read your article about aum being "alone but not lonely" and just wanted to browse through your site (lovely!) and leave you a note. we homeschool our two sons in the countryside (u.s.) and hear many of the same concerns from other people. i always have to reassure them that our boys are happy and thriving when left most of the time to their own devices. people have very strong ideas about what is "normal" and "best". but we just look to our sons to know that their lives work very well for them. it seems the same for yours. :)
I am pretty impressed with your results! I like to emulate you and at least be as successful as you are when we start our experiment in our own piece of land! Keep posting the pictures and updates, it's very exciting to read them and they inspire us!
ragu and nisha and aum, beautiful...loved all the photos. Also thanks to Birju. Evrything looks so beautiful including the 2 year old and 4 year old(?) nisha, where were you?
We haven't flung ourselves into farming yet. Most of 2009 was about setting up the farm infrastructure (roads, fence, irrigation, trenches, raised beds, mulch supply) and planting and re-planting tree saplings (and moringas and banana tubers). This year, we have chosen to focus on building our house and planting more varieties of trees. Turmeric is the only crop that we indulged in, that too because we had enough seeding material from the previous season. So the farm is left to itself except for watering different areas when needed and growing veggies for home needs in a small patch.
Even with very little maintenance, we are blessed with a surplus of bananas and by products, coconuts, moringas and greens that grow on their own. When we had a surplus of corriander leaves recently, we just went around the neighbourhood with green boquets. And our neighbours wanted to gift us some of their own stuff in return so we ended up with bags full of gourds, mint leaves, assorted seeds and other stuff. Also, there is a small shop nearby run by an amicable couple. The man comes into the farm once in a week or so to collect some produce that he thinks will sell. We don't weigh or count but he tells us the value after sales and it sounds reasonable to us. We have some ideas for the time when we may have a bigger surplus. Let's see how things evolve.
If anyone gets the produce to Vadavalli farmer's market, then I'd like to buy some ;) Now that even bananas are carbide ripened, it is getting harder to find untainted produce.
How do you manage the weeds? Our field is now overgrown with grasses. All the plowing these years have left only grasses, and they love the sandy soil. Planted some thuvarai to increase soil fertility (like you mentioned in your previous blog), but the ones I got were of the medium term variety, not the perennial type that grow into a small tree. Will wait for a year, and see if we can grow vegetables using your "mulch" method.
The grasses are an issue but they are also an asset. Initially, we used to cut the grass (NOT uproot it) and use it as a thick mulch. That works for a while but the grass does spring back so we cut it and mulch it again. It seems labor intensive initially but seems to pay-off in the long run.
Heavy mulching and some shade from nearby trees have reduced grass growth in recent times inspite of heavy rains. The areas that don't have mulching and shade have 3 feet tall grasses.
And one plant that has helped a lot in weed control is Omavalli or Karpooravalli. We discovered it rather by accident. It spreads easily - from twigs come small roots. They have a fragrance that seems to discourage pests and offers a supportive framework for veggies to grow. Clearing it is as easy as growing it.
As an aside, Fukuoka grew his veggies under his fruit trees because of synergetic pest control.
Bananas! we'd love to give you couple of bunches which you can ripen by the dozen and have over a period of 20 days. We are only :) 10kms from Vadavalli. And when we meet in person, will share a story about a lady who spent 1.2 lakhs trying to eliminate grass weeds - unsuccessfully of course.
Hi, Our understading is that weeds happen when the soil is not loose and fertile enough to support other growth. Their roots perform the valuable funciton of breaking up the soil. Soils at different levels of fertility have different sets of weeds growing. The common grass does not grow on very fertile soils for example. Other vines, herbs and shrubs take their place.
The second use of weeds is as mulch. Once they grow to a certain height, they can be cut and spread around plants of value so this plant gets nourished by micro organisms.
Also, the definition of a weed today is very narrow. What our parents used for food or medicine are classified as weeds today just because we don't know their name or use. A classic example is Amman Pacharisi (Euphorbia Hirta)
It looks like you have good number of vegetables/trees and it looks like all come good through the mulch. Mulched raised beds looks really cool, this is really wonderful.
Comments
read your article about aum
read your article about aum being "alone but not lonely" and just wanted to browse through your site (lovely!) and leave you a note. we homeschool our two sons in the countryside (u.s.) and hear many of the same concerns from other people. i always have to reassure them that our boys are happy and thriving when left most of the time to their own devices. people have very strong ideas about what is "normal" and "best". but we just look to our sons to know that their lives work very well for them. it seems the same for yours. :)
best to you!
