Sticks for Banana Support

Subbu had brought around 30 sticks (casurina) to give support to Bananas.  I am eager to see how tall the trees have grown and how big Banana fruits are developing.  It seems the weight of the bunch need some external support.

Today they will be put in place.  Each stick cost around Rs. 75/-. Total cost was around 2200/-

Only 12 Plants require such support.  So that is 24 sticks. Balance,  I wanted to be cut into half and used as pillars around the fish tank. I am always worried about the slippery edges around the muddy fish tank.  I wanted to secure with Vettiver. But my coimbatore friend is yet to supply the same.  Vincent P, a Vettiver exponent is feeling tired to travel to his farm. So I have to wait.

Can I bring Vegetable Market Garbage to the Farm ?

Today I happened to see the interview from Lower Bhavani Farmers Association President S. Nallasamy in a TV interview on Farmer's day special. He was worried about the current state of affairs of agriculture in India. Besides many important and very good points that he spoke, one thing hit me hard.

It is about breakage of link between city garbage and farm yard manure after the industrial agriculture era started 40 years back. He said while on the one hand, for lack of manure and ease of application, farmers have switched to chemical fertilizer, on the other hand the cities are heaping piles of garbage

Illustration : Courtesy Internet

without doing anything about it.  Both are bad.

40 years back, the city garbage will be converted into compost mature and supplied to village. The Village inturn will export farm produce to cities. It was a win-win situation.

To put thought into action I spoke to Subbu and restarted the same topic which I left half finished since month.

Earlier, I had assigned him to visit a busy fruit juice shop in Valliyoor, a nearby town and enquire about the leftover fruit cuttings. Subbu had enquired the owner and found that the shop doesnot waste any fruit. Not even the spoilt ones.  The business secret is all of them go into juice making. The only waste is coconut kernal and banana peel. So the attempt was left at that.

Today I assigned him to visit nearby towns vegetable markets and find what they do with their green waste. I must tie up for atleast one lorry load of vegetable market discards a month.  Well that must be brought into the farm and used for generating manure using cowdung solution.  The only expense must be some nominal payment to municipal, loading and the transport.

As a first step and a pilot, a 10 feet by 15 feet brick tank has to be built in the farm.  Digging a pit in the ground is ruled out as it will get filled with water. Moreover I feel the tank should be used for vermi composting also in case...

Why brick ? we have already some leftover bricks and we need to just buy some more.  The bricks must be placed with 3 inches gap between them and cemented to create a grilled appearance for airflow and water out.

Luckily today Paramu, our all round carpenter/mason was available in the farm beside Subbu.  My farm is a great place for them to meet. Otherwise what our lonely Subbu and  Kandan will do?  Today they were attempting to put the Kerosene engine water pump to take some water out of the fish pond for irrigation.   Spoke to Paramu asked him to start the work right away. Estimate around Rs. 10000/-.  The compost tank to be built near the High Tension Electricity Tower as place will not have any buildings or tall trees in future.

Good Job.

*****

I am still a beginner, but friends can't wait

Recently there has been an article published by www.agricultureinformation.com about our Farm. Last year, they contacted for an article. I avoided. But this year, they took more initiatives themselves and compiled a video. Took my permission and published.

So far I have not done anything great. I have not even done 10% of what i wanted to do.  I recall, some time last year, in the shout box i had promised friends that i will document everything I am doing. I am following that principle till date.

But perhaps this may be inspiration for many like me. Therefore I am happy to introduce you to the article.  It can be viewed on the main page of above site. There is also a simple youtube video.  The article will unfold if you click anywhere on the page.

www.agricultureinformation.com

****

Simple Sale of tapioca and farm Update

Illustrated Cassava

As a matter of routine, Subbu mentioned he had harvested 10 KG of Tapioca and sold at Rs. 20/-. A total of Rs. 200/- it fetched.  Some of the tapioca roots were replanted again.  Regeneration is the power of Natural farming.

