Ragi - take 3 - bumper produce

yes, ragi t3 has beaten the earlier record produce.

take 3 was planted adopting the SRI methodology.
we raised the nursery in early july and transplanted the saplings when they were 10-11 days old, one sapling at a time, with a spacing of about 8 inches. the saplings were under 2 inches tall looked quite delicate to be transplanted. we noticed the roots were also about 2 inches long.

transplanting younger helps better root development and avoids damage to the root structure while transplanting. the spacing ensures they have enough room to spread. better root growth & spread will translate in better tillering.

well, all of the above worked beautifully. the saplings grew tall and strong. they put out an average of about 10 tillers within a month. we harvested from the top in two phases as we saw more crowns appearing as the earlier crowns had matured.

we got 23kgs in 4 cents and could not contain our excitement. this field has been under mulch for over 18 months now.

ragi mudde has been added to our regular menu.

millets harvest - update

we had a classic manavari (rainfed) aadi pattam this year - adequate sun with adequate rain.
our sowing was timely and so the reaping was not bad. mahesh & sujatha and ananthu & sumathi had come over to help us with the harvesting. it was a lot of fun & banter.

harvest update

1. foxtail millet - thinai (2 varieties - yellow and red).
sowed in patches of 3 cents each. harvested 16.5 kgs in total.
days to maturity - 63 days

we harvested the thinai by cutting the stock from bottom, dried it and beat it to get the grain. processing will involve pounding (kai kutthal) the gains in a mortar with a pestle (voral and ollakai) and winnowing away the skin. apparently thinai has 7 layers of skin and so needs to be pounded 7 times. we got edible grain after pounding 4 times. we replace rice partly with thinai while making pongal and it is delicious.










2. pearl millet - kambu (bajra) - 2 varieties (hybrid and native)

a) native kambu: smaller grain and looks more like thinai than the classic bajra.
Sowed in 3.5 cents. Harvested 9.5 kgs.
days to maturity - 62days
native kambu is a great find. easy to grow, easy to harvest, easy to process and delicious to consume. seems to be hardy as well.
we cut the crowns from the top, dried them and beat them to get the grains. one pounding in the voral and winnowing gives us clear grains. we grind them and then use them to make porridge (kanji) and rotis. rotis made with 50% native kambu and 50% wheat were very tasty.

b) hybrid kambu:

largest grain size among all millets. we are not sure if this is hybrid or another variety of native kambu. however the shopkeeper who sold us the seeds called it hybrid and so we will as well.

Sowed in 4 cents. Harvested 4.5 kgs. we lost out to some attack where the grains started to turn black due to heavy rains prior harvest.
days to maturity - 77days

here too we cut the crowns (of what remained after the attack) from the top, dried and beat them. it took longer to process this 4.5kgs when compared to the 9.5kgs of native kambu. we have not consumed it yet, but have seen recipes for "khicidi" on the net.









3. little millet - samai
sowed in 2.8 cents and harvested 7.5kgs
days to maturity: 78 days

we cut the stock from the bottom, dried and beat to get the grains. we are yet to process and consume.

4. groundnut
sowed in about 4 cents and harvested 13 kgs.
days to maturity: 83 days.

in these parts groundnut is sowed mainly in karthikai - margazhi pattam (nov-dec) just after the withdrawal of north east monsoon. it is grown as an irrigated crop to get optimum productivity. however, aadi (july-aug) sowing used to be done as a rainfed crop (lower productivity) to get seeds for the main pattam. offlate, people have done away with the aadi sowing as they prefer to buy seeds . we got a just enough for our karthikai sowing.

it is supposed to take about 100 days during the irrigated season. our rainfed one came to maturity earlier and we had to take it out to stop the rates and squirrels from helping themselves generously to the pods.

ps: our camera packed up and so no pictures of the harvest.

aadi - mega planting bash

this is THE month.
the tamil month of Aadi. mid july to mid august. the saying goes 'aadi pattam, theydi vithai' - in the season of aadi, just plant anything.

