Kolumbu mango sapling infront of house

This mango sapling was planted in front of the house in June 2023. This is a very tasty traditional variety and fruits every year.

This time cut and mulched grass around in a big circle so that more moisture is retained and also no grass grows nearby. In mango orchards, they pile up soil around the base of the tree and these trees seems to be growing well. Instead of piling up soil, wants to see if the mulched grass also can do the same.

28-1-24

Cut and mulched around in big circles so that moisture is retained in more area and weed also is controlled in a better way

Sesame cultivation - as 2023 second crop

First crop paddy didn't do well this time, because of lack of rain. Overall rain was bad this year, so next crop paddy is ruled out. So thought of doing sesame which need less water and also cows/deer does not eat it. Called Mohanan tractor person and he came promptly, took around 1.5 hours to complete the field then sesame 800gms mixed with compost were sown by Palani and rotovated for another 0.5 hour.

Farm at the end of 2023 rainy season

This year no grass was cut in the farm since rain was less. Basically wanted to provide good shade for the trees, the growth of grass is wild, coconut trees are yet to recover from last summer, they would take some time. I will be cutting the grass and other shrubs at the beginning of next rainy season.

Composting using cut grass

Trying to make some compost from cut grass from pathways. There is lot of grass in the pathways. Cut them using scythe and some are dried and some are green used both green and brown grass. Net was bought from a hardware store - 3 feet tall and 7 feet length, two were brought, totally costed around 1200/. Bought 500ml epoxy primer and thinner and painted it. This costed around 250/ rupees. 

4 wheel barrow full of grass is used, grass was spread and cowdung slurry is applied and after each application, the grass was pressed well so that it is compact. 4 kotta of cowdung was bought from a nearby person and this costs around 80/ rupees. This would be sufficient for 4 such compost bins.

Growing mulch in place in paddy field

I have been trying no-till rice/millet for many years, but not successful. The main reason is weed control, once achieved this by growing pureria for close to 1.5 years, but after cutting and growing rice, it didn't come back. Fukuoka san achieved weed control using white clover and also his rice plant grew relatively tall and were adapted to such environment. 

Weeds take over the field during fallow period and with the start of rainy season, they grow first. Mulch is one way to control them and need mulch which decompose slowly. Recently found a fodder grass growing in the farm, which meets these requirements. They grow back in 1 month time after cutting when there is soil moisture and is perennial.

So one field which I was not using for long time, I planted these grasses in rows 8 feet apart and plan is to cut and mulch the space between the rows. Since this mulch decompose slowly should provide good weed control.

Fodder grass, it grows much thicker

Fodder grass planted 8 feet apart in rows

Happy hill rice in backyard

Happy hill rice in backyard didn't do well last time. Even though the area was grown with different legumes, still the fertility was not upto the mark, also since the land had many stones, when it rained, stones were standing out.

So decided to make a low lying area with all stones removed. So dig one area and soil was removed and all stones were hand picked and removed. Then filled the top soil again and compost was spread here. Seeds which was received from Japan in 2021 had been kept in refrigerator, this was kept out side for a day and then soaked in cowdung water for 24 hours and then kept in wet cloth. It germinated in 12 hours 

August 30, 2023

04-Sept-2023

Germination was good and few started growing out

18-Dec-2023

This time in each grow bag, only few plants were retained and they started doing good. Grains started forming

Flowers

Recently I started a liking for flowers, thought that would be useful for farm and that would increase the pollinators and also would add an attraction. Some time back I had got a sapling of 'Krishna Kireedam' which started flowering and now it is spread in that area. I never saw the seeds of it, but it is spreading in that area.

Some more flowers in the farm...

28-1-24

Above two are 'chethi koduveli' in malayalam, this is a medicinal plant, this was planted when some one said, it keeps wild pigs and bandicoots away

'Kani konna' in malayalam, this is unseasonal flowering, supposed to flower in April, during the festival vishu

Evergreen trees

When the last summer was very intense noticed that some trees like Glyrecedia, Teak, Athachakka etc shed their leaves completely and sunlight is reaching the ground. But some trees like mango, jackfruit, mahagony etc retains the leaves and shade the ground. To some extend coconut trees which are surrounded by mango and jackfruit trees were less affected in the summer. Grasses are completely dried out, cover crop Pureria also is dried out. Looking for options which can shade ground in peak summer also, so has to plan more evergreen trees and perennial grasses which can survive summer

Indigenous mango varieties for next year

Sakhil of Nadan Mavukal facebook group gave a few seedlings advised to grow it in pots to bigger size and then plant. When small seedlings are planted they struggle to grow and also some time they are lost in the summer.

Moved them to bigger plastic bags and put some mulch in the top portion of the bags and also put some seeds of green gram. These will be planted in the farm in next rainy season.