Yesterday I had purchased an accounting ledger notebook to be sent to Subbu. Hereafter we will starting properly noting down the expenses and income, however small it may be. This will instill discipline.  So far Subbu had been keeping his own notes and I, my own in excel sheet. Seldom will we remember to note the breakup. Atleast for me I will only note the gross expenses as it used to happen in bulk.

Till now I was making capital expenditure for farm development.   Now with the wind pump in place and a small kerosene motor for backup, there is no issue for water.  We are secure with water now.

Not our farm: Illustrated Sugar Cane

I asked Subbu to assure the neighbouring small farmer for water too.   This year we will not let his crop go dry !.

2 KG of onion has been sowed by Subbu through his own planning. This is Onion season.

I asked him to purchase SugarCane (edible black) and sow that too. It should come after Pongal atleast.

There is nothing which stops us from experimenting on Mappillai Samba. We have the seed, the piece of land and the water security.  Subbu is planning to sow Mappillai Samba rice near the cement tank after the newly laid Bananas.  That is a good choice.  It will be done in small quantity to see how it grows.

I am missing the action.  This is the time to be and enjoy on the farm.

******

Mynah Nest atop Windmill

A Mynah Nest is seen inside the windpump rotor.  Subbu told it has live siblings.
Decided not to disturb the family. I donot know how they ignore the rotating shaft

Banana near the tower. 

Current growth of the small patch

Another angle. Seen is the overhead tank into which windpump will fill water

The new batch of banana plants 

Windmill back to Normal, plan ahead Dec, 2014

The windmill has been finally repaired by Subbu and his team (all local).  They have made few attempts shuttling between Valliyoor and the farm welding, mending some of the moving parts and finally fixed it.  Subbu was down with fever for 2 days and hence there was stoppage of work.

Presently the windmill is rotating with excellent speed. The washer in the borewell pump has been replaced. Very minor work is pending.  earlier  it was found that the water was not coming from the well, even after proper operation. Later a faulty valve in the deep of the well was replaced by taking out all the pipes from the borewell. This is a team work and require expertise to lift the entire assembly of pipe one by one. It costs 1500/- for labor.

It has started working just when there is necessary for water.  There is no rain for the past 4 days. The sweet potato is due for its water.

Subbu has fallen in love with the windmill after handling it in all angles.  He swears that no one can stop the spinning blades. It requires three people and only by tilting the entire head away from the direction of the wind, can anyone attempt to stop the blades.  good that means it is running like well oiled machine.  We discussed some safety measures.

The following are planned activities
--------------------------------------------

1. Purchase of rubber hose pipes and starting of kerosene motor for testing.  The 70 feet pipe will be inserted into the same borewell to be shared with windmill and tested for sucking water. For this, a hole has been cut on the upper plate covering the borewell.    This will be useful for emergency purpose. Should cost between 1000/- to 2000/-

2. Watering the sweet potato

3. Purchase of hand operated sprayer.  This should cost around 1800/-. I wanted them to spray Panjagavya or Jeevarmrutham over the leaf of Banana plants.  So far the fertilisers were being applied only to the roots.

4. Fishes are doing well. We estimate that around 2000/- should still be there. Around 500/- should have "escaped".  We will not worry about them.

5. Now that the soil conditions have improved (Not so wet) it is time to test some vegetables, whose seeds are ready.

6. The tomato plants which were dropping down and spoiling the fruits with water logging has been straightned with jute ropes.

Three main points which were in the back burner to be brought front
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Construction of toilet on the farm
2. Digging of pit for compost preparation.
3. A small nursary with green shade. This is to start the seeds.  Don't know where we can get the green netted cover. to Search.

*****

Subbu and Paramu atop Windmill tower

They are trying to repair the windmill which has a bearing slip problem for the past 10 days or more.  Since monsoon is at peak, we have plenty of rain and water. Therefore we reported this to ABS who went into action slowly and sent a solution.

The part has arrived after a delay of week. As expected it is not useful to solve the problem. Therefore Subbu told that they will go in Jugad way. Dismantle the part, take to valliyoor and re-do the thing.   The objective is to keep the slipping ball bearing in place.

Hope they will achieve their objective.

Fishes Escaped through a tunnel - Subbu is SAD

There was a panic call from Subbu.

