Fishes Escaped through a tunnel - Subbu is SAD

There was a panic call from Subbu.

"Sir all fishes have swam into the neighboring pond."

"How come ? I asked"

Subbu angry over escaping fishes

He had secured the pond with an overflow drain pipe. We had brought an extra cement pipe earlier which came handy for this purpose.  2 Days back he had kept that in place so that excess water from pond will pass through this pipe and go out. He had been careful to cover the mouth of the pipe with mesh.

It seems there was a gap created below the pipe (erosion of soil) due to yesterday heavy rain,  through which the siblings have escaped.

"We saw around 50 fishes outside on the gutter. We put back them. I don't know how many have escaped already.  We now need to monitor that pond also" I asked swami (Kandan) to keep an eye on that pond"   was Subbu's answer.

Some gap under the pipe has allowed fishes to escape

" I said forget it. Clever fishes deserve it.  And the birds too".

" How big is the fishes? "

"Very small sir, size of little finger, but one thing.  only one variety of fishes alone escaped. The catla fishes did not. that means this variety which escaped must be adventurous"

I said "Go fishing with a rod like an English man on the other pond, whenever you screw your happiness"

We laughed, this is a learning exercise.

Life in the Farm - Point Forest at Last - Farm Update 27-Nov-2014

1. The windpump is down for the past 1 week. The bearing has slipped. Subbu has given up fixing it temperorily. It is raining in the farm. We need a permanent solution. I have asked ABS for a solution and they have sent the design problem to POLDAW engineers. Solution has been found in the form of an iron patti to keep the bearing in its place. This is ready last saturday and is being sent through courier. As usual ABS company required too much of followup to get this done. The spare should reach by Monday.

///    Subbu was so happy today to talk about his fish project. May be it was his dream for many months which came true atlast. Hard work pays.   ///

2. The fishlings are doing well. This is 2nd day.  Subbu said  he brought around 1500 Catla and balance 1000 other mixed varities. There was large number of people buying fish from the Papanasam vendor. Standing in queue, people were seen buying 40K etc.   Just for fun, we have gone for all varities. Each fishling cost Rs. 1/- .  Oil cakes (punnakku) of 40Kg has been dissolved in water as feed on the pond. It should take care for another 15 days. Cowdung also will be dissolved after few days.  I asked Subbu to fetch lotus roots from the Chirumalanji Sastha Temple to be put in the pond.

Our Fish tank

3. There is a large bird hovering around it seems. Subbu told next week we can expect more birds. I asked him to take photos. We need to protect the fish siblings from them. A net perhaps will do.  we can expect more life forms to emerge from the pond. Frog, snakes etc..  This is pure fun.

4. The first lot of banana trees may need support. Per subbu they will start flowering and fruit bearing in next 10 days hence. They are Andhra Tholuvai variety and are around 40 trees in all.

5. The new kerosene pump is yet to be started. Need to purchase tubes for drawing water.  It may require oil mixed petrol to start and run on kerosene. It is a Korean make Model LT30CX 5.5 HP mini portable costing 15K INR. This is to be used as emergency in case of windmill down.

6. As the ground is soaked with water with continous rain, not attempting to sow any vegetable seeds. Waiting for rain to stop.

7. The seeds sent for my "point forest" (Click here) is finally in its place.  We have made a round corner raised mud pit with bricks for lining and have strewn the 200 odd wild species seeds that I had collected over a period of one year and couriered it. I hope to grow here all things that can be conceived. The plants must grow on its own. No help will be provided. Fittest will survive. This will be micro forest for insects, birds and small mammals.

***********

Fishes in the Farm

Subbu and Fishes

How about some fishes in the tank? I asked Subbu. He had already planned for it.  There is plenty of water in the rain water catchment tank.  It is likely it will stay for some time. The bottom of the tank is solid rock.

"How to bring the fishes?  "

"Shall I take a vehicle? ", asked fish eating Subbu.

"No.  don't, fishes can be brought in a 5 liter drinking water CAN."   You can buy one in the neighbour hood shop", I told - a staunch vegetarian myself.

Both of us have no idea, how fishlings are generally transported.  We guess, we should get small fishes or eggs from the owner.  He said he will consult his friend tomorrow on this.  We need around 2000 of them.