The varieties are

1) Golden Ponnus

2) Blue Ponnus

3) Red Ponnus

4) Ivory Kolumb

5) Jaan Priyoor

6) Kunji Chelan

7) Kanimangalam

8) Sakhi

9) Karthikeyan

The above were given by Sakhil. Some varieties which I had also is planted in plastic bags

1) IMCP Kilichundan

2) Karutha Moovandan

3) Cheriya Priyoor

4) Chelan

5) Dukran

6) Ayyanthole

7) Nattika

Aug 30,2023

Sown some green gram and mustard in the plastic bag

27-Oct-2023

Green gram was covering saplings removed and mulched with them

30-Nov-2023

Cleaned the base of each sapling and sown fenugreek for covering the base

11-12-2023

After a rain, all have started getting new leaves

Happy hill rice in garden pots

Last time when happy hill planted in an area, germination was not good, only a few survived. In fact I had waken up that land using a mix of cover crops but still since the land has stones, it does not look that fertile. So in order to conserve the seeds thought of cultivating it in garden pots.

04-Sept-2023

12-Aug-2023

Soaked seeds were put a week back, it started germinating. Seeds are kept in refrigerator for retaining their germination capability that works out well.

04-Sept-2023

Also sowed methi and mustard seeds under, wanted to see how the rice grows with understory

Planning for the drought - overall plan change in managing farm

 This year so far rain is very less, paddy field has gone dry and no moisture in the ground to plant. I had lost 6 coconut trees in last summer, so wanted to have some cover throughout the farm. Earlier was thinking of Mucuna Bractecta but it is quite invasive, hence dropped it from time being. Some fodder grass coming in some area of farm looks to be growing well, they are perennial too, but not sure if they remain green in summer. Idea is that we should have a green cover in summer also, wanted to retain all the grasses in the farm as it is, only pathway will be cut this time. Mexican sunflower is another plant which grows quickly and covers large areas, they are also perennial and remains some what green in summer. Also planting super napier fodder grass also.

So basically these are the plans for dealing with drought

1). After October no cutting of grass/trees except for the pathway. Hence moisture retention is maximum

2). Till october plant as many fodder grass,mexican sunflower,glyrecedia and other flowering plants

Farewell to our Dundu cat

Dundu was my daughter's pet cat, he was brought by our servant lady, Padmini chechi, around 6 years back. I used to call him Dundu mani, my wife calls him Dundu Pappu, my son calls him 'Suban', daugher calls him 'Dundu'. He was very playful and night time we used to keep him in a cage so that other cat's won't attack him. Later he became a good fighter and fighting with other cats was his hobby. After each fight he would return exhausted and injured and he won't go out till he is completely recovered, after that the routine starts again. He was friendly with female cats and would share his meals with them. But with male cats, he would sit near his meal so that no one takes it, later when he is hungry he will finish it off.

He would chase rats away sometimes would catch and kill them too. He hunts squirrels and chameleons too. He learnt to come inside the house by jumping the window and he knows how to take away the mosquito net which is a sticking type. He has a seat in the kitchen and he sits there till he is fed with his food after that he goes upstairs and sleep. He is very aggressive with dogs,and beats our dog Peeku, for no reason. 

When we are not around, he would go to our neighbour's house and will take rest there and knows his food will be served from there.

Once he disappeared for 2-3 days, we got scared without knowing what happened to him, and we searched in the neighbourhood. We also told the neighbours about this to get any clue to trace him. Our neighbour Vijayechi while talking to some others mentioned about that the white cat was missing and surprisingly another lady told she had seen a white cat trapped in a cage which was kept in an deserted place to hunt some small animals. Vijayechi told us and I went to see the place and he was desperately crying in the cage. I just opened the cage and he came running to home and started drinking water from a bowl kept outside. That was a miraculous escape for him.

Once he became ill and doctors suggested to him antibiotics and that became overdoze and he was vomiting blood and also later became motionless. My daughter panicked and started calling many hospitals and finally decided to take him to Palakkad Veterinary hospital and doctor said he may not survive. But he gave couple of injections and to our surprise next day he became fine.

Recently he started drinking water more and my daughter felt some thing is not right with him and he used to get indigestion often. He would run on hearing the fish seller approaching on his moped and he would give some fish to him. Some times, there will be dogs too, but he would fight with them and will bring it inside. Last week, he ate a big raw fish and started vomiting and was on fasting. But we gave novamox antibiotic but still he didn't felt better. We had to go my wife's house since her father was not well and I came back hearing Dundu was not OK. We took him to veterinary hospital and they gave drips and 4 injections and he didn't even get up after that. We were about to take him for a second consultation but he left us before that.

He gave us lot of good memories, Dundu, you will be there in our hearts.