Very immpressive
I am pretty impressed with your results! I like to emulate you and at least be as successful as you are when we start our experiment in our own piece of land! Keep posting the pictures and updates, it's very exciting to read them and they inspire us!
Awesome
ragu and nisha and aum, beautiful...loved all the photos. Also thanks to Birju. Evrything looks so beautiful including the 2 year old and 4 year old(?) nisha, where were you?
are you drying corriander and turmeric also?
Looks like the land is very
Looks like the land is very productive, where do you sell your harvest?
Re: Looks like the land is very
Hi hm,
We haven't flung ourselves into farming yet. Most of 2009 was about setting up the farm infrastructure (roads, fence, irrigation, trenches, raised beds, mulch supply) and planting and re-planting tree saplings (and moringas and banana tubers). This year, we have chosen to focus on building our house and planting more varieties of trees. Turmeric is the only crop that we indulged in, that too because we had enough seeding material from the previous season. So the farm is left to itself except for watering different areas when needed and growing veggies for home needs in a small patch.
Even with very little maintenance, we are blessed with a surplus of bananas and by products, coconuts, moringas and greens that grow on their own. When we had a surplus of corriander leaves recently, we just went around the neighbourhood with green boquets. And our neighbours wanted to gift us some of their own stuff in return so we ended up with bags full of gourds, mint leaves, assorted seeds and other stuff. Also, there is a small shop nearby run by an amicable couple. The man comes into the farm once in a week or so to collect some produce that he thinks will sell. We don't weigh or count but he tells us the value after sales and it sounds reasonable to us. We have some ideas for the time when we may have a bigger surplus. Let's see how things evolve.
If anyone gets the produce to
If anyone gets the produce to Vadavalli farmer's market, then I'd like to buy some ;) Now that even bananas are carbide ripened, it is getting harder to find untainted produce.
How do you manage the weeds? Our field is now overgrown with grasses. All the plowing these years have left only grasses, and they love the sandy soil. Planted some thuvarai to increase soil fertility (like you mentioned in your previous blog), but the ones I got were of the medium term variety, not the perennial type that grow into a small tree. Will wait for a year, and see if we can grow vegetables using your "mulch" method.
Re: If anyone gets the produce to
The grasses are an issue but they are also an asset. Initially, we used to cut the grass (NOT uproot it) and use it as a thick mulch. That works for a while but the grass does spring back so we cut it and mulch it again. It seems labor intensive initially but seems to pay-off in the long run.
Heavy mulching and some shade from nearby trees have reduced grass growth in recent times inspite of heavy rains. The areas that don't have mulching and shade have 3 feet tall grasses.
And one plant that has helped a lot in weed control is Omavalli or Karpooravalli. We discovered it rather by accident. It spreads easily - from twigs come small roots. They have a fragrance that seems to discourage pests and offers a supportive framework for veggies to grow. Clearing it is as easy as growing it.
As an aside, Fukuoka grew his veggies under his fruit trees because of synergetic pest control.
Bananas! we'd love to give you couple of bunches which you can ripen by the dozen and have over a period of 20 days. We are only :) 10kms from Vadavalli. And when we meet in person, will share a story about a lady who spent 1.2 lakhs trying to eliminate grass weeds - unsuccessfully of course.
weeds
Nice to see folks have gone back to have a peaceful life.
>The grasses are an issue but they are also an asset.
Just curious to know why do you say weed is an asset? Doesn't it take away all the nutrients that is supposed to goto the trees/plants that your grow?
Re: weeds
Hi, Our understading is that weeds happen when the soil is not loose and fertile enough to support other growth. Their roots perform the valuable funciton of breaking up the soil. Soils at different levels of fertility have different sets of weeds growing. The common grass does not grow on very fertile soils for example. Other vines, herbs and shrubs take their place.
The second use of weeds is as mulch. Once they grow to a certain height, they can be cut and spread around plants of value so this plant gets nourished by micro organisms.
Also, the definition of a weed today is very narrow. What our parents used for food or medicine are classified as weeds today just because we don't know their name or use. A classic example is Amman Pacharisi (Euphorbia Hirta)
Farm pictures
It looks like you have good number of vegetables/trees and it looks like all come good through the mulch. Mulched raised beds looks really cool, this is really wonderful.
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