"Sir all fishes have swam into the neighboring pond."

"How come ? I asked"

Subbu angry over escaping fishes

He had secured the pond with an overflow drain pipe. We had brought an extra cement pipe earlier which came handy for this purpose.  2 Days back he had kept that in place so that excess water from pond will pass through this pipe and go out. He had been careful to cover the mouth of the pipe with mesh.

It seems there was a gap created below the pipe (erosion of soil) due to yesterday heavy rain,  through which the siblings have escaped.

"We saw around 50 fishes outside on the gutter. We put back them. I don't know how many have escaped already.  We now need to monitor that pond also" I asked swami (Kandan) to keep an eye on that pond"   was Subbu's answer.

Some gap under the pipe has allowed fishes to escape

" I said forget it. Clever fishes deserve it.  And the birds too".

" How big is the fishes? "

"Very small sir, size of little finger, but one thing.  only one variety of fishes alone escaped. The catla fishes did not. that means this variety which escaped must be adventurous"

I said "Go fishing with a rod like an English man on the other pond, whenever you screw your happiness"

We laughed, this is a learning exercise.

Life in the Farm - Point Forest at Last - Farm Update 27-Nov-2014

1. The windpump is down for the past 1 week. The bearing has slipped. Subbu has given up fixing it temperorily. It is raining in the farm. We need a permanent solution. I have asked ABS for a solution and they have sent the design problem to POLDAW engineers. Solution has been found in the form of an iron patti to keep the bearing in its place. This is ready last saturday and is being sent through courier. As usual ABS company required too much of followup to get this done. The spare should reach by Monday.

///    Subbu was so happy today to talk about his fish project. May be it was his dream for many months which came true atlast. Hard work pays.   ///

2. The fishlings are doing well. This is 2nd day.  Subbu said  he brought around 1500 Catla and balance 1000 other mixed varities. There was large number of people buying fish from the Papanasam vendor. Standing in queue, people were seen buying 40K etc.   Just for fun, we have gone for all varities. Each fishling cost Rs. 1/- .  Oil cakes (punnakku) of 40Kg has been dissolved in water as feed on the pond. It should take care for another 15 days. Cowdung also will be dissolved after few days.  I asked Subbu to fetch lotus roots from the Chirumalanji Sastha Temple to be put in the pond.

Our Fish tank

3. There is a large bird hovering around it seems. Subbu told next week we can expect more birds. I asked him to take photos. We need to protect the fish siblings from them. A net perhaps will do.  we can expect more life forms to emerge from the pond. Frog, snakes etc..  This is pure fun.

4. The first lot of banana trees may need support. Per subbu they will start flowering and fruit bearing in next 10 days hence. They are Andhra Tholuvai variety and are around 40 trees in all.

5. The new kerosene pump is yet to be started. Need to purchase tubes for drawing water.  It may require oil mixed petrol to start and run on kerosene. It is a Korean make Model LT30CX 5.5 HP mini portable costing 15K INR. This is to be used as emergency in case of windmill down.

6. As the ground is soaked with water with continous rain, not attempting to sow any vegetable seeds. Waiting for rain to stop.

7. The seeds sent for my "point forest" (Click here) is finally in its place.  We have made a round corner raised mud pit with bricks for lining and have strewn the 200 odd wild species seeds that I had collected over a period of one year and couriered it. I hope to grow here all things that can be conceived. The plants must grow on its own. No help will be provided. Fittest will survive. This will be micro forest for insects, birds and small mammals.

***********

Fishes in the Farm

Subbu and Fishes

How about some fishes in the tank? I asked Subbu. He had already planned for it.  There is plenty of water in the rain water catchment tank.  It is likely it will stay for some time. The bottom of the tank is solid rock.

"How to bring the fishes?  "

"Shall I take a vehicle? ", asked fish eating Subbu.

"No.  don't, fishes can be brought in a 5 liter drinking water CAN."   You can buy one in the neighbour hood shop", I told - a staunch vegetarian myself.

