Convinced at Last on Drip Irrigation

Subbu was "high" when I called him today.  He was so happy he did not want to talk to me further because his next best action was driving him mad.

He was thrilled that the drip irrigation pipes that he assembled worked very well.  No big deal for anyone who has heared the term drip irrigation in all magazines and advertisements. But is it another story when you actually "do it".

As mentioned earlier stories,  he had put the drip pipes around  the jasmine plants and other fence trees.  But due to lack of wind there was no water that was getting pumped by the windpump on to the overhead tank.  This tank would create required pressure to drive water to far off.

On laying the drip pipes,  we had taken a call that we will not take any professional help, but assemble ourselves.  We will also not go for any "filters and pumps" as in conventional system.  Ours will be simple low cost system where only pipes will be involved.  We would use gravity to drive water into pipes and leak out through rubber tubes where required.  Ofcourse we should maintain  the system "clean" to prevent clogging. That's all.

He said "Sir, actually this is the pipe I brought second time. The first time what I brought was not of good quality and it did not work. This is working well".  That is true, I had already advised him to buy sturdier 0/5 inch black rubber pipe instead of the widely commercialized flat drip tapes.  They will work only when you pump water with a force.  We donot have electricity or pump to drive the water.    Using a tank perched at 15 feet high, we  create enough gravitational force  to drive water to farthest corner of this 3 acre farm.

Anyway Kandan was very happy. He don't have to run around watering the stray plants manually.  In this hot summar it is very difficult to "carry" water on shoulders using plastic pots to water the stray plants.

Subbu is on his way to Tirunelveli to buy a bigger roll or pipes.

Farm Update 23-Mar-2015 - Looking back Same day Last year

Routine work is important for any farm.  Our activities should sync with the natural cycle of plants and the weather. I guess there was a disturbance in that.  Today I felt we have come back.  Spoke to Subbu and started from where we left.

a) Need to take delivery of the polybags from Tirunelveli.  In the past 4 days, due to improper coordination of courier, we have wasted time. The consignment could be tracked upto to Tirunelveli branch. But their number was wrong in the Net.  Many phone calls and found the correct number. They said they had returned the goods. Enroute, I stopped the consignment from passing Madurai. Then again checked Tnly after 4 days only to find they had not returned. Due to lethargy, they have said so.  Subbu will go take delivery of the polybags.  (Cost 2000/- already paid)

b) Brinjal seeds have come from Paramez alias Parameshwaran from Dindigal through courier. (Cost Rs. 50/- already paid).

c) With the above, hopefully we should start the nursary in the newly made green shade

d) Given up on obtaining stone pillar for the Shade Pandal.  I am going to go for iron pipes for support.  3 backside, 3 front side and two on the middle either side is required.  Minimum height will be 12 feet.  Only the poles in Iron. The side sticks will be still casurina. I hope this time the pandal for taking rest will come nicely.  I need to plan simple lighting over there (Solar lantern).

e) Planning to visit the farm next month on my annual visit to Native.

f) The first batch of bananas have come for frutition.  Still there is another 2 months to go.

g) Once again water has become scarce.  Wind is not there.  Water need to be borrowed.  There is forecast of rain only next week. This week will continue to be hot, dry.  It is really a challenge to grow in the hot weather.

Last year what where we doing ?  When I took my own post same day last year, I was surprised to find we have come a long way.  At that time, we had not even installed the wind pump.  There was scarcity of water and manual pumping was going ON.  Just comparing two photos side by side. These are taken approximately from the same spot.

Last Year March.  Still the handpump is seen.  Wind Tower foundation is being laid. Note the dry patch opposite.
It is full of weeds. Casurina is still baby in the fence.

This year, taken in January.  Wind-pump installed.  Notice banana trees in the background.
The compound is not visible  The small tank that served when we pumped water manually
is now looking dwarf. It is now used to mix panjagavya

h) Fishes are not having enough water. We need to borrow some water

g) Subbu will be testing the drop irrigation only today/tomorrow.  It is laid and kept ready. But there was no wind or he had no time. Now tank is filled and need to test. If this hypothesis works, it will be a savior.

Subbu selling his Paddy !

.So far the past few days, Subbu was the driver for his own vehicle, a lorry.  They are a joint family. His brother is actually a driver. But since he was ill, Subbu had assumed that role. It is paddy harvesting season. What did Subbu do.

The paddy (Ambai16) that is grown in his own farm as well as that of his neighbours had to be shuttled between Village to town Market.

