Farm Update 28th february

1. Decision to be taken if ready made concrete to be purchased or concrete to be mixed on the spot by local mason. This is for tower foundation.  Subbu was supposed to visit a nearby ready concrete mixing factory. He was told to come again as concerned manager was not there. I wonder, just for 3 cubic meter of concrete, why people make so much fuss. But that is the way it is. Whereever labour work is involved, human touch is expected. City guys have no time for these. But we end up paying more than necessary on 'online' purchases and also donot develop any 'reusable learning experience'. Whereas people like Subbu gain so much knowledge in these moments of truth.



Kandan with is New Bicycle. Learning to walk it



2. Kandan has started walking straght with his new bicycle !. Earlier he was going in one direction and the cycle in another. I am told, now he has learned to 'tame' his cycle to walk with it steady. I am waiting the day when he will mount it and ride it. I was kidding him and he has promised he will fall down and learn it.

This beautiful tank spotted in nanguneri.

3. Assuming that wind water pump will be up by next month, I need to plan for water tank.  'Purchasing' plastic tank would cost Rs. 7/- per liter. assuming we need 10,000 liter tank, the cost would go upto Rs. 70,000/-.  That is too much. I need find an alternative. Perhaps a cement tank. I know many Govt projects construct cement tanks. Need to find who is the contractor and talk to him.

4. Preparation of Tower foundation for wind pump. The tower requires to be assembled  on ground and pulled up to stand straight.  I happened to see the installation photos of Iron Man wind Pump in an US Farm. They have used JCB, a crane, tractor, truck and a fork lift. That is too much of resources to use to just make a tower stand straight. I am sure we will be using none of these. Some labour, techniques and one JCB perhaps should do the job. Let me see. We can think about it only after fabrication which is underway in ABS factory.

5.  Team has gone through two CDs so far.  Kandan has watched the CDs that I gave at his home CD Player. Subbu had set it up for him. That is good. Now I can engage them with some more training CDs. They must have covered two topics so far.  a) Compost Preparation  b) Dry land Farming.

Back home I need to record my speech in camera and append it to the VCD. 

 

Dancing Wu-Li Masters - Wind Speed at Nachankulam - Update for 50 days

"The Wu Li Master dances with his student. The Wu Li Master does not teach, but the student learns. The Wu Li Master always begins at the center, the heart of the matter"

When I took the update on Animometer reading dictacted by Subb from 1500 Kms away and created a graph, I was wonder struck.  I was bit anxious as i was noting down. Because i had placed order for wind pump only based on 20 days of study. The meter has so far run 9485 Kilometers in 50 days.

Nature has displayed its own elegance and beauty.  The Wind Speed is observed high in the night and low in the day time. The contrast is striking. How is that the wind energy oscillating on surface of earth so perfectly to the rhythm of Day and Night ?!. I am wonder struck and happy to learn that I have adequate wind in the night to run the wind pump which is going to be installed in a month.  That is a privilage you cannot get in Solar.

50 Days of reading from 1st Jan to 18th Feb, 2014

Closer examination shows that wind speed is constant during the day time. It is during the night that it picks up. On the day I visited the farm (30.01.2014 at 12 noon), the meter was showing 5842. That entry is missing above because we did not record it as we were busy which explains the gap in between.



I took this photo when I visited


The wind speeds have easily exceeded 8 meters per second on few days, which was not the case in January. Anemometer moving parts were tight at that time ?. I cannot rule that out. But graph shows it otherwise. In fact anemometer should have rusted and dusty in 50 days and its performance should come down without lubrication.But what we see is otherwise.

Well I also had another mental correction to digest. On my visit I observed wind was coming from North to South. Contrary to my assumption that it should come from South West (Kerala). Or is it wind is changing direction during night and day. ? I donot have measurements for that as of now.

 



Finally it is Wind Pump for the Farm

Solar or Wind?.  Dilemma is finally over. It is wind that takes precedence over Solar at this time. Depending on vagaries of wind is risky, but I must take this.

Solar Solution still remains elusive. The most colorfully advertised, Happy farmers with perpetual smile, intellectually pleasing solution, scientific approach to green energy, yet it remains a mystery why on ground retailers are unable to close any deal. Most of the claims are turning out to be false.

I remember as a child, i have played with solar powered wrist watches, toys, calculators, PDAs and even ball point pen with digital watches. They used to work efficiently in doors under tube-light settings.  Now everything is gone. 40 years hence, even toys are hardly solar.  Instead of buying bundles of batteries in malls, we could have gone solar at-least for kinder-garden pendulum toys which consume less power. Rechargeable AA batteries using chemicals are still around with photographers frantically buying "power packs" instead of solar panels. Cellphones should have gone solar way. Still we search for power points in hotels, trains and airports.  (Solar) Panels could have been sold in mom and pop stores for everyday use. Huge solar thermal water heaters which are found on roof tops of every apartment could have actually become and replaced with sleek solar power generators. Yet nothing has happened in 40 years!.  Mystery ? yeh !  Presently let me keep that research aside.

One of the reasons not going for solar in first iteration is also to escape theft and vandalism.  My farm is not guarded in the night. Solar panels could attracts miscreants.

Coming to Wind energy, there are few companies who manufacture time tested wind pumps, whose proposals were duly compared. There may be other small scale companies fabricating pumps, but they were left this time for want of installation base, service and support. The list published by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Sources on the manufacturers of "water-pumping windmills, aerogenerators, and wind–solar hybrid"  systems is laughable. Hardly anyone except Aureka has a working solution in this list. Two things I have never understood so far. a) how HR selects employees for promotion in a corporate. b) How Govt selects eligible applicants for their schemes.

