A Golden Harvest
On a sweltering summer’s afternoon, I drove around frantically, popping in and out of villages in Navilu Kaadu’s vicinity. A pair of boys barely out of their teens led the way on a motorbike, while…
Category: Chemical-free Farming
Of Books and Birdsong
The patio of our cottage at Navilu Kaadu is spacious, nearly the same size as the little cottage itself. An awning held in place by a lattice of hollow metal pipes shelters the patio. A…
A Tangy Harvest
This post appeared as ‘Tangy Tips from the Tamarind,’ an article for ‘Rooting For Nature,’ my monthly column in Deccan Herald. I am sharing it here with more images. The published column is linked here….
Fantastical Creatures on a Mango Plant
This post originally appeared as ‘Marauders on mango plants’, an article for ‘Rooting For Nature’, my monthly column in Deccan Herald. This version has a few more images. The published column is linked here. It was…
Finding Paradise
Slowly but surely, over annual harvests of sweet-sour tamarind, fragrant golden turmeric and plump yelakki baaLe, endless hassles with power supply and labour, many a gaffe and heartache, and eventful encounters with fellow-residents of the wild variety, Navilu Kaadu natural farm is morphing into our own little paradise.
A Tree Lost, A Tree Gained
Nearly two years after we set foot on Navilu Kaadu, we realized with much heartache that two full-grown banyan trees once adorned our land. Visiting farmhands described the trees they seemed to have known well…
Drought, Deluge and the Death of a Tree
When a banyan is felled to make up for crop loss, who compensates the squirrels, the hornbills, barbets and the bee-eaters, parakeets, mynas, the wasps and the bees, and so many more beings for the colossal loss they suffer??