Abandoned puppies in the farm

Since it is mango season, I was checking if there are mangoes ready for harvesting in one far end of the farm, and could hear cry of some puppies at a distance as I walked. On hearing my footstep, they stopped crying for some time and again started.This area is little deserted and could see three puppies, one was lying and was in unconscious state, one was struggling from red ant bytes. There are red ants every where in summer, especially in mango trees. They were a week old and had opened their eyes.

Didn't feel like leaving them there, since they will all starve to death, carried them to my farm house and kept them in a basket. Went and bought some milk and gave them in a bowl, they were not knowing how to drink milk, may be they are just used to drink their mother's milk only. Then kept their head near the milk and they started drinking, the one in unconscious state also finally woke up and drank milk. All had red ants on them, I cleaned them up and all had some kind of insects moving in their skin. One was male and two was females and there was no demand for them. I kept some milk and water and left for the day and asked my farm helper to give them milk.

Next day when I came, they were not seen at all, since opposite farm had some people, they sensed it and started going towards them.They didn't want puppies and they were busy with their work. I brought two of them back and one was not seen, they told one was seen at one end of their farm. I gave the two some milk and was busy with the work so thought will go and search for the third one after some time. By the lunch time, I searched for the 3rd one and she was in one corner of the farm. She had gone following a person, and later didn't know how to come back. On seeing me, she came running behind me and she walked back to my farm house following me.

Next 2 days, I didn't visit farm and when I visited farm, none were there. Later learnt that, my farm helper had taken them to his home, felt happy about it. If he takes care of them till some stage, thought of giving some money for that work. That day there was a small festival there and when I went there, the kids there told the actual story. One was male puppy so they kept them home and abandoned 2 puppies in a nearby farm where nobody comes usually. I just took the kids with me and we had to walk some distance and finally 2 were there in the middle of another farm and they were starving for 2 days. I just took them back and kept them in my farm house and gave them milk. I used to tell all these stories with my family and my wife and kids are really interested in puppies. My daughter was here for her vacation from hostel, she and son accompanied me to the farm on the next. Finally we decided to take both the puppies back home and look after for some time and decide later what to do with them. It looked like both puppies had some wounds and worms were there, applied some spray but one was in bad conditioned it died. She felt lonely when her companion had gone, but soon recovered. It also had wound, but it recovered and finally we built one cage and she is happy now.

03-May-2019

Rice farming - First Season - 2019

19-April-2019

Received couple of good rains, broadcasted around 7 Kgs of cowpea and blackgram seeds. This time couldn't get sunhemp seeds. Plan is to grow this cowpea for 6 weeks and then plough and add to soil and start rice cultivation. Cowpea and blackgram was over taken by weeds, what can grow with weeds for green manuring is just sunhemp, has to go for it next time. Sunhemp seeds are hard to get, has to check at Pollachi.

14-June-2019

Palani was employed to clear the boundaries and cut the shaded trees, work was not completed, so extended for tomorrow. Finally he didn't turn up and I completed it.

19-June-2019

Rain was not very strong hence pumped water from well for 3 hours and puddled using cage wheel. There was not enough water for the small field next to this, first time leaving that because of lack of water.

20-June-2019

Same Kunjukunju seed is used this time also. At home all love its taste and now a days, we just mill it directly without boiling it. Soaked the seeds in water for 24 hours and then kept in jute sack for 12 hours and seed gets germinating. Sivettan (helper) suggested to use some cowdung while soaking the seeds and it was done.

23-June-2019

Water stagnated in some parts, some mud had to be piled up which was missed this time

30-June-2019

Finally when the field was made dry, young seedlings came up, now it looks reasonable. 

I put some more seeds, this was done by ladies, they piled up the soil and put the seeds and above that news paper was spread, it was removed on 2nd day.

12-July-2019
Transplanting completed on July 12th. This time, totally 9 labour was used.

19-Aug-2019
One weeding was done...and applied 20 kotta of cow dung mixing with water.

19-September-2019

Flowering completed...there was lack of water since motor was in repair...can see some weeds growing, may affect my next growing plan

22-Sept-2019
Since there is water shortage 2nd crop is not possible after this harvest. So planning to try no-till this time,got around 12Kgs of Jyothi seeds with duration of 120 days. They say, this is taller variety of Jyothi, put it for soaking, will sow it in 2 days time. Right now the ground is relatively clean, but since motor wasn't working,there wasn't water for 1 week and hence there are some weed growth under.

26-Sept-2019

Kept the seeds soaked in water for 24 hours and kept in the jute sack for 2 days..still couldn't seen all the seeds germinated...

My farm helper Palani broadcasting the seeds..