My farm happens to be on high density wind area. Thanks to CWET (Centre for wind energy technology), this map is available for re-affirmation. The violet colour indicates high density and thankfully my farm is there.

Tinytech offered me Wind Pump, but Mehta said he has no time to support. If any repair comes you take care yourself. If I were at the farm, i could do that.  From remote location it is better to go safe way.  So I left it this time.  Aureka pump from Pondicherry was costing more for my budget. ABS was right in all respects including their good response. Both are UK design and time tested.  ABS windmills use Poldaw reciprocating wind pumps as against gear box driven pumps. They also use SKF ball bearnings which are available commonly. These attracted me besides other things.  It would have been good if good old American pumps as captured by Dorothy Ainsworth namely Sears & Roebuck, Aermotor, Dempster, and Baker Monitor were available. But unfortunately they are not available in India. I doubt even if it is available over there.

Courtesy : ABS

On the specification, the wind pump would have a 3.5 meter diameter rotor atop a 12 meter tower. There was an option to go for larger diameter, but to keep costs low....    Water to be drawn from 150 feet depth through a 6 cm dia pipe. I hope we should be able to build a 10,000+ liter water tank (to be designed yet) and pump the water at 5 meter above the ground level. From this, gravity should pull the water down to pipes for irrigation. Excess water from this tank should fall in another ground level large pool tank. This is the grand plan.  Presently planning to install the wind pump alone and allow it to stabilize.  The output will be taken to existing small tank and with rubber hose, irrigation to continue for some time before investing in piping network.

I am trying to contain the cost within Rs. 2.5 lacs to 3 lacs for total cost of ownership including everything.  THERE IS NO SUBSIDY for WIND PUMPs as I know, yet general opinion and intellectuals thinks that the Government and the World at large are favoring and incentivising renewable energy.  Perhaps policies are made for large Megawatt projects in both solar and wind sectors.  No one seems to care for marginal and poor farmers. Or they come with Gang Bang Plan of subsidy which will benefit God knows who. I would invite anyone who can give sensible consultancy on availing subsidy for small wind pump on the invoice that I would have already paid.

Presently ground preparation for installation to start any time this week. This marks an important milestone.

************

On ground Planning for Swale

Sitting comfortably on the ground under the shade with Subbu, Mayandi and Kandan, i was able to draw a swale on the floor out of sand. This was when I visited the farm last week.  I created a small mound in the shape of long crest with bare hands from the sand and explained how it can be useful to contain runoff water and store it underground. Every drop of rain water is important and that need to be stored somewhere. Present practice of storing them in open ponds will dry them soon. Weather is very hot here for 9 months in a year. But storing underground will lock it for longer use.  Earlier I had read Bill Mollison and watched Geoff Lawton videos just to get some ideas. Recently i discovered John Kitsteiner



Run off water taken away nutrients

Subbu was immediatly able to relate to his 'borewell' experience.  While boring, we hit rock immediatly in 20 feet. From then onwards it was only rock for 160 feet. That means mud is available for only 20 feet. If I create a swale and stagnate water, the water will go down upto rock bed and then have nowhere else to go, but climb up slowly. Rather it will spread out underground. That will be useful for all plants and trees during summer.

My land is at the tip of an already created pond Nachankulam (by Government). Ideally water flow from across the land will pass through my land, which has also removed the top soil and nutrients. The entry point of water is as shown in the picture with white arrows. Water gets logged on the spot marked with Yellow arrow. If I cut a swale close to the fence inside, i must be able to harvest water and benefit from it.

water enters as in white arrow and stagnates as in yellow arrow.

"Will water works department object to the swale?", asked one.  "No, that is only in another farm where the water pass from one lake to another. This is only rain water and there is no official water path here", replied another.

I said cutting a swale is an art (impressed by D V Sridharan's experience). Therefore it has to be done carefully and slowly. "Dont worry sir, we have understood. Our JCB persons are skillful" came the reply. Another said, "We will enable JCB for channel cutting and employ manual labour for dressing"..

Swale as it should be. Courtesy : John Kitsteiner

Thus my job was over. I only need to arrange funds. I expect a swale cutting would require 2 days of work. That means Rs. 600 x 5 Hours x 2 Days = Rs. 6000/- Plus 1000 Bata for Driver for two days and food.  5 Nos of manpower Labour would be required at Rs. 300 each for two days costing 3000/-.  The total would be thus around 10000/-.

That should protect my crops and recharge my land for posterity !. And contribute to ground water recharge and make me move towards permaculture.

Battle against harsh weather and pests

Putting up tough stand against hot breeze

I could see that each plant is putting up a tough stand against hot wind blowing over there. Heat, Wind, frost, irregular watering and finally different pest attacks. The growing plants seemed to have a natural ability to sustain these vagaries. Should we react for each of the symptoms or watch it silently?. Best practices in natural farming suggest, do nothing but wait. Therefore we waited.  Earlier when a plant was attacked by some pests, I had suggested a concoction of Chillies, garlic and tobacco to be ground and its water sprayed. Our team had followed the prescription and certified it is working.

However some of the plants exhibited partial cut in their leaves. Subbu could not pinpoint the root cause. Some wild bird, caterpillar, some small animal - nothing could be ruled out as it happens in the night.

Some leaves had dead larve. They were inspected by large

Invasion against larve

black ants. They were all over. The ants seemed to have their head quarters near the water tank, feeding on the tender roots of yet unplanted nursary plants and from there spread out. That is a welcome move. Gradually a food chain is getting estabilshed. I mentioned to Kandan that even snakes should  be welcome in our farm. Only let us be careful to wear gum-boot if required. Otherwise ants, spiders, frogs, dragon fly, snakes, peacock, owl are integral part of a healthy farm.  Today i can spot different butterflies, dragon fly and few birds.

