Farm Update 21-Sep-2016

There is still scorching heat at the farm.  The last rain was many months before, probably in April or so.   We have been pulling all along with windpump and some stored water.

Subbu is busy now irrigating and sustaining the trees.  There is good amount of wind, but very hot wind.  As per subbu, they are getting two drums (2 x 1000 liters) of water before noon and 3 drums in the evening.  The wind pump works continuously and they are trying to make best use of the water.

He is visibly frustrated and wants to bring electricity asap.  He has kept aside my Verticle Windpump project aside for the time being.  I can understand.  One cannot stand in the farm for 5 minutes before grabbing water to drink.   It will be so hot and so windy.

Kandan is down with fever.  There is denge fever all over India this season. Chickenguniya and Denge are most common.  He cannot come for another week and Subbu has to manage all by himself.

He had met the electricity officials last week and given a push. They wanted my signature on a farm, which he has sent by courier. I am supposed to sign and send it back as soon as I get it. Waiting... Subbu hopes that is the last leg and we should get power in 2 weeks.

Meanwhile he is confident the windpump can also be fabricated if only he gets two full days of dedicated time along with Paramu, the carpenter / plumber and rural engineer.

A prototype of wing on one of the arms of the rotor is fixed temperorily.
The efforr that went into reaching upto this stage is tremendous.
I still have a long way to go.....

Back home at my place, I have made good progress in fabrication amidst odds.  My family has restricted my movements (Exams are going for children).  With hardly two hours to work I made lot of progress.  The good thing about this is that I have been able to use my angle grinder (Which I purchased newly 6 months back , but did not use it for fear) with ease and caution. It is wonderful power tool.  Only it makes such a horrible noise that I cannot use it in residential area (terrace) at any time.....

Full details are in the below posts.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/519702174896073/

Complete photographs without comments here ;

https://goo.gl/photos/Rb7tyMSsWqLzeNJHA

Progress On verticle Windpump by 2nd Week September

The central mast stands majestic
To this will be attached "wings"

The last week progress on the verticle wind pump construction was satisfactory.  On the 7th floor terrace of my apartment, I had started my work of assembling, drilling and painting the parts.

Each time I have to take my car,  drive down to nearest hardware shop and purchase things.  For 1" pipe i had to go to specific welding shop as the pipe of required thickness was only available there. The conventional hardware shops have good looking stainless steel coated pipes (to be used as screen rods), but they are not strong.

The following things were completed

1. Painting of A frame with rust free paint on top of existing one. I found rust on the frame because it was kept in Balcony among potted plants for long time.
2. Purchase and installation of the main verticle pipe of 8 feet.  It required boring on that pipe to lift and fix as the height was not sufficient.  I had purchased 8 feet because it can be carried in my car from hardware store to home. 
3. I learnt drilling on metal pipe. Initially it did not come. Then with a new bore bit and my bosch handheld drilling machine (10 years old), i was able to successfully make hole.
4. Fixing of the main verticle frame that was made earlier to this A frame using steel wires and painting them also.  Here the A frame acts as a stand so that I donot have to spoil the common terrace. Otherwise for field installation the A frame is not required.  This A frame I made last year for my solar experiments.
5. Fixing of ball bearing inside with rubber beading to fill the gaps.
6. Miscellaneous activities like planning for the wings of the verticle windpump.  The wings or blades will be made of plywood. I chanced on the plywood store in my locality and took no time to decide.

The below video summarises what has been accomplished till now.

More photos have been added to existing album.  This album is continuously updated.

https://goo.gl/photos/Rb7tyMSsWqLzeNJHA

Happy Mood !