06-October-2019

started turning yellow...another 1 week for harvest

12-October-2019

Harvesting completed..this time it took 2 days..Total laborers used - 10 women laborers (2 days) 1 men...Rains were there in the evenings, but till 3 PM there was sun. Got around 53 para. Germinated seeds sown before didn't come up uniformly.

Inga Alley Cropping

I first heard about Inga Alley Cropping in 19th Organic World Congress (OWC) held in New Delhi in November 2017. There Mike Hands was honored with the 3rd Organic Farming Innovation Award (OFIA) for the Inga Alley Cropping system he had developed. The OWC highlighted Inga alley cropping as an innovative, real-world solution to promote sustainable agricultural practices and end slash and burn. I didn't pay much attention to it at that time, recently while reading some article saw some reference about this and read more about it.

Source: https://www.organicwithoutboundaries.bio/2018/04/19/innovation-burn-agriculture/

Slash and burn is a farming method where the families cut down and burn patches of forest and do farming. Since the fertility is high initially they get good yields and 2nd year it reduces and by 3rd year it normally fails and families leaves this farming area and move to the next area. Hence Slash and burn is a big threat with increasing deforestation and pollution.

Inga Alley cropping is a sustainable farming system, based on nitrogen fixing tree Inga and this is a solution to slash and burn. Inga Alley cropping maintains fertility of soil year after year, there by slash and burn becomes unnecessary.

In this system of deep mulching using pruned green leaves from the trees which are contour-planted in hedgerows. It is capable of achieving food-security in basic-grains for the family, upon a permanent plot which can be located near their dwelling. The system produces firewood for the kitchen and virtually eliminates the need for weed-control.

Weed-control is achieved, firstly, by shading as the growing trees develop a dense canopy; and secondly, by smothering under the deep, tough mulch following the first pruning of the trees.  Once the crop has grown (3 months for maize and beans), the trees are left to reform their canopy until the whole process is repeated the following year.

The trees are pruned to chest height, the branches are stripped of foliage for the mulch; the finer branches are placed on the upslope side of the trees to help prevent soil movement, and the larger stems and branches are removed as a favourite domestic firewood. This tackles another important cause of deforestation.

Plant Inga trees in rows. Trees should be planted 1.5ft apart (18 inches) along the row, and rows should be 10ft apart. The rows should be oriented in east-west direction, if possible so that crops gets more sunlight. We can grow corn, beans, pepper, squash and other crops while the Inga trees are growing. When the Inga is around 12-15ft high (which takes 2-3 years) and its canopy is shading the whole field, cut the tree trunk at around 5ft from the ground. This releases the nitrogen accumulated in the tree’s roots into the soil, making it available for crops.

It takes only two to three years to establish an Inga alley plantation, and thereafter it functions year after year. That is acceptable.

Is this applicable in Kerala climate? Not very sure, we don't have Inga tree here, so possible leguminous trees are Subabul and Glyrecedia. Also there are reports that the root competition may be there between crops and hedgerow trees and width is an important factor considering this. I am planning to try this in one area where I am planting turmeric, worst case, after a period all these trees can be cut and mulched.


References:

https://www.organicwithoutboundaries.bio/2018/04/19/innovation-burn-agriculture/
http://www.ingafoundation.org/alley-cropping/
http://www.rainforestsaver.org/step-step-guide-inga-alley-cropping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtu8MF5WoSo


29-March-2019

A friend called Suresh wrote to Mike Hands asking his suggestions as replacement for inga trees and here is his response.

"I woud have suggested Pongamia spp. as worth a trial, but neither Gliricidia nor Sesbania.  The reason is that they have small leaves that do not persist as mulch.  One of the characters if Inga is its tough foliage which protects the soil surface layers and suppresses weed germination.  

Pithecellobium spp. might work, but you would need a species with as big and tough a foliage as possible; it is botanically related to Inga.

Another genus which looks more promising and which is also closely related to Inga is Archidendron. There are many species across SE Asia and probably N. India.  I have seen it in Borneo and it looked very like some of the Inga spp. of which I have experience.  I strongly recommend this genus.

Another promising-looking species, widely used and coppiced as shade in Malaysia is Pterocarpus indica.  I have no experience of managing any of these"


03-May-2019
I wrote an article about Inga alley cropping in a Kerala magazine called 'Ore bhoomi Ore jeevan'.

Recently found an article about Inga Alley cropping trial - https://zeroinputagriculture.substack.com/p/icecream-bean-tree-alley-preparations?sd=pf&fbclid=IwAR2vDpVsyWyMfERGjpf0Lcl2T5v1-wyiHTx-vjfQJ-s0LUMTEYb9z7dsyrw

Climate Summary - 2019

Temperature touched 40 in February in Palakkad

09-March-2019

 First rain of 2019..summer rain, not heavy but reasonable. Rained at home.