Meanwhile Subbu is busy mending the eastern bank of the pond which is lower level in height.  Similarly on the input channel also he is putting the extra cement pipe we have and sealing so that the fishes will not "escape" when more water comes into pond.  Good idea.  Two days of labor work.

View of the would-be fish tank. Now full with water. But it will come down  

Meanwhile I was exploring if we can plant some Vettiver to prevent soil erosion.  I spoke to P Vencent, a bank employee who promotes Vettiver from Coimbatore.

He said he will let me know in a couple of days. I hope to ship in some vettiver from him and plant them around.

He also advised to plant Pungan and Punnai treeds to covert an inert soil into one having organic matter.

General Glance at the Farm on existing stock

It is long since we started these few Banana. I recall my update in August

The tiny patch of Banana trees near the tower is looking great. Subbu told this is a foot taller than the ones which are planted at the same time in his father's farm even after they using urea and other fertilisers.  Thanks for panjakavya / Jeevamrutham or the simple cowdung direct application.  (I donot know if Kandan followed everything).

Good to see the fence casurina also growing without interfering.

Looking like a professional farm. Ain't they ? I never thought it will become so cool. Proud of my team over there.

This is kind of centre of the farm. Not set yet. But can see the channel leading to rainwater tank. The freshly planted ones are some fruit trees obtained a week back from Nursary (story already covered).

The rainwater pond  is full with water. I must construct some stoppers around the banks, lest someone will fall inside without knowing the depth. This is however well within the farm compound. and water is not that much now as it was in this snap which was taken after the rains.

Visual Update on Jasmine, Banana, coconut and sweet potato planting Nov, 2014

The Nursary Plants are picked at Ramji Nursary in Nagarcoil.  This includes around 35 coconut saplings of 4 varieties.

Our purchase is normally a mix of everything to create a genetically diversity natural farm. Hope I will not end up creating a nursary instead of a farm.

Mallikai - Jasmine Plants are first to go. These are Nagapattinam variety

Jasmine baby

Jasmine being planted after tilling.

Jasmine is mulched with local nochi weeds. Sufficient space is provided so that there can be an inter crop later

Banana 2nd Round.  The roots are procured from the nearby farm. Details covered already.

Banana tubers

Banana is planted just after a rain

Another view of Banana in place

Coconut is mostly planted at the fence side.

The young one inside the pit. Some red soil is added to increase quality. Also some pith. and natural fertiliser

Coconut lined up as 2nd row from a fence

Sweet Potato is a vein. We obtained this from neighbours farm through Subbu Contact for a small price.  But the land preparation is a very delicate thing as can be seen. It cost 2 labor days.

The raised bars prepared for sweet potato and  planted

Planting in progress

Rain has stopped. How long will the stored water last ?

There is no rain.
There is no wind.
There is no source of water.
But we are confident.

There is some water still in the ground level rain water pond (30x30). Subbu has used this water twice for planting sweet potato slips and watering them. The first water was given immediately after planting (called life water) and the second, one week later. This includes banana plants as well. He estimates the water will last for another two rounds of watering, which is for another 15 days. I guess it will be muddy water, neverthless...

The water from the pit had to be pumped out. For this a kerosene oil engine was hired. At Rs. 40/- per liter, Kerosene can run a 5 HP pump for one hour. We need 2 Hours of operation. The rental charge is Rs. 100 per hour. Therefore total 280/- for 2 hours pumping including rental and fuel.

The rented pump

Meanwhile there is very weak wind. The well oiled windpump is pumping around half tank of water (500 lts). This is enough to water the vegetable plots.

Either wind should blow or rain should come.  Surprisingly there is no monsoon rain at all. The little rain that came was due to a cyclone. There is no wind either. Perhaps it is changing its gears and may start to blow from different direction.

Energy Plans:

1.  We need to plan to purchase a kerosene pump for permanent use. This will be portable over a bicycle and can be shifted. water need to be pumped either from the rainwater pond to overhead tank or the cement tank to overhead tank in future.  I estimate it should cost Rs. 20000/- for the pump as well as engine.

2. In the absence of wind, we need to pump water from the bore-well. We cannot insert a submersible anyway. Therefore we need to insert rubber tube alongside windmill pipe and keep a centrifugal pump at the ground level to suck the water.