Happy because of few insignificant reasons;

a) Reached Subbu after 2 days. His phone was switched off continuously. His smartphone has weak battery. He said his Son is unwell and he was taking him to a hospital in Valliyoor.  Nothing to worry. This is a season of fever due to climate change.  I wonder, with so many herbs around why people in village should get sickness at all. It is due to their in-sufficient knowledge on how to use the resources around. Even in city my wife makes various potions (Kashayam) out of common herbs as preventive medicine from cold and fever. It always works.

b) He had seen my video and photos while at Valliyoor.  He feels happy. I had started an album in Google photos and shared it. The same is added as separate page in this blog.  Here !

c) I have finished my Astronomy session to children in my housing society.  The presentation was sincerely prepared for high school, college students with lots of animation in power point. But the audience was mostly small children. That's ok.  The fee towards that will be adjusted against the rent that I may have to pay for occupying the terrace for my workshop. I started the work on Sunday by painting the material that I had gathered so far.

d) There is adequate wind blowing in the farm. Subbu is happy. he said he has completed watering the entire farm with wind as well as electric motor. He has not returned the motor and has paid around 2500 for that which includes rental for pipe, motor and cable.  This watering should take me through another two weeks by which time I expect signs of rains to come by end of this month. we need to pull up.

The opening slide of my presentation. This was a teaser slide

Rubbing the pipe with salt paper to remove rust

Painting with primer for anti-rust coating

Painting yellow even before the primer become dry resulted in bad job

Painting the stand frame work with black

Just trying to assemble on floor to guage the materials required
to secure the ball bearing.

This A frame I made last year for my solar project. All these days it was in
my balcony with flower pots. Now this will be useful as stand for my windpump

Lucky I was able to divert one pot holder to myself as work bench.  I made
4 flower pot holders from the same welding shop. It cost Rs. 950 each of variable
height.  This is multi purpose bench.
I need to cover this with a wooden plank that is lying in my house.

Farm Update 02-Sep-2016

Going by the past postings, one would assume so and so progress would have happened in the farm.    It is but natural to think that water would have come through temperory electric pump,  Subbu would have progressed on fabrication of wind pump etc....  I would also expect the same.

But the reality is different.  The stark ground reality is more painful and  disappointing and agonizing.

Animals are risk when you bring electricity using wires from neighbourhood.

There is still no water. No wind in the past one week.   Wind has just started yesterday.   Subbu's attempt to get an electric motor has failed.  After putting the submersible pump at 300 feet with pipes and wire, the motor did not start.  Some issue in coil.  The guy who gave for loan services and circulates old motors. He had to come next day, take back and another day later supplied one more.  This seems to work. Yesterday for first time Subbu had operated it for 2 hours.

The process is to get electricity from neighbouring pump room that is 300 meters away.  That is illegal and hence cannot be fixed permanently.   It must be round sleeve,  single cable without any joint in between to avoid water risk.  It cannot be laid in day time also because of stray grazing animals like cow and sheep. Therefore only by evening can he connect there and switch ON here. If everything works he can operate for an hour or two.

That is the plan and it started yesterday. He said he has watered the drying trees first. This arrangement will continue till rain comes.

Subbu has no time to visit the browsing centre to check two mails I had sent him earlier.  It is about the progress I have made in my own fabrication.

The windpump will come up here.

Back home for the verticle windpump I needed a space where I can use my drilling machine freely. I also need space to do carpentary and masonary work to fabricate.   So far I have finished all welding job outside. I had discussion with my housing society office and got the 7th floor terrace. I purchased lock and key and shared with security, with one key with self.  The society office bearers were convinced about my initiative, were interested to participate perhaps in future. But presently they wanted to charge rent for the same.

When they were discussing about a forthcoming Ganesh festival event in which they wanted to bring someone from outside with a telescope for children to appreciate (an astronony session),  I intervened. I argued it will be disappointing for children to see through telescope standing in queue one at a time - total 30 children with telescope pointing to nowhere in the sky.  In September with cloudy atmosphere, amidst city light no celestial object will be visible if at all.

People generally expect Galaxies and planets to be visible in telescope as a disk. But will be disappointed for not seeing any.  I suggested let me give a lecture on Astronomy for one hour with audio visual.   They agreed and they said they will waive my rental.

So now I am busy preparing for my astronomy presentation for tomorrow.  I will introduce them to Cygnus constellation and the nebula, move on to Milkyway, then other objects, cover September launch schedule of various rockets, current inter-planetary missions and end with different deep space programs including cosmic ray observatories. The idea is to generate varied interest on fundamental research and distract them from only thinking about guided tour to NASA exhibition.

Now with deal fixed,   I also can peacefully start using my grinding wheel at the terrace and build my wind pump.   My wife however has objections (as always) and has sweared she will see the end of my work shop.

