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.

2023 - Drought

This year summer was very harsh, didn't receive summer rains and temperature touched 40 degree. I had stopped watering all together and farming was just rain fed. Last two years since there was enough summer rains, didn't have any issue. But this year coconut trees and cocoa trees started wilting. I lost one coconut tree completely as of now, few trees are badly affected. It would take 3-4 years for these trees to recover fully.

Could see that few coconut trees which were surrounded by mango and jackfruit trees were doing relatively well. The shade provided by the evergreen trees were quite effective in fighting the summer. At the end of the rainy season, I had cut and mulched grass, mexican sunflower and super napier grass at the base of the tree, but that alone didn't help.

While going through one video of Panos Mainkis, natural farmer from Greece, he mentions about the need of evergreen trees to shade the farm. So at this point, thinking of growing mango trees and jack fruit trees around the coconut tree along with mexican sunflower,super napier grass and also banana plants. Also decided that mexican sunflower and super napier grass will be cut only twice, may be in July and September, after that they will be allowed to grow so that there will be shade.

Another approach to fight the drought is to use the cover crop Mucuna Bractecta which grows very fast 10-15 cm per day and also within 6-9 months, would fill the entire field. It withstands summer and would provide a green cover even at the summer, this should allow the coconut trees to fight the summer. But issues with this is that they have to be cut and controlled frequently and also it is not eatable for cattle, if eaten may endanger their life. So planning to try this out in one area of the farm.

07-06-23

Since rain is delayed, loosing more coconut trees, lost 3 of them as of now. Feel like going for Mucuna solution, even though it is a hard decision.

Paddy cultivation - first season 2023

It is time to start paddy cultivation and I do organic tilled way in my 0.35 acres of paddy field. After the last rice cultivation nothing was being done in this field and touch me not and other grasses were growing. Received couple of good rains now, so wanted to grow daincha as a green manure crop, tilled the field and broadcasted 5kgs of daincha seeds and then tilled one more round.

Daincha seeds were given by the tractor driver at 30/- per kg and he took around 1 hour for tilling the field.

03-July-2023

Land was ploughed using rotovator

July 6-2023

After this rain started heavily and could not use the line tiller since land was too wet. Hence ladies put the seeds in rows in their own way. Seed was put in cowdung water for a night and then sown.

No-till experiment - 2023

This year also planning to do no-till experiment in my two plots in which I had tried rice last year. It was lying idle in the summer and had some weeds, cut them and mulched back. Also had piled up cut pureria last year which had decomposed, spread that also in the field. Weeds were much less after the no-till, can see that very strong weeds have disappeared.

Planning to do rice for the first crop and finger millet and foxtail millet as the second crop, and if moisture is still there, cow pea after that. To the extend possible planning to have a cover always, so that bare soil is not exposed.

23-April-2023

2nd plot before cutting weeds

1st plot after cutting weeds

This time will be trying happy hill rice, attapadi upland rice and kattamodan or chennellu

11-July-2023

Grass was cut using Scythe and planning to cut using brush cutter.

Kozhikulayan (കോഴിക്കുളയൻ) - traditional variety mango

 Kozhikulayan (കോഴിക്കുളയൻ) is a traditional variety mango found in some parts of Trichur (Thirur,Kolazhi etc). Its basic taste is of Komanga/Vattamanga which is a famous variety found throughout Kerala. It weighs around 200-300gms and seed is polyembrionic and no worm attack, hence seed would give the characterestics of mother tree.

Bought this from a shop in Puthissery, which is a place in Muthuvara-Adat road. They sell it at 60 rupees per Kg.