Visit to the farm 27-Sep-2015 - Part 1

Visiting our own farm is always a thrill. It generally starts with great expectation, eagerness followed by some disappointment, reconciliation then some encouragement and moment of triumph and proudness when we part.  The thoughts will linger for long time to come in memory and photos.

Last week I had been to my farm.  Had some domestic work which I combined with one day farm visit.  Preparation for this visit however started two weeks back.

The following were the main accomplishments;

a) The 83mm new pump sent by ABS was delivered after chasing the TCI-XPS logistics.   In the so called most modern Logistics company, they were shifting the consignment back and forth between Kanyakumari and Salem without delivering en-route. I wonder how the courier operates without any proper coordination. At  last We intercepted the consignment on highways at-last and brought to the farm.

This pump is now installed in my absence and seems to be working fine. But full potential is unknown as there is no wind.

b) The chain block was put to use when I was there.  It is very convenient to lift very heavy objects with just one person.  Very nice purchase.  Subbu was smiling all the way.

c) Presented the team with some tea shirts and incentives for others to buy new cloths. We made black coffee at the farm and had good meeting chat.

The rest in Visuals.

Every Farm visit starts with Worshipping God.  Sastha is in front of my farm and is now having new Roof.  He 

By and Large the farm is dry. There is no greenary. Even the toughest of the weeds are dried out

Another view from the road (in front of Sastha Temple).

The mud pond with new fence made from iron angle rods and matching GI wire with sleeves

Pond waiting for water.  The inlet and outlets are cemented and ready.  There is a rock in the left which cannot be flattened.  I am not satisfied with JCB work. Anyway....... Once it rains, hope the mud will settle down.

The coconut is growing well

The compost tank and the nursary are unutilised still. No focus on that now.  Water is the priority.  There is
no agro activity to generate biomass.

The resting place or kutir is very useful.  This is the meeting place

Situation is worsening further.. There is draught at Farm

Situation is worsening further.. There is draught at Farm

Subbu was expressing his anger and frustration.  Reason there is no rain.  No rain for the past many days, stopped counting how much.  Today the frustration is because the ground water has further fallen down. He said he spent some time atop the water tank near the wind pump to see the output.  Sometime the output is very small even when the windpump is rotating fast.  After 5 minutes it is giving more water. Again less water.

Reason, due to reduced water at the borewell, it takes time for water to seepage.  This is bad sign.

The vegetation around the farm is so dry that it takes one match stick to initiate wild fire.
to mitigate the receding water, we want to increase the pipe length to 150 feet. That means purchase 5 more piples of 2" dia anticipating new pump installation.

Meanwhile our new pump sent by ABS is still on its way.  I am betting my hopes on increased water through that.

Funny guys the courier TCI-XPS are;  The consignment has taken the below route.  From Kanyakumari the guy told it has gone to Tirunelveli whereas it should have been delivered en-route.  But Tirunelveli guy says it is heading towards SALEM again.  Why ?  because the pump was loaded deep inside the long truck. There is 9 tonne of material after that. Funny !. Guys in the delivery business cannot give such excuse. Anyway he promised he will deliver tomorrow at Nanguneri.

This is the magic of Linear Programming Problem and advanced Logistics planning by modern men.

Consignment number : 688734211  (TCI-XPS)
From Station To Station Despatch Date Time Arrival Date Time
XVSH (VASHI) XMBH (MUMBAI-HUB) 16-SEP-2015 20:28 16-SEP-2015 23:20
XMBH (MUMBAI-HUB) XSLH (SALEM-HUB) 17-SEP-2015 15:35 19-SEP-2015 23:00
XSLH (SALEM-HUB) XKKI (KANYAKUMARI) 20-SEP-2015 18:02 21-SEP-2015 13:56
XKKI (KANYAKUMARI) XTNV (TIRUNEVELI) 22-SEP-2015 11:53 --

Meanwhile the chain block has reached Valliyoor. Subbu took delivery of that from KPN travels. He was satisfied as it was so heavy. It can withstand any weight.  Good purchase. He said same material in tirunelveli was not that strong and was also costing twice.

Chain block can be had from coimbatore : Sudhir Jaiswal 09843089006 (Fine Chain Centre), finebearingco@yahoo.co.in

The effort is going to be effortless lifting the pump

One of the sour point is lifting the pipe assembly from borewell manually everytime you need to access the pump or repair something.  It requires 4 people to pull the pipe assembly of around 100 feet with a rope.

Pipes, inside rod, pump and water will weigh over 300 Kg to 500 Kg.

 Last time on my visit to the farm,  I had purchased a pully fastened to the tower for pulling the rope effortlessly. Still it requires two employees and two hires costing around 1000/- on labor for every incident.  And the "pull" also will be rough and may hurt the pipe or people.

In order to reduce the manual effort and make it more easy, I have decided to go for chain block.

A chain is a kind of geared pully which will lift heavy objects.  For our application we wanted to go for 3 Ton.  Actually 1 Ton would be sufficient. But I reasoned that once we have this device, it can be used in future for any kind of material that we want to lift. Say a Cow !

A 3 Ton chain block with 3 meter lift would be around INR 8.5K and is ordered from Coimbatore.  This will reach the farm just in time when our new pump from Navi Mumbai also will reach.  That should be comfortable for Subbu.