Farm Update 30-Dec-2015

Tilling:  Entire pieces of land have been tilled with tractor.  The tractor is owned by Subbu's brother. With half cage wheel, they have completed the job.  Half cage means attaching a cage wheel to the tyres so that it can run on marsh soil without getting submerged.

Paddy :  Subbu  and Sumathi (temperory lady staff) have completed planting of Ambi-16 variety of Paddy on remaining patch of land.  He could get around 60 Nos of 24 day old rice saplings in around 24 cents of land. The crop will come to maturity in 90 days.  Though I have reservation in planting anything other than country variety, this time let it go with hybrid. After all we are testing the ground for the first time.

The paddy has been laid with adequate spacing between them in what is called as System of Rice Intensification (SRI).

Vegetables:  Over the tractor tilled soil, the mud bars have been constructed using 3 man power. This is for vegetables.  Presently Sweet potato, Onion, tomato, chilli, brinjal have been planted.  The seeds will sprout in a week.  Apart from this bottle gourd and ridge guard also planned in few quantities.  I am missing the farm now.

Nursary :  We discussed and decided to remove the existing nursary and re-do the same with iron pipes, perhaps little smaller in size.  There will be ceiling at 7 Feet. There will be no side covers. That was causing wind to shake the pandal.  this activity ofcourse can be done after 10 days.

Plantain (Banana) :  Near the wind tower, the banana plants have rooted properly. It requires de-weeding and cleaning.

Sugar Cane:  Has come to market.  Subbu will buy few and try this time.

Vettiver :  The vettiver that survived near the tower has grown very well. They need to be re-planted near the mud pond to arrest soil erosion. That was the original plan.

Coconut : Each of the new coconut saplings in polythene bags (with mud) has cost Rs. 150/- each.  10 of them have been planted.

Where are the Frogs ?

During the course of conversation,  Subbu mentioned he has not seen any Frogs yet.  The conversation was about health of the fish in the Pond.  On the advise of the fisheries, he had thrown some thorny bushes into the pond to protect the fish.

The idea is when a predator like stork or snake attacks, the fish will hide under the thorny bush floating in the water.  Good and effective idea indeed.

Well Fish is there,  Crab is there, Rabbit,  Snake, Peacock, birds all are present. But Frogs are missing.  Strangely there used to be hundreds of frogs in last year rain. But this time, not a single frog is found. The food chain looks broken for what reason - don't know.

Today I checked again with him to find that small frogs are present. Not big ones.  How come ?

Thorny bush thrown into water intentionally to protect the fish

Past two days rain is playing spoil sport.  We need to wait for couple of days more.  Subbu will be travelling to nursary tomorrow to purchase few more plants.

Farm Activities and Planning- 14-Dec-2015

Banana 1 : The "Tholuvam" banana variety (a country organic variety of banana which can grow well in our farm) re-installation is complete.  On either side of the windpump tower, the banana siblings (suckers) have been replanted.   Earlier on one portion I had planted Red Banana obtained from a friend near Coimbatore.  That crop did not come well. Added to that there was no water to sustain them at that time.  They were removed. Only 10 of them are left out.  Balance space are filled only with Tholuvam which is time tested.

Banana 2 : From adjacent to wind tower there were "Andhra Nadan", another variety that was earlier starving for water. They had under growth. The mother plants have dried. But the dwarf ones and the suckers are growing.  That is not a fertail piece.  It is just left to grow. No changes.

Paddy: Near the high tension power tower,  Subbu had experimented with a small patch of Paddy last week. We will be expanding in the complete area now as that area is a marsh and water logging one.  That patch was thick with grass so far.


Jasmine:  Due to recent incessant and untimely continuous rains, the newly laid jasmine plants have got destroyed. Loss of time and money. The leaves have turned brown and could not survive the stagnant water. Only the old ones are ok. We are back to square one.

Onion, Potato :  For the past two days there is no rain. The ground is drying and is good time for running tractor.  Today Subbu will rent tractor to make some raised mud bars for Onion and sweet potato in a small piece of land which so far we have not tried anything.

Sugarcane:  I asked Subbu to try few sugarcane.  In January when the festival of Pongal comes, people buy sugar cane from far off places. Last year I planned but did not materialise. This year it is too late. But on experimental basis few can be tried. He said the juice centres are closed due to rains. Today/tomorrow one or two must open and he must get some.  The cane sugar can be cut into pieces and installed.