Migratory birds do cross the farm often. They come from different parts of the world especially siberia to the nearby Koonthankulam (not kudankulam) bird sanctury. One unidentified large bird, black in color with a fancy head gear was making loud cry from nearby power pole.  Perhaps I need to add few trees that are liked by those foreign birds too. Some opportunity to study them.

Ant Hill ?

Ant hills or termite hills, i am not sure were found popping all over the farm. That is another healthy sign. I told kandan to encourage these by not disturbing. That translates to no trampling, no ploughing for some time.  These will multiply if we use more of cowdung and related panjagavya.

I could not see earth worms. They will come only when the climate further cools down i suppose. or after the water pump is arranged and ground is wetted all over.

Overall I gave instructions to team not to use any sort of pesticide but wait and watch till predators grow. Even If i need to sacrifice few plants.  We will be under pressure once we start the vegetable farming. Especially brinjal and ladys finger. Need to prepare a strategy before that.

****



Neighbour's Crops drying in front of my eyes

The adjscent farm sported green paddy field. Small plot though. The land was dry and cracking. Closer inspection showed the plants were bit tired and had undergrowth. When enquired they said there is no water to irrigate. The farmer was expecting rains which did not come. The paddy has almost grown, but not there yet.

My neighbour's farm. Drying...

It looked very ackward. I have heared of farmes making loss due to failed rains. But seeing in front of you is different experience. There could be well water in another 100 meters. But the poor farmer did not have resource to pump it to save his crops. Perhaps the owner of well may not be in good terms with his neibhours. Perhaps Rain is reason. Or perhaps Govt Schemes on water resource failed. or that he had chosen an hybrid variety which cannot withstand drought or it could be simple stupidity on the farmer to have chosen a wrong season. Or it could be his dire poverty. 

My wife was asking "Why the farmer had left it like that. Almost abondaned a full grown plant which is in flowering stage?"  I had no answer. But i knew the answer. The small farmer is waging a lonely battle.  In chennai, i purchased a dozen of bananas for Rs. 46.  It had done up from 40 to 46. I asked why? He said "Sir agriculture is declining".

Perhaps there is an opportunity to help him. Next time. If only I set right my water pumping solution......



Deweeding - Is it necessary ?

Thick Weeds in some places

 While i visited the farm, i took the driver also inside the farm to keep him engaged. Myself, my wife,  Kandan and driver were walking slowly along the perimeter inspecting the plants.  Few feet from the fence, land had been kept clean by kandan. He had dug the mud loose around every plant. All other places, there was thick growth of grass or weed.

The instant reaction of the driver was "sir why don't you apply some de-weeder and get rid of them?".  Kandan and subbu were also suggesting ploughing the field. I shot back on them. Chemical ? you want me to spray chemical ? you want me to expose the surface to the hot Sun by spending money on bull dozer?



Weeds prevent drying of land

 I explained them that weeds are actually helpful to keep the underneth soil cool and moist.  Weeds form a natural mulch. It consumes very less resources. why should you spend your energy de-weeding unless you are going to do some serious plantations.  De-weeding can wait till we start the actual plantations.  Actually the weeds are now protecting the sibling plants from the hot wind that is blowing over there. It also keeps the area cool. 

As Naturalist Nammalwar used to say "if you dry a plant weighing 100 grams, it will become 50 due to water evoperation. You burn it and the ash will weigh 5 grams or less. Which is what in weight the resources it has consumed from soil. Rest (like Nitrogen) has been taken from atmosphere (ether) which it will give back. Therefore how can you say weeds are eating your resource?  Finally the driver understood and started alinging with me.  One more friend was born.





Key Highlights of Farm Visit and making of Panjagavya

I could visit the farm twice amidst tight family function of a close relative. The following things were successfully completed. Besides there were many observations that were recorded which we will see over a few days.
       a) Making of Panjagavya was demonstrated practically.
       b) Planning for wind Energy for pumping water
       c) Planning for Swale

Royal feast for plants - Panjagavya

I told Subbu to arrange for Cow Urine (Komiyam) which is the most difficult part of the process, I thought. But later I found he had arranged a about 10 liters of it in a 'Kudam', a silver utensil popular in South TamilNadu. How did he manage?  He told he had asked his mother to catch the urine early in the morning starting 3 AM directly from the cow.  His family owns few cows. Now that makes my job easy. Cool. Otherwise I wanted to visit a nearby cow shed and get into an agreement for continuous supply of urine. We are yet to implement the PVC pipe idea discussed earlier in this blog.



Materials kept ready for mixing Panjagavya: Jaggery, banana,
Curd, Milk, Sugarcane juice, beasan powder, pot of Cow Urine,
Bucket of Cowdung and an empty drum.



I had brought Jaggery, Milk, Sugar Cane Juice, Beasan Powder, Curd and banana in nearby town Nanguneri before proceeding to the farm in an auto. At the appointed hour my farmer Kandan was missing. He had been to attend his wife who was unwell. Waited for two hours and started the process of mixing the cowdung. Initially the team was feeling not so focussed. If it were an office, we would have thought 'ah one more HR initiative'. But when I put my bare hand in the bucket of cowdung and emptied into a drum brought for this purpose, and poured Cow Urine, the team started feeling serious about my act and listened carefully. Then onwards i was only instructing and they did everything.



Breaking Jaggery ball with stone. Kandan learning...



