic produce – especially perishables .
GORUS – Gomukh centre for rural sustainability
This is a small organic collective which branched off from their main interest of watershed management and soil conservation. Ashwin Paranjpe and his friends were appalled at the fact that these hilly areas of western Maharashtra had acute water shortage from jan to June inspite of heavy rainfall from June to jan! This was the need for the watershed management and soil conservation in a scientific and organized manner. These efforts of Gomukh were fruitful in the short run, increased the water availability and with it came sugarcane cultivation. This cash crop which is both water and chemical intensive replaced paddy. So the same story – common across India, cash economy, industrial, commercial and intensive agriculture, not growing for self consumption, killing bio-diversity, moving away from food crops resulted in a economical and ecological disaster. So instead of the water shortage being resolved, a new set of issues cropped up. Increased use of chemical inputs was a source of false pride and one was only responding to constant threats and challenges. It was only natural to go the organic way to not only respect and maintain nature but also to safeguard the farmers livelihood and food security!
So they started an organic farm in a rented 2 acre field- model farm of sorts in a village in the beautiful Kolwan valley, in 2007! This demo field show cased raised bed, vermin composting, drip irrigation and slowly the results attracted some small an d marginal farmers. Today it’s a good group of them growing various crops- vegetables and fruits mainly for the 700 families who are their customers in Pune! Of this 120 are regulars I was told.
Today they have 8 full time employees (3W, 5M) working to fetch from various farmers, clean and segregate all the collected organic produce and sort and pack for each of their customers in a separate tray, with the bill. Then these are all home delivered and cash collected instantly. The demand is growing though as Ashwin observes, the collecting and distributing of org produce/perishables is a nightmare. The logistics is very tuff and demanding. He feels retailing is better than this delivery model but having pioneered this they are forced to carry this on, now. Their prices are also attractive – fixed price for whole season for a range of vegetables. They pay the farmers too uniform pricing for all vegetables. On prices he has lots of observation to make- being an agri and Marketing student! He claims the agri university system places the cost of production of tomato at 1.75/kg! economics, social, environment should be the order of concern for sustainability and he shared how they collect and store various stuff for deliveries in the later months!

GORUS also organizes cooking work shop, field day (when customers come and work in the farm a full day and eat fully org lunch!)..
A very nice social effort by an youngster – motivating and heartening! Way to go Aswin! And Gorus!!

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Vasudha Sardar!
For someone who saw her partner suffer and depart due to cancer going organic was not a choice or an option! It was the only way..
So she not only goes organic but trains many farmers around too. She has a solid room and hall to conduct regular trainings for farmers..runs regular courses too!
These organic harvests are then sold at Bazars at 2 different venues in the city! One is an exotic place on top a hill outside a temple- where many locals come for their morning walk..tap the conscious aint? Those who walk will obviously be wary of health and so sure to listen to the health benefits of organic produce.
When we walked around their farm, we could see how healthy their plants were and what profuse yield tomatoes, chillies, guavas were all offering.
She had an interesting math to offer..requirement of veggies per family is only 300gms and this shouldn't cost beyond Rs.1500 per month! Why cant one spend on this amount for their health and for the sake of farmers livelihood she question. She is indeed strong in numbers, I shud say..she even reduces the land requirement to numbers. Going by her order and sale of veggies in each bazaar she says she just has to plan(t) 5 kuntas..and plan it in cycles – in 4 plots (totaling to 20 kuntas) from which she can cater to one Bazaar each year. Today she runs 3 such bazaars at different locations in Pune!
She, the typical enterprising lady, also has lotsa value additions especially out of unsold veggies..they are sun dried, packed and sold..some are made in to pickles..many sold as cut vegetables too! Smart, eh?
It was great to see the efforts of her team but what lingers around in my mind is why only partial conversion of her large chunk of land? What ever the reason be (lack of labour, maintenance, large extent) it doesnt gel with the serious reason that pushed her organic! Still a laudable and appreciable effort.

House of Kodai

One of the most fortunate things that has dawned on me after this ‘retirement’ and wedded to agri causes (the organic or sustainable ones) is that we get invited to so many fantastic organic farms..in beautiful locales..incredible achievements, phenomenal people, out of the world farming techniques beckon us..
I said above that we get invited..pl include ‘getting invited’ also as a category..on hearing of good fabulous farms me and W do get ourselves invited and launch ourselves there..

One such farm is the House of Kodai..one heard of Karthik long back with his ingenious ‘Basket of Kodai’ idea..then we at restore get some plums, bananas and other stuff from HOK..later we hear that that the inimitable F is also there..F is known for her extraordinary baking & cooking skills incidentally..so more reasons to go.. meanwhile K & F send restore some pickles and jams in some matchless packing..(am sure its F’s hand)

So more reason to visit..but plans don’t lead to visits, u know..i have been promising K since last year that we will land up there in the next opportunity..KSY, other tours, some advocacy issues, other GM fights, restore tasks all play up in this perennial postponement..
And suddenly in August mid we steal a couple of days and go to Kodai..and so stay over in HOK..oh? did I say Kodai? No its only when we went there we found that it was Switzerland..or prolly a cut paste..
It was very swiss like locale and their practices and style all were very unique and added to my swiss memoirs..
It’s a beautiful piece of land overlooking a ‘north face’ like ‘grindelwald’ type hill range..
A stream running on its edge of their land, recent rains having made this whole place more than a green heaven..
Add to that K & F’s hospitality..one of the best in recent past..
K also ventured in to telecom a bit..out of sheer selfish need to get himself a broadband (for net access) he brings in some wireless equipments and weaves his magic- in the midst of no-where, (since it was surrounded by hills alla round there was no solution earlier..) he gets broadband..This solution especially working with the local youth attracted so many eyes and even the normally immovable BSNL was moved! They have now asked him to use his ‘technology’ to offer to any one who asks for in Kodai and may be scale up to other places..
So this place also is beyond farming..since it is telecom that attracts me more..I really wish it does go places, for all his perspiration!
Add to that K’s popularity all over the Kodai hills..
So we could just go around visiting many more farms and lotsa interesting org farmers..
A memorable trip..inimitable folks..one of the best farms I visited in the recent past..NO! Iam not going to get in to their organic farm, produce, techniques etc..
If I were to build a house in an eventual farm that I will settle, I will copy this house- kitchen, bedroom, balcony overlooking the hill, swiss-like wooden benches and the bath!
Actually I can write one long piece only on that bathroom..i can see F’s stamp on it..This is the best bathroom I have ever used..mind u, I have traveled really wide..across the globe and easily more than 100 organic farms across India and to say this I must be more than convinced..The best bathroom ever..may be I might even opt to just stay there in that bath next time..since Iam still traveling fotos incl those of bathrooms shall be posted only later..but their blog and site has some fotos i guess..
Till then keep checking here..
Please don’t ask me for their address, phone number etc..Iam not going to give that..if u ‘qualify’ u shall get to go there..