Source of power ?  

a)  Electricity is still far away. I sense trouble there. As the days come near to give the connection, the department people may ask more and more money. I asked Subbu to employ some intelligence and access how much bribe they may ask. If we need to reach from the nearest transformer which is in a village, then it will cost hell a lot of money. I am not going to invest.

b) The kerosene pump is good option. With a centri fugal pump attached, it should work. Though it is not environment friendly, but can be a stop gap for some time.

c) Mini Solar pump is an option. But even for 1 KV, the setup cost will be around 1 lakh rupees even if we donot use a battery. Just direct solar power should drive the motor which will pump the water from bore-well into to overhead tank in case of no wind. This will be hybrid green solution. There are no genuine suppliers that I know off. Going by my last year survey, solar industry has still not improved.  Solar is riddled with cheap Chinese panels and cheating at dealer level.  Need to explore more.

****

Utilising common Weeds in Farm for Fertilizer and Mulching

As demonstrated by Parames Zurich when he visited our farm.  They are self explanatory

This completes the preparation of fertiliser. now Mulching using the commonly available Tephrosia purpurea and other weeds.

Our first commercial sale of pumpkin, a small achievement and major milestone

Yesterday was one of the happy days and Subbu kept on talking without knowing how to stop himself.  We talked about two happy problems and one achievement.

Our first commerical sale has happened.  Pumpkin 3 Nos each weighing 5 KG. It was sold to Rs. 18/- per Kg, totally giving Rs. 270/- at Parappadi market (5 Kms from the farm). My wife was happy hearing this. We told the money to be deposited in our Native Place Temple Shri Srivaramanga Sematha Sri Deivanayaka Perumal Koil, about 10 kms from there. The first harverst is always for the God.

One plant of Tapioca that Subbu planted has matured and bursting with root tubers. This has uprooted the newly planted Lemon (Elumichchai) and Bitter orange (Narthangai) saplings, because they rooted so close. We have never experienced Tapioca. He asked what to do?. If we harvest the Tapioca, we will damage the plant. If we don't the tapioca will bounce back again from the root and Lemon can never grow properly. I told to remove everything carefully with some soil and replant elsewhere.  It is fun to do organic farming with multiple species. You learn a lot.

Subbu has finally fixed the counter weight that was pending on the WindMill propeller blades. It was

because of the scientist/carpenter Somu who can never sleep without fixing something. He was absent for few months and has returned now. As per the beautiful technology designed by PolDaw engineers, the wind pump will have a counter weight at two of the properllers which is diametrically opposite to the assembly rod which pulls the water pump rod.  This will make the propeller rotate even for slightest wind.

But since this is slow motion action, no water will be drawn from the well in very slow winds. This is the ideal configuration but was bothering Subbu. He cannot tolerate something rotating and not giving water. When you give a rotational kick with hands, water was jetting out. What to do, he was asking?  I told him to just enjoy and dont worry.

Yesterday and today the pattam was laid for planting Siru Kilangu.  Pattam is the raised mud bar made with skill. Only a skilled labor can do it. I understand the person who came to do this job, liked the organic farming methods that we are adopting. He has long since not seen organic farming anywhere and was recalling his childhood experience. Same was the case with an old woman who visited when our guest  Paramez was there. She was mentioning how to prepare organic manure with Kolinji (seen in the picture).

I need to now think about accounting and some book keeping. So far Subbu was noting down the expenses on a rough notebook. I was not even doing that and was focusing on only major trends. It is important to now provide a policy on consumption and sale.  Selling to market for high profit is not our first priority. Our first priority will be to develop small door-to-door vendors - mostly old women with basket.

*******

Special Guest to the Farm - Parames Zurich

Parameswaran Zurich, a young natural farmer from Dindigul is in the farm since yesterday. He is the same person who had sent 40 varities of different seeds last week.  He is our first guest to the farm. Therefore I was anxious how we can receive him and make him comfortable.  He came early in the morning starting around 1 AM at Dindigul and reaching farm at around 9.30 AM to Nanguneri. Subbu received him at Nanguneri. Food at Parappadi and Stay at Valliyoor. That was the arrangement.

As soon as he reached the farm, he was exited. He drew quickly some diagrams on the sand and sent through FB Chat mode with me.  We discussed about overall placement of crops, rainwater discharge and canal position. The one message that was strongly coming from him was the "mudakku" or milching the soil.  The soil has to be covered.  He did demonstrate by covering some of the plant base with available grass and kolingi plants from neighbourhood.

