Post the farmers retreat, there was some interest in getting together and working on a local farm once a month. This month’s host was MG Farms in the nearby village of Pooluvapatti. We planted some fruit saplings, Iluppai (Mahua) saplings and had a fabuilous lunch prepared by our host-friend. Also got to know couple of
We discovered Hooglekulture couple of years back and have been fascinated by its possibilities. According to one definition, “Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood.” These are our second and third sets of HK beds. We did not want to wait for the decomposing of the wood
On my latest birthday, Ragu and I were out to attend a friend’s baby shower. When we came back to the farm, my mother-in-law pointed us to two healthy saplings of Suppota and Hibiscus along with a few little ones. All nicely packed and left anonymously with the note – “Be Happy”. The note gave
Some weeks ago, one morning like on most other days, I finished the after-breakfast clean-up and looked up the clock before heading for a bath. And then I stopped. It was 9 am and the mason and his helpers had not shown up. I looked around and Ragu and Aum were missing too. As I
This weekend, we moved into the guest house on the farm. It’s a one room, kitchen, bath-toilet configuration. It’s nice to wake up to coconut trees swaying to monsoon winds. Now it’s much easier to tend to the farm and communicate with construction folks working on the main house. And such a relief not to
Since my last post Accepting Inefficiencies I’ve been looking at and thinking about the State-of-Unorganized-Labour in India. Phenomena like the breaking down of communities, unraveling of the social fabric etc were vague concepts in the past. Now they are staring at me every day. Many experienced farmers told me about the life of labourers that
Timeliness, frugality, good skill and experience, deep subject knowledge, work ethics and love for labour – all of these factors contribute to the efficiency of a task. Over the last one year, during the course of purchasing many products and hiring many services for our farm work and house construction, we discovered a worrisome fact:
Laughing, playing and enjoying together are easy, even with strangers. But all relationships develop strains at some point. Hence, it is better to first develop friendship and kinship with the workers, neighbors and strangers and get ready to weather the storms. Friction in a healthy relationship, when dealt with patience, increases the strength of the