Farm Update 25-Aug-2016

Extreme hot Summar.  There is no rain for the past several months. No drop of water.

Water is being purchased.  6000 liters cost Rs. 1000/-

There is no availability of tracktor (water tanker) as the neighborhood guy has sold that.  Another one is busy.  Each sortie will bring 1000 liters. once the overhead tank is filled, the next trip has to be directly poured to the trees using hose. But the tracktor fellow has no time to wait.

This is the situation in the farm today.  Subbu's feedback is partially expected. But I never thought that the drought like situation will extend so much further without rain for so long.  Whereas it is monsoon in other parts of India and several areas in the north are submerged under water.

There  is absolutely no wind either.  It should be windy by now. It is not. That is the double problem.

Local climate has no correlation to global climate.  All weather reports can be trashed.

Subbu is planning to insert a hired submersible in the new borewell.  This will be electric pump and will come for "rent".  He is hoping to bring the current from neighbourhood well. Not so legal, but no choice. These are common among small farmers when they are pushed to corner.  I should find a renewable energy solution and stop this.

Compared to last year this year is better. Last year also was without water and we purchased for several days. Windpump was not working. This year, it is smooth. We also have 2nd bore with hand pump. I hope it is only few more weeks and we should get rains.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the vertical windmill initiative, Subbu reported he has made progress. But water problem is not allowing to concentrate.   He was sitting in welding shop when I called in near by village. They have sourced a tooth wheel of a lorry part and planning for a proper setup based on my diagram. I donot know more details and have sought for it.

My own initiative is also satisfactory.

I have started a facebook page for reporting the progress of Verticle windpump development and posting there. Not to repeat the story.  Meanwhile planning to start a separate page in this blog also when time permits.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/519702174896073/?ref=group_browse_new

Meanwhile I am running out of space in my apartment balcony. family is not allowing me to accumulate tools and trash items.  Therefore I have applied for permission with the Housing Society office to provide some space in terrace (7 story building). Let's hope.

Farm Update 16-Aug-2016

Extreme heat,  dry and hot winds is the short description of farm today.  It is months since rain has come in this area.  Though there is north east monsoon in India, this place is always dry. It is a rain shadow region.

Last year same time also it was very dry.  I had given some assignments to keep the team busy like painting the gates, putting fence around the pond etc.  We had to purchase water several days.  This year is much better, thanks to the continuous working of windpump. There is water to survive all trees.

Otherwise the bushes, grass and even  Prosophis Juliphora gives a burnt appearance in this heat.  Team is working hard to keep the plants alive.

Meanwhile baby steps towards fabricating a verticle windpump has started both at the farm and in my home here.  At the farm the handpump has been installed.  It has some repair works and getting done.  Back home, I spent some time yesterday in running between cycle shop, welding shop and automobile shops to match freewheel, identify iron pipe and purchase ball bearing respectively.

More on that as separate page.  Now for some visuals obtained from farm.

The nursary is dismantled and the pipes are to be used in the 2nd borewell to fix the handpump.

Suppotta trees surviving

Coconut tree is looking better. The other trees are stunted for lack of water

This is where the first rice was grown. Now parched. The new boring is land at the corner of this plot. Look
at the casurina trees at the fence. They look tired. Even now they need to be irrigated

I asked Subbu to test pumping with this small kerosene pump. It did not work well.

Some guests at the farm. They had come to attend the Sastha temple nearby

Sastha temple and pilgrims. I had asked Subbu to provide all help. this was last week.

A vew of the windpump.

Paramu testing the handpump. This is going to be a historic site with the
new Verticle windpump being fabricated by our own ideas.

Subbu wants to show me the new arrival.

Neem tree that my wife wanted to grow as much as possible. Was waiting for right moment.

Verticle Windpump - New Idea - Improving effeciency

One of the problems of verticle windmill is that the arms wind turbine have to travel against the air current half the time. This will reduce the efficiency.  To counter this, I have decided to make an arrangement as in this diagram.  This is my invention and anyone can copy and use it (No patent).

An additional arrow like structure should be installed from the middle pipe extending sidewards (At Half the distance of the full length of the properller arm).   This arrow will have a tail and a head which is nothing but V shaped plates which will "Block" the wind.  If it works, then this arrow head will block the wind falling on the returning propeller. 