He shuttles around 100 kottai paddy. Each kottai is equivalent of around 136 Kgs or approximately two gunny bags (sacs).

Each Kottai is purchased at Rs.1650/- by him and sold for Rs. 1750.  He spends around 20/- for uploading and measuring. Net profit is Rs.80/- per Kottai of paddy or Rs.0.60/- per kg.

Since he has done hauling of around 100 Kottai (13 tonnes), he has earned a gross 8000/- profit excluding his spend on diesel.  Not bad.

However he regretted that the farmers should have "held" the stock for some more time before selling. He predicted that the rate will go upto Rs. 2000/- per kottai in just another month or two.  But alas !, no one is waiting. They want to make quick money !.

Subbu is absconding !

Atleast that is what I thought till i reached him 3 days later. His phone was giving status as switched off along with his home number. Initially I thought he had gone out for work to save his paddy. Even two days later also there was no response. I asked another known friend to look out for him. He visited on foot after a day and said their house is locked. I became panic because I am aware there is a communal riot going on in those areas. Something ontoward happened ?!

Finally Subbu was found lock stock and barrel. He said he was always available it seems on an old number which I never tried. Since his touch phone was under repair, he had taken his wife phone and used an old SIM. The new SIM, his phone and that of his wife were kept off.

Whew ! that was a near miss.

Then why did'nt he call me either. That was another story.

Horray there is rain !

I was almost losing hope, how we will pass through this summar when already we were experiencing intense heat.  There was no water.  No wind.  Bright White Light.

Stop. Something was telling me.   Either my scientific brain, or plain common sense or experience.  I used to tell Subbu, when there is too much of heat, the air has to expand become lighter and vacate.  Therefore it should create low pressure. To fill this, cold air has to come from other directions, may be along with it rains.

I used to watch http://www.accuweather.com/en/in/tirunelveli/190785/march-weather/190785 for current weather. It used to say always hot sun. But towards week end (last week), there was a prediction of oncoming rains and thunder showers.  It came true !

Picture Shows Tirunelveli (adj to my farm) has sudden drop in temperature with rains

I tried to reach Subbu in vain. He was not picking the phone for 2 days.  Last I spoke to him was when he was pumping water from neighboring tank.  Later I learned that water has entered into his phone screen. The touch screen was not working. He had a good old Nokia. When did he move to smart phone?  He said he had purchased a Chinese touch screen for around Rs. 2000/-.   He could helplessly see the call coming... but...phone was not responding. I told him to "dry" the phone for two days.

What happened was there was heavy rains from Friday.  He went to save grains that were ready for harvesting. His entire family was working amidst thunder showers.  He said that the mission was successful and grains were saved.   They will be dried in the driers in the modern rice mill.

We are relieved. Subbu says there is enough and enough water.  thank God.
I can plan now my vegetables.

Climate and the Farm. Miscellaneous Topics

"Sir, the sun is so bright we have never seen this in the recent past.  Very hot Sun. I am just getting water from the neighboring well". In the background I could hear the motor and water sound. Subbu was bit worried about the stock of water. But he was satisfied that he had soaked the entire banana plantations with water to the effect there may not be any more requirement to irrigate them. They are already in fruiting stage.

"How many hours have we pumped water from neighborhood ?", I asked. I was worried on how much I need to plan for future to be self sustainable. He said "so far 7 hours in the past few days", that means we have filled mud pond (30x30x6),  the tank (25x10x6) and banana crops. A lot of water indeed.  They charge Rs. 100/- per hour of  water pumped.

What you set out to do may not be what you end up doing over the week is applicable not only to business but also the agriculture field.

So it is only the job of irrigating where all the time is spent now.  

1. The company who was supposed to send Polybags for nursery is nowhere in sight. Every time they say some excuse. Today they confirmed that they will dispatch. It costs Rs. 100/- per KG of polythene bags. I ordered 2 KG each of 4"x 5" and 6" x 7" size.  It was funny how to imagine the size of the bags would be based on the flat measurements of length and breath. For this I used excel sheet.  If 4" is the width of bag, 8" should be the circumference of the bag. Therefore using 8" circumference, the diameter should be 8"/3.14 = 2.54".  Using this, in excel you can define a circle with 2.5" length and 2.5 width. Once drawn on screen, you can satisfy if this size will do.  
2. Vettiver is not seen anywhere in sight. This was to be sent by a fellow farmer in Pollachi  The consignment sent by the vendor never reached. A drunken driver has lost it without watering it had dried enroute.  
3. The stone pillars for the shade house is still not having permission for transport.  
4. But the pursuit on drip irrigation is ON.  That is the only way forward for the water issues.