Ragi in the SRI way!

The regulars here know our association with PR and the numerous visits. Each time is fun and new learning out there. Infact W and me go there often as farm labour volunteers. (ok, we havent been as often as we would like, but still..)
This time it was ragi transplanting..we were excited bcos it was to be done the SRI way..(fellow restorer and good friend rajeev had documented about madagascar method aka SRI long back here) There is the official sri site too here!
Today SRI is no more associated to just rice..there is the wheat grown using this method.experts these days say it is - System of Root intensification..rightly so..the root intensification and hence the advantages are plenty..
But to try that for ragi( Finger millet) is a novelty!

so we were excited..but to handle a 10 day old sappling and transplant is amazing..but the care taken means its a slow process..single sappling at 8 inches or a span apart..This was done in a heavily mulched part of the land. a 10th of an acre took us all a good amount of time..Its always fun to do anything with Sriram, Karpagam, Siddarth and DV!

and then another great event happened the next day!
guess what that is?or was??




yeah..poo! its human poo composted and absolutely no smell! be assured..its such a great feeling that human waste is int wasted actually but composted and surrendered to land as fertiliser!
see this and more on ecosan toilets in the same web site.

Fukuoka’s dream: Do nothing Natural Farm on the outskirts of Bangalore!

N R Shetty, one of the founders of Sahaja Samrudda (a grassroot organization working to convert farmers to organic farming, help them sell thru their outlet and also establish seed banks) lives his dream! In the outskirts of Bangalore, in nelamangala..A fantastic 1.25 acres farm called Nava Nandana, this is a heaven created with nothing but nature and efforts of Shetty and his wife.

It’s a ‘do- nothing” farm like we all hear and read, often quoting Masunobu Fukuoka, that is being practiced here with ease.
This land/grove is only rainfed. There is no bore well or electricity (for farming purpose!)..so no irrigation or watering plans..its all taken care of by the rains/nature. Even for their drinking and washing purposes, rain water is harvested! A 20000 litres capacity sump collects all the rain water and that is the only water source for their living! This is to serve them between rains which could at worst be 3-4 months!

This is more of horticulture farm, obviously.
Do-nothing-farming does involve a lot of initial work and patience. Of course they did water (using ingenious drip technics like placing earthen pots neck deep in soil next to the roots zone or by burying small pipes vertically and pour very little water thru them directly to the roots zone!) in the initial days. All this only for the first 2 years of planting and only in the 3 summer months. That was a full 6 years ago!

Now this is a green heaven (not a square inch of soil exposed to the sky – lots of perennial legumes aka nitrogen fixers), with so many fantastic trees, plants and more useful green manure usually called the weeds by the ‘educated’ and universitywalas! Most of the trees one gets to see here is planted..of course some by birds!
In all some 35 fruit varieties, some timber trees, lotsa shorter duration plants, fence tress, fodder ones like Glyrecedia, greens, creepers, vegetables, are all there. Amazing number of diverse tree species in 1.25 acres.
They also grow some pulses and grains like ragi. So only some items like rice, oils come from outside world.

There are varieties of small cute ideas implemented to enable various beneficial activities in the farm. Simple inverted coconut shells to attract and house wasps, intelligent mixing of plants like castor to attract the pests towards itself, casurina trees that act as wind breakers and are home to fungi etc. The outer periphery had various trees to act as wind breakers and a trench to trap rain water and prevent erosion.

The sapota we plucked and had from the trees were one of the sweetest I have had in my life. As they say the fruits from rainfed wud be the sweetest! How true!!
There was the tree (creeper) potato to satiate the exotic’s thirst!

Shetty cutely says “ if you provide shelter and food (for other organisms like in a fence crop etc) our shelter and food shall not be disturbed or touched”. How prophetic and true!
Simple philosophy is to let nature ‘be’ and he says its so easy and u can never go wrong.

By far, one of the best natural farms visited in all these years. The catch is the number of species and the green cover one sees here.

Way to go Shettyji! Fukuoka will be happy.

For fotos see here!

Tea- organic, hand made and hand rolled!

Tea is the largest consumed beverage on this planet, after water ofcourse! Tea is not just a beverage but more than that, as the Swiss would vouch for. There are so many versions of tea that a swiss would consume and sincerely believe it addresses most ailments. (ok, confession, I have believed it too and been a part of it;-))

Tea plants live for at least a 100 years and are hardly propagated naturally any more. BTW, it was a news for me to hear that tea is a tree and not a herb or shrub as one would imagine. This grows over 10 metres in to a big tree, if let free. . It could have come from China but there are so many million hectares covered by this..yes, a dreadful monoculture after all!
We not only abuse it with mono culture practice, but just don’t let it grow to its natural height either. There was a story that I heard which adds to the woes of agriculture, monoculture especially. In the Nilgiris from the time tea was propagated (earliest ones being brought in 1820), the lovely land of grassland and various trees was lost to all but one crop. Nilgiris’ bio diversity being the main sufferer. In effect the huge trees that mingled with the clouds above Nilgiris and helped condensation and hence rain, no more was the scene and so the lesser rains. The other fall out being soil. The grassland arrested the soil erosion and also helped in some water retention before it rolled down from the hills. whereas tea has led to water and soil depletion. And let us forget the ramification of chemicals – fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides, etc. for now that is.

So what was essentially a visit to look at tea, organic at that and especially hand made and hand rolled Organic tea in the Nilgiris, ended up in such ecological awareness.

Kothagiri is a beautiful place in the Nilgiris – away from touritsy ooty. Tea plants probably planted a century back is what is seen as far as the eye can see interspersed with Silver oaks to provide shade. Tea, as said before, is actually a tree (not a shrub) which is pruned regularly (once in four years or so) to make plucking easier and to maintain quality of the tea leaves.

Tea plants can be propagated by seeds or cuttings. Seeds are rare, hybrid saplings are the norm -a variety unimaginatively labeled B661 is what is prevalent.
This is what Nilgiris is full of! A clone from one particular farm is what found all over Nilgiris. The clone from one particular plant - the 61st shrub in the 6th row of a farm called Brooklands or such like!. want to talk of monoculture here? Hmm..