Cow Dung was mixed with Cow Urine. Some water was poured to maintain some consistency. Followed by Jaggery. It was difficult to break the jaggery and we used stone. Followed by Milk sachet, Cane Sugar Juice packed in polythene cover. One of the packets burst on everyone while opening. Curd was added followed by Beasan powder and Banana. There is no sequence. The entire mixture was stirred well. I forgot to add garden soil which was promptly added on my next visit.  I feel I have added 1/2 Kg of beasan powder and not enough Jaggery. That I think will be compensated by Cane juice.

When I mentioned that we need to keep in shade, team felt the drum had to be kept inside the room. The other reason is fear of theft (of the drum which cost Rs.900). We did. But soon i realised the room will stink. So we moved the drum to the shaded are under the thatched roof outside. I advised them to cover the bright blue drum with gunny bag so that it gets camoflaged. Now i understand why farm materials are kept dirty in apperance.

The soup is getting mixed. The lumps are Beasan Powder

The panjagavya should be ready for use in another 4 days. I told them to allow as many days as they feel it would take to turn the soup into a potent liquid. Team promised they will continue to add material to the drum after taking out the Panjagavya without letting it go dry. This is good. Because the innumerable microbial bacteria or whatever organism should proliferate.

I asked them to be liberal in mixing this with water before watering the plant. Atleast for few months, extra boost is requred for the land which has not seen biomass for long time.

*****

Travel to Farm, Looking back and path forward

I will be travelling to the Farm this week. Attending my niece marriage in my Native place and the farm is just 10 Kms away. Hopefully I can make few sorties to the farm within the 4 days of my stay. In India, travel cost is considered an unnecessary overhead. Spouse don't approve of travel for the sake of a farm visit. Spending about Rs. 15000/- or more per trip is not considered worth, especially if there is no urgent work over there. And there will be none. Things develop very slowly in villages and you cannot afford to hang around.

For each of such occassional visits (last visit was in July, 2013) I have to pack myself with clear agenda. This time, I intend to do the following

1)  Ascertain  'patta' status (proof of private ownership) of the farm which was actually a cluster of individual holdings purchased at different times. Even after few years of sale deed, still the patta change is happening very slowly. Many of them are still joint holdings. Patta transfer requires cooperation of Village officer, Thasildhar, Surveyor etc. Though the process is easy, they are not so easy to devote their time. They have long pending lists.  It is important to continuously drive this. Lobbying is what is required, but from remote you cannot do that.  The best method is to prepare a checklist and drive this using your helper.

2)   Deliver few instruction CDs to the team. Especially 'how to make organic Compost', Grafting techniques, Dry land farming, Recharging borewell with rain catchment etc are some of the titles i have chosen for first set. 

3)   Demostrate mixing of Panjakavya. Also learn from them on what options are available to continuously add nuterients to the soil.

4)   Decide for Wind or Solar power on the spot. Even though Solar looks attractive theoritically getting genuine vendors and resonable prices are not easy. Even if obtained, there is threat of theft and vandalism on the installation if left unprotected.  Farm fence is not suffient. How to protect solar panels and electric pump in the night?  Wind Pump looks better option in all ways. Rugged, long life, magestic symbol, less maintenance etc.  Need to decide on the spot and location for the installation.

5)   Discuss with the team on where investment and focus should be.  Thinking of the past 3 years, I find that 86% of my expenditure has gone in purchasing land. Only 0.3% for plantations. The future spend should be exact opposite. Exenses should go more towards plant material, equipment, Soil and Water and so on. Land should be Nil.

                Present Investment

	Land, Survey	86.0%
	Gate and Fencing	7.1%
	Salary	2.5%
	Boring, Pump, Tank	1.9%
	Equipment	2.2%
	Plating, Nursary	0.3%

6)   Finally shifting to Slow Lane. The more you hurry or become desparate, someone else will make money out of you. Therefore......

Shift to the Slow Lane

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Many entrepreneurs work hard to get increasingly more things done every day. As a result, they struggle to focus on doing one thing at time. This is becoming nearly impossible in a culture that rewards “multitasking”. When they do more than one thing at a time, they not only lose the quality of the work, but also the enjoyment. Moving at very high speeds is not only unproductive, but just plain unhealthy.

In response to “always on technology”, many entrepreneurs are now promoting a “slow down culture”. This reflects Steve Jobs’ instructions to his management team that they should focus on doing less, not more. They should do a few things exceptionally well every day.

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Refererences:

http://www.indiarealestateforums.com/news-feed-blogs/20-chennai/116-patta-transfer-procedure-for-tamilnadu-and-chennai

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aileron/2014/01/08/shift-to-the-slow-lane/



My experiments with Soil

Testing soil for chemical composition is like equivalent to today's medical tests.  After spending 200 dollars you will be given a complete 'profile' of your body in CD, Paper, graphs, certificates, conclusions only to confuse you further. You start reacting to the reports, you go mad very soon. If iodine is less, will you start consuming iodine? if calcium is less will you start eating calcium pills for example ? Beyond a point you won't know how your body will absorb them. Calcium supplements can interact with many prescription medicines, including antibiotics, bisphosphonates and high blood pressure medications leading to complications.

 Postmenopausal women were advocated heavy dose of calcium, which is now being questioned if at all it has any effect in preventing Osteoporosis (weakening of bone). Calcium accumulating on toes causing pain can be linked to your kitchen mosaic floor or calcium deficiency or excess calcium intake - no one knows for sure !  With increased adulteration in milk, people have stopped taking simple milk and yogurt. That is the whole problem.