Boys always like to experiment.   But for this I need to keep inventing new projects. That is investment and not core business of growing plants. Nevertheless all round development and future proofing can happen only when you do all kinds of activities, not only growing crops.

Yesterday Subbu sounded joyful when he said he had purchased the first lot of 200 feet drip pipe and a host of connectors.   He was planning to first put this near the gate where few fruit trees and coconut plants are laid. This corner is farthest and tiresome to irrigate, so Kandan had suggested this place.

"Have you brought the instrument to puncture hole and tape to cover the hole if it is mistake?. have you brought connectors, joints and T junctions?"  The answer was affirmative from Subbu.

Subbu and Kandan fixing the drip pipes - their first experiment

The plastic tank kept above 15 feet from ground level having 1000 liter capacity that gets filled with wind energy should be able to create pressure using gravity to reach this spot which is around 75 feet away. The water will travel through an underground PVC pipe, emerge near the gate and connect with the drip lateral pipes. This will be Subbu's first experiment.  But for wind. There is no wind. Since yesterday the windmill is standstill.

A quick check at the climate and my own wisdom says that this Hot sunshine must end with a rain. The hot air should create low pressure which should bring thunder showers in few days from now.

Let's wait and see.......

Farm Update 05-Mar-2015

Nothing significant happened in past 1 week. Past two days Subbu was busy filling the rainwater mud pond (30 x 30 feet) with water from the neighbouring well.  He was using their electric motor which runs on Govt Subsidy. "Why waste kerosene sir ?"  What he is attempting to do is to fill our tank with atleast 4 feet of water sucked from the kind neighbour. Currently there is only one feet of muddy water. He is so obsessed about the fish that he will do anything to save them.

Though this appears as simple task of just connecting long pipes and pumping water, the degree of difficulty lies in coordinating with there is electricity. That is erratic in this area.  In Subbu's village there was no electricity for 3 days last week. Some wire has snapped and Electricity board was responding slowly.

Villagers got angry as all their work has come to halt including agriculture. That is when I felt, we have made  wise decision of going for Wind Power. My farm routine was as usual as we donot have electicity in the first place to worry about.

"So what did you feed the fishes ?" - me.
" Oil cakes, husk, cowdung...". I asked him to put some cut vegetables also. I read somewhere fishes do eat cut cabbages. He said he will bring chicken waste in a day or two.

The following would be the three tasks for this week ahead

a) Construction of Shade Roof for visitors using stone 6 pillars, 2 tall iron poles and thatched roof with dry woven coconut tree leafs.

b) Get the polythene bags (which i have ordered) to be filled with mud and keep it in the green shade. This is to prepare a small nursary to grow vegetable seeds.

c) Purchase pipes, connectors and drippers for making drip irrigation to the fence trees to begin with.  This would be most important job.

*****

Let us feel proud that we have chosen a barren land...

I am not Martin Luther or M K Gandhi. But I can deliver a simple lecture which can motivate at-least two persons. And I did...

Dear Subbu:

I know that you are sad because there is no water. Apparently all activities have stopped and you are constantly thinking only about water. Your mind is not working..

First of all feel proud that we have chosen a barren land, a dry land, a rain-shadow region to be developed into a green patch. And we are already doing that.  It is no big deal to do agriculture in a land where there is plenty of water supplied from a dam, a river or a canal and being pumped from a tube-well through free electricity.

That is no big deal !. That is not agriculture. That is only business. For such people who have all facilities are only abusing their land. They are growing only commercial crops over there with poisonous chemicals like insecticides, herbicides and various salts to get more yield and are exporting it to far off countries.  I heard someone near Madurai is growing genetically modified cucumber brought from Israel which is not palatable to humans. He is exporting them. That is harmful to local ecosystem.

Be proud that our district which is so backward in agriculture compared to other northern districts has been in existence for thousands of years.  There were great leaders and patriots from this region. Our ancestors hail from this region.  How did they survive? What did they do without water ? There is hardly two months of rain here.

Bank on me. I have noticed through the window in my extensive air travel across India, that we have more rain-fed regions like our farm than well irrigated lands from rivers. Entire India is having agriculture activities which are dependent only on rain. For hundreds of years, everything was going smooth. The minute people started cultivating commercial crops out of greediness like cotton, the suicides have started. Poverty has started. I have seen that people who are struck to traditional farming have survived. They have not made that much money. Money is not important. Well-Being is very important. That is available in many places.