There is, like every where else, a big shortage of labour and tea which is such labour intensive faces it even more pronounced. So as a way of escaping the shortage, mainly thanks to NREGA and other industry/urban run, weedicides are used excessively. Since labour is a must for harvest (there is very minimal mechanization in harvest front ) weedicides are used to avoid labour employment in de-weeding. So Round up and cancer are increasing phenomenon here now.
Small and large farmers alike use weedicides to kill whatever else dares to grow between their precious tea shrubs and pesticides are also sprayed in abundance esp for the red spider “pests” which is prevalent. Ofcourse these red spiders are less in organic farms and easily controlled with bio-methods.
Essentially the teas are either China or Assam variety. Assam ones have broader leaves. Assam has more liquor (strength?) as they call it and grows in low lying areas too. World wide Darjeeling tea is rated the best. The altitude out there is just right it seems.
The tea leaves are harvested every 15 days- the top 2 leaves and the bud is what is harvested. When I tasted it, I found so much similarity to neem leaf. Seriously! On average a kilo of leaves fetches Rs11/-.
These green leaves then are withered, heated, rolled, then ready!
Green tea- is not withered but steamed or pan roasted and sold. This is supposedly more healthy with anti-oxidant property being the steal.
CTC is crush tear and Curled and Orthodox is the old process.
But what we get in market Blended! The last quality and blended will ofcourse be blended not with best for customer but best for business economics.

Now to Organic! SLOE is a 10 acre organic farm owned by our courteous hosts Ramesh babu and Susheela. There is a strong belief (myth?) that tea can be organic only in huge acreage and not in small holdings. To break this and to ensure many small planters can and should venture organic Ramesh Babu is trying to set an example- economical and ecological.
Theirs is a fantastic 10 acre land beautifully surrounded by reserve forest on 3 sides and a deep ravine on one end. So not even the run off from neighbouring lands add chemical unmindfully in to theirs. Their farm looks very different because it has a variety of trees and lots of plants (weeds?) grown and also has grass in-between. This grass was cited as a reason to reject subsidy for them by the Tea board! (oh! The ‘educated’ and ‘university specialists’ can only encourage ‘fast forward’ practices, not eco-friendly ones). BTW the subsidies for tea is a big story that has to be reserved for another post.

Before machines were invented for tea processing, tea was rolled by hand for centuries in China, Japan etc. At SLOE they hand roll their tea, and this is a very laborious, exacting and highly time consuming process. Tea rolled at body temperature gives the best quality, as opposed to machine rolled teas which generate high temperatures, due to the high volume of tea and the high speed of the machine. The high temperature interferes with the enzyme activity in the tea. Modern tea factories produce thousands of kilos of tea daily. Small organic ones can only make around One kilogram of handrolled tea daily.(Scaling up production of this product is not an easy affair, if QUALITY has to be maintained). One character of this tea, is that the Leaf regains its original shape and size, and greenish colour after steeping. Thus Organic hand rolled Tea is a speciality. And if you value quality, organic, traditional methods- consuming organic hand rolled is the way.
Once you taste organic tea you will realise that all this colour, fragrance, strength that are advertised by the industry,are all external characters (obviously more chemicals and unhealthy entrants)

Did you know adding MILK is a NO NO for Tea! The right way is to just pouring hot water in to tea leaves, then cover it and let it steep. In the process witness the leaves unfurl. From now on drink tea like Tea connoisseurs – without sugar or milk and prepared as said above.

Now where do you get it? For Organic hand rolled tea or hand made tea which is made without any mechanization but hand rolled and hand processed, go to restore. We at restore get them from SLOE, Kothagiri, from Ramesh babus organic farm all processed by manually by him and his wife.

Extraordinary couple!

How would u like it if some one or other comes
-to charge a battery
-to get some medical attention (one days medicine and attending cost is Rs2/- yes, two rupees!)
-Asking for some local/nattu medication for some ailment
-to take some traditional farm equipments on rent (ofcourse nominal rent)
-to get some seeds
-to get some advise on value additions or to plan next crop etc
-to get some electrical or electronic repairs
-to get some minimal lathe work (like welding or minor repairs) done for free or low cost
-to ‘buy’ some value added products like bringraj thel, tooth powder, herbal golis, etc
-some kids come regularly asking for the free notebook, pens, pencils?

Reading all this what do u make of this place?
By any chance an organic farm??

That’s Dhirendra Soneji’s and Smita Soneji’s fabulous farm!
This is one extraordinary couple who were professors in an Engineering college at Ahmedabad. When they were in their early 30s (25 years back) they asked themselves this great question ‘whats important for/in life?’.
They quickly arrived at ‘health’ and so the question of ‘what are we doing here in a city then’ came up.
They decided there was no sense in making money as that could’nt get them the required health nor satisfaction. The city or the urban life style will not help it too. So they decided to take it in to their hands, literally.
So they decide to buy a piece of land in some rural corner and practice agriculture and to take care of their health. So all in one shot. Health, simple living, controlling own destiny, healthy n tasty food, happy living.
Man! They are having all that now and its only increasing:-)
This 2.5 acre land that they bought from their total savings (actually they had to postpone their decision of moving by an year to save that much funds) was near Rajpipla, a quaint village called Saakwa with some 100 households (total population 500 in this predominantly adi vaasis village). From there on their journey is so interesting. They build their house with minimal stuff but beautifully, use Humanure and Gobar for cooking and lighting,
Some solar was added later and in the recent past one point electricity connection is taken to support the sons’ computer requirements. Their acumen and learning help them plan everything they wud need for their food and so make a great sustainable plan. All the prudent multi and mixed cropping and half acre of fruit trees is only for self consumption. They don’t even sell milk.
Many organic farms are sustainable and out of the grid, but this one has stretched that beyond all imagination. They even grew cotton and hand weaved and made their own clothes too. That’s why they are rated so high. They reached 60% self sufficiency in the 1st year and now they are at 90%. In a place with 14 inch rainfall they harvest 8 grains, 8 pulses, 25 types of veg n fruits, 5 tubers and spices (like turmeric, Dhaniya, methi, ajwain). 200 flora species in all that invite some 70 brid species. All this in a 2.5 acre farm!
But Wait! There are more facets that make them soar even higher.

