Farm update 30th June, 2015

1.     Subbu mentioned that the 25 odd Jasmine plants are giving daily around 250 grams of flowers.  But there is no means to take them to market. Presently it is consumed by workers.  Therefore we have decided to now go for 50 more plants so that we can get atleast 1 KG of jasmine daily. That will fetch Rs. 100/- daily income.  Hope so.....   As next step we need to dig large pits using JCB for planting new saplings (which has to be procured ofcourse from a nursary)

2.  Strange and surprise, there are no fishes in the large fish tank.  Finally only 5 KG of fish was harvested which was shared between the families of workers (Subbu, Paramu and two women workers).  what happened to all the fishes is a mystry.  Have they eaten one another.  Subbu says it should have escaped long back when there was rains and we had an outlet that was not closed overnight.  We could not see and count them thereafter as the water is too muddy.

We need to expand the water tank using JCB next week. Now that rainwater harvesting is a success and excess rains are there during rains, we need to now store them properly.  Therefore expanding the pond is the only option.  Will cost some money (Rs. 700/- per hour and Rs. 400/- per day (Driver Bata).)

3. Fertility of soil using cowdung manure is pending. So far only one vehicle load has been purchased. I asked him to go for few more loads. That will be done shortly.  The soil requires manure. Especially where we have harvested banana, the new banana baby plant may require nutrient.

4. The few banana bunches auctioned in Sirumalinji market has fetched Rs. 300, 270 or 250 depending on size.  Not bad. Not bad at all.  This gives encouragement to go for more banana crops in future. But they are water intensive.

5. Currently we have reached zero-sum-game on windmill water.   Daily 3 tanks are getting filled (3000 ltrs) and is getting consumed by existing crop.  No new experiments.

6. The new brinjal, tomato and lady's finger saplings are transplanted between the Red Banana trees.  They need to be watered regularly. Next posting may have photographs of the same.

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Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), our next destination

These days I am in touch with Facebook and WhatsUP.  I meet many so called farmers who post good things of life. But none of them are practical in their advise when it comes to actual farming.  Most of them are having some other source of income and indulge in all extra activities other than farming. So there is nothing to learn from anyone as of now.

I have dedicated myself to next project - SOLAR THERMAL POWER  (or CSP as it is called Concentrated Solar Power).  I have started few posts in Facebook two weeks back and did not update the same. My next experiments are as follows;

a) Purchase a TV dish and create a solar basket to make a focal point.

b) Create parabolic reflector using sheet and create line of focus. Further experiments to heat tube filled with liquid.

c) A design prototype of how a large parabolic solar concentrator in cylinderical shape to be made to be sent across.

Subbu and Paramu are waiting for my education video which I promised on this subject. I need to educate them on how the whole thing would work.  The idea is that next irrigation should happen through CSP energy. Currently we have reached a zero-sum-game using one windpump. This gives 3000 liters of water and is just enough for current vegetation. I am unable to expand the farm.  We have done all things possible now like replacing 1.25" dia pipe with 1.75",  smoothening the windpump through design improvements, grease,  conservation of water through drip irrigation etc.  But there is definitely a quantity of water required for banana crops which cannot be drawn with current setup.

Then using some of the facebook friends to sponsor, should start fabricating the same.

Have already spoken to Rajkot factory for say 2 HP Steam engine.  That is ready.

I see great potential in this project which is clean, green and no mess.

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Meanwhile at the farm........

I have been out of action for the past few weeks.  I was shifting my house from X to Y within the Pune City.  Earlier just 3 months back I shifted. But the current house was not good in multiple ways. Therefore one more shift was inevitable. But with experience, this house shift  was smooth. However the normal routine went out of gear.  There is no internet connection as of now at home and it will take a few more days.

Meanwhile at the farm........

