Shade Net has arrived

What appears to be trivial and insignificant will actually be a big project on the field.  purchase of Agriculture shadenet for example worth Rs. 3000/-.  I ordered for 50 meters of shadenet cloth with a Coimbatore dealer through online transfer. Gave the delivery address and phone number of Subbu.  on 13th. Finally the material has reached today with delay of 10 days.

Root cause for delay is that the dealer had not written Subbu's contact number on the package.

Subbu with sac of shadenet cloth on bike from Nanguneri to farm

Already there was a delay in delivery due to Pongal festival holidays.   Booked thorugh Kovai-Nellai transport which is a very economical carrier the material got changed hands at Nellai with KLS transport ( a simple lorry shuttling between Tirunelveli to Nagarcoil).  The KLS guy did not know whom to contact because there was no contact number.  Till he contacts, the material will remain in Lorry as there is no holding Godown for them.  very simple system. If you understand you get prompt service. Small shops and business use this effectively.

Only on my followup on the entire chain of links through phone did the material got identified. But after it was done, it was cake walk.  There was a human touch. Lorry driver called Subbu today morning at 8 AM promptly and delivered the material. Subbu as usual brought that on his bike. I dono't know how.

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Farm Update 02-Sep-2014

1.  Subbu is back to routine his after his post delivery paternal care. Though he never took complete leave and always kept an eye on the farm, I was not compelling him to do anything more. We reviewed the current situation today.  There is no rain yet. Only one rain was there a week back.  Last week for the first time we ran dry. There was no rain, no wind.  We had purchased water at Rs. 200 per 1000 liters because there was no wind.  Total 3000 liters were purchased, when the rain came.  The wind also started blowing. Today the wind is blowing and giving an yield of upto 5000 liters per day. Which is enough to run the show.

2. Only when the rainy season starts will we be able to till the land for banana crop.  We are planning for around 400 saplings seriously to make some money this year. Similarly the 30 odd coconut pits are waiting for rain. I want to purchase good coconut variety. The nursary at Parasala will have the required saplings. But Subbu has complaint that they are speaking only in Malayalam language. I need to get hold of one malayalee friend who can help in translation, finalise the purchase and then ask Subbu to go there.

3.  Green gram and a millet has been sown near the wind pump tower for experiment. I heared they are growing well.  Subbu is in the making of Tomato and brinjal saplings from seeds in small quantity. It is yet to be transplanted.   He doesnot believe in small quantity. My wife was also encouraging from growing vegetables. But I insisted that we grow all varities of vegerables now in small quantities to multiply seeds. My future business plan depends on vegetables and not on banana or groundnut as per conventional thinking.   These are little experiments are required keep ourselves busy. It also gives satisfaction that farming is happening at-last.

4.  Few pumpkin, watermelon seeds have also been sown by Subbu. He wanted to grow some cucumber in large scale as it is a 3 month crop. It is his self target and he wants to show some productivity. I left to his choice.

5. The 2 lady employees have been asked to stop coming for work. They have been assured of daily wages whenever there is work. They have accepted the arrangement.  The farm will now be managed by Kandan and Subbu only as before.  When compared to last year, now we have mechanized windpump, water pipes, storage tank etc...

6. The newly constructed water storage tank is having 2 feet of water. Only excess water will be stored from wind pump. Presently there is no excess.

7. Sometimes it takes ages to do small things which are obvious. Two of them were pending till now. one is completed.
a) The template, 'A' frame and pully system were to be returned to ABS company after the windpump installation. The courier guy after so many days of pressure, finally has lifted them from the farm on ToPay basis. Total weight will be around 400 Kg.
b) The staywire which was purchased to fasten the tower to protect from hurricane is still not fixed. Just 30 minutes job. Everything is ready. only Somu is required with his wire cutter. That is pending for him for more than 2 months.

8.  Subbu and kandan had climbed atop the tower and applied grease to the ball bearings of the windpump. The mechanics are working to satisfaction.

9. The permission for farm room has been obtained. Electricity board is doing survey to provide electricity. This will be 2 phase and should not be used for pumping. Only for lighting. This should come in a month's time. Farm should get some lighting for security.


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