Since this arrangement is pivoted on a ball bearing, this will rotate and always point against the wind at any time serving the purpose.  Thus blocking wind on the return journey and allowing wind to flow only towards the working properller, the windpump will gain maximum efficiency.  Concept yet to be tested.

The arrow head will block wind falling on the returning wind turnine blades.

Front view. I suggest the plates have to be further reinforced using structure.

Rear view.

My experiments on Vertical Windmill

My post on Facebook has invited a lot, but not huge response.  203 likes, 144 shares and around 25 comments. It has generated interest among few enthusiasts.  I had made a small "Do it yourself" pictorial guide in 10 slides in vernacular Tamil.  Why Tamil?, because this design I want to dedicate to small and marginal farmers who have small land holdings under 2 acres.  They are the people who are bullied a lot by so called corporate progressive farmers and policy makers.  If I post in English, except for the poor people this will get transmitted to all patent community, intellectuals and armchair philosophers who will endlessly argue on the (lack of ) efficiency of the vertical windpump concepts.

I hope like a bicycle, one day this design should freely be made available so that marginal & poor farmers can meet their small power needs in captivity. This will not generate electricity, but pump water using brutal force of wind in efficient manner.  When there is no wind, they can operate manually.

Back home Subbu and Paramu had discussed over the printouts. I am not sure how much they understood. I am scared they will do something without telling and get into trouble. This was always the case earlier. So I told Subbu to tell me before hand so that mutual value additions can be done.

 Today Subbu is busy with a local temple festival and Paramu,  the carpenter is free. I told Subbu to first install the Hand Pump which we have over the new Bore Hole. This hand pump was dismantled 3 years back when we purchased the ABS windpump.  It can be put to use now. I guess some spares have to be purchased.  The newly dug borewell has to be dressed as well.  That will keep them busy for next 10 days.  Meanwhile I can shape up the design of future Verticle axis windpump further before hitting the hammer.

I have also found a new idea of how to improve the efficiency of the pump further. I guess I need to make a scale model myself at home to prove all the points on a video. I had a major fundamental doubt on the working concept of the three V shaped wings model that I had designed.

Quickly i made a small model out of Paper, Pencil, sketch pen (for outer) and some wire.  Tested the working by blowing air from vaccum cleaner and hair drier to act as wind tunnel. I was utterly confused after the experiment. Blow this way, the windmill rotates anticlockwise way. Slight alteration and it starts rotating clockwise.   Sometime it stalls not rotating at all.  After many experiments I found these blowers are not good to generate natural flow of air.

So mounted the setup on the car and drove a few kilometers.  Was very much satisfied with results. Whew ! it works.  Here is the video link.

https://youtu.be/VOHCzlk94mE

Verticle Wind Pump Design Change

I felt that verticle wind pump should be more simple to make and with available resources locally.  I feel it will be very difficult to mount the rotating main axis. The pole is supposed to rotate from ground upto a height of 20 feet.  That is going to put a lot of weight on the pivotal bottom.

Therefore I changed the design.  In the new design the windmill flaps will be supported by a large PVC outer pipe. This pipe alone will rotate. This will be coupled to a fixed flag pole through ball bearing.  Thus rotational part is limited only to propeller.

Note the PVC pipe from propeller placed over the fixed mast (yellow). The power will be
transferred using V Belt and flywheel. Later I want to replace this with
bicycle free wheel and chain.

Further the energy should be transmitted to the gear assembly through bicycle free wheel and chain.

I communicated this to Subbu.  In fact Subbu and Paramu are so enthusiastic they have already ventured to Valliyoor to inspect the old gears at a workshop.  That is good.

Today Subbu should take printouts of what I sent from the Valliyoor browsing centre.  He had already visited Valliyoor 2 times. I told him to go slow. But he would'nt listen.

This is how the finished one should look. Except for PVC modification

The handpump assembly. There will be a counter weight at the handle
this is to balance the weight of boring rods (not shown) deep in the well.
This way you can go upto 500 feet more even more.
With counter weights, the operation must be smooth and stress free.