Shape of Farm as drawn by Paramez.  The stones are main items. Raised arc is the raised mud road inside the farm from Gate to the wind pump.  in anticlockwise, the first stone is the wind mill, 2nd the water tank, 3rd the high tension electric tower, 4th the rainwater catchment tank and 5th the store room near the gate.  He is dividing the nearly 3.5 acres in to large chunks in squares

Simple Irrigation Plan as drawn by Paramez on the samd. Look at the minature details of a section of the farm.. 

The open channel system of irrigation was not approved by me. There is lack of water for 10 months and I cannot expose water on a canal, which he accepted. Well a lot of plants were planted during these two days by Subbu and his team. He had hired few people more as work was simultaneously going on. Around 200 banana saplings, 20 Sapota, 50 Jasmine, 35 Coconut trees besides miscellaneous trees like Mango, Rose were planted.

Inspired by Zurich, I drew the final shape of the farm through imagination (by including the recent developments that we did) from my residence(1800 Kms) away.  Here is the complete picture as it should look be looking now. In a few days, I will get the photos from Subbu to correlate my understanding and appreciate their work.

In Summary:

1. We have been spending more money this month purchasing more plants to take advantage of the rainy season. Wheather rain will contine or not is anybody's guess.
2. We  have over loaded the garden with vegetation which require water. The lonely windpump is the only source of water.  Current connection is one month away.  We have no money to buy a kerosene generator, but that is the option for emergency pumping.
3. The farm should be looking good and professional for anyone to see. I understand from Subbu that neighbours are still skeptical on what is going ON. They will realise only when we start selling few vegetables in 3 months from now. Till then keep Mum.

*****

Further Greening the Farm

Yesterday the following saplings were purchased from Ramji Nursary, Nagarcoil as planned.. Total cost was around Rs. 5000/- for the nursery.  For lorry it would be around Rs. 2500/- from Nagarcoil to Nachankulam both ways.  With this load the farm will become further green, with diverse species like a botanical garden.

Purchase From Ramji Nursary, Nagarcoil
1. Around 4 varities of Coconut = 35 saplings each costing around RS. 80/-.  This consists of Red, Green coconut, Nattu (Country) coconut and kuttai-nettai.
2. 20 Sapota trees
3. 10 Jasmine plants, totalling now around 40 (30 purchased already 2 days back from Valliyoor)
4. Amla, koyya, pomagranate, rose and others. I asked Subbu to buy as many varieties as possible.  Last year whatever we brought has grown well, though there was hardship in maintaining it during peak summer.

Purchase From neighbouring farm
Country Banana (Nattu Ragam) roots around 200 Nos.  It costs Rs. 3/- per root for dressing and another Rs. 2/- for transport etc.

Ground Preparation
The tracktor work is completed for the 2nd day. Two field beds have been carved. Tomorrow onwards some manual work is there for which labours will be called for transplanting.

Farm Update 27 October, 2014

After a week of Diwali festival, the entire country is settling down to work. I called Subbu to take an update and discuss this week plans.

a) Rains have stopped for the time being. Still the mud is heavily soaked in water and hence tractor cannot plough the ground. We have planned to plough two square plots of around 25 cents each to be used for multipurpose, mainly experimenting.  Subbu's brother is owing a tractor. So it is convenient to call him whenever we want.  We need to invite tractor tomorrow. There is heavy sunshine today. 
Moral : Have a handy contact in hand always for every work.

b) There is no wind. Not even the anemometer is rotating. If this continues, we may have to use the reserve water. Currently water is available in full at the ground level rain water pit. Strangely, this  water is not soaking inside the mud layers. The bottom is already rock, so water has to escape sideways, but it is not. Therefore good news is we can use it to store for long time. And grow some fish as well.  Bad news is that ground will not get moistened for crops.

