Sometimes small animals do get killed

I was surprised when Subbu pointed to a distance and expressed his sadness.  What is there ? what happened I asked. Before he answered we reached there.  This was when I visited the farm in the first week this month.

There I saw a wild rabbit having got caught under the fence met with a gory death.  The diamond knitted fence had a small opening at the bottom. Small animals can creep in. I guess Kandan or Subbu had blocked that passage casually with thin tie wire.  This Rabbit in a hurry to get inside had got its neck entangled on this loose thin wire that was put as a hole filler. In a frenzy to escape from there it has twisted its head many times only to get further entangled in the wire. Its neck bore a deep cut.

Meanwhile Kandan kept the dead rabbit aside to take it home for his meals.  Subbu said some dog would have chased this animal and this would have tried to enter the farm from below the fence for safety.  He cited similar incident which happened involving another wild animal.  I donot recall the name he told me. He said I would not even have heard of its name as it is native to that place and is rare.

Some birds keep dying last year in hit by propeller of windmill. I was told even if the propeller was starting slowly, and there is enough time for bird to fly away, still they die for some unknown reasons.   One mynah was building a nest incide the wind turbine shaft box. It was a sure death.

What can be done ?  I asked Subbu and Kandan to be extremely careful about these.  Each animal is important. each Insect and each bird is important.  We need to play host to them and not create death traps.

Subbu mentioned that this thick bush of vettiver is home to rabbits. he was even searching one in it. It was so thick and so re-assuring.

I know my farm will grow to be a good host for many a living creatures.

Farm Update 23-Jun-2016

1.   The electricity officials have visited and gone.  Subbu told that they had promised electricity from a nearby existing transformer of Nachankulam village. May have to lay 4 poles each 150 feet apart.  I guess each will cost between 10K to 15K for me.  The next work is a paper work to fetch the map for the farm. Earlier application form,  Farm room design was submitted.

2. The officer had remarked there must be a toilet in the farm.   Electricity is being applied for domestic purpose. It is given only for houses.  Here we are treating the room inthe farm as a house.  Inspection is to find if it indeed is occupied.  Yes, we have a stove, bed and other things necessary for stay. Minus toilet.

3. I told Subbu irrespective of what they said, we will build a toilet. It will be always useful for visitors and lady staff alike. Now now, a little later.

4. There is no rains. By and large it is very dry irrespective of south west monsoon pouring rain in many places.   It is not surprising.  We get rains only in october.  We need to endure upto that.

5. There is enough wind.  4000 liters per day or 4 tanks per day is pumped by windmill. I guess that is sufficient.  Some water was poured into the depleting water pond also for fish to survive.

6 Windmill which was bit mis-aligned has been re-aligned. This was an exercise by itself.  Last week when I called Subbu he was atop the tower.  Subbu and Paramu planned the activity. I guess 4 people pulled the head of the tower in a direction and Paramu fixed it. Some socket that was eccentric. I cannot guess what they did. But I heared everything is fine now.  If that were not fixed, something was grinding with every stroke and some rod would have worn out in a month or two due to friction.

7. I need to step up farming activity once I get electricity. It is still few weeks away.  The officials should not change their mind and should help bring electricity. There could be small bribes or expenses to take care of workers.

8.  Only when electricity is in sight, i should plan for purchasing submersible water pump.  I still donot have full hope.  Plan B would be to go for slow speed diesel pump and compressor.

9. The lotus has not sprouted yet. It worries me. I had put live roots in the pond and sprinkled seeds too. In this climate I hoped it will catchup.

10.  The seeds my children put had sprouted it seems.  For me it was a personal satisfaction to ;
a) have utilised the newly remodeled nursary shade
b) use the plastic bags brought earlier
c) use the mud and manure (cowdung) mix
d) My wife and children participated though the activity was small, but in intense sunlight
e) Demostrated to Subbu and Kandan our intentions by action.