Therefore let us copy from them. Let us grow Bajra, millet's, kodugu, finer millet and other drought resistant varieties. Let us use our intelligence, squeeze our brain and find out solutions. That is why we are here.

Subbu, there is actually more water. Let us face it straight. I am not going to dig any more well. we are not going to puncture once more for another bore-well. This is the water and it is pumped through wind.  That is it. Let us accept the limitation. Lets move ON.

I guess we are wasting water. We should not have done canal irrigation to Sweet potato and Banana. We are pouring water to casurina trees on the fence. There is no irrigation required for the fence trees. Only moisture is enough. By pouring water on soil, expecting it to spread is not going to happen. Even if you leave a draining hose pipe overnight on the ground, only one patch of round shape will be wet in the morning. Water would have seeped into the soil, rather than spreading far and wide. Then why are we irrigating.?

Let us adopt drip irrigation. It is a good technology. We must quickly bring it to the farm. We will not ask anyone to set it up. We are not going to use filters which will require pumping. We are not going to pump. we will use gravitational force.   We will do it ourselves.  We have to make funny connections, criss crosses and bring water to all corners. Let us buy bundles of pipes and connectors right away and start.  There are only two connectors. 'T' junction and 'connectors'. There will be terminators. They are cheap. Don't worry.

You will be surprised for entire fence, we can have few pipes with punctured holes running around. No more hassle of irrigating with hose pipes like in a fire fighting. Let us feed water every day little by little instead of pouring the water in the channel. We will have water surplus at the end left in the tank. Let us put vegetables near the wind tower and connect with dripping pipes. Let us grow all kinds of vegetables. No more wastage of water.  This was my dream when I started. Let us implement the same now.

We will be a model farmer. People from all drought areas will come to see our farm. No electricity, no water, people are growing bananas, brinjal, greens, fruits, nuts and flowers. Sooner or later a cow also will come. Then more cows will come. Then we will not have space left to accommodate them. Let us prepare ourselves for that.

Subbu was happy after hearing this.  he is going to purchase some Hay for future as harvesting is ON in the neighborhood.

First priority was to construct the resting shade. As restriction on transporting of stone pillars would have eased, he will start that work. Next week we are expecting some visitors to the farm. We need to construct this before that.  currently team is using the green shade net for resting. But that will be a hod-house. we need complete covered roofing to wade through the hot summer.

The second priority would be to experiment on drip irrigation low cost, customer made. That is the way to go. Subbu will go to Tirunelveli town and purchase entire kit of plastic pipes and connectors.

Hot Summer Begins - Draught like Climate already

Well,  all things put aside.  First things first.  No water.  Water bodies are getting dry.

We have the burden of watering Banana and casurina trees to keep them alive.  Agriculture is not about cultivation.  That is the last thing.   It is mostly about sustaining life forms that you have chosen to bring up.  There is only 'n' variables that you can control.  Water is the primary and most important source for agriculture that is not in our control.  But water is everything.

And it is not there.

Subbu has decided to pump some water from neighboring well that is over 100 mts far.  This is mostly as a precaution to recharge the tanks.  Currently the wind speed is very low.  Only a 1000 liter is hardly getting filled and we need 2000 ltrs per day to sustain the vegetation.

 He has the hose pipes (good planning) and the kerosene engine.  Well there is one feet of water in the rain water pond surviving the fishes.  It the fishes starts to get visible, the birds will take them away. Good that we had invested in the Kerosene engine and hose pipes ! for such emergencies.

The Week Ahead on 20th Feb, 2015

We can't keep celebrating success or failure for long.  Should keep moving ON.

I need to create more engagement and bring energy after a small failure. few days back Subbu had harvested sweet potato and it was a disappointment.

Not really.  Perhaps.

1.  First asked Subbu to cover the plot of land with palm leaves which he promptly did. The lesson No. 1 in natural farming is that you keep the soil covered from hot sun. We did.  Sun is very hot now.

2. Decided to go for Brinjal. I have ordered Brinjal seeds from a friend Paramez. Out of the following varities, myself and subbu have selected the once in bold. These are appealing to the native people here.  All are native varities.  The white brinjal is costly.  Once the seeds are obtained, we need to grow them in polythene bags in the new shadenet.

