tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251012672024-03-08T17:02:31.513+05:30Farm, yeahcsmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.comBlogger771125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-35078610397317119482017-11-08T19:32:00.000+05:302017-11-08T19:32:58.632+05:30a new hope - kamal
i was a very keen observer of politics for many years. but not since i moved into the rural/farming life. in fact, i believe that we are always on the losing side.
even when the AAP phenomenon was developing, i remained disconnected, though marginally interested. while many may have moved on from the heydays of hope that anna hazare/kejriwal inspired, i believe that AAP phenomenon is still verycsmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-87928051655500638482017-06-08T09:00:00.001+05:302017-06-08T09:00:57.566+05:30appudu has moved on
nearly 7 years ago, appudu (appu) entered our lives.
our first experience with pets. he entered as a rat-control remedy but he remedied us big time.
he was all things one has seen and read about pet cats - only a bit better on most fronts!
he taught us much and we are far better human beings because of him.
he protected his turf fiercely from others of his kind of others of the slithery csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-15732020438699372062017-05-30T19:47:00.000+05:302017-05-30T19:47:08.479+05:30the relentless heat and other news
since september 2016 till date - over 240 days, our area has received exactly ONE day of recordable-level rain and another 2 days of sprinkly drizzles.
during this time, cyclone vardah demolished madras in early dec 2016, jaya amma died, jallikattu protests rocked TN (mostly forgotten now, i think) and more memorable events have transpired.
the failed north-east monsoon of 2016 is already in csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-24736818433752275792017-03-02T11:18:00.000+05:302017-03-02T11:18:30.413+05:30anupam mishra - a recollection
sometime in oct 2012, we found ourselves with time to kill in delhi. as chance would have it, we decided to visit the birla house memorial of gandhi and to our delight, shri narayan desai was delivering the moving gandhi katha series.
we took our seats and were transported to the times of the freedom struggle.
as the lecture was coming to close, i noticed a familiar dignified gent in our front csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-40753442328940873762017-01-04T05:58:00.000+05:302017-01-04T05:59:35.514+05:30being on the losing side
wendell berry responding to the US Presidential elections, once again says it beautifully and precisely, "I’m still on the
losing side and that’s where I’ve taken up my residence … If Hillary
Clinton had won, I would still be on the losing side. And I would just
have to go to work.”
we have been racking our brains for an appropriate response/comment to the many interesting events post csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-89173404543748555232016-05-30T11:00:00.000+05:302016-05-30T20:00:26.655+05:30Our avian neighbours
remember our post on birds of pR back in 2011? well, the willing bird lover arrived in the form of our friend Sridhar with a brand new dslr! we set out at day break and dusk on
couple of days and came home with these.
1) Painted stork
2) golden oriole
3) little green bee eater
3) little green bee eater - eating dragonfly
4) loten's sunbird - female
5) orphean kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-7616057971947928702016-05-28T19:32:00.000+05:302016-05-28T19:34:07.704+05:30paddy production - an indicator
in the previous 2 posts - ruin after rain - part 1 and part 2 i had indicated a surge in paddy production.
here is some evidence to back this.
the state govt (parallel to the center (via the food corp of india)) procures paddy for the public distribution via ration shops (PDS), aanganwadis (ICDS), mid-day meal scheme in government schools and the amma canteens.
the surge in production has meantcsmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-79326005672406573632016-04-27T19:28:00.001+05:302016-04-27T19:28:37.412+05:30watermelon - watch ur melon
as briefly touched in previous post, watermelon (WM) has been a money spinner to farmers this year.
one of the obvious reasons has been the relentless heat right from Jan 2016 onwards, keeping the demand high through this year's 3 odd months.
it is also a fact that WM has not been this big a hit since 2011. so it could just be an one-in-five year blip.
WM growing and economics - circa csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-78232347289250853332016-04-24T10:07:00.000+05:302016-04-24T10:07:08.913+05:30ruin after the rain - part II
it was forecast to be a poor farming season early march.
looking at predictions vs actuals:
Pr: "it is only around 90 days since the rains stopped and already the well
levels have dropped alarmingly. the lakes/tanks of the area will barely
be able to cover one cropping season (till april end or so)."
Act: tanks dried up early april itself. wells were brought into service and those without csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-90521656094707683302016-03-05T20:45:00.000+05:302016-03-06T09:46:45.392+05:30sign of the times
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Dec to april every year is the best
growing season for this part of the world for apparent reasons –
cooler weather and abundant water. Most lands are under cultivation
with either paddy or groundnut or more recently water melons. With
deficient rainfall over the last couple of years the area under
cultivation had dropped.
Over the last six years we have kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-34968227109099909972016-03-05T11:37:00.000+05:302016-03-05T11:37:30.975+05:30the ruin after the rain
the deluge in november 2015 and the floods of dec 2015 seem to be a distant memory now.
with this excess water, cropping area nearly tripled and the farming community looked for a prosperous and bountiful farming year.
but alas..... it is only around 90 days since the rains stopped and already the well levels have dropped alarmingly. the lakes/tanks of the area will barely be able to cover onecsmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-20561564913121860362016-01-01T12:57:00.001+05:302016-01-01T12:57:13.529+05:30recommending Raibar - a monthly magazine
SIDH is a wonderful bunch of experimentalists based out of Tehri Garhwal.
they have a monthly magazine called Raibar - a delightful read, for people interested in 'real' stories.
i highly recommend it.