Half a tank of water is also available in the cement tank (30x20 feet) that can be filled only by surplus water from wind pump.
Moral : Be careful about water usage even during rainy season.

c) There was a slippage of ball bearing (SKF) on the wind pump. Wind rotor stopped working.  Subbu, had to set it right by climbing the tower top during Diwali when it was also raining. It required two more people to hold the Rod assembly, slowly rotate the crank and fix it.  The root cause was that these bearings are using Allen Key to tighten the screws in place. The engineer who installed the pump did not have all the Allen Keys (Kind of spanner for Allen screws). So he left it half fixed which has slipped during its up and down motion. I asked Subbu to purchase a set of screw drivers for permanent farm use.
Moral: Have a complete tool kit at every farm.

d) In next few days we will sow the following seeds.
a) Mappillai Samba Seeds
b) Vegetable seeds all in small quantities in a round robin fashion on a raised bed.  Grown mainly to produce seeds.
c) Sweet Potato and Jasmine flower saplings in alternate rows.

e) Subbu suggested we will sow some sweet potato. It seems neighbours are doing it. Let us copy the same. Then within these plots, jasmine saplings which are purchased will be planted as inter crop in raised beds.  I am of the opinion we need to mix as much as possible, so that we avoid mono cropping even at small level and invite various diseases.
Moral:  Copy and Improve the neighbourhood.

f) After a long wait and lot of discussion, I told Subbu to drop the plan of going to Parasalla to purchase coconut saplings or purchase from nearby Valliyoor who is not committed. We will stick to Ramji Nursary in Nagarcoil. We have experience with them. The gardners over there are friendly. We need to pickup 30 coconut and all different tree varities.
Moral : Don't attempt to buy small quantity from big or small unknown nursery.  Choose good nursery which is flexible and provides quality.

g) We planned to plant trees on the perimeter of our plot also outside wherever possible. Let us use this rainy season and increase greenery.  I have always wanted to start a social movement to make the area green. But that will involve thousands of saplings, and hundreds of hands.   Doing a social movement along with villlagers to plant thousands of trees - is a little far away. Presently let me start small, grow some green and invite more people.
Moral: Do something yourself before expecting social responsibility from others.

***

Water, Seeds and happy days have begun

Today the rains have started properly. Yesterday there were thunder and lightning. Subbu quickly dismissed my call as he was fearing lightning may strike an active mobile phone.

Last week there were two natural farmer friends who got introduced through facebook, They were different.  Unlike others they not only said they can send seeds, but also promptly mailed it across to my farm. Since this is my first purchase from a fellow farmer, I am very happy.

All organic farmers who are concerned about current state of affairs, generally have a courtesy to distribute seeds for free. Yes, that is how nature itself works. Seeds are supposed to be free. Somewhere down the history companies commercialised them.

Chandrasekharan from near Madurai sent the following rice seeds (paddy). They are worth gold. While the seeds were given by him free of cost, the material was sent through a lorry driver who took around Rs. 180/- for that.  Subbu had to intercept the vehicle near a highway to collect them. I was coordinating this meeting from Pune.   I told Chandrasekharan next time to send by regular post or courier. The charges are less.

1. Mappillai Samba - 1 KG
2. Athoor Kichidi Samba - 1 KG

Parameshwaran from Dindigul was generous to sent around 42 varities of vegetable seeds through courier which got promptly delivered at Subbu's home.  The total cost was Rs.400/-. All are native varities in small quantities, neatly labelled.  This is huge variety. I guess each will be spoonful or few seeds and must be carefully planted.