I donot believe in making so much fuss about soil testing, analysis and choosing specific crops based on Ph factor. Soil conditions are always at a slice of time and specific to that period.  Soil should not be seen as a chemical compound but as a living entity. Just as for humans wholesome food is the answer for all ailments, the soil needs just the required biomass and water.

On a gross level what matters is the soil structure whether it is clay, sandy or in between and then the temperature. Crop can grow well with adequate supply of water, sunshine and biomass. Intervention with trace metals, organic and inorganic salts for a particular crop can give short term gain but can make the soil useless for other crops. Soil can grow almost any crop, given the right physical conditions.  How do you explain otherwise the rich red soil of Kerala, the dull clumsy clay of Panvel (Navi Mumbai), the dusty soil of Noida,  the rocky soil of Deccan all growing all types of crops. How otherwise you can account all rainforests that has multitude of genetic varieties growing on all soil conditions. Most of the crops that are grown today were once upon a time migrated or imported into the village and did not belong that region. But it grows. Potato, beans and cauliflower are not confined to Ooty alone. It grows well everywhere. So also Cabbage and others.  More and more organic farmers are proving the point...

Pot of useless contaminated mud, now thriving with living tissues

I had a lump of useless clay in one of the pots during my home experiment. It was having petroleum oil slick and detergent contamination. Visibly also it was looking worse.  Nothing grew in it and every attempt to grow anything including tough ones like money plant failed miserably. I did not throw the soil out, but took it as a challenge. Generous amount of cow dung, home made panjagavya were applied along with sufficient sunshine and time.  These inputs converted the soil into good one. I guess the microbes broke down the oil slick into its components. Within a period of two years, the soil has become fertile. Today there is throbbing life in that soil (See snaps).

Closeup. You can still see oil slick, but
is not behaving the way it used to be

I am confident that given any soil, we can always condition the same by adding biomass, grow weeds, make the soil workable and then use it for cropping. ANY CROP only limited by season and water.

Lack of water quickly hardens the soil whatever be the soil type. More than water, there is a moisture that is required to be preserved in the soil all the time. Too much water, the roots decay. Too less, the roots dry and the water carring capillaries in the root die down. Timing of water maintains required temperature as well. Watering little twice a day morning and evening is found to work better than watering once a day or excessive flooding once a few days. The continuous moisturisation of water is best achieved through drip irrigation or sprinkler. Both are found to be good technologies.  Dry air blown can carry away the moisture.

Therefore in RMF, the first step was to grow enough fence material so as to prevent dry air from blowing over the crops.  We have planned for 3 levels of plants - thorny bushes at outer layer (Bougainvillea, Casuarina).  useful bushes like Caesalpinia, Nerium Olender, Lawsonia inermis in 2nd layer and short trees in third row.  That will be followed by farm inner service road and then the crops.

For irrigation, we need powerful motors of 7 HP to operate Sprinklers or rain gun.  The farm will not have excess electric power or no electric power at all.  Therefore that idea is dropped. We will go for drip irrigation only mostly to take advantage of slow water filling, and gravity.

***

My farm cannot wait anymore - energy hungry

The farm is having around 1000 plants planted around the fence. They were undergoing stress as there had been stoppage of watering due to Pongal holidays for three days. Today work resumed and team of two had been only pumping water through the hand pump. Stressful indeed but need to be done to keep them alive.  Voice is coming out clearly from the team that they cannot hold anymore. There is no rain also in sight. Therefore I have to plan for energy requirement asap. Wind or Solar.

For emergency I offered to buy Subbu a small oil motor. He said NO. They are suitable only for open well not effective to pump from boring. Instead "even a 1/2 hp small motor is sufficient provided electricity is available", he said. 

Team has been communicated that we should fabricate solar solution in pieces.  Team came with "Texmo pump" as choice for 1.5 or 2 HP submersible. Need to find an inverter and solar cell manufacturer.  Iron stand can be fabricated locally.

*****

Experiments on Wind and Update on Wind Speed at Nachankulam - 3 Weeks

After 3 weeks of measurement at a height of 19 feet, the following are the findings. The wind Speed is averaging at 3 meters/second occassionally going upto 5 m/s. Day or night, there is no variation. It may be noted here that this is only average wind speed calculated over 12 hours span. Average 3 meters  means there could be periods of very low wind velocity say 0 and there could be periods of higher than 6 meters per second. That is good enough to pump water.

I guess if a wind pump is installed, it can take advantage of high wind intervals, pump and store the water at a height (Potential energy) to compensate for no wind hours. Day and night makes no difference for wind energy.



I estimate it should cost around Rs. 3 lacs in all to put a wind turbine which can sweep 5 meter diameter at a height of 12 meters (36 feet), complete with turbine, tower, water tank, installation, pumping and labour.

Meanwhile what I found by doing some experiments at home by making a small wind turbine (for my Son's high school science exhibit) is that generating electricity is less efficient than using the wind power directly. 



Wind Turbine out of Tin foil



Improvised by clipping, trimming
added color to exhibit

I had made a turbine cut out of tin foil and later improvished by clipping alternate wings (taking cue from ideal wind turbine design) to reduce drag.  The blade/disk is mounted on skating wheel which had a ball bearing supported through regular nut and bolt over a wooden plank. Once upon a time that wood was part of magazine shelf. 

This turbine is connected to a small mini motor extracted from a broken toy, through a rubber band.  A bobbin (extra from Sewing machine) helps hold the rubber band in place on the motor.   The motor is clamped to wooden stick with Lego toy metal piece and a normal school rubber cut in shape.  Now the windmill is ready. With a table fan in front or outside wind, this can operate at full speed.

