First Plants Appear on Screen

I was very happy to see the first of the plants coming up.  Subbu had taken these snaps using camera I kept with him for remote monitoring.  Subbu is not a great photographer, but i am correcting him. He has improved. The common mistake everyone makes in digital cameras is that they shake the camera as soon as shuttur is pressed. The secret is to keep a second still even after pressing because the digital cameras set so many parameters before they decided to shuttur down at an arbitary interval which is not in the control of us.




There is nothing compared to Joy of seeing a tender plant in your own field

 


Kannan looking plants that he is tendering every day.  He waters them through muscle power (Hand boring)



As a strategy, Subbu has planted the saplings as follows with my consultation.

Larger tree varities, close to the inner fence with 10 to 15 feet spacing.  Savukku or Casuarina on the southern border to act as wind breaker. Actually I need wind, but I donot want dry wind that will carry away water.  bougainvillea should go close to the fence, all over. Currently I have brought only 100 of them. I need to increase the count after arrnging for water.   Other saplings are as per count and size here and there.

Casuarina is looking so tiny now. I am told this plant is breaking the polythene bagand growing fast in captivity. Therefore Subbu could not hold it stored, and had to be planted. He also had a peculiar observation. It seems some bird has broken the tips of only Casuarina plants. It canot be any animal as it is fenced.




These are awaitng plantation.  Mud has to be prepared. We have decided not to hurry planting them and increase burden of watering.  If I press hard, my lonely worker Kannan will leave me. If I relax, he will relax and project will not move forward. I have to hit a balance.

 

Boring covered with Hand pump.  A small cement tank has been built to catch the water so that pumping and irrigation can be separated.



Even though the tank is small, I am planning to experiment with some fishes.  I asked Subbu to fetch some fish babies (What you call it?) from the KVK in Tuticorin. They did not have any stock.



It was a mixed reaction after seeing the snaps.  Happy to see the plants and sad to find there are two few numbers to begin with. Now I need to seriously think of securing water supply through mechanical means using non-conventional energy if I need to increase numbers.