Nursery 2.0

About 3 or 4 years ago, we had set up a nursery near our home to grow saplings. The design was a simple, easy-to-construct but sturdy design: made just from 5 lengths of 1.5" PVC pipes bent and inserted at 5' intervals into a slightly larger diameter 2'-long GI pipe bits fixed to the ground. That's it! No concrete, no welding, nothing. And on top of it, we had draped shade net. So we get a structure 20' in length, 10' wide, and about 8' high in the middle.

This structure had served its purpose well, but had begun to come apart in recent months. Anticipating good rains this year (yes, we choose to be optimists), we wanted to fix the nursery again, and we put in a few days' work into it.

First, we took off the torn shade net, and built a 1' retaining wall on the lower side to make the ground more stable.

We used several lengths of our own bamboo to reinforce the PVC pipes: one each along the sides, and one on top. We also used bamboo to define the beds.

Then, we added a fishnet fence about 5' high around the nursery; this was required as the nursery had become a favourite play area for our dogs. The fishnet fence was made with some walking/working space around the nursery, and attaches to a small gate in the front.

Determined not to buy any new material, we salvaged enough green shade net to cover just the top of the structure. This leaves about 3' open in the sides, but that is just as well to let in some sunshine :-)

Of course, all this was the easy part. Now, we have to grow saplings, sow in the seed beds...to work, then! Not much inside yet, but I'll post some pictures as we make some progress.

For Some Serious Fun

We had taken a lot of time, effort and cost to fill out one small area of land right next to our house and to build a drying yard on it. But more than merely for drying coffee beans and other stuff, it was one small patch of level ground suitable for playing, and we have been using it for skating, cycling, group activities, and so on, and of course for the occasional game of shuttle badminton.

But how can you play shuttle badminton without a net and without marking out the lines? After a long time of wishing for it, and always baulking at the task, we finally got down to doing it. 

Fortunately, at 50'x30', the drying yard is just larger than a full-size shuttle badminton court.

Some leftover wall primer came in handy. A small wooden template helped us make a decent 40mm line all around. To our pleasant surprise, it has withstood not only our foot marks, but even a couple of light showers!

Two old paint buckets weighed down with stones, and the net was pulled across. Et voila! What a lovely addition a day's labour has made to our evenings :-)

Fortunately, I had bought two racquets just a few days before the shutdown, and when we ran out of shuttlecocks, a friend of ours somehow got a few and found a way to send them up the mountain to us! And then when the guts on one of the racquets broke, another dear friend sent up a spare racquet that he had...and so, let the games begin...er..continue!!!

Looking back, looking ahead...

Annual reviews usually are written in the first week of January. Some even do it a week or two later. I wanted to write our 2019 review at least before the new financial year came around, so here goes...

Good rains!

That's the first thing to mention about 2019.

For the last 7 consecutive years, the lower Palani hills have received just about 30 inches of rainfall per year, as against the previous average of 60 inches per year. In 2019, we were blessed with 42 inches, and we hope this will inch back to the historical average. Another 6-7 years of good rainfall, and our farm will really have a lot of green cover.

Some of the previously-seen waterfalls had begun to flow again, and the D Combai is full after almost two years.

New planting

This year, we finally managed to clear one more patch of our land, and have planted hill banana, along with jackfruit and clove saplings. 

Harvests

A few of the Avocado trees gave their first yield, in their 8th year. Not only did we have our fill of avocado fruit, but we were even able to sell them.

The Amla, more than in most recent years, was plentiful. We have plucked and processed much of the harvest into pickle, candy and preserve.

Talking of selling the fruits, I must mention that the Organic Farmers' Markets (OFM) that have come up in Dindigul and Oddanchatram is a fantastic step forward. These have been set up in a way that organic/natural farmers can directly bring their produce to these weekly markets and sell it themselves. The prices are pegged to that day's prices at the Uzhavar Sandhai, which makes it a great deal for customers, and there are no overheads charged to the farmers, which makes it a great deal for the farmers!

Some more roadwork

This year, we undertook some more work on our road, leading up from the main road to the farm. Some distance was paved with stone, and some more with concrete. 

Putting a face to the name

One of our many friends who visited us happens to work for a leading advt. agency, and he was kind enough to help create our logo. 

And so, we look forward to another action-filled year.

Thank you for taking the time to read, hope to write again soon...