I had a notebook where I used to write (yes "write" with Sheaffer Ink Pen in vernacular language that I understand) all that I want to do and go about farming. Over a period it grew richer with content.
Like any amateur farmer, I started off with a list of items that I wanna grow as though I am a customer in a restaurant and someone was supposed to take my order. Over a period of time when even basic issues such as fencing, water and Govt procedures dragged me down to crawling speed and the reality dawned on me that I am the waiter, chef and the cleaner, that I realized the starting point is somewhere else. Even a grain of sand will not move on the farm unless I move it. I had to keep the notebook aside and rework my priorities. It is time now after 2 years that I have taken it up again and started updating the book.
So what is in my book ? Without such a notebook you seem to have read something somewhere, but cannot refer to it again. My memory is not that great.
My book consists of the following sections.
Farmer contacts : This consists of name and phone numbers of other organic farmers with their primary crop that I recollect. usually phone numbers are found at end of articles, paper clippings, references. This will be useful later to purchase seeds from them.
List of Crops to be considered: This is master list of crop names that our farmers grow. Fruits, vegetables, trees, feed etc. Just the names. From this master list I tick mark what I want to grow in Phase I. Decision is made through advise taken, my own intuition, availability of resource and so on. For example I may try tapioca but may not want to grow sun flower.
Financials of small projects : This is income and expenditure with breakups of one crop as shared by farmers in their bragging stories. One farmer for example spent Rs. 165515 and earned 374485 from 2 acres in one year from vegetable farming. One day I may also post like this. This will give an idea if you will make or loose money.
Market rates : of Vegetables for bench marking. This may be useful to select my priority later during steady state.
Organic Pesticide Preparation: Very funny brew of organic preparations are recorded here in ink. For example powder 10 KG Neem seeds, save it in gunny bag and dip it on the path of water in irrigation canal. So that the powder spreads slowly with water. Useful to control decay of roots.
Procedure for crops : Carefully written paragraphs on how to create nursery till cultivation. Especially useful for novice like me to understand how to do from ground zero. Soil preparation, seed preparation, germination, weeding and so on...
Notes on Ideas (not inventions) : My own ideas or anecdotes lest I should forget. Usually you get these all the time when driving, shopping or working in office. "I stopped thinking what I want (table top plants with poor lighting) to what plant wants (agriculture).
Combinations of crops : Which crop are preferred in a typical integrated farm based on practical knowledge of others. For example Puducherry Ravichandran a farmer says - 10 acres gooseberry, 2 acres banana, 2 acres teak, 7 acres topiaco, 4 acre millets (3 kinds).
Cows : All information about cow varieties, feed preparation, their diseases and remedy in organic way. For example fever medicine will be : Onion 200 gm, pepper 10 g, Betel leaves 5 Nos, Cumin 5 Gm - grind, paste and apply on fore head.
Crop Cycle : Timetable. Mostly based on climate, almanac, hearsay, earth science, market potential and so on... I feel if conditions are favorable, any crop should do well. This will be very useful in future to commit to customers and deliver the crops when I start marketing. Needs hard work on this page.
Crop spacing : prescribed Spacing between crops. Wrong spacing will have impact on productivity. Overall spacing will determine total yield. This is an area many people feel fancy talking about. Too much of misguidance is also found. Recently I read about one 'innovative' company in America, who will weed out extra lettuce plants if customer decides how much space he wants between two lettuce. They use cloud computing, robots and image processing to identify lettuce from background..and charge for their 'service'.. What if the farmer decides in the first place to plant in optimal gaps using simple cylinder with holes?
Useful Insects: Names of insets that should be promoted. Also to make ourselves familiar with them.
Organic Manure Preparation : Various tips on preparing organic manure out of cowdung, fruit waste etc.
Farm Equipment : Suppliers and details of small farm implements.
(Farm Expenses : Maintained in excel under password protection. A hard copy notebook of daily expenses is maintained at the farm with bills. I have never reviewed this in detail yet as my time is limited and precious when i visit the farm.)