1. பச்சை கத்திரி
2. வரி கத்திரி
3. திண்டுக்கல் ஊதா கத்தரி
4. மணப்பாறை கத்தரி
5. வெள்ளை கத்தரி
6. கும்கோணம் குண்டு கத்திரி
7. பவானி கத்திரி

3. After chasing Vettiver Vincent for long time, I thanked and said good bye to him. He is unable to send vettiver for me.  Amids his busy schedule he is unable to visit his own farm which is hardly 50 Kms from his work for months togather.

4. I found a new source Mr. Senthil Vel, near Erode. He promptly responded my requested.  At Rs. 3.5/- per root, I am purchasing 500 Nos today.  It will reach near my farm by tomorrow through KPN travels.  Good going so far..... I asked Subbu to keep in shade net for few days and then plant around the rain water catchment pond.  He was doubting if we should actually go for it now.  But I am going to force my way. Enough of waiting. I cannot wait till next rainy season.  Vettiver I heared can withstand draught. Only in the beginning we have to take more care.

5. Need to purchase polybags for nursary. I am searching internet for suppliers. Hopefully I will place order for 500 small and 500 medium size black polythene bags.  This will be my first professional setup towards growing own saplings from seeds.  hereafter for want of water, I need to use more of shade.

6.  Two fishes have been lost yesterday.  Subbu told they had left two large and two small fish on the large cement tank which has just 1 feet of water.  Till 6 PM everything was ok. Once they retired, some large bird (eagle) was seen scooping the fish from the tank. There is no resting place there. It should have descended and ascended in flight.  While Subbu was sounding disappointed and angry, i asked him to take photos next time for me.
  
*****

First Sweet Potato Harvest is a Flop !

"Sir, we got only 2.5 bags of Sweet Potato, I was expecting 4 to 5 bags."  Subbu was disappointed.

So net net, from around 16 cents, we have got 2.5 bags. that is equivalent to 170 KG.  Each KG of sweet potato was sold at 10/-.  It seems the going rate at the market was only 6/-. but this was of good quality (organic) and shining.  Hence it fetched Rs.10/-.  That is great.

I wasn't surprised hearing this.  For me the complete learning experience would include failure and not success. While I was a bit disappointed that I will not be able to pay bonus or anything to anyone, I was only happy that things did not work out. This will give ample of opportunity to introspect and improve.

"Don't worry, what could be the reason ? " I asked.

"Sir the ground is like rock solid."  I understood, our earth is like the hardened cement bag. Too touch for the tubers to swell.  Earlier also even when you want to punch a hole using earth auguer, we have seen it just rotating not penetrating. We had to use manual crowbar.

"What else?"  "I have employed tracktor only as it would be waste of money to put on labours. I also asked the pickup lorry to come here. I am not going to Tirunelveli for this small quantity."  It doesnot make sense to hire a private vehicle for this. Let us go with the wind.  There are someone who pickup the produce from different farms and go to market.

The following are learnings from this lesson;
a) We should attempt tubers only on loose soil.
b) Plenty of water was required. It is not enough to keep the plants green.
c) Next time we should put only crops. I have decided brinjal

The following were advantages gained over this exercise
a) Soil has become more soft. The leftover roots would definitely add biomass.
b) Now we have a working patch.
c) It is not all that failure. We have made atleast 40% of money

Harvesting ? all hell broke loose

"Honey we are going to do harvesting in the farm - sweet potato ". - me

"Which one? your frail thin roots.  so soon ?"   my wife was instant in jumping on me.

Me running..

"Ah ! how can you say that it is frail, you have not even heard me full.   The time has matured, we have no more water". - me

"I dont care, dont talk to me anymore about your farm. It is your farm. You harvest, you dont harvest. How is it going to affect me?.

You brought the land on YOUR name a few years back when I was busy with something else. You cheated me saying that you are travelling for doing one land registration but you did many.... blah ... blah......"

My son and daughter who are now grown up were watching both of us. Or rather they were busy watching TV.  It is a break for them.  This is a routine and they now know something about how NOT to react.  Atleast they know that this noise will end by 8.30 pm when we will have dinner togather.

**

Finally the day has arrived, the day of First Harvest

Subbu has decided we dig the sweet potato out and sell. The last watering was done last week. It is more or less ready and we cannot waste more water on it.  The issue is we have to generously pour water which gets absorbed in trenches before even it reaches the far end.  The land is asking for better method of watering - perhaps drip irrigation.  But that is later.