1. வெள்ளரிக்காய்-cucumber	25.பெல்ட் அவரை-village beans.3
2. வெண்டை-ladies finger	26.கோவக்காய்- Gherkins
3. மிளகாய்-Chilly	27.கேரட்-carrot.
4. சீனி மிளகாய்-mini Chilly. 5. குடை மிளகாய்- capsicum.	கீரை-greens:
6.முள்ளங்கி-radish	1.பால கீரை- Spinacea oleracea
7. பீர்க்கங்காய்-ridge gourd.	2.புளிச்சைக்கீரை-Brown Indian hemp, Hibiscus cannabinus
8. குட்டை பீர்க்கங்காய்- short ridge gourd.	3.அரைக்கீரை-Marsilea quadrifolia
9.நீள புடலங்காய்- snake gourd lengthy.	4.சிறுகீரை-Amaranthus tricolor /Tropical Amarnath
10.குட்டை புடலங்காய்-snake gourd short.	5.மணத்தக்காளிக்கீரை-Solanum nigrum /Black nightshade
11.சர்க்கரை பூசணி-pumpkin.1	6.அகத்திக் கீரை-agathi
12.லாடம் பூசணி-pumpkin.2	7.பச்சை தண்டுக்கீரை-Amaranthus Caudatus / FoxTail Amaranth(green stem)
13.பாகற்காய்- bitter gourd	8.சிவப்பு தண்டுக்கீரை-(red stem)-Amaranthus Caudatus / FoxTail Amaranth
14.சுரைக்காய்- bottle gourd	9.கொத்தமல்லி-coriander
15.சாம்பல் பூசணி-ash gourd	10.வெந்தய கீரை-fenugreek
16.கொத்தவரை-cluster beans	11.கோவக்கீரை- Gherkins leaves
17.தக்காளி-tomato	12.முடக்கத்தான் கீரை-balloon vine leaves.
18.காலிபிளவர்-cauliflower	13.முருங்கை கீரை-drumstick leaves
19.முட்டைக்கோஸ்-cabbage	14.கருவேப்பிலை-curryleaves
20.முருங்கை-drumstick	15.முளைக்கீரை-amaranthus blitum/ Amaranthus, Chinese spinach, edible amaranth
21.பச்சை கத்தரி-brinjal green.	herbals:
22.வரிக்கத்தரி-brinjal violet	1. துளசி - basil
23-கோழி அவரை-village beans.1	கோவக்காய்- Gherkins use as a fruit, vegetable, greens.
24.தம்பட்ட அவரை-village beans.2	முருங்கை-drumstick use as a vegetable,greens.

Farm Progress in Visuals October, 2014

Subbu had sent snaps now of the farm when it was raining 2 weeks back. Since then there is no rain and water is being purchased.  The irony is, we do have water now stored in rainwater catchment tank (not in any of the below picture). But how to pump it out ?  Thinking of purchasing a small kerosene water pump for such temperory water shifting.  The rainwater pit is far away from the main action area. But we had already laid the backbone pipes through which we can pump and bring it upto the overhead tank, so says Subbu. Hmmmm. I have to see how much a pump would cost.  When I floated a quotation in the net, I got replies such as Rs. 280 for one dozen pumps !.  They thought i want plastic pumps. What i need is a kerosene engine with centrifugal pump. I asked Subbu to walk across to Tirunelveli market and purchase one outright.

Otherwise we are purchasing water @ Rs. 400 per day for 1500/- liters. That will continue till the rain comes, which is expected anytime this month.

overflow water tank (the old and original one)

closeup of greengram

Healthy Millets

Water logging during the rain. Have to plan how to divert all these water into a pit which is far extreme at the centre

This is the current Action Area. Vegetables will be sowed here in small quantities.
This is adscent to the wind pump

Another view of action. Seen in shadow are Subbu and Kandan

Harvest, a humble beginning

This is the most focussed part of farm

Banana Plants againt backdrop of windpump

Some of the grocery for the farm. Few items of these will be sown as green manure. We did already.
but there was no rain thereafter and all the sprouts had dried down.

Another view from the tower side

This is the famous Kandan Mistake.  Kandan had planted these trees too close and had a good mouthful from everyone

Farm Manual in Sheets for Ready Reference

Subbu said he has put a garland to the WindPump Tower as part of Ayudha Pooja (Durga Puja). The navadanya seeds that was kept soaking have sprouted and has been sprinkled on the field. But there is no rain yet. Cloudy though.

Back home, I wanted to spend the Durga Holiday usefully working for the farm from remote Pune. There are 4 days holidays. Did not go out as there are exams running for children.  Having technology at hand, I did what I wanted to do always.

Typed all the procedures in Tamil for Subbu to understand, take printout, laminate (Paper lamination) and send it so that he can stick on the walls for ready reference.   Instructions for preparing Panjagavya, Jeevamrutham, Rama Banam, Neem Astharam etc etc...  The material I gathered from Pasumai Vikatan, Pasumai Oli (044 66802917) an IVRS and my farm notes that I maintain.

Total cost is my time (3 hours), inkjet printing cost for printing 4 pages on A4 executive bond paper and lamination @ RS. 20/- per page. I will courier the laminated sheets through speed post. Subbu is in a village and courier will not reach. But postal system will deliver. That will cost Rs. 40/-.