The fact that such a decision was taken when they were just 30 years old is incredible.
They also decided not to send their kids to school but educated them, themselves. Every thing that the kids wanted was given. Plus these 2 were always there to teach them farming, other basics and languages. The kids are now grown in to well groomed adults who not only have mastered farming but are also well equipped in to many facets like computers (ofcourse social networking too), alternate energy and lots of other skills. I could meet only Vishven who in my opinion is gearing for future articles to be written on him!
Dhirendraji, as I told earlier, is a maverick who is muliti talented. He not only learnt agriculture but also was a king of many other skills like lathe, machining, design, all round knowledge. Smita ben would not only freak out with her cooking but in many other areas lke traditional medicine, preparation of many new/traditional stuff, preserving seeds and ofcourse participates in farming activities too. So between them they cater to a village! Talk of being self sufficient, within a family!
Dhirenji would also make lotsa implements, tools useful for farming and hence many farmers who cant afford buying or making, rent it from them. Yes, they do plough their land bcos there is more Calcium in the soil and hence hardens and doesn’t allow water to seep in. the roots do not get to grow well, he said and hence they need to plough. So more areas for him to innovate and design tools and implements!
While there are many things he has designed and made (manufactured) himself, the unbeatable stuff IMO is his handy oil mill!
It’s an amazing machine which has an efficiency of 35% for the seeds like Till, Groundnut etc (meaning if u mill 1kg, u get 350ml of oil where as the industry norm will be 400-450ml!). so whats amazing, eh? The normal output apart from oil is the oil cake (punnakku in tamil) but in his case u get the seed -a bit crushed- but can be used as a grain (for cooking ofcourse not as seed!). I was lucky to try 1 kg of till (sesame) and we got 350ml with our hand power and the till that was got after the process was very much in shape and Smitaben stored it. (will be used for chutney powder and in some dishes!)

Dhirendra soneji and Smita ben are so cool about all this and only think any one who admires them only has to try it and thnk it’s the right way ahead.
Dhirenji infact asked me in all seriousness “ if u think so high of what we do and of organic farming, why are u going around and not doing it yourself? Don’t u think the farmers will feel, why this fella who is not practising it himself is telling us? Don’t u think there are enough NGOs to spread this awareness”. Right! That’s the best thing to do and that’s where W & me wud head finally..but for now, I wish to use my networking skill and energy to popularize it and spread the awareness. Like how I changed for good and realized the benefits of organic/natural farming, health aspects, traditional practises, etc I wish I can help some more convert.

some fotos here!

Bhaskar Save – a legend!

He is 89 and still active. One of the oldest (organic) farmers in India, most revered and a fountainhead of knowledge. He has been practising organic farming since 1956. He is a must see for any one taking to farming and his farm kalpavruksha should be visited- likened to pilgrimage.
Another person influenced by Gandhiji! This list of people across many fields influenced by Gandhiji amazes me.

Saveji was an exemplary chemical farmer in the early 1950s. When there were not many who took to chemical farming in those days, his farm was a ‘sample farm’ the fertilizer industry would bring people to. He was a ‘progressive farmer then:-0 but the point is he was always outstanding.
Suddenly he happened to read some points of gandhiji and the turn around (as well as reasoning) happened. From then till date kalpavruksha is an amazing natural farm. From water conservation to mulching to using weeds to the unique way of using crotons to identify the water needs of plants around to intelligent pest management thru mixed cropping – it’s a delight. A farm even the great Fukuoka said was better than his own, when he visited Kalpavruksha!
Saveji has numerous suggestions to make from his vast experience. He backs them all with heavy interesting statistics that one cant ignore what he says. One can fill this whole space with so much of info.
So here I go, only with some of the fabulous quotes of his.
- gandhijis 4 diktats about non violence, no right to kill other creatures, respect to mother earth, adopting traditional practices was the reason for his turn around.
- prakruti hi parameshwar
- When there is lack of knowledge, ignorance masquerades as ‘science’
- Weeding, Chemicals, cultivation expenses like tractor, etc and pesticides constitute 20% of the expenses each.
- Trees/plants donot take anything from the soil unlike the general wisdom. He went on to prove this by taking a pot with 9kg of soil and grew water melon. This grew and gave 2 fruits – 3& 5 kg (8 kg totally). Then he took the full plant and weighed it, which was 600gms. The soil after drying weighed 9kg again!
- Evaporation of water is like distillation and it leaves behind concentrated salt on the soil which was the main factor for loss of soil fertility.
- During and just after the I world war, British (and the farming community) didn’t bother about agriculture and so there was a sudden dip in production. This gave way to Chemical fever.
- Fruits and seeds comprise only 10-15% the rest is all designed to be given back to mother earth!
- vikas nahi vinash! (It aint development but destruction! While talking on the supposed development)
- if farmer becomes bikari the nation wud become bikari too
- we have no right to tamper with nature, it will take care of itself well if we don’t mess
- sarvodaya Vs Sarvanash
- With all this abundant use of pesticide have the pests vanished? Why isn’t any one asking??
- Soil took lakhs of years to form and how can we have short term plans for it?
- Except Humans all live their life, don’t disturb nor affect themselves or other creatures. and they don’t trade either.
- Earth worm is a great being, that works 24X 7. In a day it comes up to the surface 10-12 times to get O2 and to excrete.While it eats on the soil and all wastes that we put, it nourishes the soil so well. There can be up to 4 lakhs earthworm per acre. Each time it comes out it digs 2 holes (tilling any body?) so 2holes x 10 times x 4 lakhs!! 72 crores holes in a crop cycle on average per acre.
- Earthworms during their action do not disturb any of the fibrous roots but tilling would.
- BTW compost is NOT food for forest. Its food for the micro organisms of the soil.
- Trees need moisture not water! More water actually arrests aeration.
- Just like us, the roots also need to breathe and so excess water is unproductive. Prolonged flooding lets the roots to rot and it takes so much time to recoup even after the water drains or dries. Rice being the only exception.
- The water used to irrigate one acre of chemically grown sugarcane can provide the needs of atleast 25 acres of jowar, bajra or maize. Add to this the consumption at the sugar factories. 1 kg of refined sugar would need 3 tons of water. With this water 250 kg of millets can be grown.
- bcos of dams, theertha shetras became Naraga shetras.
- 40% of microbes and earthworms die in the 1st year of chemical farming. Due to this inadvertent introduction of organic (dead) matter on to the soil, the yield increases, in the 1st year. 3rd to 4th year on it reduces. So the introduction of ‘fiddled ‘ seeds, more chemicals, more water, more of everything and so more debts too!
- Of all the creatures 99% are non-vegetarians and the rest 1% is vegetarian. To avoid this 1% we spray so much of harmful chemicals where as the 99% wud have had enough predators to finish them off naturally.
- Instead we killed these helpful non-veg insects and so the vegetarians are freaking out on our crops.
- Chikkoo (sapota) lives for 3000-4000 years! One such 4000 years tree planted by the portugese is seen at silvassa!
- A very insightful, practical and amazing plan to reap the best out of mixed cropping by him is to mix the alpa jeevi (short duration crops, 2-6 months), Madhyama jeevi (medium duration, 2-12 years) and deerga jeevi (long term, 50-1000years) in such a way that the long term are on the outer periphery and as u go inside towards the centre u have the madhya and alpa jeevis.
Something important: When he shifted from chemical to organic way back in 1956, he had 50% yield only but expenses was a meager 10% of the prev year’s. In 5th year he had achieved 100% and from then it only increased.
His recipe for a sujalam suphalam India is to throw 3 things away; namely Agri university, Agri ministry and cricket.