Now having decided, let's get into action.  Today the potato wines are to be cleared and put into the new empty compost tank that is waiting.  (Well this is the first feed for even that, a sort of inauguration and demonstration of farm waste recycling).  Tomorrow the sweet potato will be dug using tracktor. He said manual labour is costly. I still insisted him to call few labo]ur where possible and rest get done with tractor.

After harvest, the sweet potato need not be washed. Just dust off and fill in the sack. It will be taken to Tirunelveli Market this time. want to observe what rate we get and how this whole thing works.

I am still not ready to hunt for Organic buyers. I need to work on my contacts, website and so on before promising someone of continuous supply.  

Presently the work on hand.........

Can We survive this summer ?

Around 10th July, 2014 I had made this simple diagram on microsoft sketch.
This was just for myself. I did not communicate this to Subbu.
Had I done, he would have got confused.
So I had to go step by step

It has always been at the back of my mind and that of Subbu's.  Now it has come to the forehead and lingering over.    Can we survive this summer.  Till last summer, we did not have any water source. We used to pump the water using handpump.  This is the first year, I have the pukka plan in place, complete with all ideas put into action.

Here is the quick review of it.

Step 1 :   After the installation of the windmill followed by a ready made plastic tank at 15 feet. For this we fabricated an iron frame.  Initially it did not support the weight, later it was reinforced. From this overhead tank of 1000 liters, water is sometimes directly taken for irrigation using the green hose. Otherwise overflow should go to the large cement tank

The water  tank atop an iron frame.  Pumped water comes into this.
The small tank at the bottom ground level was the first tank we constructed before the windmill.
today it is used to excess store water, panjagavya water etc.

Step 2 : We constructed a simple water Tank of large capacity (30 feet x 10) feet with unfinished bricks on the outer wall.  Water from windmill will fall into this. Notice a small thin water flow at the end. Underneath this tank we can open the valve which will let the water to the rainwater tank through an underground PVC pipe that we had laid earlier.

The main water tank.  windpump water will fall into this.  I believe this is getting filled in one week now.
This is full of moss growth. There are fishes in it.

Step 3 : The final destination. Rain water tank as it stands today. Note the water has hit the bottom. The tank is only 6 feet deep.

This is the open inlet to collect water from all directions and direct to
the rainwater tank. It is in the place where you are standing.
This is artificially made. Earlier the ground was flat.

The rainwater catchment tank. All drain water comes here.  This is fully muddy.
There are plenty of fishes growing here. Concern is that water level is receding. one full tank of water from cement tank will raise few inches of water here. 

From this muddy tank, if we need to pump water, we need the kerosene engine pump which is kept ready.

I am afraid, with current generation rate of water, if we will be water positive or negative during peak summer. Crossing fingers and waiting.  Subbu told that we need to sustain for atleast 2 more months? Why did he say 2 months? what will happen after that? Is he expecting rain or closing down of few patches ? Need to discuss further. I need to check the last year rain pattern.

We are anyway going to take risk by planting more plants.  Hey where is Kandan ? Has he come from his sick bed. I wanted him to prepare sowing mappillai samba rice on a small patch.

***

Beautiful Dustbin on the Farm

Perhaps I will be the first and only farmer to have a beautiful dustbin made in the farm.  I have given strict instructions to everyone not to litter anything especially of plastic substance.   Every plastic cover has to be deposited into the dustbin kept in the farm.  Even if the plastic escapes the neighbourhood by jumping the fence, they must chase it and bring it.

Even then there were some slips. Therefore we wanted to make it a habit. Now Subbu has decorated that with shade net cloth.  Earlier we had kept a wire mesh. The air was tumbling and lifting the thin plastic bags.  Now the bin is made of waste wood (the packing that came for windmill). It is strudy, large enough and firm.

Compost Tank Ready at last !

Sometimes the team does extremely well when you give instructions and leave it to their imagination.  We have a multi-skilled person called Paramu on the ground who is friend of Subbu.  Days togather he will be absent. But when he puts his tools, he creates wonder. One such thing is the Compost Tank.

I just gave an overview to Subbu and paramu over phone.  Low cost, holes for breathing,  two compartments etc.  Here is what they have created with least cost < Rs. 10,000/-. It is ready to receive the vegetable waste. Now I have to find the source for it. already I had told Subbu to be on the lookout at market yards and neighbouring farms.   The discovery is that no one is wasting anything. They are putting back to their soil.

Hmmmm......

These are large cement bricks (Size etc covered already earlier)

Foundation. the land is so chosen that nothing would grow.
Plus it is adjascent to the main gate which is to the left hidden in the picture.