Learning: I guess this is working well. In coming days, I need to create policy documents like this and send across.

The PDF version is uploaded (Click here) so that anyone can download, print and benefit out of it. Just that it is only in Tamil. This is in Google Drive and you may require google login.

****

I want more Green on leaves

Myself and Subbu finalised some action items to be executed right away:

Seeds had been purchased from a nearby mom and pop store. Total cost was Rs. 850 and runs like a grocery list for a medium size family. The quantity ranges from half kg to 2 Kg depending on purchasing mood.  This will be soaked in Panjagavya tomorrow. The day after, this will be spread across around half an acre of farm. "Should i have to mix all the seeds?"  Subbu reconfirmed atleast 5 times with me.  I guess this will not be eaten away by birds because it will be coated with cowdung and cowurine. Who knows ?  However I told subbu, even if birds visit, it is good as we will get bird droppings from them. Probably some rare seeds too from their gut.  It will be win-win for both of us.

These seeds will be spread on the farm, after 45 days to be smashed by light tilling. Total cost of above is Rs. 850/- 

Subbu raised alarm that it is time for us to manure the banana plants. I told him that we will apply only organic fertilisers. He said generally farmers apply Urea and Super phosphate which will give instant result and make the leaves green.  I said "Yes it will make more green, invite insects and then he will take the pesticide spray gun also and kill the soil", to which he laughed.  It is time that I translate all the organic inputs into poster size sheets and send it across for ready reference for him. I must group these into Organic Fertiliser, organic pesticides and Organic growth boosters.

He was particular that I prescribe him a Fertiliser that will make the leaf "green". He was obsessed about making the leaf dark green.  Years of conditioning of the farmers into believing that chemical fertilisers are mandatory was working on his brain.   I think he must also be fearing the comment from perhaps a fellow farmer about the not-so-green banana leaf and what he has to reply in case he is ridiculed. I said don't worry, we will fix it. Apply more Jeevamrutham for now.  Nothing will happen if the leaf is not dark green. Let it be natural in the way it is.

Continuing our topic, I said we need loads of cowdung and cowurine. Presently only a small quantity is being fetched, enough for mixing panjagavya once in 15 days.  I told we need to make daily sorties in all directions to collect these from nearby cow sheds. It is the job of Kandan to bring Cowdung and Cowurine. We both imagined kandan with his bicycle pushing with loads of dung. He has still not learned bicycle. I lost faith if he will ever.    I told let us buy the cowdung from nearby cowshed. From the lady who worked in our farm. Let us pay some 500/- per month and take all the cowdung and cow urine. That sounds like a good deal.

There is a portion of a farm which is near the gate that is sterile. That is a lifeless clay and sand Nothing grows in it. I gave a challenge. Take a small portion and keep applying panjagavya regularly. let us see if it turns good. I hope with addition of biomass, any type of soil can be converted. I have experimented this in a flowerpot which had got pollutted with soap water and fabric conditioner. Today that pot fertile with flowering plants.

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Rain Rain and Rain !

There is very heavy rain pouring over our farm since 3 PM today !.  Subbu called me to convey this good news. Next 10 days there is no work of watering.  I felt joy after many months. Now I fully understand what a joy the rain would bring to every farmer.

I guess this is the North East monsoon setting in.  As per metrological report, the South West Monsoon has already receded, officially.  While the entire India is looking dry, the rains have started in peninsular India. We are in Rainshadow region, the south west monsoon, blocked by a range of montains (white line in the picture).  Whereast the north west monsoon is free to reach the place. Hence we are confined only to 4 months of rain in a year.

I guess we need to act fast from now onwards.

a) We have the rainwater storage tank excavated and kept ready.  Need to observe water logging areas and create furrows for guiding the water to the pit.

b) Need to scatter the navadhanya (Nine grains) seeds as much as possible to enrich the soil with biomass.  The process is as follows;  Purchase a kilo or two of each of the seeds from different categories such as oil seeds, millets, food grains, green cover etc, mix them and spread on the field. Then 45 days later when the plants grow, before the flowering stage, till the soil to smash them. The organic matter will decay and create a richness to the soil.

c) Need to source local vegetable seeds

d) Need to identify one or two millets in large quantity for small commercial scale farming. Millets are in demand and I guess we can start experimenting with them first.

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