Coconut:  Coconut tree is growing well. It is time we go for some more. So also sapota.

Cow Grass: I asked Subbu to start growing some cow grass. we need to create conducive environment for a cow to stay. Targetting for month of May, we must get a cow.

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Crabs are Helping Fish Escape

It is raining continuously in my Farm for the past many days.  Unable to do anything. Even tracktor with cagewheel is getting caught in the loose mud.

Some of the crops like Coconut and Jasmine has already turned brown due to chocking of roots in water logged condition for long time.  Drinage of water is limited as water is everywhere.

Subbu is confined at home.

Meanwhile I asked Subbu "How are the fishes ?".
"Sir Crabs are biting the net and fishes are trying to escape" was the answer Subbu gave.

I was pleasantly surprised.  Crabs ?  "Where the hell from where they came ?".  "Don't know sir."

It appears the crabs are biting the net that is in place preventing fishes from passing through the outlet conduit of the mud pond.  So there are fish, crab, Snakes,  Rat, Rabbits and some birds in the farm.

Subbu told he has taken photo of snake, but did'nt send it. I insisted he send.  I need all animals in the farm.

That is complete ecosystem.

The Banana Story

After the harvest of mother plants, one each daughter plant (Sucker) is left out to grow for next crop

Beside the wind Pump

Nice to see some vegetation. These banana plants were having undergrowth due to lack of water so far. Now with rains
there are many different weeds growing. Shows this soil is not that bad. I must develop this further
Earlier attempted navadanya and failed  (refer old stories). Now it should work

Well, New cycle begins.  Note the casurina has grown well in the fence side.

The old and defunct banana plantations are dragged to the compost pit

They are cut into pieces.  This will be applied with cowdung and some fertiliser/soil so that they become manure

 

Wind Tower, again looking empty with no growth around. This needs cleaning

My Green House (nursary) is a failure

The green House that I had conceived and for which I had spent enough money is a failure till now.  We  purchased the shade net from coimbatore through courier.  That is not of good quality. It is tearing in all places.  Earlier my team had constructed this with Casurina sticks and wrapped them.  While the ceiling is somewhat intact the outer wall is not stable. That was required to stop the warm wind from blowing inside.  The action of wind and dog is pulling it apart. 

Net net, we are uable to use the full potential of the nursary.  The mud floor is also uneven and there is soil erosion on the sides.

We need to re-think. Once the rain stops we need to do the following;

a) Increase the ceiling height.  We need a wooden stool for the farm. Otherwise Subbu is able to tie the poles only at arms length.

b) No need for outer wall wrapping. Let us remove it.  Let the wind blow inside. If required we can protect the tender plants with some wooden planks.

c) Need to buy good quality shade net from nearby town. Even if it costs money.

Some vegetable seeds are growing in the bags

The shade net in bad condition.
One moringa plant has escaped and is growing. let it grow...

Paddy Experiment in the farm

My dream is to grow some paddy in the farm.  It should be organic and country variety.  Now many are available. Several months back, I had purchased Mappillai Samba and Ponni seeds from a friend.  Last time when it rained, I had asked Subbu to experiment with some of them.

However we plunged into draught for several months. No rain. The priority Changed and we lost focus.  The seeds where however kept safe.

Recently due to heavy and incessant rains, decided to try out as many different vegetation as possible to take advantage of available water.  But it is still raining. Therefore not suitable for initiating any sowing now. But rice can be grown in this climate.

Our maiden effort however went futile. All the rice seeds that were spread had been eaten by the Stork which visit from far and wide.  To meet our desire however Subbu managed to get some other variety IR70 (Indian Rice 70 - a hybrid variety by Rice research institute nearby) which is popular among the peasants.  He had brought the ready to sow siblings. And thus, viola, you have a mini rice field.

If this experiment goes fine, then we will expand in next half. Perhaps can go for one more round of Native variety purchase.

Land Preparation

The sprouted paddy siblings

Rice is sown, just like that

The Cement Tank is full of Water

It is nice to see that the cement tank fed by the windmill is full of water. because of rains, this water is not used for any purpose now and will serve as storage.  Fish is let inside. Now I understand why the mischevous fish escaped from this tank.  According to Subbu some 20 fish jumped out of this tank playfully.