Farm Update 17th January, 2021 in Visuals (around the farm)

 Its been a quite a gap now in updating the status. Several reasons. Let me get to the point. Both self and Subbu (my farm manager) were in depression.  Some due to challenge in progressing on anything that we plan. The other is I had tremendous workload from my office. Now that we are working from home, staff availability is taken for granted. Consequently meeting calender is full, short notice and more critical things are discussed.  Overall Job is going fine. But farm is maintaining its status que.  Farm power bills are a shocker. More on that later.

Meanwhile Subbu fell terribly ill past 1 month. Typhoid he said.  He was not picking the phone continuously for 15 days. I gave up. Later he called to say he was admitted and did not have mind to answer calls. Fine.  I advised him to take care.  I cannot put any pressure for some more days to come.

On the day he recovered, he ventured not into the farm, but around the farm and clicked these pictures. Generally local guys donot pay attention to obvious and simple things. Nor they communicate. But since he came from hospital bed, must have felt of re-conquering all that he left.  I compare this with animals marking their territory to assert themselves.  Rest in pictures.  These are rare and oneoff pictures  around the farm. 

This is how it looks in front of the farm gate.   It was plotted long back. Hardly
anyone would have purchased from that real estate company. Anyway it is a potential threat as well as 
opportunity for my farm.

This is the approach road to the farm gate from the main road.  Sastha temple is visible.
Sastha is the deity that overlooks my farm and protects us.

The sastha temple as it is appearing.  I can understand how Subbu would have felt as a thanksgiving
he would have visited the temple after curing himself from typhoid

The pond inside my farm. Cute and filled with water. Coconut trees are healthy

This is how the farm looks from main road from front of Sastha temple.  Banana trees are visible

Adjascent to Sastha temple is this pond. Nachankulam is the name.  One one side of road is this pond. The other side is my farm.  This gets hardly filled with water. Even if it fills, it dries quickly.  But this pond is the reason
for ground water in my farm.   I wanted to plant trees on its bund. Subbu is not taking interest. Perhaps there are
hasseles with local corrupt Panjayath officers who may object

  

A look outside from one of the fences of the farm.  Single Palm trees are nostalgic for me. Because 
when I surveyed this land, i was only accompanied and greeted by single lonely Palm tree that gave
hope !

Jasmine bush.  This is supposed to yield but not doing when prices are high. Jasmine sells at 1000/- per KG
this season. But hardly any flowers.  Small quantity is plucked by Subbus wife or his girl friends. I donot mind

Subbu told me recently that he had planted some moringa branches. May be it has sprouted. I donot know what this bugger wants to tell me. He never explains by word of mouth.

Another part outside the farm.  Look at the dry ness.  I deliberately sharing this to show the contrast my
farm would have created in this arid desert.,

Inside the farm. Coconut trees are maturing with life. Must be good to be in. I miss this.

The area that got burnt, now recouping.  

One of the new batch of trees. Safe and growing.  This is inspite of issues like Kandan absent, water bills
Subbu completely absent etc.

Near the room and toilet near the entrance.

Near the windmill tower.  Euclyptus must have grown fast. Can see its dry leaves.

Under the main resting shelter. Relatively kept very clear. I appreciate

Another beautiful view.

End of post.

Windpump Repair

 There are several unrelated things. I will cover them at brief.

Recently I was upset about Subbu's lack of focus on the farm.  Till date he comes with some excuse for not attending to any given work on the farm.  He went on his personal trips to Coimbatore, then came and went to Trichendur, then he said some death in village, then couple of marriages, then attended his family farm and so on... days and months went by. I spoke to him rather sarcastically saying I will call 1st of every month.

The main issue was the windpump is under repair. He was not attending to small repairs which led to complete downtime. At this time electricity bill is coming exhorbitant. Had he fixed that sincerely I would have saved thousands of bugs.  Anyway automatically he now started paying attention to the farm.  We are exchanging notes on how to mend the windpump. 

The issue is when the windpump turns its direction, it unwinds the connecting rods. It could be on surface or 50 feet down below. Everytime it needs labor and time to pull everything out and fix it. THis has been happening for several times. Now the root cause is found. It is due to stupidity of Subbu and his friend that they had welded the rods tightly as against the factory design resulting in this mistake happening. Now I made a video of how to repair with a small model and sent him.

As of today he is on the right path. Had he sent photos earlier properly, I would have given right solution instantly last year itself. That would have saved more money.

Rest in visuals.

This is the part that needs to be repaired. The bearing that is welded in the middle is a mistake and needs to be removed.

Work in progress on the tower

Another view

This is the bore head right under the tower. The pipe and rod assembly being removed.

As of now, he has removed the bearing. Now this need to be assembled. Meanwhile 
on the borewell itself, the rods will be replaced with new rods. Total 80 feeet.

Farm Update Sept, 2020

 Slight drizzle at the farm.  Subbu is very busy on his own work paying less attention to the farm. He had a mouthful from me.  I was upset due to very very high electricity bill that was received. Not his fault though. But consistent ignorance of windmill has resulted in running pump on electricity resulting in high bill.   Kandan is not keeping well, but is managing to attend daily.

Farm is growing fine. But no new activity though. I want to start more cultivation. So far there is no monetary output, but satisfied that a complete ecosystem is working there. Some of the pictures

The above is a satisfactory sight of the palm tree for which we were waiting for long time. Growing well. Now it will grow fast as it is the native tree.

Orange fruits taking shape

Gives a garden look. Must be good to spend some time here.

green coconut and red coconut.  Shaping well

This is the immediate place after the main gate and to the left towards toilet. Full of shade now.

Worker assistants are fixing the windmill pipe that got unscrewed.  Actually this is the pain point for me that Subbu has not taken care of this because there is electricity and deep borewell pump resulting in huge bill. Now i need to cut down everything. Which is why I am pushing them. 