Banana at Chirumalanji market for auction

The Bananas are coming for fruitition in small quantities.   Few trees at a time.  We had earlier sold the banana on the farm for Rs. 175 a bunch for a temple festival.  That was 19 numbers.  After that Subbu had sold 10 bunches in a market near the Farm called Chirumalinji market.   This is very much approachable. But this market is control by buyers from Kerala and donot fetch good prices. However luckily we got 300/- per bunch during auction.  That is good news.

Yesterday and Today Kandan and Subbu were busy collecting some more banana bunches to be sent to Chirumalanji market.  It will be given to agents for auction. They will give bill.

Last 2 weeks also saw many visitors to the farm. (separate story on that).  They are attracted to see the windmill in action. The windmill is running fine as of now.  We are getting 3 tanks of water minimum (3000 liters).

The Water scarcity and windpump happy rotating without load

It is becoming increasingly clear that Water is damn essential input for agriculture.  Whatever said and done....  At the end, it is water that decides everything.   It is indeed becoming a challenge to face in this dry land..........

a) Hot air,
b) Bright Sun
c) No Rain
d) Less Water

This is limiting our cultivation and crop diversification every day.   Whenever I call Subbu with 10 Ideas, I drop down atleast 8 of them by the time we finish our conversation.   We only speak about water  and hang up.

Recently there was no wind for many days. When the wind started (This is the monsoon season), it is flying at erratic directions.  The wind pump started working very fast in the beginning, but suddenly due to rotational movement (sideways in a swival)  of the Rotor assembly,  the  connected assembly rods tends to dislocate itself.  This is not supposed to happen.  The team had applied grease to remove rust etc at the neck.  But 2nd time,  3rd time it has repeated.

Everytime it dislodges, it is a laborious work. To stop the windpump,  lift the assembly and connect it...

The issue is when load is not there, the windpump fan starts rotating very fast. Not even 4 people can catch it and stop.  It has huge power.  We have to wait patiently for the natural wind to die-down.

Subbu was at the farm during middle of night to catch a moment when he can stop the Windpump Propellers to set it right.  That was not to happen. Today morning they tamed the rotor and set the rods properly.  Let us hope and see....

Meanwhile I reported the problem to the ABS company, our friendly engineer Chaitanya.  He has asked for few snaps and said he will study the issue.  At first it looks like the rods are unscrewing itself due to some vibration. .....

Only when there is constant pumping of water that we can expect to expand the crop area.  Presently there is only Banana.  The vegetables are waiting in nursary.

Farm Update 07-June-2015 - Time to build market

Things are just not moving.

This is a dull period with no activity.  Team over there is busy, but no useful work is happening.

a)  There is complete dryness in the climate.  Here and there there are symptoms of rain. But nowhere rain is to be seen, eventhough this is time for Monsoon. Therefore water stock has reached scary levels.  Subbu has borrowed water from neighbourhood well.  He brought new collapsable rubber hose pipe 2 bundles for Rs. 1500/- each.

b) There is no wind either.  In Subbu's words " Zero Watt wind "

c) We screwed up the windpump by replacing 1.25" pipe with 1.75" pipe with greediness to get more water.  But since the time it was replaced, one day of operation showed we are getting less water.  Perhaps it was suspected that Subbu had attached a filter at the end of pump, which might be the cause. Again the entire pipe assembly had to be removed out and the filter removed.

I told him to test in a tub before inserting in to the borewell. They did and found no difference between having filter and not having it.  Anyway took chance and inserted the entire assembly into the borewell without filter.  But since there is no wind for the past 3 days, its working cannot be confirmed.

d) Today there is a workshop in nearby town. I had asked subbu to visit that place.  It is supposed to happen in a Natural Farm called "Nallamuthu Natural Farm and Research Centre, Chidambaram Nagar, Tirunelveli".   It is supposed to be vegetable growing.  I told subbu to participate and increase the network. He is in there today.

e)  Some more bananas have come.  A market survey by Subbu shows that the selling rate is very less in Tirunelveli market.  They donot differentiate between organically grown and otherwise.  We have to compete with inorganic banana.  Hmmm....   The time has come to build some marketing network now.

I need to develop my website and invite customers.