we had chosen the well at the place of future 'acre-sized' farming. and in that location, we had cleared up around 1/3rd of an acre (approx).
we got it ploughed and ready. this was in addition to the other fields that we have used earlier for groundnuts, ragi, varagu, etc.

here is the list.
1. foxtail millet - thinai (2 varieties - yellow and red)
2. pearl millet - kambu (bajra) - 2 varieties (hybrid and native)
3. sorghum - chozham (jowar) - 2 varieties - white and red
4. rice - 2 native varieties - wadan samba and maduvu muzhangi
5. little millet - samai
6. ragi
7. kodo millet - varagu 
8. groundnut

and they were interplanted with
9. cow pea - karamani
10. toor dal - tuvarai
11. gongura - pulicha keerai
12. horse gram - kollu

totally rain-fed only.
like a charm it rained 2 days and 10 days (yesterday) after planting. one more in the next 20 days should be enough to take it through. 

and tons of veggie varieties too.
and trees are still waiting for their turn. gotta go.

ragi - take 3

our obsessive affection towards ragi must be quite apparent to the regulars.
1. ragi - take 1 was planted in april 2010 and harvested in sept/oct 2010. it was a long duration, tall variety from karnataka.
2. ragi - take 2 was planted in jan 2010 and harvested in april 2010. it was a short duration (kulla kar - short variety) sourced from the local village.
both were transplanted in the field which has not been ploughed since we came here in jan 2010 and has been under constant mulch/cover since then.

time for take 3. and quite different from the previous takes.
using the kulla kar short variety, the chosen method was SRI - sytem of rice intensification. for us it was system of ragi intensification.
the concept is simple and has been shown to deliver good results for rice as well as ragi.
the 3 key elements were:
1. transplant young. we did it on the 10th and 11th day.
2. wide spacing. we spaced the saplings at over 8 inches.
3. single sapling only.
these elements allow a high level of tillering and hence a high output for lesser input.

with help from ananthu, sumathi and veda, we completed the transplanting in pretty quick time.
and just as we completed transplanting, it rained.
very nice.

ragi - take 2

the first ragi crop was an over-documented story.
and gratefully the output was commensurate to the documentation.

but more importantly, it was the first step on the move towards fukuoka's 'no-till' farming.

coming back to ragi.
it remains our most commonly eaten millet.
in the summer, 3 out of 4 breakfasts are ragi koozhu.

so the math was simple, one crop a year did not seem adequate. we would need at least 30-40 kgs of ragi per year for our own consumption.

and this was the season for any crop and we wanted to take a shot at a 3 month variety.
since we got the seeds from the guys who grow, consume and seed-save it regularly, we assume that this is not a hybrid seed variety.
the locals call it 'kulla kevaru' - short ragi.

since we had already used around a third of this mulched field for our vegetable scale up, we have attempted the transplant method on the balance of this field and have tried a simple broadcast approach on a nearby field.

the major differences from the previous planting were:
1. closer spacing - approx 6" between the saplings.
2. no inter-crop - last time we used cow pea - karamani.
3. and of course - the seed variety is a 90 day crop

the method was very similar to the previous time.

the nursery...around 25 days.


and the transplanting (much easier this time as the soil was softer and the team was more experienced.


and the final field...




as we always say, keep watching this space.

sorghum - chozham - jowar

continuing the millet series with jowar, the most popular millet after ragi.
in the karnataka/maharashtra regions, it is staple diet.

jowar rotis are served as fancy fare in upmarket region restaurants, but it is the source of survival for the dry-land farmers in interior deccan regions.

it is certainly the prettiest of all the millets :-)
the grain head is the largest among the millet family. and is almost a piece of art.

here is a close up of the variety we have sowed. we used it as an intercrop (with not great results) with varagu.
mesmerised by the beauty of the grain head, the locals call it 'alangara chozham' - ornamental sorghum.

there are other varieties with a much denser head. notice in this pic.

it is also called 'Great Millet'.

now you know why.