for subsciption, please contact
raibar.sidh AT gmail DOT com
+91 - 9760049414/9767408270
csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-81542967526521103122015-12-05T17:55:00.003+05:302015-12-05T19:34:13.064+05:302015 North East monsoon - rain data at farm
expanding on the earlier brief post, here is the rain data in our area since oct 1, 2015.
period rain (mm) cumulative (mm)
oct I week csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-27953221635477845442015-12-05T08:23:00.000+05:302015-12-05T10:00:10.559+05:30runaway rivers of our metros
2005 - mithi river flooding wrecks mumbai
pic: mithi river forced under the airport runway
2015 - adayar river flooding wrecks chennai
pic: adayar river forced under the airport runway
go figure....
csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-40213865515408532512015-11-30T09:07:00.001+05:302015-11-30T17:47:06.858+05:30november rain
around 80 cms of rain over 30 days has metamorphosed the neignbourhood, and really the entire state.
this relentless intensity of steady rain over such a vast area over such a long time has been spellbinding.
but of course, cities are paying the price for their unrestrained construction.
in october, things looked bleak after another year of poor SW monsoon rains (since 2012). everywhere, wellscsmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-51064895599510926182015-05-18T14:53:00.000+05:302015-05-18T14:53:05.038+05:30can organic farming feed the world?
at a recent meeting, bernard (auroville) part replied to the titular question with: "as if current farming practices are doing that."
in addition to being a clever quip, it exposes the illegitimacy at the question's and the questioner's core.
but here is a full fledged response, by the erudite colin tudge.
in it he answers another recurring question we face - "how will you scale your work?"
csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-20647772994910393612015-04-14T10:17:00.001+05:302015-05-15T16:38:22.883+05:30Climbing down the pyramid!
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It was the literacy campaign in 1991 in
Taramani that first introduced me to the not so equal world we live
in. Strangely, it was not the caste difference, but the class
difference that made an impression on me. I came from an “upgraded”
lower middle class. Parents came from very poor families but managed
some basic education which got them salaried jobs and kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-70665428806575351452015-01-19T19:00:00.002+05:302015-01-19T19:01:36.139+05:302014-15 season update
following a learning-filled and moderately productive 2013-14 season, the planning for the current season started in july 2014.
as the july-aug SW monsoon was a failure, we undertook paddy planting in staggered steps. we have planted almost the same varieties as the previous year.
the NE monsoon was a further disappointment. we recorded 35 cms between oct-dec 2014 as against a csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-76144569318837630272015-01-18T18:48:00.001+05:302015-01-18T19:18:58.784+05:302013-2014 production at TF
2013- 14 agri season - produce data
1. Paddy - 3000 kgs -> 1800 kgs of Rice.
Varieties: Kaivirai Samba, Mappilai Samba, Sura Kuruvai (sample fields - first experimental season) Vaikunta, Thuyamalli and White Ponni (second season - own seeds).
Average yield - 950-1000 kgs of paddy per acre. Neighbours get around 1600 kgs paddy per acre. We expect that with more experience and better csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-85607324225597931162014-07-10T09:54:00.000+05:302015-04-14T09:59:43.808+05:30the house story and movement
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
the house story
will expand on the bullet point narrative on our house building trials and errors.
the design is an L shaped structure, 26 feet X 21 feet as the length of
the 2 legs. each leg was 11 feet thick. one could imagine a 21 X 11 feet
rectangle and 15 X 11 feet rectangle placed to make this L.
1. Location
adjoining the well, there was this massive kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-19992480793134935172012-12-31T19:37:00.000+05:302013-01-02T19:37:07.152+05:30Aadi 2012 - agriculture update
we have been recording updates on our activities and observations on paper rather than online as its a lot easier. here is the synopsis for Aadi season...
the summer notwithstanding, we started preparations for the important Aadi season (July-Aug) in right earnest. the earnestness was buoyed by some rains in early july (Our first rain for the year). what was till then a limited kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-20692642415991720132012-07-23T16:42:00.000+05:302012-07-24T11:39:08.619+05:30House - update and final part
no, we have not moved into the house we built. the house was built as a back up should the pavilion thatch give away or leak during the monsoons. as we also re-thatched the pavilion last year, it is unlikely to leak for a couple of years now. so the house will remain as a back up accommodation.
in-spite of the steps taken to prevent them, we saw a heavy infestation of termites as soon as the kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-21302545189592775492012-06-23T22:15:00.000+05:302012-06-23T22:17:49.432+05:30the summer of these contents!
dec 29th 2011 cyclone thane – 21cm rain in less than 12 hours
june 22nd 2012 – 173 days and counting of no rain since above
this summer has been different for obvious reasons...
- its been hot hot and hotter. we must have had about 30-35 days over 40 deg C between april - june and its still going strong
- we have been indoors - sweating and cooling it off.
- we sowed some summer veggieskpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-78836089648988169732012-03-11T11:41:00.001+05:302012-03-11T13:49:48.859+05:30what are we doing at pR?when confronted with this question, some of the common responses we give are:
1. pR is a wasteland restoration initiative/project.
2. an abandoned parcel of land is being restored to Nature.
3. we aim to produce surpluses from a previously uncultivated piece of land.
it is a response that is easy to understand and easy to explain.
and none of the responses fail to elicit the appropriate oohs and csmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557461643577046017noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25101267.post-84677632381084640922012-02-06T19:42:00.004+05:302012-02-06T20:31:08.242+05:30new residentsof pR in the wild. this season we are seeing a few natural beehives with a tiny colony of bees.they have appeared in tulsi plants, grasses and small weeds.kpthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11337552182115848706noreply@blogger.com