Completed. Seen in the background is the green shade net.
Note that there are holes left between bricks. Actually it was made by stubbing the corners of each stone
When one compartment is filled with waste, the other will lye idle. Once this is filled, the other will start filling
thus i gues we will be able to shift the earth worms alternately.

Green Shade Net completed atlast !

After a lot of persuasion, waiting and followup,  a simple Shade for Nursary plants have been created.  Hope we can grow vegetable seeds underneath once we buy polythene bags.

Shadenet is ready

Started by procuring the shade net clothing through phone and getting it couriered to the farm from  a coimbatore supplier.  It cost Rs. 2100 for a 4.2 meters x 50 meters bundle (10 feet x 160 feet).

Inside the Shade net.  The floor has to be raisen in future.
Presently by blocking the gaps with mud, the purpose is done.
we need to purchase polythene bags for growing

Then it was pending for festival, sick holidays etc..  Finally yesterday the required poles  (casurina) was purchased and a large shade area of 25 feet x 15 feet created in one shot.   The poles were anchored on the mud and for strength additional poles were tied in cross fashion.  2 feet into the ground, two feet above the pandal.  Local design. Just serving the purpose. I got the photos mailed yesterday to me. I was surprised to see the chosen place. I thought of another place. This generally happens for remote execution. We need to further improve on the communication.  Anyway, good job done by my local team.

Ideally I did not want to cover all the sides, but team had done a brilliant job of half covering.  This is required to stop the warm air at ground level for nursary plants, at the same time providing transparancy and air circulation above hip level.

Objective is realised.

Birds and the Farm

While talking to Subbu I was asking him casually if we are getting winged visitors to the farm.  The answer was very important for me, but not for Subbu who is at ground zero. I told him that if our Organic farming is successful, then we must get more birds. That is the measurement.

He said lot of birds are coming without showing any emotion in his voice .  "Small big and large.  Sir, the fish pond is loosing its water. I need to refill it". He was more worried about it. I am not so worried as him, as I know we are getting enough fresh water pumped out by wind mill.

His worry was that if there is less water and fishes are growing they will be "exposed to the birds."  He theorized that nearby water bodies are drying. So when the birds finish them, they will finally come to this green patch to lunch on our fishes.  Valid Point.  He went on to take sanction from me to put a thin net at a later date.

Please take many photographs I said.  Wipe the camera lens and get closer.  I hope I will create a wildlife photographer out of Subbu.

Meanwhile what he said afterwards irked me.   He said some birds are also dying struck in windmill. how many ?  I asked.   "Sir so far around 5 to 6 have died".  What are they ?  "Two Mynah, two Wild Pigeon and one Gadai (Quail)"

How are they dying ?

"Sir I don't know. it is a surprise for me also".  Windmill rotor blades are a silvery glittering galvanised steel plates with 12 of them rotating in stable circular motion. There is no way a bird will hit this in a place which has very common electricity towers and high tension wires. The birds are used to avoiding such obstacles.

The mynah built its nest inside the rotor assembly and siblings came out.  Some time later the mother died there. Ok understood.  Mynah generally donot build nests unless they like that place. Here the assembly box is convenient for them. We may have to put a net for this box and prevent future nesting.

What about others ?  "Sir, the pigeon seems to be sitting on the blades when windmill is motionless. When it starts rotating, it is dropping dead !" But How ?  Even if they are sleeping on the rotor blades, when the motion starts, they must be thrown away. There is no reason they must die.

One thing is certain. Birds are not hitting the windmill on their flight. Atleast they are intelligent not to. They are dying when resting somewhere.

This is a puzzle that I need to crack.

One more Milestone Achieved - Kollimalai saved me

I think this is personal, nevertheless something which every new agriculture aspirant should know.

My wife has always been opposing me doing farm activities. She knows she cannot stop me, but she could not tolerate either.  We have come to some sort of agreement over a period of time.  Ideally she wants me to do nothing new. On the contrary I want to do everyday something new.   Condition is that I must inform her before doing anything. But I DO it and confess later when confronted,  for she wouldn't let me do anything in the first place. But life is dynamic. everyday you have some development coming and it will not wait for opportune mood.  You take spot decisions and take the ire of it.   

Often she used to vouch that she will never visit my farm, ever. In such days, i cannot say what is happening in the farm and what i did that day.  As per Murphy's law "whatever can happen will happen" and will happen only on that day.  I put boring for example when we were at the peak of our fight. Obviously I told her a few days later that I did a boring and it cost some X money.  Hell broke loose again.   Now it is one of her permanent arsenal.