Both of us have no idea, how fishlings are generally transported.  We guess, we should get small fishes or eggs from the owner.  He said he will consult his friend tomorrow on this.  We need around 2000 of them.

Meanwhile Subbu is busy mending the eastern bank of the pond which is lower level in height.  Similarly on the input channel also he is putting the extra cement pipe we have and sealing so that the fishes will not "escape" when more water comes into pond.  Good idea.  Two days of labor work.

View of the would-be fish tank. Now full with water. But it will come down  

Meanwhile I was exploring if we can plant some Vettiver to prevent soil erosion.  I spoke to P Vencent, a bank employee who promotes Vettiver from Coimbatore.

He said he will let me know in a couple of days. I hope to ship in some vettiver from him and plant them around.

He also advised to plant Pungan and Punnai treeds to covert an inert soil into one having organic matter.

General Glance at the Farm on existing stock

It is long since we started these few Banana. I recall my update in August

The tiny patch of Banana trees near the tower is looking great. Subbu told this is a foot taller than the ones which are planted at the same time in his father's farm even after they using urea and other fertilisers.  Thanks for panjakavya / Jeevamrutham or the simple cowdung direct application.  (I donot know if Kandan followed everything).

Good to see the fence casurina also growing without interfering.

Looking like a professional farm. Ain't they ? I never thought it will become so cool. Proud of my team over there.

This is kind of centre of the farm. Not set yet. But can see the channel leading to rainwater tank. The freshly planted ones are some fruit trees obtained a week back from Nursary (story already covered).

The rainwater pond  is full with water. I must construct some stoppers around the banks, lest someone will fall inside without knowing the depth. This is however well within the farm compound. and water is not that much now as it was in this snap which was taken after the rains.

Visual Update on Jasmine, Banana, coconut and sweet potato planting Nov, 2014

The Nursary Plants are picked at Ramji Nursary in Nagarcoil.  This includes around 35 coconut saplings of 4 varieties.

Our purchase is normally a mix of everything to create a genetically diversity natural farm. Hope I will not end up creating a nursary instead of a farm.

Mallikai - Jasmine Plants are first to go. These are Nagapattinam variety

Jasmine baby

Jasmine being planted after tilling.

Jasmine is mulched with local nochi weeds. Sufficient space is provided so that there can be an inter crop later

Banana 2nd Round.  The roots are procured from the nearby farm. Details covered already.

Banana tubers

Banana is planted just after a rain

Another view of Banana in place

Coconut is mostly planted at the fence side.

The young one inside the pit. Some red soil is added to increase quality. Also some pith. and natural fertiliser

Coconut lined up as 2nd row from a fence

Sweet Potato is a vein. We obtained this from neighbours farm through Subbu Contact for a small price.  But the land preparation is a very delicate thing as can be seen. It cost 2 labor days.

The raised bars prepared for sweet potato and  planted

Planting in progress

Rain has stopped. How long will the stored water last ?

There is no rain.
There is no wind.
There is no source of water.
But we are confident.

There is some water still in the ground level rain water pond (30x30). Subbu has used this water twice for planting sweet potato slips and watering them. The first water was given immediately after planting (called life water) and the second, one week later. This includes banana plants as well. He estimates the water will last for another two rounds of watering, which is for another 15 days. I guess it will be muddy water, neverthless...

The water from the pit had to be pumped out. For this a kerosene oil engine was hired. At Rs. 40/- per liter, Kerosene can run a 5 HP pump for one hour. We need 2 Hours of operation. The rental charge is Rs. 100 per hour. Therefore total 280/- for 2 hours pumping including rental and fuel.

The rented pump

Meanwhile there is very weak wind. The well oiled windpump is pumping around half tank of water (500 lts). This is enough to water the vegetable plots.

Either wind should blow or rain should come.  Surprisingly there is no monsoon rain at all. The little rain that came was due to a cyclone. There is no wind either. Perhaps it is changing its gears and may start to blow from different direction.

Energy Plans:

1.  We need to plan to purchase a kerosene pump for permanent use. This will be portable over a bicycle and can be shifted. water need to be pumped either from the rainwater pond to overhead tank or the cement tank to overhead tank in future.  I estimate it should cost Rs. 20000/- for the pump as well as engine.