Meanwhile my post to facebook is drafted and kept ready. I must try my hands on sketchup software to draw a cycle chain with links today.  That will complete my art work. I may post this tomorrow.

I am sure marginal and small farmers will benefit from this design. My guess is it should not take more than 30,000/- for this.

Designing Vertical Wind Pump

We have failed in getting the small korean kerosene pump up and running.  It is unable to pull water. Pumps of similar capacity is used only in households to pump sump water to overhead tank.  For agriculture use it appears we need 3HP minimum. A kirloskar engine costs anywhere around 40,000.  Add a decent compressor 20000 and then mounting,  coupling and pipes. It will go above 80K.

Now vexed with searching for cheaper energy sources, decided to do something on my own.  I spoke to Subbu and told "we must do something".  No point in waiting for electricity board officials to move their ass.  Even if they at a later date, it is going to cost me lot of money.

Better design something which will pump water from borewell using wind once again.  Sitting at my desk on the week end I designed a verticle wind pump.   Explained this over phone to Subbu and Paramu and took assurance from Paramu he will not quit in between.  They were interested.  I am going to invest around 20K on this. It may result in a solution or may go waste.

Atleast let me try.

An elegant view from bottom. Also showing how the gears must be.

Here are my first cut diagrams. Inspired from Cup anemometer.  I am going to develop this further properly in the days to come. I will post this also in Facebook for my agriculture friends to copy and develop that in their neighborhood. backyard.  The design may look crude and not aero-dynamic. How does it matter ?  Butterflies are awkward in their flight design. But they migrate across continents !

I just want to create a competition among small farmers to get a better working solution.   In this area, I have seen enough of people claiming to have developed some windpump or other, but none of them have come to market so far.  Before a design matures, someone wants to hide it and never get it to masses.

Therefore it is better to leave it to community to develop the idea.  whoever can invest some money, sincerity,  faith and hard work - let him have it.  I am going to develop a miniature in ,my house. Meanwhile Subbu should start work near the farm. That will take time.

I just drew the below diagrams myself using sketchup. Amazing software. Just learned it couple of hours through youtube and went on creating shapes. It took around 10 hours. This is not drawn to scale. Neither I am an engineer.

These diagrams are not alone enough for my team to start the work. From my past experience I have learned that detailing is very important. Given a choice or freedom to think, they will end up creating something that will be very different.  I need to detail out upto mounting on the ground. This however is now enough to create enthusiasm and broad understanding.

A view from Top

Another view from top. Look at the blades. Initially I wanted this to be collapsable. but it is
difficult to intoduce complication at this stage. Let it get develop

The rotation should be converted to up and down motion. This will operate the manual
water pump below (not shown here).

Farm Actuvity Update 28-Jul-2016

There is no activity in the farm for the past few weeks.  There is intense heat and no rain till now. Though there is rich monsoon clouds all over India and there is flood as well, in our farm it is a drought. This is not unusual. We get rains only in November.

Therefore no water. Windpump is barely able to meet the needs.  According to Subbu,  last year was a drought without water and wind. This year we are getting wind at-least. Last year were were purchasing water at this time. This year however we are just managing.

The pond has dried out.  Fishes have been shared among workers. Subbu told the pond is dry. They should have saved at-least few fishes in the smaller tank, which they did not.

Meanwhile electricity officials have come and gone twice. Citing capacity inadequacy in nearby transformer, they seems to have identified another source.  I have lost hope and told Subbu not to pursue further. But Subbu is full of hope. Since we have paid for the meter, they must come back sir. I am not chasing them least they will ask for bribe. Let it come on its own

But that may be a long wait.  Not keeping quite, I asked Subbu if we can rent an oil pumpset. I guess it will be costly. The other alternative is to use our baby kerosene pump set and give a try. Subbu is very reluctant. He underestimates that equipment.  I insisted. Finally they are now trying the pump without success.  Initially the engine itself did not start due to long gap. It was serviced in Moolakaraipatti, a nearby hamlet.

As per Subbu, with a hose of 50 feet connected to the pump it is unable to draw water. But the machine is rotating and air is coming. I guess there may be air leak which doesnot allow the vaccum to be created.  Pump rotating is a good sign.  It is third or fourth day they are trying out all combinations.