However by herself she watches more agri programs than me, fondles balcony garden, searches herbs and purchases millets after combing the entire market.  She gives useful tips to others too. She keeps talking about healthy food and hates commercial companies exploiting the innocent (food adulteration etc).  She would be more than happy to settle down in a village, but after "settling the children" which will happen many years from now. I cannot buy that (idea). There must be a middle path which we are trying to find.

I know things will change to my favor one day. and it did yesterday.

This is what she herself told me when I returned home in the evening.  There was a program about "Kollimalai" (A herbal mountain in TN) which she was watching along with children in the television. Usually she will give a running commentary  invoking them to appreciate nature.  She seems to have also told my son (12 years) that we must visit kollimalai, stay there for few days and explore around the forest collecting herbs and watching birds on our next vacation trip.

My son seems to have held her with both arms, looked into her eyes straight and asked this question.  "Mummy why are you talking about everything else except inviting us to visit father's farm".  My son likes insects and animals and used to ask many questions. He likes baby cows especially.

I think my family will work on the farm this summer for atleast a week or two.  One more milestone achieved.  I need to create a work plan for not only my family, but anyone who wish to come.

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Week Ahead......

The new shade must look like this.

The week ahead is going to be more or less a routine. Subbu is travelling after few days on his personal trip.  This week,  we have reached a temperory zero sum game.

Purposefully I donot want to take any new initiative, risking the water stock. The windmill is running smoothly. Approximately 25 x 10 x 5 feet cement tank is getting filled in just 1 week. That means 35000 liters of water.  Which 35 times the windpump is filling the 1000 liter water tank and the overflow allowed to go into basetank.

Windmill is working very well. This water is enough to water all the plants (Banana, Sweet Potato, fence, few vegetables, some trees and coconut trees) that so far we have laid.  Or I guess we must have surplus.....

However I feel we also need to take some 'risk'.  Now that we are settled with wind pump and we also have a small portable kerosene engine for emergency pumping, we must take some more risk.  I pushed Subbu to initiate sowing of one paddy variety atleast.  We have stock of Kuthiraivali and Ponni.  We need to sow atleast a handful of grains.  It will be kuthiraivali as I guess it will withstand stress.

Oflate Subbu seems to have gone into a comfort zone. Just like corporate employees while away in work for few months in-between appraisals..... So I had to give him some challenge and boost. He agreed in principle that we must try something new. We want to try some paddy . It will be either direct sowing or propagation through sprouting. This will be decided by Kandan, the farmer. I asked him to maintain adquate space between each of the paddy plants as in the SRI method. That work may commence in few days.

Meanwhile today the broken shelter was removed with the help of hired helpers. The old sticks and the brittle coconut dried leaf (Olai) was saved for mulching. That place where the shed stood is looking so barren now that Subbu could not tolerate the sight of seeing that. He had ventured to Valliyoor town from where he called me to say the shops are closed due to Independence Day. He had gone to purchase fresh coconut dried Leafs. He returned purchasing a rubber hose pipe instead.

Anyway late evening, I spoke to him and added my thoughts after having consulted my spouse earlier.  Initially we had planned to create a different design. But as it turns out we will stick to basic design for following reasons

a) A round umbrella shaped roof cannot be done as casurina sticks cannot be bent. Bamboo can, but we donot want to buy bamboo as it will become a "project" then.
b) A small sqare roofing will look like a funeral shed. So I wanted the appearance not to mimic anything like that even remotely.
c) Subbu suggested we will repeat the same high raised rectangle and we accepted.

The  following will be value additions on the Shade Roof.

a). 7 feet stone pillars (6 Nos each costing Rs. 265/-) instead of sticks.
b) Very tall sticks on either side (Sticks are costly - Rs. 500/- per stick).
c) Same knitted coconut leaf (Olai). But this time more of them (60 Nos each costing Rs. 25/-) to create a dense roofing. Then trimming the edges
d) Raised floor. Using Mud. Later we will put cuddapah stone on that.
f) I told let us fix a wash basin and mirror in one ofthe pillars.
g) A bamboo screen to be in place from where generally wind blows heavily. This screen can be wrapped with "olai pai" or green shadenet when required.
h) Bricks lined in outer perimeter to add asthetic look. Post that can be planted some ornamental plants to wade off the small animals.
g) A wooden bench to be kept for sitting and resting. This can be removed at will so that place can be used for sorting vegetables.

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