30-March-2019

Temperature is reaching 41 degree in Palakkad


18-April-2019

Good rain, land is really wet.

20-April-2019

One more good rain.

15-May-2019
One more reasonably good rain..


11-June-2019

There are drizzling and one good rain before 3 days, but no heavy rain. In Trichur area, it is raining heavily, here it hasn't picked up. Water from dam has been released, and farmers started preparing fields and making nursery ready for paddy sowing.


15-June-2019

Now it has been raining well, yesterday night there was multiple heavy rains


28-June-2019

Thiruvathira njattuvela started on June 22nd, but no rains now. Its cloudy and some time it feels like, it will rain, but no rain. It looks like it is same in Trichur also.

Farm visitors can stay now

Farm house has water connection now, staying there is possible, but no electricity connection or solar lighting. If there are people who can cook their own food and adjust with the limited facilities, then then can come and stay for short periods from 1 week to 1 month. 

Terms and conditions

1. Staying at the farm is free and at the same time there won't be any payments for the work
    you do
2. Maximum 2 people can stay at any time, friends or couple
3. No smoking,drugs and alcohol
4. Date of arrival and leaving should be informed in advance of 1 week
5. Since I don't stay in the farm, you should reach farm between 9 AM and 5 PM. If you land
    Palakkad at odd time, you have to stay at the hotel at your own expenses
6. You have to work for around 4 hours per day - 5 days per week, groceries for cooking will be
   provided. But it can not be guaranteed to be organic, whatever provided from farm will be 
   organic anyway
7. There is a wooden stove and you have to get used to this style of cooking
8. There is attached bathroom with an Indian style closet
9. We can not take care of the treatments if you happen to have any medical issues, so it is 
    better to have a medical insurance
10. If you are from outside India, your details has to be registered with Bureau of 
   Immigration (https://boi.gov.in/) with form-C and you should provide Passport and VISA         details on arrival
11. Your stay also will be reported at the nearest police station, so you have to accompany 
    me to the police station when you arrive

Things to carry

Mosquito net, gun boot, torch

Address

Nandan,
Kappayan Kulumbu,
Pattikulam,
Via Vandithavalam
Palakkad,Kerala.
Phone - 8089639261 (WhatsApp also),8089625667
email - p_k_nandanan@yahoo.com

If you come by train, get down at Palakkad Junction and get bus to Palakkad Town and come to stadium bus stand. From here, get bus which goes towards Meenakshipuram via Vandithavalam, get down at Pattikulam junction and get an auto to Nandan's farm.

A brief description of organic activities

We grow coconut, mango, banana,paddy,turmeric,taro,elephant foot yam etc..following Fukuoka's natural farming principle. Planting, harvesting and some amount of weed control will be the basis of all farming activities.

17-March-2019

Charles from Canada originally from Trinidad and Tobago helping me in planting greater yam. He has spent 3 weeks in farm house with no electricity and cooking using wooden stove. But he also depended on the hotels nearby.

16-January-2021

Right now this staying facility is not given to visitors since I started staying there for some time to complete some pending works

Making nursery for 2019 June planting

Like every year, this year also started making a nursery of trees for planting in the monsoon. If the trees are established, then planting at the start of the monsoon will make them growing very well.

Papaya

Put the seeds around one month back and some have germinated and growing.

06-March-2019

At a new place, seeds were sown and coir compost was put above this.


Lemon

Seeds from lemon which was bought for home consumption is used for planting. Some grow bags were put with seeds a month back and now they are germinating

Bamboo

Few yellow bamboo sticks are planted in grow bags, no germination seen yet, even after a month. A few were planted 2 days after full moon in February to see if they germinate better.

Coconut

Around 38 coconut seeds collected from farm has been planted and watered when I visit the place.

Planting Vietnam Super Early Jackfruit

Bought 2 Vietnam Super Early Jackfruit from HomeGrown when there was an exhibition in Palakkad. Each was costing 200 rupees and they have promised it will bear fruit in 1-1.5 years.

Planted this by making a pit of 1.5 ftx1.5 ftx1.5ft and then mixing this soil with dried cowdung and filling it back. After this a small pit was made at the centre and planted the saplings. Charles from Canada is staying in the farm currently, so he helped with planting.

06-March-2019

06-October-2019

In the rainy season, it has grown well.

10-September-2020

This one was under shade and didn't grow well...and some how it lost its leaves also...

This is growing well..keeps mulching at the base..

March - 2022

This year, it started fruiting...Also it survives without watering....