Savejis open letter to M.S.Swaminathan, the great architect of “green revolution” is very [popular and is floating around all over the internet.
For the 1st letter to MSSwaminathan, see here:
Ofcourse he got a typical bureaucratic, diplomatic (read silly) reply from MSS!
For the 3rd letter see here:

Note: I do have lotsa photos including the great Fukuoka's pictorial comments in his visitor's book. But it can only happen later when I reach home.

Note2: for a cute write up and some photos on the same, check out here. Its with Sriram and Karpagam that i visited this farm and Ahmedabad.

Ideal couple- raghu and Nisha!

This has been happening in the recent past. I hear of good folks, great projects, sooper farms, etc. Many times such people/project/farm is already in my to-do list or I have heard and been mulling going over..
And suddenly some friend, like Arya Bhaskar did that day, will make a call and put me through.
So this happened few days back when I was in Coimbatore. So this is a new ‘back to the land’ couple..ok 1.5 years can be new still aint?
As I talk to them I feel comfy and have a feeling that they remind me of the inimitable couple at point return- Sriram & Karpagam and the mention of a low cost eco friendly house in the lines of laurie baker style I decide to go there the very next day.
As expected we gel as friends at the very sight and casually talk about various stuff..so more common friends fall in line and common idea(l)s also come out..
They have been very closely associated with charityfocus.
Raghu in his inimitable style narrates how charity focus evolved and its founder Nipun’s master strokes..he also touches up on how they both got involved and get sold by the ‘gift economy’ and ‘pay-it-forward’ philosophies.Ragu is the brain behind smile cards. A little more time and we discuss seva café, karma kitchen and some more common friends. They are also big fans of DV of Point return, like me. more brownie points to them.
(correction/update: Nisha says raghu is not the brain behind 'smile cards; but a lead volunteer. So I stand corrected even if they were trying to be modest)
So these two now have chosen a beautiful location – in the outskirts of Coimbatore and are practicing natural farming. So more reason for us to be in touch and visit too!
Their knowledge is amazing..their passion fabulous..involvement absolute..conviction simply great! An amazing couple..full of knowledge and assimilation..great ideas, cool outlook. Time flies when we are with them..so many topics touched..so much shared..
Be it soil or a bore pump or wood or architecture or raised beds or native trees or water conservation or what not?
There are so many quotes one can collect in the process. The best for the day for me was (what his agri contact- a traditional local farmer told him apparently) : This is Agri-culture not agri- business! So it has to be like our culture and tradition. So stop thinking of it as business all along! prophetic words, eh?

another stand out for me was they actually planted tree saplings in the trenches. right in the pits.Normally we see the saplings on the ridges of the trenches, on the piles of soil on the sides. Here they plant them inside. This way they say moisture retention is higher, wind affecting the saplings is lesser and more importantly the saplings that have come from the comforts of nursery cant take sudden torrid sun for long hours. Since the saplings shall be in the pit, for most part of the day the plant isnt exposed to direct sun. another advantage being routing water.That was a Revelation.

Since there shall be more to come from them, for now do with browsing their blog here.
There are some photos, but they come once I download from my mobile.so thats for another day.

one question lingers on though- why is it that the women of these organic couples are far more intelligent and well informed?

update: No post about Ragu and Nisha can be complete without mentioning Om, their cute son. But I had plans to write later about Om, their plans of his education (unconventional style) like many other organic farmers are doing. Though that shall happen later, lemme not be blamed for leaving out Om. He is already freaking out and I can only imagine what he shall become with their plans of educating him in their farm and not sending him to school. N said 'if our training him fails, the alternative is not school but different teacher or mode'. am looking forward.

Amazing Ashok!

Long back when I received a call from this gman stating he wanted to talk to me on organic farming, I was stunned..He said he got my number from his brother who was my school mate..firstly I never thought any of my school mate wud take me seriously and pass my contact..so to receive a call in this context was a stunner!
Then when I asked him his reason, he said ‘ u know I was born brought up in Neyveli- very close to nature..’ hey I see some similarity and my antenna went up..This fella apparently had a thriving business, some slip and slowly he loses interest in business..so is just about carrying it on to satisfy his bare needs and is devoting more time in agriculture..that too natural farming! Following palekar’s school..hmm, sounds really interesting..another youngster, back to land, bla bla..
So wanted to meet him..
That happened during my visit last week to Coimbatore.. CBE brings lots of memories for me including my college days when we used to visit for TIES (inter engg sports) or some culturals..then when I was working in palghat we used to travel once a month atleast to have ‘good plate meals’.. the greenery and nice hospitable people with their respect toasted tamizh was always very novel to me..
again to CBE after long and i get to see hosts of nice courteous typical people..
It was really so nice to hear and see what Ashok is doing..He has just leased out a land and has turned that whole property in to a great piece..
What was a dying and non-performing coconut grove at Seerapalyam has been turned by his natural zero budget ways..he had so many insightful statements to make..(damn my memory)
This 10 acres of coconut farm got its Naatu maadu (indeginous cow) first..then he started cutting trenches between the trees (9” away from the trees)..then filled the trenches with the falling coconut branches, used shells and any green manure..then on the bunds of the trenches and inbetween tress he planted dicots (like toor, till, horse gram,etc) which fixes Nitrogen in the soil and enriches the soil. He could immediately see that the leaves of the coconut turned greener in 6 months! There were Glyricedia too- serving as fodder & green manure.
Termites were welcome here in this farm. He said termites don’t eat green living trees..when they go up such trees they only seek out dead parts and prey on them, so again helping. The biggest advantage of termites is they dig deep in to the soil thus aerating upto 6 metres or more underground.
There was abundant inter cropping that he has planned..in few cents it is plantains, then its onion, groundnut, chilly, cowpea, radish etc.. The general rule being big tree, medium, plant, shrub and a creeper! A nice 5 layer that helps the land, coexists and is fruitful too!
There is so much of humus he has managed in the last year..again a stat that he mouthed : 1 kg of humus retains 6 litres of water..so imagine the water retention and how much gap one can give between watering cycle.
Castor was planted too and that was bcos it wud attract all pests that wud have otherwise attacked the intercrop!
There were some Moringa (drumstick) too.. that helps improve pollination I was told..It attracts lotsa bees, pests and that is welcome in natural farming..
He said the number of birds and butterflies have visibly increased in the last few months..hmm, nature returning to its old best..
He is also plan(t)ing various greens, brinjal, tomato, radish etc as intercrop in other parts..fantastic experiment..I see dividends coming..
Very insightful..very satisfying..am impressed and glad..
I asked him what if the friend (owner)from whom he has leased this land wants to sell this land..he coolly said its already in the process..the prospective buyer has not executed it fully and so he continues..what if that buyer doesn’t practice agriculture or doesn’t allow you to continue..he says ascetically that its ok..’then I will move on and look at other options..but it will be natural farming for sure..’
He also has developed a good network of organic/natural farmers and along with a few friends organizes farmers’ events and training programs.
Good luck buddy..wish you get returns in all forms soon..
very few fotos here..poor me..had only my mobile and so poor quality as well as quantity:-(