2. In the absence of wind, we need to pump water from the bore-well. We cannot insert a submersible anyway. Therefore we need to insert rubber tube alongside windmill pipe and keep a centrifugal pump at the ground level to suck the water.

Source of power ?  

a)  Electricity is still far away. I sense trouble there. As the days come near to give the connection, the department people may ask more and more money. I asked Subbu to employ some intelligence and access how much bribe they may ask. If we need to reach from the nearest transformer which is in a village, then it will cost hell a lot of money. I am not going to invest.

b) The kerosene pump is good option. With a centri fugal pump attached, it should work. Though it is not environment friendly, but can be a stop gap for some time.

c) Mini Solar pump is an option. But even for 1 KV, the setup cost will be around 1 lakh rupees even if we donot use a battery. Just direct solar power should drive the motor which will pump the water from bore-well into to overhead tank in case of no wind. This will be hybrid green solution. There are no genuine suppliers that I know off. Going by my last year survey, solar industry has still not improved.  Solar is riddled with cheap Chinese panels and cheating at dealer level.  Need to explore more.

****

Utilising common Weeds in Farm for Fertilizer and Mulching

As demonstrated by Parames Zurich when he visited our farm.  They are self explanatory

This completes the preparation of fertiliser. now Mulching using the commonly available Tephrosia purpurea and other weeds.

Our first commercial sale of pumpkin, a small achievement and major milestone

Yesterday was one of the happy days and Subbu kept on talking without knowing how to stop himself.  We talked about two happy problems and one achievement.

Our first commerical sale has happened.  Pumpkin 3 Nos each weighing 5 KG. It was sold to Rs. 18/- per Kg, totally giving Rs. 270/- at Parappadi market (5 Kms from the farm). My wife was happy hearing this. We told the money to be deposited in our Native Place Temple Shri Srivaramanga Sematha Sri Deivanayaka Perumal Koil, about 10 kms from there. The first harverst is always for the God.

One plant of Tapioca that Subbu planted has matured and bursting with root tubers. This has uprooted the newly planted Lemon (Elumichchai) and Bitter orange (Narthangai) saplings, because they rooted so close. We have never experienced Tapioca. He asked what to do?. If we harvest the Tapioca, we will damage the plant. If we don't the tapioca will bounce back again from the root and Lemon can never grow properly. I told to remove everything carefully with some soil and replant elsewhere.  It is fun to do organic farming with multiple species. You learn a lot.

Subbu has finally fixed the counter weight that was pending on the WindMill propeller blades. It was

because of the scientist/carpenter Somu who can never sleep without fixing something. He was absent for few months and has returned now. As per the beautiful technology designed by PolDaw engineers, the wind pump will have a counter weight at two of the properllers which is diametrically opposite to the assembly rod which pulls the water pump rod.  This will make the propeller rotate even for slightest wind.

But since this is slow motion action, no water will be drawn from the well in very slow winds. This is the ideal configuration but was bothering Subbu. He cannot tolerate something rotating and not giving water. When you give a rotational kick with hands, water was jetting out. What to do, he was asking?  I told him to just enjoy and dont worry.

Yesterday and today the pattam was laid for planting Siru Kilangu.  Pattam is the raised mud bar made with skill. Only a skilled labor can do it. I understand the person who came to do this job, liked the organic farming methods that we are adopting. He has long since not seen organic farming anywhere and was recalling his childhood experience. Same was the case with an old woman who visited when our guest  Paramez was there. She was mentioning how to prepare organic manure with Kolinji (seen in the picture).

I need to now think about accounting and some book keeping. So far Subbu was noting down the expenses on a rough notebook. I was not even doing that and was focusing on only major trends. It is important to now provide a policy on consumption and sale.  Selling to market for high profit is not our first priority. Our first priority will be to develop small door-to-door vendors - mostly old women with basket.