Current generated was 1.5 volt not
enough to power LED

 With the current generated, I could NOT even fire a 3 Volt LED lamp !!. Unfortunately my entire time went in researching how to make a 1.5 volt LED using Joule thief circuit made out of scrap components and miserably failed. Finally I was able to prove generation of 1.5 volt and no more. Asked my son to find a multimeter at school to prove the point.  On the other hand, the wind turbine had such a physical strength when it was rotating (in front of a table fan) that I could not break the rotation so easily with my hand.   So i came to conclusion that ;

 a)   Generation of electricity is clean, has advantage it can be carried through a wire to another place.  But amout of mechanical energy converted into electrical is less.  Further storage of electricity during fertile wind period is inefficient because batteries can make energy loss. Cost per watt is also high.

b)   But raw power from wind turbine is very high and can be directly applied with levers to move things like operate a pump. Storage of water in the form of kinetic energy is highly efficient. Cost per watt equivalent is low.

So my vote is for wind pump and not wind turbine to reconfirm what i had posted in earlier postings.

End of story/-

Toilets in an Open Farm

 This is so fundamental and so needed, so much of importance has been given throughout history by eminent personalities like Gandhi. But it remains still elusive. Everytime i see a person defecating by the side of rail track in clear visibility to even foreign tourists, i feel so fallen. But when station arrives I forget, move past. Head towards a star hotel only to find the costly toilet doesnot have a hand shower. Have they not thought how inconvenient it will be to use paper for people with piles or differently abled.... Aircrafts have such a tiny toilets making so much noise because they use air and water, you get scared, embarrassed that you donot wish to go.  Airports are the best but have partially open dividers.


Trivancore Samasthan Guest Toilet

Surprisingly Mogal emperors have not made it good either. While they were lavioush in decorating everything with gems and marble, toilet is very rugged (Ref Amer Fort).  But Kerala kings had designed it more comfortable for even their guests (Ref Trivancore samasthan).

Moving past you live in giant apartments with septic tanks at basement which no houseowner would have ever visited, whose whereabout only the builder knows. There is no escape route for the toxic gases generated which often get routed through ill maintained cement pipes adjascent to kitchen vents or the gas gradually bouce back through the same internal route reach upto toilet to fill the bathroom and later attached bedroom mildly to pull long term health effects. Thanks to creature comfort - spilt A/C, false roofing, double insulation, curtains, no fresh air anywhere to let the air go out.

Coming back to the toilet. What is the best one  to have in an open farm ?  Western or Indian ? 

Western toiles are convenient in the sense one donot have to bend. Lazy people like me and People with perceived disability of knee joints prefer this. But this is only perceived. When "push comes to shove" any human being including heavy weights can always sit down without injuring themselves unless some doctor has operated their knees and made it a showpiece bolting inorganic metal pieces inside. But that is not the concern. For a proof observe the railway carriage, where often when western is busy and other is free people are at home.

Concern is that western toilets are effective only if it is constantly attended and kept clean and dry. That is impossible to achieve in public toilets. Especially when it is unisex, men use it differently than others and if the ring is not lifted for pee with few drops of spill, then no one can use it then onwards. Moreover western toilets are designed to be kept dry at the floor, which can seldom be maintained that way. complete water wash of the floor would be better than having a little water marks here and there. Imagine railway carriage where chained mug cannot reach you and there is no paper!

Western toilets may be a must for knee operated patients. It is not a priority for normal person in an open farm where people of different kinds will be visiting. There will be workers, officers, family members, students, research scholars... The only way to keep toilet clean would be through frequent water wash and that is better done in Indian toilet by pouring water in whichever way you want. If western is still required can be constructed at a ratio of say 1:5. ie., for every five indian, one can be a western, but kept under lock and key.

So Western toilet is out, atleast for first few commodes.

"Indian toilet is not only the oldest form but also the most scientifically proven form for human anatomy which the western world has been realizing of late and embracing it gradually" Reference Guruprasad.

The squatting position offers complete evacuation and healthy bowl movement. It is more familier, natural and occupies less maintenance.

Next question the following questions have to be answered.

a) Which type of flushing?
b)  How much water required ?
c) what will happen to waste if left open? Should it be closed ?
d) What will happen if flooding happens?
e)  Is there threat of ground water contamination ?
f) Can we use acid or detergents ?
g) What if toad, snake or other animals creep in. What should be the height ?
h) Who will clean the toilet after every use.
g) What is periodic maintenance required
h) Should it be available in the night (lighting condition)
i) Where will the manure be used?
j) Will there be odour ?

Most of these questions are answered by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabhinternational in his famous two pit design. Reproduced "Sulabh flush compost toilet is eco-friendly, technically appropriate, socio-culturally acceptable and economically affordable. It is an indigenous technology and the toilet can easily be constructed by local labour and materials. It provides health benefits by safe disposal of human excreta on-site. It consists of a pan with a steep slope of 25°-28° and an especially designed trap with 20 mm waterseal requiring only 1.5 to 2 litres of water for flushing, thus helping conserve water. It does not need scavengers to clean the pits."

Radhamurali Farms will use the following design. Toilet at 2 feet height having u tube to hold some water to act as buffer zone and then the tube landing to one of the pits two dug with JCB to be switched to another pit after 4 to 6 months. The pits may be partilly closed with wire gauze but open enough to allow sprinkling of dust, ash and other material.  The first pit will be covered with mud to become compost, added with microbes to accelarate decomposition  when the second pit is operational. There can be a no planting zone for 10-20 feet around, to be filled with shurbs of known kind.  Design to take care that snakes cannot enter inside.