Ashvattha farm

It was not a gloomy trip to Ooty inspite of the damages..
Arvind & Gayatri along with Mahesh (a well known bio dynamic farmer/consultant) have leased a 10 acres of land in a picturesque locale near connoor and are practicing organic farming.
So there is hope for some correction to the damages we cause to the nature..
They have planned a good neat organic farm trying to make it economically viable too. That way they want to take up more land, practice natural farming and soon live their reforestation dreams too.
They have a precision like plan for this farm where they will have almost all the hill veggies and medicinal herbs too and plan a neat rotation for consistency and continuity of the veggies to market. They are interested in supplying to organic shops like restore mainly and the rest locally. Local consumption is an insurance they say esp in days of no transport or nature's vengeance. Logical I thought!
Arvind has lotsa ideas. Coming from IT background, backed with some wide travel, reading and big dreams n hopes, they tread very carefully and with precise plans..supported by a very understanding & well informed wife Iam sure they will go a long way. I wish them all luck.
BTW such forays by youngsters is what gives me hope! and motivation too.
See here for some fotos..
Note: Long back when I started planning my ‘retirement’ I thought I would settle in some small farm in a hill station..for I was always put off by the hot clime of Madras..So am glad that Arvind & co are doing what I dreamt..Though he has not fully settled in ooty now, I see that coming..so am really happy for him..

Hats off Roy!

Roy Jacob, our protagonist, was born & brought up in The US of A!. A texan to the boot, till 5 years back that is, Roy was a happy 2nd generation (or 3rd?) NRI, happily working in some IT dept as a consultant at Enron (where else can the contradiction dawn- to make it a perfect switch?) Roy was interested in Gandhian philosophies and was an avid reader of anything to do with Gandhi. Slowly reality caught up. Firstly he was not very happy with his chasing money life style and then the controversies & contradictions of the US polity & ofcourse Enron’s role in most parts started hitting. Then the Iraq war was the last straw as roy started thinking, is he after all supporting some 1000s being bombed at some other part of the world. So he quit, came to India and visited many places associated to Gandhi like wardha, Gandhi institute, auroville & other ashrams .
Then he wanted to live close to nature, live of his own work and most of all lead a very simple Gandhian life. Now this word Gandhian has become an adjective by itself for a frugal, simple, eco-friendly, truthful way of living- what ever one’s view of Gandhi is.
So our hero decides to live off a small piece of land. After a good hard training in a 3 cents piece he buys a 20 cents piece of land at Wayanad and settles there. For an idea, 100 cents is one acre, so this is one fifth an acre. There he constructs a small hut/house for himself. When I say constructs, its literally! He got help only for some intricate parts like the foundation and cross beams(?) of the structure. Rest all was hand made by him. So he is one person I know who can claim “I built a house”. He has this cute small hut with a small cute bedroom too in that! (see the foto!) He parades me in there with such pride and shows me the bedroom saying he wud sleep over that room in summer and inside in winters! Then there are the functional windows that would open out from the main wall which is ofcourse bamboo and such like. A nice earthen and natural house. A small stove on the ground (see if you can make out the stove adjoining the bedroom wall in that foto?) where he cooks his own food.
So what of the raw materials for his food?
He farms himself. Ofcourse organic! In the remaining place of the 20 cents our man performs agriculture. He grows his own rice, vegetables, tapioca etc. rarely he buys from outside. Many days he just lives on jack fruit.
In essence he lives off his small piece of land, literally.
He tries out various styles in his farm and by now has accumulated so much of knowledge on organic farming. He prepares his land himself. Plants and transplants all alone. De-weeds, maintains, waters, harvests – hey everything on his own. I even feel tired thinking and typing this:-)
He spoke of danger and other Nitrogen fixing plants (like cow pea, soya,, sun hemp) which is what he had now. Also about his trial of Fukuoka method of sowing along with a harvest! (remember clay balls – fukuoka style?) Now he would immediately sow/transplant 3 traditional varieties of paddy that will see him thru the next few months and take care of his rice needs the rest of the year!
When I asked him if it wouldn’t be boring he said “ infact a regular office work or an agri labour job could bore. Here I have to explore and experiment regularly. Each day is new and challenging. The minute I think its boring I have plenty of option to switch over to another task For eg if deweeding is boring, I can immediately think of watering, mulching or something else. Its co-creation with nature. Exploring is the order of the day. Its fun. You never get tired of it”
Phew..aint that too much?
Iam amazed at the knowledge he has amassed and the ease with which he states lotsa facts. To think that he was born brought up in plush western conditions without even an idea of how and where farming is done! Most importantly there is no air of achievement or cockiness but just matter of fact statements. So cool and admirable guy, this Roy! Hats off to him. Iam so happy & glad I visited him, his farm and the farm house(!) at wayanad!

Another day I shall post about his tribal neighbours, the small theft that happened and his next plans now.

Another farm..

