Old Farm Pictures [Farm in 2011 here]

The harvest festival of Pongal marks the 2 year anniversary of our natural farming journey. Some "then and now" nuggets in terms of water, earth, light and wind.

Back then, intense monsoons meant water gushing through our farm leaving a trail of eroded top soil. After some macro efforts like a check dam (by a non-proft org) and micro efforts on our part for rain water harvesting (our trenches), percolation is very local. There is no standing or flowing water in the farm even in the heaviest of downpours.

The well that ran dry 7 years ago is  storing some water during monsoon months. And water table has come up from 600 feet to 150 feet. Considering that the well is 110 feet deep, there are good chances of its regeneration after 2 or 3 good monsoons.

Back then, we brought in 35 tractor-loads of mulch to cover barren earth. Today the farm can supply that much. Being mulch sufficient is the equivalent of having tons of gold reserve. It is another story that about 60 of these mulched banana trees stood up, took root and started self propagating. Now we have close to 200 trees of this ancestry (Tamil: Nendran Vaahzhai) used for chips and vegetables with no extra effort on our part.

Digging the soil to plant a seed back then needed a lot of sweat. And there were no insects or earthworms to be seen. Thanks to mulching, moisture and millions of micro-organisms, today we can just poke a stick and drop a seed in most spaces. The soil is not super soft and super rich yet but we can see signs of it.

Two years ago, in my initial enthusiasm, we spent a lot of resources and planted 600 vegetable saplings. Only one survived. Today in the same patch, we may lose just a few.

Planting trees is a breeze now compared to the long assembly line of things we had to do over a sustained period just to help them survive in our hostile environment. Today, the process is more like dig a hole with a small hoe, drop the sapling, cover with mud, water it once, mulch heavily and forget it.

18 of the sixty year old coconut trees that were declared "almost dead" and "better used as wood" by many locals are all back to life and back to giving. We did not do much except to mulch and water them occasionally.

If we spotted a crow back then, we'd jump with joy. Today, there are dozens of species of birds, butterflies, bees and a few rabbits, mongoose and peacocks not to mention rats and snakes. As the soil gets softer, it seems like rats are having a tough time getting ceilings of underground channels to stick and hold. Fr.V says we can see a big reduction in rat and snake population in a couple of years.

Back then, we had plenty of sun light. We could feel the heat wave in summer scorching and causing casualties. Now the trees are harvesting light effectively so there are patches of the farm that are parlty or completely shaded out and many veggies don't grow well in these areas. Actually, sun light is at premium now and we think twice about the location for planting new trees. It is good to have shade because we can always clear some branches and create light in a few minutes but we cannot create shade in a few minutes.

One big change this year has been that wind does not have critical effect on the farm. Last season, the wind took down about 25 trees and countless plantain trees. This time, with a live fence that is tall enough and many rows of trees, both the western and eastern winds have hardly had an impact.

Looking forward, our anxieties are at an all time low. Not that there is not enough work or issues that come up that need a lot of attention. Quite the contrary. But something in us feels full. So we decided to gang up with a few like-minded friends and work one day each month at a different natural farm. The first such Gift Day was filled with good work, good food and good energy.

The micro-climate in the farm now seems ready for supporting some spicy life. So we intend to add pepper, nutmeg and the like this year. And as always, we are looking to add more tree species.

And the old rickety house on the farm is calling our attention. We are planning to take it apart and build a mud house that can be home to a caretaker, a smallstorage cellar and a cow shed in that space. The project is on a shoe string budget so we expect to learn a lot about recycling construction material.

The overarching feeling as I was thinking about all these things is the gratitude for trees that has changed us and the land for better. They've been through much difficulty. But they have nourished the farm whether they lived or not, grew tall or short.

Financial sustainability is another thing on the cards for this year. Starting this year, we expect our annual maintenance expenses to come down to Rs.25,000 or less - mostly to be spent on maintenance of fencing, irrigation, trees and path ways for all the nine acres under our care. Producing what we consume is still our fist intention, however long it takes.