Period. The balance work is easy. Local pulumber know most of it. I estimate this should not cost more than Rs.12,000/- (170 dollars) including walls and roofing.

Reference:

http://guruprasad.net/posts/why-indian-toilet-is-best-scientific-reason/
http://www.sulabhinternational.org/content/two-pit-system



Planning to go to market to buy Solar

I am yet to get a proper nominal quote from anyone for my solar pump requirement. Internet is of no use.  Vendors claims typically bear items like 'Solar Inverter', 'Solar cable' and even 'Solar Batteries' !!!.  I am only waiting to see 'solar installation' and 'solar labour'.  The companies are of two kinds,
a) Companies marketing solar panles
b) Companies selling agriculture pump sets.

Integrating both these are seldom done by big companies.  There exists some companies who claim they are solar companies, whose websites are still not fully updated.  Here is were 'technicians' play their 'solutions' role. A call to these companies will land you up in call centre type executive who cannot answer anything useful, but are good at followup without a gap. Second call would land you into the hands of these technicians or the super managers. Both quote  a very fancy price for 'bundled offer' and justify them in few mails and go blank. They always omit vital parameters that are important from customer point. Solutions are always based on what product they deal with and not what solution the customer wants.

DC Currnet of -48 volt, current conversion, water flow calculation, DC/AC pump, well depth, motor startup issues - all these concepts keep everyone busy because they are not supposed to be discussed by common man. Without de-mystifying these (like a corporate hospital doctor), many advisers mint money by claiming to show complete solution to customer without publishing the actual breakup costs(or show too much unwanted details). Government subsidy of 30% on solar product will be applied after a steep hike. Every quote is incomplete - either they omit installation, civil works, electrical wiring or even mouting frames.

Above all there is 15 years guarantee given by companies to justify solar cost !. As though energy is perpetual !.  Hello, technological obsolence happens within 2 to 3 years in every sector. Solar technology is changing day by day. 

An agriculture pump at the most will work for 5 years continuously. Each passing year, younger generation is looking at old technology as if it was of stone age. Thanks to consumerism induced planned obsolescence.  Why should anyone bother about a 15 year guarantee?. I can now laugh at the 15 Year Mod-Tap certificate I framed and hung in the wall of my office cabin proudly.  I used to obtain (certificate) for my CAT5 cabling in my office for structured cabling done. I should have paid a premium for the cable and RJ45 connectors.  CAT5 has become CAT6 and now optic and wireless within 6 years.....Company themselves are getting sold or changing brands every 3 years.

Finally after losing energy patience and some money, I have decided, that I will integrate each of these piece by piece myself by going to market and not browsing the internet.  Atleast i will get some learning.

a) Let me buy solar cells from a reputed company directly.  The cost of which I expect not to exceed Rs.50/- after subsidy per watt. I may need around 2000 watts to run 2 HP pump.
b) Then buy an inverter of 5 KV
c) Buy maintenance free batteries from a good company.
d) Buy submersible pump from the market which is proven for indian conditions and which can withstand fluctuating voltages.
e) Put the 10 x 10 feet pipe into the boring and connect everthing with local electrician and plumbers.

I am confident all of these can be done step by step. For example we can weld a solar frame to our convenience from a iron grill shop from where i made the gates.  Inverters are available from IT vendors. So also batteries.  Submersible is available readily in semi urban markets. They can be tested with inverter and battery.  Only I may have to invest in one or two consultants and some multimeters.

Wish me all the best. I have buying from my team over there.

****

Farming is full of Fun, thrill and ideas

One day Subbu was talking to me over phone from an open field. There was rains. He was standing near my farm and me in a metropolitan city apartment, safe secure and comfortable in my balcony. During middle of conversation he called for emergency and cut the phone abruptly.  In a local slang he later explained that there was thunder and lightning at that time. What if In case the lightning will strike the cell phone ! ? " Safety is important no sir..."  There in villages they have a strong opinion that cell phones that are active in conversation will attract lightning.  There are lightning strike cases sometimes hitting cow boys in the open because they were the tallest structures at that place. But i am not sure if static electricity will love cell phones because they transmit more waves during a conversation.



Field level innovation to mount anemometer



I offered to buy a bicycle to my farmer Kandan. No No No he refused. Reason ? he cannot ride a bicycle. I cannot convince him at this age. But what if i force him ?They guaranteed that he will walk the bicycle even if i purchase him one. I will do that anyway.

Mouting the anemometer itself was a great fun. I left it to them right from receiving parcel, unpacking, installation, trouble shooting and working it.  All of that they did themselves.  When they opened  the package, they would not have understood what the hell is this.  (i did not tell them).  It took many weeks for them to make it work. Subbu was dashing back and forth with anemometer on his bike to Villiyoor a nearby town to make a rod that you see in the picture supporting the meter box.

While i was breaking my head how to take meter readings in case we mount it on a tall pole..  I was imagining a solution whereby one pole will pivot over another pole at half its height like a scissors. whenever we need reading we need to hoist down the 2nd pole using rope and hoist up (like a check post).  But guys on the field came with this solution as it the picture. It works anyway. That only matters. Subbu says it is cool and comfortable at the top.

Farm output - a single ridge guard.

And while the commercial farming is months away, our entire output of the farm in produce is not a ton of vegetables. After tilling grinding, bulldozing, ploughing and tending.....  Not in kilograms. it is one single lonely ridge guard. Search in the picture below.  That too planted for fun !  We can make ridge guard chutny .

****

Energy for the Farm - From where it will come ?