****
Like any amateur farmer, I started off with a list of items that I wanna grow as though I am a customer in a restaurant and someone was supposed to take my order. Over a period of time when even basic issues such as fencing, water and Govt procedures dragged me down to crawling speed and the reality dawned on me that I am the waiter, chef and the cleaner, that I realized the starting point is somewhere else. Even a grain of sand will not move on the farm unless I move it. I had to keep the notebook aside and rework my priorities. It is time now after 2 years that I have taken it up again and started updating the book.
.jpg) |
| A page from my Farm Note book - written in my language |
So what is in my book ? Without such a notebook you seem to have read something somewhere, but cannot refer to it again. My memory is not that great.
My book consists of the following sections.
Farmer contacts : This consists of name and phone numbers of other organic farmers with their primary crop that I recollect. usually phone numbers are found at end of articles, paper clippings, references. This will be useful later to purchase seeds from them.
List of Crops to be considered: This is master list of crop names that our farmers grow. Fruits, vegetables, trees, feed etc. Just the names. From this master list I tick mark what I want to grow in Phase I. Decision is made through advise taken, my own intuition, availability of resource and so on. For example I may try tapioca but may not want to grow sun flower.
Financials of small projects : This is income and expenditure with breakups of one crop as shared by farmers in their bragging stories. One farmer for example spent Rs. 165515 and earned 374485 from 2 acres in one year from vegetable farming. One day I may also post like this. This will give an idea if you will make or loose money.
Market rates : of Vegetables for bench marking. This may be useful to select my priority later during steady state.
Organic Pesticide Preparation: Very funny brew of organic preparations are recorded here in ink. For example powder 10 KG Neem seeds, save it in gunny bag and dip it on the path of water in irrigation canal. So that the powder spreads slowly with water. Useful to control decay of roots.
Procedure for crops : Carefully written paragraphs on how to create nursery till cultivation. Especially useful for novice like me to understand how to do from ground zero. Soil preparation, seed preparation, germination, weeding and so on...
Notes on Ideas (not inventions) : My own ideas or anecdotes lest I should forget. Usually you get these all the time when driving, shopping or working in office. "I stopped thinking what I want (table top plants with poor lighting) to what plant wants (agriculture).
Combinations of crops : Which crop are preferred in a typical integrated farm based on practical knowledge of others. For example Puducherry Ravichandran a farmer says - 10 acres gooseberry, 2 acres banana, 2 acres teak, 7 acres topiaco, 4 acre millets (3 kinds).
Cows : All information about cow varieties, feed preparation, their diseases and remedy in organic way. For example fever medicine will be : Onion 200 gm, pepper 10 g, Betel leaves 5 Nos, Cumin 5 Gm - grind, paste and apply on fore head.
Crop Cycle : Timetable. Mostly based on climate, almanac, hearsay, earth science, market potential and so on... I feel if conditions are favorable, any crop should do well. This will be very useful in future to commit to customers and deliver the crops when I start marketing. Needs hard work on this page.
Crop spacing : prescribed Spacing between crops. Wrong spacing will have impact on productivity. Overall spacing will determine total yield. This is an area many people feel fancy talking about. Too much of misguidance is also found. Recently I read about one 'innovative' company in America, who will weed out extra lettuce plants if customer decides how much space he wants between two lettuce. They use cloud computing, robots and image processing to identify lettuce from background..and charge for their 'service'.. What if the farmer decides in the first place to plant in optimal gaps using simple cylinder with holes?
Useful Insects: Names of insets that should be promoted. Also to make ourselves familiar with them.
Organic Manure Preparation : Various tips on preparing organic manure out of cowdung, fruit waste etc.
Farm Equipment : Suppliers and details of small farm implements.
(Farm Expenses : Maintained in excel under password protection. A hard copy notebook of daily expenses is maintained at the farm with bills. I have never reviewed this in detail yet as my time is limited and precious when i visit the farm.)
****
No comments:
Post a Comment