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

The seeking for efficiency in the post industrial age has come to mean getting more and more for less and less. In other words, the purpose and spirit of efficiency have been reduced to serve human greed. But around the world, for centuries, efficiency was sought at different levels to serve different purposes: Through a

The act of placing a tree sapling in a pit seems to be simple. But the pre-work and post-work can take up a lot of time if you are planting lots of trees in a short period. The pre-work involves figuring out: Where to plant and which ones in each location How many trees to

When farming is treated as a business, the general outcome is mono-cropping, fertilizing, and using pesticides to extract the maximum yield. In the name of creating space for cash crops like banana and turmeric, we have seen neighboring farmers cut Papaya trees, weeding out fragrant flowers and not even grow a few vegetables for their

Farming is not a profession but a way of life Farming is one of the few endeavors that can address human needs at all levels – physical, mental and spiritual. So we decided to embrace its potential at all levels. Practically, this means a few things: Living in the farm and considering ourselves the primary

In natural farming, Mulch is a layer of dry or wet natural material (leaves, grass, twigs, branches, vegetable-fruit waste etc) that covers the ground around a crop. Anything that decomposes could be used as mulch. With more knowledge of a plant’s requirement, one could choose a material best suitable as mulch for that plant. The

Principle #5 – Diversity is the soul of a sustainable ecosystem We have planted about 40 plus species of 8500 trees in 8.5 acres. It was a long drawn yet inspiring project. One of the first things a lot of neighbours and visitors asked us was how could we be foolish enough to plant trees

Natural farming means nature does the farming and you take care not to allow anything unnatural to enter the farm In practice, for us this principle translates into a simple rule: Do Not Interfere unnecessarily. This means, beyond the initial design, abstaining from what is considered to be “normal” farming activities – tilling, weed elimination,

No two farms are alike, hence the principles may remain the same but the practices are likely to differ We visited many farms to learn and to be inspired. It would have been very easy to copy them and jump into implementation. But we decided to design our farm from scratch to match our intentions

In recent times, many folks have asked us the secret sauce for planting a lot of trees in a short period. If there is a secret, it has to be in those trenches! Not all farms require trenching though. The decision to dig and the pattern in which they are dug depends on the contour