Not another farm, this one I visited this Sunday!
Heavenly..it was sweet & fun unlimited..
It was a very harsh & busy 2 weeks I had and thought I shud just lie low and rest the full day this Sunday..but like an addict I had my tremors as I realized I had not visited an organic farm for sometime now.
So W & me set off to this special farm 100kms from Madras. 100 acres of mangoes, chikoos, amla etc. Mangoes it was mostly and and scores of varieties.
As we just entered Mr.Bharathi the owner of this grand farm asked if we want a juice. I nodded thinking anything cold is welcome this hot noon time. He comes out with 2 mangoes to us and presses it on all sides and offers saying ‘just bite at one end and suck up all the juice. One can also place a straw in the hole and drink it easily’. Hmm..a straw in to a fruit! That was a delicious welcome drink!
A man who has not used any chemicals ina farm that has only fruits is a great feat. Not to use any chemical treatment to ripen them was just incredible. Infact he hardly plucks the fruits..he waits for them to fall off, ripe!!
Except when we ask for some semi ripe ones like I asked for restore sake.
What all types! How differently luscious and sweet! Rumani, sindura, juicewala(called rasalu), bangalora, banganapalli, kaala body, malgova, Himam pasand to name some of what I ate there..just pluck eat..unimaginable.
Then we went to the parts where sapota (chikoo) were planted and so hogged on them for a change!
A memorable day! I don’t think I can ever forget this day when I ate so many mangoes in record time and relished till the last piece.
Some small favors for the farm visits carried out for restore, eh?
BTW we hardly saw any insects! Nor did we see any plant/tree wanting any special attention or with some pest or disease attack! Infact Bharathi voices his concern that he wants some insects to happen. He says that shud be some interesting challenge but since the soil and seed are great in his case theres no disease. In fact the rare occasion that his trees got some infection last year all farmers around suggested him some heavy dose of chemical..but he didn’t budge. He called his mentor (an agri officer) who asked him to just dilute maida and spray. So these maida paste(diluted) went and got stuck to the leaves to which the insects were attracted and so got stuck. They either became easy pick for the birds or they got stuck in to those small sticky maida pieces. Then the next day of sun heated all these pieces and they would fall off like dosas from a hot pan! So simple, eh? Ingenious ways, incredibly working solutions. Still we seek to nasty & costly solutions. (below: Bharathi posing proudly with his nellikai yield and the mango hanging all





over.)

Siddamma

Its mixed- the feeling; its multiple- the incidents that led to meeting her;
its amazing- the feeling after meeting her; its tons of hopes- what she infuses in to one after a good long interaction.

Siddamma is an great woman who has so many (in)credible achievements in her kitty. When she was very young (<10?) she was attacked by a bear which has resulted in loss of an eye and aesthetic looks. To grow with such an incident and loss from so early stage of life to what she is today is Himalayan!
She is well known for her works with Irula tribes. That she has done so much to that tribe is renowned but that she has taken to organic farmer since the last 3 years is a news to many. I might have missed out meeting her when she visited Zurich in 2004 (inspite of my friends Chidu & Sathya informing n inviting me then) but am thankful to W and others who were instrumental in my meeting her now and visiting her organic farm near Thiruthani!
What a farm it was! A great piece of land picturesquely sandwiched by hills on all sides. Very scotish locale..The enthusiasm with which she partakes in all farm activities, the way she plays host and flummox u with hospitality, the ease with which she makes you feel very homely..words fail me..so one has to visit the farm (while she is there) to derive the 200% value.
Theres plenty of place to stay. Plenty to do. Our group happily participated in planting vegetable saplings in a new veg garden she had designed with the help of Ramesh (one of Dr.Nammalwar’s disciples). He was a big lotto for us all- for he was so informative, incisive and had a natural sense of humor.
In all it was an extraordinary experience. Organic farm and more!

ND update

A forest recreated, an alternate living style redesigned, low cost ecofriendly houses to live, home grown fruits and veg – u think Iam dreaming right?
NO! I am talking about my trip to ND! It’s a great place! To be, to retire or just to visit.
Their food is out of the world- simple, healthy and amazingly tasty!
The Hosur weather I have been told many times is better than Blore and here I saw it to believe! The number of walks that we took around the 100 acres of sprawling ND or the birds we watched in the evenings or the silent hours we spent in those excellent ecofriendly house, hmm..am missing ND already!
The food out there is fantastic- not only healthy and mostly home grown but very innovative, different and tasty!
In an attempt to make a living for the neighbouring villagers, the resident employees and the village (SHG) members have a health food division. This makes lots of healthful snacks and package variety of organic products. The healthy snacks are attractive & tasty apart from being healthy. For instance there is no frying but just dry roasting of nuts in the aval/pounded rice mixture!
Over all it an awe-inspiring place. Add to that the jolly good interactions one can have with Ananthu, Gopalan & others and most importantly the Library with its gems of collection.
Another reason to be there was W’s long time friends (couple) were staying there for some months now and they intend to settle there. How I wish they do and then ND will have more reason for us to visit many more times:-)

NOW - restore bazar at Adyar!

After our now-regular-well known saturday bazar at Besantnagar, restore launches its bazaar in Adyar area!

reStore's Organic bazaar every Tuesday.

Our first bazaar at the new centre will be held this Tuesday Aug. 19th from 5 to 8 pm at
No. 27/ 10, 2nd Main Rd., (Opp. Dr. A G Ramesh, Eye Surgeon) Kasturba Nagar, Adyar Chennai 600020.
The bazaars, as you may be aware, are volunteer-run, facilitating a market for small farmers and producers.

• Farm-fresh Organic vegetables
• Groceries: Rices, Pulses, Nuts, Ragi, Bajra, Jowar, Thinai, Samai, Atta, Cold-pressed Oils, Powdered Jaggery.
• Healthful snacks!

Natural soaps
No synthetic inputs or chemicals were used in the production or processing of these groceries. Please bring shopping bags as we wish to avoid plastic packaging. Return your oil bottles and get Rs. 5 credit.
For more information please visit: http://restore.org.in
Join us for this lively community event. We are looking for volunteers who can help during the week and on the bazaar evening. Contact us if you can help!
Contact reStore:Email: restore_AT_restore_DOT_org_DOT_in

Those of you not in Madras, kindly fwd this to those in whose health you have concern!

Solitude farm & workshop!