*******

Special Guest to the Farm - Parames Zurich

Parameswaran Zurich, a young natural farmer from Dindigul is in the farm since yesterday. He is the same person who had sent 40 varities of different seeds last week.  He is our first guest to the farm. Therefore I was anxious how we can receive him and make him comfortable.  He came early in the morning starting around 1 AM at Dindigul and reaching farm at around 9.30 AM to Nanguneri. Subbu received him at Nanguneri. Food at Parappadi and Stay at Valliyoor. That was the arrangement.

As soon as he reached the farm, he was exited. He drew quickly some diagrams on the sand and sent through FB Chat mode with me.  We discussed about overall placement of crops, rainwater discharge and canal position. The one message that was strongly coming from him was the "mudakku" or milching the soil.  The soil has to be covered.  He did demonstrate by covering some of the plant base with available grass and kolingi plants from neighbourhood.

Shape of Farm as drawn by Paramez.  The stones are main items. Raised arc is the raised mud road inside the farm from Gate to the wind pump.  in anticlockwise, the first stone is the wind mill, 2nd the water tank, 3rd the high tension electric tower, 4th the rainwater catchment tank and 5th the store room near the gate.  He is dividing the nearly 3.5 acres in to large chunks in squares

Simple Irrigation Plan as drawn by Paramez on the samd. Look at the minature details of a section of the farm.. 

The open channel system of irrigation was not approved by me. There is lack of water for 10 months and I cannot expose water on a canal, which he accepted. Well a lot of plants were planted during these two days by Subbu and his team. He had hired few people more as work was simultaneously going on. Around 200 banana saplings, 20 Sapota, 50 Jasmine, 35 Coconut trees besides miscellaneous trees like Mango, Rose were planted.

Inspired by Zurich, I drew the final shape of the farm through imagination (by including the recent developments that we did) from my residence(1800 Kms) away.  Here is the complete picture as it should look be looking now. In a few days, I will get the photos from Subbu to correlate my understanding and appreciate their work.

In Summary:

1. We have been spending more money this month purchasing more plants to take advantage of the rainy season. Wheather rain will contine or not is anybody's guess.
2. We  have over loaded the garden with vegetation which require water. The lonely windpump is the only source of water.  Current connection is one month away.  We have no money to buy a kerosene generator, but that is the option for emergency pumping.
3. The farm should be looking good and professional for anyone to see. I understand from Subbu that neighbours are still skeptical on what is going ON. They will realise only when we start selling few vegetables in 3 months from now. Till then keep Mum.

*****

Further Greening the Farm

Yesterday the following saplings were purchased from Ramji Nursary, Nagarcoil as planned.. Total cost was around Rs. 5000/- for the nursery.  For lorry it would be around Rs. 2500/- from Nagarcoil to Nachankulam both ways.  With this load the farm will become further green, with diverse species like a botanical garden.

Purchase From Ramji Nursary, Nagarcoil
1. Around 4 varities of Coconut = 35 saplings each costing around RS. 80/-.  This consists of Red, Green coconut, Nattu (Country) coconut and kuttai-nettai.
2. 20 Sapota trees
3. 10 Jasmine plants, totalling now around 40 (30 purchased already 2 days back from Valliyoor)
4. Amla, koyya, pomagranate, rose and others. I asked Subbu to buy as many varieties as possible.  Last year whatever we brought has grown well, though there was hardship in maintaining it during peak summer.

Purchase From neighbouring farm
Country Banana (Nattu Ragam) roots around 200 Nos.  It costs Rs. 3/- per root for dressing and another Rs. 2/- for transport etc.

Ground Preparation
The tracktor work is completed for the 2nd day. Two field beds have been carved. Tomorrow onwards some manual work is there for which labours will be called for transplanting.

Farm Update 27 October, 2014

After a week of Diwali festival, the entire country is settling down to work. I called Subbu to take an update and discuss this week plans.

a) Rains have stopped for the time being. Still the mud is heavily soaked in water and hence tractor cannot plough the ground. We have planned to plough two square plots of around 25 cents each to be used for multipurpose, mainly experimenting.  Subbu's brother is owing a tractor. So it is convenient to call him whenever we want.  We need to invite tractor tomorrow. There is heavy sunshine today. 
Moral : Have a handy contact in hand always for every work.

b) There is no wind. Not even the anemometer is rotating. If this continues, we may have to use the reserve water. Currently water is available in full at the ground level rain water pit. Strangely, this  water is not soaking inside the mud layers. The bottom is already rock, so water has to escape sideways, but it is not. Therefore good news is we can use it to store for long time. And grow some fish as well.  Bad news is that ground will not get moistened for crops.