Children prepared the sprouting bags and fixed some random seeds that we
had collected over a period of time. They were tree seeds.
Mostly Gulmohur. This week I heared they have sprouted.
I have plans to distribute them outside the farm also.

A Humble Seed Bank at the Farm

Aamanakku (Castor) seeds removed from their shell
Subbu said this is selling at 100/- kg
and was carefully removing. I helped him till completion

It was a long standing requirement.  To have a safe place to keep the seeds.  Till now the seeds collected through various sources were just kept in its own cover.  News paper wrapped,  polythene covers, carry bags and so on.

When in the farm, Kandan kept repeatedly saying that rats are eating the seeds. Yes earlier i had lost country variety paddy seeds - Mappillai Samba which I got it couriered from another friend.  Similarly many of the seeds that I had given to Subbu had been lost to Rats because it was not kept safely.

At the shop stuffing the mud pots with paper.

That triggered me to think and immediately execute a plan.  Just went to the market brought mud pots of two different sizes. Normally no one would go there. The shop is not so attractive. But as you have a close loop you can see they are just samples. The mud pots and stock is behind the shop in dark room dusty and dungeon.  You wade through them to select pots of your liking.

One small and another big.  Around 15 of them, got it packed (wrapped in news paper) and brought them safely to the farm in Autorikshaw.  Now my seeds are safe. Each of the container has a lid also. Rats cannot open. Because it is mud, there will be required moisture and air circulation. 

My finished Seed Bank.  These pots will be kept inside a room for the time being. I need
to make a shelf later.  The ginger at the far left is fresh one brought from Karnataka
enroute my vacation. I am sure Subbu will waste it. But we cannot preserve this. Hope
he will nurture a few atleast.

 Most of the seeds that we collected were small in quantity. Few in large quantity. hence a mixture of size.  Works well.  Need to make a stand as next step. The stand should support the unstable pots with round bottoms.

So goes development......

Farm Update in Visuals - Summar June, 2016

I had been to the farm last week with family.  Though it was a Summer holidays trip to various places, I had earlier planned for atleast one visit to the farm. But it turned out that I managed to visit thrice. Twice alone and once with family.

The visit was very useful and required. This time a new boring was done for water. I had first hand observation of peak summer at the farm.  Things are looking bright.

Rest in visuals......

Farm visible from approach road. An Oasis in middle of desert.

Happy to see Palm Tree sprouting. It is said it is very
difficult to get this growing. Note the casurina stem in the left. They have grown into adults

Cluster of palm trees sprouted. We cannot replant them as
their roots are deep. Let us see how it grows.

Bamboo near the gate. I had lot of hope on this. But it is not picking speed. Perhaps more water is required.

One of several trees that we brought from nursary whose name is yet to be differentiated. Birds like this tree.
fruits are very sweet. This must be The Indian jujube or Indian Plum or Indian cherry in English, “Ber” in Hindi, “Badri” in Sanskrit. The Tamil name is “Elanthai Pazham” (இலந்தை பழம்).

The seating arrangement 1 visible from this spot

Another picture of Jujube or ilandai bush.

A view of the pond. It is now a place of bio diversity (will explain later)

Another of to be identified tree.  Even subbu is confused. I just left it at that. We have a list of
trees we brought from Ramji nursary 2 years back.  We need to match the names with some
experienced people.

The elegant view of windpump.  The tree is malai vembu

My wife is spreading Sundakkai (Turkey berry) seeds.  She is a critic of my farming. However fond
of herbs. She would advocate spreading seeds randomly, in this case where kandan used to water individual trees. 

Another unknown tree coming up. I donot know if this is ornamental.

A view of Sapota plants. Note the windmill out there
supplies water for this distance. Which explains
why windmill is unable to cope with demand.

Peak summer. No vegetation near the tower. Only sustenance of all trees spread around.

Jasmine flower bed

Red banana, surviving.

Near the windpump. Some weeds growing happily.