So the 10 days of workshop is over and our mind still lingers on those days..
Hard to come out of such an educative and interesting 10 full fun days..
The Solitude farm is one of the many attractive farms within Auroville and is a marvel. This 6 acre organic farm is yet to be fully natural in Krishna Mckenzie’s words. But it’s a fully integrated and sustainable farm with well oiled systems n practices. U name it, u have it here: rice, peanuts, sesame, vegetables, orchard, ulundu, dal, and esp. millets like kambu, samai, varagu, tinai and ragi. We feasted on Samai and varagu (2 fantastic and healthy millets) dishes many days.
One can imagine the planning one needs to get them all in time and periodically. Add to that the manual labour and all other inputs (even though its mostly natural farming.)
Krishna is one of those rare persons (from India) to have worked with Fukuoka the great -the father of natural farming (and organic too in many ways). Krishna also had Fukuoka san's prime disciples visit Solitude.
Krishna is such an enterprising character - bubbly and joyous always. This Brit speaks so good Tamil, one is really floored the first instant itself. He even freaks out with tamil proverbs and refers himself (and some of his friends too) as ‘vellaikaran’ (tamil slang for gora/ whiteman) in a very funny manner. Its so much fun to work with him. No wonder he gets so many volunteers to help him at various times of the year and most keep in regular touch. Such a warm person that he is, even while we bid farewell he just said “don’t even make a call to inform me, just come in any time you feel like..we always have place for visitors”.
That reminds me the exotic places of stay we as volunteers get to live in. W and me stayed in a tree house. Otherwise u have the plenty of capsules ( the ones with keeth/ interlaced coconut leaves roofs ) with stylish windows that open with pulley system – a very natural and aesthetic place to stay.
The whole farm in all ways is natural, like the rooms to stay as said above, 2 pit dry compost toilet, food made from its own produce mostly, water pumped by a wind mill and the only light in the whole farm lit by solar power (or batteries charged from the solar power). So its totally off the grid in all senses and an amazingly functional place.
We did various activities like de-weeding, cutting remnant grasses of the previous season’s rice, sowing, transplanting, making beds for new vegetable garden, soak pit / kitchen garden, clay balls ( seeds are encased in a ball of clay which protects the seeds from the drying , rodents, birds and insects until the next rains help it catch up), moving compost etc. Sowing itself will be in different styles and time consuming.
Its not a joke folks! Its real hard work and if you factor in the sun and heat, its mind boggling. Gym, work outs etc don’t come near this and what a pity we all tend to ignore this tuff labour behind each of the produce we so easily consume!
We also visited various other interesting farms and around auroville, about which another post shall come in days to come. As for the much talked features like cobras, scorpions etc- there were some..but they minded their business as we did ours. So no incidents/ accidents!
To cap it all the other attendees were all gems and people of tremendous achievements and to share their passion, actions, adventures more than made our days, each day, inspite of being long tired ones. A complete and consummate workshop that was!
Oh yeah, fotos! Didn’t carry a camera so am dependent on a couple of friends to send me the ones they took. Once I receive them you will have them all here. Till then just imagine how hard I wud have worked and how beautiful and serene the whole place wud have been

on a sabbatical!

yeah, on hols within hols;-)
am off to auroville for a 10 days workshop on natural farming! Be good till I come back!
Solitude is a 6 acre sustainable farming community in the international township
of Auroville inspired by Fukuoka’s philosophy on Natural Farming and the wholistic vision of Life. we shall be there to be a part of sowing and other related activities on the farm (remember aadi pattam thedi vidhai?).
Basket weaving with cane and palm leaves, Blacksmithing, community cooking, eco-building,
playing music, and exploring a healthy dynamic life together, all beckons us!
There is also no electricity or the internet there but you can see the stars in
the night, hear the birds as you wake up and even encounter the odd Cobra in the bushes!
mmm, am excited and counting down.

Tree Natesan

Or should it have been water Natesan? or organic Natesan?? or pioneer Natesan???

This is another of the interesting persons I met in recent past. Just on the outskirts of Madras near redhills (Karanodai) is a heaven created single handedly by Mr.Natesan! He was a successful engineer business man, with flourishing business in cutting tool and other mechanical areas suddenly flirted towards nature and organic farming..so whats new? Only that this happened in early 80s! Now he stands tall as a pioneer and a man of wholesome wisdom with plethora of anecdotes and experience to share.

In those days when water conservation was never understood (soil wasn’t even considered any ways) he shud have been a visionary to concentrate on these aspects and his farm house is a living proof of what he has created. His unique and single handed efforts in increasing the water table with the dozens of checkdams to arrest surface run off of rain water and digging of pits to store rain water is amazing. The bio diversity he has created hence from a barren land and the ingenious ways by which the pits and water holes help irrigate his coconut groves and his much sought after nursery is a big success story. But that doesn’t really say all the pains he underwent when this long journey started. Today he is a much sought after speaker at various forums and is being invited by various govts (recent being Tanzania) and is rightfully the owner of a proud environmental research centre.
The bio diversity, the number of birds that visit his farm or how bamboo caught up there or his unique mulching techniques and soil conservation methods or natural/organic agri methods will not be covered here..One needs to go there to his farm to have a first feel of all that.
What a man..what a trend to set and what a way to stand tall.. such men are hopes and am privileged to visit, watch and share time with such hopes..am delighted, really!

from one farm to another

Life has been hectic and fantastic simultaneously- jumping from one organic farm to another..that means one interesting person to another..ultimately letting one wonder which is better- the farms or the organic farmers! No, am not going to answer that as am still confused on that..

Prahalad farm is one such impressive organic farm,8 kms before Thiruvannamalai at a place called Kadambai. This one is the ‘dream coming true’ farm of Sumitra who quit her metropolitan desk job (hey, a graphics creator & editor) and went back to her ancestral place. First task was to clear the stretches of Teak trees that had been planted by typical monocroppers as (ill)advised by govt/agri univs in those days. The wood from the 5 year old trees have been put to excellent use in a cool thatched 3 level ingenious construction that is used as living and storage space. The view from the “windows” on the 1st ‘floor’ of this building (if one can call an out and out thatched organic structure so)is wonderful. To add to the ingenuity at this structure, there is the triangular part that shall be opened out with simple rope mechanism. Whats on offer if opened is Arunachala hill on one side and farm on the other.

Most of the trees (Gooseberry, Sapota, coconut, plaintain, Guava, Pomegranate) on this 5 acre farm are young and healthily growing. In true Fukuoka tradition a small portion is left to nature and this part has produced healthy looking winged beans. At first sight there didn’t seem many to pick but once we started there were multiple handfuls of them – we would never find them in shops anymore. She luckily has the full support of her parents who help her in the farm although most of her “inorganic” neighbours don’t see sense in what she does. Her toddler is one of the few lucky toddlers in the world, eating nothing but farm fresh organic produce and having a 5 acre play space he shares with sparrows, crows, earthworms and crabs.

But what really set me thinking is that a new-to-agri young lady had the gumption and foresight to set up a Seed bank of the traditional varieties of rice and other millets. So she has earmarked an area for her seed bank idea(ls). For my part, i shall insist all my friends who visit there to support/fund that idea.
Another insight was how difficult it was to get labourers to work in the farms these days and how she was coping with some volunteers from Auroville (mostly foriegners, so sincere and hard working). That gives me a reason to start a database of volunteers to work at different farms and days shud come where there are more volunteers in my network/database than the number of organic fields around madras.