Half a tank of water is also available in the cement tank (30x20 feet) that can be filled only by surplus water from wind pump.
Moral : Be careful about water usage even during rainy season.

c) There was a slippage of ball bearing (SKF) on the wind pump. Wind rotor stopped working.  Subbu, had to set it right by climbing the tower top during Diwali when it was also raining. It required two more people to hold the Rod assembly, slowly rotate the crank and fix it.  The root cause was that these bearings are using Allen Key to tighten the screws in place. The engineer who installed the pump did not have all the Allen Keys (Kind of spanner for Allen screws). So he left it half fixed which has slipped during its up and down motion. I asked Subbu to purchase a set of screw drivers for permanent farm use.
Moral: Have a complete tool kit at every farm.

d) In next few days we will sow the following seeds.
a) Mappillai Samba Seeds
b) Vegetable seeds all in small quantities in a round robin fashion on a raised bed.  Grown mainly to produce seeds.
c) Sweet Potato and Jasmine flower saplings in alternate rows.

e) Subbu suggested we will sow some sweet potato. It seems neighbours are doing it. Let us copy the same. Then within these plots, jasmine saplings which are purchased will be planted as inter crop in raised beds.  I am of the opinion we need to mix as much as possible, so that we avoid mono cropping even at small level and invite various diseases.
Moral:  Copy and Improve the neighbourhood.

f) After a long wait and lot of discussion, I told Subbu to drop the plan of going to Parasalla to purchase coconut saplings or purchase from nearby Valliyoor who is not committed. We will stick to Ramji Nursary in Nagarcoil. We have experience with them. The gardners over there are friendly. We need to pickup 30 coconut and all different tree varities.
Moral : Don't attempt to buy small quantity from big or small unknown nursery.  Choose good nursery which is flexible and provides quality.

g) We planned to plant trees on the perimeter of our plot also outside wherever possible. Let us use this rainy season and increase greenery.  I have always wanted to start a social movement to make the area green. But that will involve thousands of saplings, and hundreds of hands.   Doing a social movement along with villlagers to plant thousands of trees - is a little far away. Presently let me start small, grow some green and invite more people.
Moral: Do something yourself before expecting social responsibility from others.

***

Water, Seeds and happy days have begun

Today the rains have started properly. Yesterday there were thunder and lightning. Subbu quickly dismissed my call as he was fearing lightning may strike an active mobile phone.

Last week there were two natural farmer friends who got introduced through facebook, They were different.  Unlike others they not only said they can send seeds, but also promptly mailed it across to my farm. Since this is my first purchase from a fellow farmer, I am very happy.

All organic farmers who are concerned about current state of affairs, generally have a courtesy to distribute seeds for free. Yes, that is how nature itself works. Seeds are supposed to be free. Somewhere down the history companies commercialised them.

Chandrasekharan from near Madurai sent the following rice seeds (paddy). They are worth gold. While the seeds were given by him free of cost, the material was sent through a lorry driver who took around Rs. 180/- for that.  Subbu had to intercept the vehicle near a highway to collect them. I was coordinating this meeting from Pune.   I told Chandrasekharan next time to send by regular post or courier. The charges are less.

1. Mappillai Samba - 1 KG
2. Athoor Kichidi Samba - 1 KG

Parameshwaran from Dindigul was generous to sent around 42 varities of vegetable seeds through courier which got promptly delivered at Subbu's home.  The total cost was Rs.400/-. All are native varities in small quantities, neatly labelled.  This is huge variety. I guess each will be spoonful or few seeds and must be carefully planted.