Vettiver has grown into thick bush. Subbu said there will be rabits inside.

Otherwise dry part of the farm. My wife seeing this had registered her disappointment. This area was
paddy field few months back. Now dry. This is the place where I had put the 2nd boring (right side of this snap)

Kodukkapuli plant has grown big. Some bird has constructed a nest

Marudani (Mehndi) plant. Due to drought, it has fruited. Lots of seeds
But leaves are not dense due to water scarcity.
There was no time to pluck them.

A wine that I brought from pune and propogated. Subbu said it is not in
neighbourhood. 

Well, some neem saplings are kept near jasmine for watering. This is to be planted elsewhere
when water is available.

A tall tree near the windpump. Again don't know its name.

One more

Sapota

The egg plant has fruited. one or two are found near the coconut tree sharing water.

2nd table arrangement near tower

Had there been plenty of water this would have become more bigger
but still it is good.

Malai Vembu

Another unidentified tree. Need to label them.

Some bird has stitched the leaves and built nest

One of coconut

Subbu and kandan attempted to show us some fish. Watch carefully to observe so many small organisms
Frogs are jumping in the sides

Fishes. They were left into water back after inspection.  Look at small fishes as well.

Prayer at Sastha temple bef

Sastha

Another view

Daughter playing with sand

A view from backside of the kutir

Finally a second bore in the farm

The boring head in resting position

After weighing carefully the pros and cons, decided to go for 2nd Boring in the farm.  On my visit to the farm last week, this was executed.

Modern boring of 6" require two lorries. One supplies compressed air. The other is actually the boring machine.

By the way the farm is not that bad as my "madam" had pictured it.  It is starving for water, but vegetation and bio-diversity is at its best.  More on that later.

Now some note on boring.

Almost Done. Only outer to be fixed.

Boring completed. The man is attaching a short pipe above ground level
to the outer pipe.

The spot for boring was chosen only through pure guess work.  We did not employ any water prospector or surveyor.  Kandan felt water will be there in a particular corner based on his instinct. I also felt he must be right going by the geography.  Because this spot is in isometric level to another good open water well which is some 500 meters away.  The spot also is the lowest spot and bang middle and opposite of a bund that separates us and a rain water pond.  I guessed water must get accumulated underground from the nearby pond.

Our guess was not bad.  We hit water at 165 feet. Again at 190 feet and again at  above 250 feet.  Subbu became greedy and went upto 325 feet, whereas I had budgeted for 300 feet come what may.

The borewell will be called "Kandan Kinaru" in tribute to Kandan's accurate guess work.

The only downside is this one is not very far from the earlier one.  Having two borewells around 200 feet apart and still you have a corner of farm away from you is fine.

It costs around Rs. 60/- per feet. (one dollar).  Then you have "outer" PVC pipe of 20 feet that is required to dress the first 20 feet to keep the mud packed from falling inside.  So total should come around 26K. you settle only then lorry will leave the farm.

The borewell with outer in place.  The bore width is 6.5"
 Lorry is yet to move away

The boring is pretty easy job in open fields.  Started at 7 AM and finished everything by 12 PM. The crew brings their own cooking gas stove etc....  They have tight schedules.  We waited for them for 3 days with rigorous followup.  I could not witness the water gushing. Subbu had taken snaps which I will add later to this page. I was at that time in Sastha Temple with my family. Sastha is our family deity. When Subbu called me to say we have hit water !.  God's mercy.

Now some visuals.....

The sight is a mixture of rock dust and water mixture sprewen around the borewell extending and flowing into neighboring field as well. I hope he will not object to this dirt.

We are yet to think of how to pump water now.

My earlier idea is to get a slow speed dieseal pump and compressor. But now Subbu is confident of getting some electricity by talking to officials. Not the industrial one, but domestic current.

Let's hope the best.

One by one people are moving away. Pack and go.  The fresh borewell will be
tied with gunny bag till mason builds a cement structure around.