****

Spread Like the birds dropping......

So called weed shown by Kandan. Actually,
 this seed is something I brought from Pune

I just wanted to give the title "Resourceful intervention on bio-diversity" for this short note. But later simplified into "Birds Dropping" or even better "Birds Poo". Both mean the same.  Birds fly across the landscape, eat fruits and drop the seeds all over the place helping spread bio-diversity.

On my visit to farm last month, during the walk around, Kandan pointed out to some new "weeds" growing around Banana trees.  They were in abundance. Near the windpump they were getting plenty of water and hence was healthy.  I would have taken it lightly except for the message Subbu told. He said, "this kind of plant is not a native to this place sir".

That scared me..  I must be the culprit.  I had inadvertently brought some species from my workplace some 1400 Kms away which happens to be a weed.  So thinking I started asking my agriculture friends. To my surprise they all said this is a common green in some farms and is native only. Used sparingly it will enhance milk secretion for women after child birth. Taken more, it may cause loose motion.  I am relieved.  Subbu must be ignorant.

Phew ! That was only a luck. What if I had introduced without knowledge an invasive weed in my enthusiasm?  I must be careful in my selection.

In another place on the farm they shows another plant which did not belong to native. And another wine. and so on.  I remember these are plants that I collected from the outscrits of Maharashtra - wild plants and not necessarily exotic.  I generally like herbs which are strange looking, self reliant and host to wildlife.

Looks like my point forest is succesful.  Earlier I had invented a concept called "point forest" (Click here). That was last year when I downloaded all the collected seeds and asked Subbu to make a small circle and confine it... After lot of follow up (because he was sceptical and thought it is waste of time) and pressure from me  he finally arranged bricks in small sqare pit.   Just like a "Homa Gunda" of Hindu ritual.  He put all seeds into it. Did not water it properly.  Over a period of time when the pond was expanded JCB destroyed it without a trace.

All my hard work of collecting the seeds went down the drain, I thought.  Seems No.  Not at all.  I guess those seeds are now washed off to far away place in the farm and are growing in favorable conditions.  Some where here and there I can spot those plants that I wanted to grow.  I guess with few more rains and seasons, we can find more of the species here and there.

Hope and Hard work does pay..

Windpump got angry !

You may wonder if I say the Wind Pump is angry with us.  You may even suspect my sanity.  But what more can I say except report what happened !.  It is upto you.

The Angry pump

The day when we were boring a 2nd well for water, the wind pump went silent. There were these two giant drilling machines standing at a distance overlooking the wind pump.  The wind pump which was working smoothly non-stop for the past 8 months or so suddenly stopped working.  This happened on the same day.

The windpump base in active

Technically the pump had got "chocked" apparently due to a piece of PVC pipe that went down the shaft. This piece was from a pipe overhead that got eroded by up and down motion of center rod.

Imagine the situation at the farm (Last month first week) when it was peak summer,  New boring is done but inactive,  Windpump stopped and there was no water till repair is done. We almost had to purchase water in-spite of having two holes.

Subbu and team had to remove entire assembly and remove the debry.  Since then till date one or the other problem is coming to the windpump every week.

Perhaps it is angry that we have dug another borewell. Perhaps it knows that she will loose her importance because we will  put an electric pump there.

I told Subbu, come what may we need to keep running windpump.

Just few days back Subbu was atop the windpump trying to control the rotation when I called on him. He wanted to stop the blades and go for some alignment fixing.

People had to pull the tower and tilt a bit for Paramu to fix something which they said if left alone will erode a rod.  I can't visualise.

As of now everything is fixed. As a value addition, Subbu had fixed a 2 inch 10 feet pipe overhead in the place of erstwhile pvc pipe. This will guide the central rod from the top itself without allowing it to oscillate.

Still Subbu is not sure if the pump will work without issue. The concern is the foot valve is suddenly getting "tight" and gets "Chocked".  If this happens, the windpump bends the rod and turns it loose.

I guess this happens due to salt deposit in the inner piston of the rod.  Let me see. If this prolongs, we have to do sand paper or bring the pump to a lathe and drill very slightly (thinner than hair) to make the cylinder smooth.

***

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......