Fresh sprout seen from the plant that was scrotched by Kandan when he lit the grass instead of cutting them.  Good hope.

A portion of the farm which used to be infertile. Some signs of life.

Neem tree trunk. The size shows it is growing well. 

I am particular that current wires are secured properly. IT used to loop down touching the ground. First time i see they are properly kept in place by a series of poles.

Farm Update 18th July, 2020

Its been a while that I have updated this blog.  Partly it is the boredom and depression due to continuous lockdown due to Corona. I am frustrated here in Pune where i reside.  1000 kilometers away, my caretaker  of the farm,  friend Subbu is also frustrated as his mobility is severally affected by local lockdown there. Less about me and more about farm now.

This time, it is difficult to get workers or material near my farm. Once Subbu went to Tirunelveli with a vehicle to purchase few hardware. He was stopped enroute and sent back by police.  Normally villagers are not used to such restrictions and they have never seen one like this in their life time. In short life is crippled. His children are at home and smartphones are used by them for studies.

Kandan, another worker is not showing interest, disciplined and not listening to Subbu. That is one frustration.  Our toilet pit need to be re-constructed, so also few things like putting a strong door to the farm room for safe keep of things.  These hardware items have been purchased, but our friend contractor Paramu has refused to come. He is either too lazy, or too cautious about corona or too frustrated. I believe he delayed so much Subbu got frustrated to look for another guy.  Because cement will get spoilt.

Now some visuals of the farm.

Above is Banana patch near the windmill tower. Looks good. But looks parched for water.  Water from windmill is less. Mostly pumpset is run for an hour or two.

The new patch of trees growing fine. This exactly requires tender care. And that is where Kandan is failing and subbu is frustrated.

Just asked Subbu to take closeup of few trees just to read their personalities.  After a long time just watching the trees grow which were small when I visited.  This gives satisfaction of having visited the farm.  Ideally if not for corona, I would have made a visit or two to the farm in this part of the year which is peak summer.

Well this is the reason for Subbu getting more frustrated.  Kandan had burnt a portion of the farm. Actually he was supposed to clear the grass with help of two workers. Subbu had arranged labor. But due to laziness, he had lit the grass which burned substantial portion including some of the upcoming plants.  May be a dozen.  Subbu was not having any mind to speak to me or send photos. I sensed some issue.  Made a heart to heart talk and came out this.   I pacified him.   Nothing can be done. This is part of life.  we cannot change a grown up man like Kandan who must be around 45 to 55 years of age.  

This is very classic. Look at the tall trees behind. one or two are eucalyptus, my childhood favourite ( was born in ooty), now growing in my farm.  In a remote future, I may start a small distillation unity for Jasmine and may be eucalyptus.  Plan is ready. Otherwise waiting.

The jasmine patch. Great going. Only the yield is always 400 grams or less. Not enough for market.

Farm in Visuals 23-May-2020

Of late the conversation with Subbu is getting more healthy.   In spite of corona lock-down, or because of that perhaps, the activity at the farm is having quality.  There is time to think and do. Impulsive expenditure is completely out.

I was exploring with Subbu if we can extract the essence from Jasmine flowers.  Since it is highly perishable crop, and nearby market is far away, we only get customers from local market for their own consumption.  (Ladies wear Jasmine in villages / towns).  Nearest airport is Tuticorin and it may take half day or more to reach anywhere. The cost and effort will not workout atleast for now to export it to far away places where there is demand.

Therefore alternative is to extract essence or essential oil. I browsed internet and found few useful pictures. Based on that we may develop our own gadget in coming months.  Subbu warned that any such distillation at farm will come under suspect by police as spurious liquor distillation is rampant these days.

That said, let us see the current state of farm in visuals.

Even I am surprised looking at this. This is the way leading to windmill. There used to be only dwarf plants on right side. The coconut tree is later addition and seems to have grown really well.  There is ground water near the windpump.
Seen in yellow color under the tower is the windpump amplifier that I fabricated in Pune and sent last year. This is still not
put to use to its fullest potential. I am coaxing Subbu to get that up and running to save on electricity (story later)

Banana trees adjascent to the windmill tower.  In another 2 months they will mature. Earlier banana patch was
large. But now it has shrunk due to other trees growing rapidly.

IT was a wise decision that we took 6 months back to plant tree saplings near the white tank. Otherwise this is an infertile patch. Once we planted banana and it never grew to maturity.  But these trees are looking better.

The classic entrance from the gate.  This view is a reference point for me to track how mature the trees are growing. I have several photos from same spot since several years. 

In the hot Sun, Kandan seems to be rushing to water some tree.  Look at the moringa tree
it is healthy. That should be my next cash crop. I spoke to Subbu about it today.
Earlier last year he had promised to get sticks, but due to some issue that time, skipped.

Lots of shade due to growing coconut trees.

A beautiful and never before seen view of the Jasmine patch. The tree is a new addition that I donot know. The Neem tree seems to grow well and fast in the farm. 

This is the culprit.  A very fast growing weed type of tree (actually this is common in Pune. I got the seeds spread last time, but never expected this will grow like this). This is occupying prime portion of banana patch adj to windpump.

The sapota patch at the distance

Healthy

Unhealthy. Needs attention as there is attack of pest. 
Neem oil+soap was sprayed
the holes were blocked with lime.

The pond is try. The vettiver has grow well. It prevents soil erosion. Recall this was replanted from near windmill after it
grew like a bush with threat of snakes.

here also there will be snakes as it is around the pond with frogs.

Important to note in this picture is the growth of trees on the north fence side. This is important to stop the warm winds from
blowing into the farm.  A long planned dream come true.