The planting season is in full swing around us and we are trying to put as much life into the soil as we can. The monsoon seems to have started much earlier than normal and is expected to bring less rains than normal. Newbies like lemons, pepper vines,  some varieties of Bamboo and flowering trees

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 book called “Miracle Apples” traces the remarkable journey of Akinori Kimura, a Japanese farmer who succeeded in growing apples without pesticides. His apples are so pure that a sliced apple doesn’t turn brown even after 2 years. They just shrink in size. Today, his harvests are booked several years in advance but 25 years

The big and sturdy Thuvarai (Toor as in Toor Daal, Pigeon Pea, Cytisus Cajan) has been one of the greatest gifts of and for our land. While Casurina trees have reduced soil salt and Castor has penetrated its roots deep down to get water for its neighbours, it is Thuvarai that has transformed the soil

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:

We were lucky to purchase a farmland that has a water source (a bore pump) with the water table at around 80 feet and free, state government sponsored electricity. Our current irrigation system depends on these two. We hope to regenerate a well in our land that is dry at present and produce most of

Initially, the idea of taking care of a big piece of land was overwhelming for us. We had a lot of questions that started with, “How are we ever going to…?”. But having the land divided into one acre parcels for irrigation brought some comfort. We only need to turn one valve in a day.

When your cup is full, it overflows. When a family’s needs are well met by a farm, generosity springs up naturally. There was a time when sharing a farm’s surplus was the norm. It was not only gifted to the needy, it was also part of the payment for all kinds of services that a