1. வெள்ளரிக்காய்-cucumber	25.பெல்ட் அவரை-village beans.3
2. வெண்டை-ladies finger	26.கோவக்காய்- Gherkins
3. மிளகாய்-Chilly	27.கேரட்-carrot.
4. சீனி மிளகாய்-mini Chilly. 5. குடை மிளகாய்- capsicum.	கீரை-greens:
6.முள்ளங்கி-radish	1.பால கீரை- Spinacea oleracea
7. பீர்க்கங்காய்-ridge gourd.	2.புளிச்சைக்கீரை-Brown Indian hemp, Hibiscus cannabinus
8. குட்டை பீர்க்கங்காய்- short ridge gourd.	3.அரைக்கீரை-Marsilea quadrifolia
9.நீள புடலங்காய்- snake gourd lengthy.	4.சிறுகீரை-Amaranthus tricolor /Tropical Amarnath
10.குட்டை புடலங்காய்-snake gourd short.	5.மணத்தக்காளிக்கீரை-Solanum nigrum /Black nightshade
11.சர்க்கரை பூசணி-pumpkin.1	6.அகத்திக் கீரை-agathi
12.லாடம் பூசணி-pumpkin.2	7.பச்சை தண்டுக்கீரை-Amaranthus Caudatus / FoxTail Amaranth(green stem)
13.பாகற்காய்- bitter gourd	8.சிவப்பு தண்டுக்கீரை-(red stem)-Amaranthus Caudatus / FoxTail Amaranth
14.சுரைக்காய்- bottle gourd	9.கொத்தமல்லி-coriander
15.சாம்பல் பூசணி-ash gourd	10.வெந்தய கீரை-fenugreek
16.கொத்தவரை-cluster beans	11.கோவக்கீரை- Gherkins leaves
17.தக்காளி-tomato	12.முடக்கத்தான் கீரை-balloon vine leaves.
18.காலிபிளவர்-cauliflower	13.முருங்கை கீரை-drumstick leaves
19.முட்டைக்கோஸ்-cabbage	14.கருவேப்பிலை-curryleaves
20.முருங்கை-drumstick	15.முளைக்கீரை-amaranthus blitum/ Amaranthus, Chinese spinach, edible amaranth
21.பச்சை கத்தரி-brinjal green.	herbals:
22.வரிக்கத்தரி-brinjal violet	1. துளசி - basil
23-கோழி அவரை-village beans.1	கோவக்காய்- Gherkins use as a fruit, vegetable, greens.
24.தம்பட்ட அவரை-village beans.2	முருங்கை-drumstick use as a vegetable,greens.

Farm Progress in Visuals October, 2014

Subbu had sent snaps now of the farm when it was raining 2 weeks back. Since then there is no rain and water is being purchased.  The irony is, we do have water now stored in rainwater catchment tank (not in any of the below picture). But how to pump it out ?  Thinking of purchasing a small kerosene water pump for such temperory water shifting.  The rainwater pit is far away from the main action area. But we had already laid the backbone pipes through which we can pump and bring it upto the overhead tank, so says Subbu. Hmmmm. I have to see how much a pump would cost.  When I floated a quotation in the net, I got replies such as Rs. 280 for one dozen pumps !.  They thought i want plastic pumps. What i need is a kerosene engine with centrifugal pump. I asked Subbu to walk across to Tirunelveli market and purchase one outright.

Otherwise we are purchasing water @ Rs. 400 per day for 1500/- liters. That will continue till the rain comes, which is expected anytime this month.

overflow water tank (the old and original one)

closeup of greengram

Healthy Millets

Water logging during the rain. Have to plan how to divert all these water into a pit which is far extreme at the centre

This is the current Action Area. Vegetables will be sowed here in small quantities.
This is adscent to the wind pump

Another view of action. Seen in shadow are Subbu and Kandan

Harvest, a humble beginning

This is the most focussed part of farm

Banana Plants againt backdrop of windpump

Some of the grocery for the farm. Few items of these will be sown as green manure. We did already.
but there was no rain thereafter and all the sprouts had dried down.

Another view from the tower side

This is the famous Kandan Mistake.  Kandan had planted these trees too close and had a good mouthful from everyone