After thinking for hours and working on various proposals, I have prepared this energy chart. This chart shows only what is available locally. For example it doesnot cover tidal power which is not available in my farm but is definitely an option.  The chart will be useful to clarify to myself where to focus and to shape the conviction. 

This is my own conclusion and can vary from place to place.  Note, I am not even considering running oil motor.  Oil motors require petrol or dieseal which are both dirty - high carbon footprint and costly/bad/subject to extinction.

On the other hand oil from bio-organic source is not advisable. That will lead to Food or Fuel conflict in the world and must be approached with caution.  Already there is conflict between Food, Fuel and Fodder.

***

Wind Speed at Nachankulam - First week of January, 2014

Now we have 7 days of data.   the data shows the wind speed is declining day by day. Speeds are high during day time and less during night.  The X axis indicates speeds in Meters / Second.  anything above 3 meters per second is considered reasonable. This is at a height of 19 feet. I must admit that the land is 10 feet lower than road level.

Suppose if I install a wind pump? Will I be able to store water and irrigate during lean periods.  Let me wait for few more days to see the trend.  Unfortunately we donot have any help from outside to know the wind velocity in this area, even though there are many professional wind mills available just 30 Kms away.

The wind mills quotes collected so far from different companies indicate that they cost anywhere upwards of 2.5 lacs for 12 meter tower with around 5 meter rotor wing diameter. That is a lot of money. I must be damn sure about the decision if it is to be taken.  The same applies to Solar also.



Mutton, Chicken, beef and 'farming'

There is chicken and mutton everywhere. Almost all Indian tastebuds are being converted to Non-Veg. Normally Indians used to have a menu of meat only on Sunday when it was considered a premium.  Now population is so desparate that they want it for every meal. Some even proclaim in office parties that they cannot live without it. When you go out for lunch, only 2 out of 10 will order for Veggie curry. Pure Vegetarian hotels are becoming a rarity. Even they sell more chinease varities than idly and dosa. What KFC has introduced just a few years before, now many local companies have started cashing in on this growing market.  Recently i saw TV advertisement of a popular (local ready masala maker) brand which has started packaging chicken pieces.

Thanks to Govt funding, the entire infrastructure development and investment is going more in favour of animal farming. Agriculture universities are training farmers day and night (take a look at any of KVKs training schedule) on 'goat farming' and chicken harvesting. Farm lands are being installed with poultaries. Farmers are being made to believe that the returns are high only on animal farms. Animal feed production is another market that is getting popularised. Even popular magazines on agriculture which support organic farming carry more articles about stories of animal farming.  While it is natural and essential for any natural farm to have a healthy cycle of food and manure through upkeep of few country animals, poultry and birds, here we are talking about large scale farms of the size of giant factories.  The 'animal factories' which produce juicy chickens  grow animals using various chemicals - growth hormones (roxarsone or nitarsone, arsenical antimicrobial drugs that also promote growth) steroids, antibiotics, injections and drugs. It is funny that educated India reliesh them knowing fully well about what harm the residue chemicals can do to them.  This is at a micro level.

On a macro level, think tanks and market survey companies are publishing statistics to potential foreign investers that meat consumption is the lowest in India compared to other countries. Prompting more investment and creating 'market potential' in a country which has highest population (stomaches) after china and highest number of agriculture farmers with small land holding. Govt wants to solve micro nutritional deficiency of population through costly poultry chicken and not through greens, pulses and vegetables which are cheap.

Net Net there is going to be more animal production for consumption and hence necessity for producing animal feed. What happens in America will happen here. Complete deforestation. Country lands will be converted to gracing land. One can see for example such acres of lands around Pune which had been converted to gracing grounds to supply beef to the erstwhile British colony.  Only corn, maize and low quality high volume vegetation will be produced in all farms because they have the potential to sell, consume less water and maintenance. In the garb of easy farming, many have already destroyed their food grain and vegetable farms and have ventured into maize cultivation.  Already India with its weak agriculture policies and a declining Food production (Inflation of food and dependency on imports are evidance of this) will having to compete with a strong industry backed Fodder production and bio-fuel (another evil).

More the animals, more feed and water will be required. Growing meat is not efficient. More Methane will be produced (much larger than the threat of carbon di-oxide) punching bigger hole in Ozone. Even Al-Gore who comes from a country having highest per capita meat consumption (Americans alone consume 28 billion pounds of beef each year) could not touch this topic as it has grown to epic proportions.  It takes 12 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of hamburger. 11 times fossil fuel is required to produce on calorie of meat. 2,400 gallons of water is required to produce 1 pound of meat, where it takes only 25 gallons to produce 1 pound of wheat.

To satiate hunger of Americans, already many of the forests in third world countries (example malasiya) have been de-forested to grow Sugarcane, corn, oil palm and the like. As Mahatma Gandhi Said in 1926, "To make India like England and America is to find some other races and places of the earth for exploitation. So far it appears that the Western nations have divided all the known races outside Europe for exploitation and that there are no new worlds to discover. What can be the fate of India trying to ape the West?...."   We now see that more of Indians have started exploiting Africa. Millions of acres of farm lands are being acquired from that poor country to be exploited growing fodder, biofuel and food to be exported at high cost to other countries.

RMF will not grow fodder and bio-fuel on commercial scale. RMF will grow them only for immediate, internal and local consumption for neighbourhood, that is if necessary.

References:
Our Choice - A Plan to Solve climate crisis - Al Gore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poultry_farming
http://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjas/article/view/46142
http://www.highstrangeness.tv/articles/algore.php
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-wastes-natural-resources/
http://www.tinytechindia.com/Template/index.php?id=70&Title=ON INDUSTRIALIZATION