During months of surplus, we pledge to buy organic produce and when our pockets run short we dismiss such thoughts and resolve to wash our fruits and vegetables well.
Let’s talk consistency. How about growing your own food? Faster than that thought pours down all possible excuses on why we couldn’t rather than why not?
Meet Ms. Kalpana Manivannan, an urban farmer from Chennai, who gave more weightage to the why not and is now going head on to cut any traces of chemicals that may enter her household.
“I grow all my vegetables and whatever I need on my farm and live a farm to table lifestyle. I am more of a weekend farmer owing to the fact that I reside in the city. Having said that, my farm is just 45 mins away and so I travel to my farm whenever I want to or need to.”
Kalpana lives her life to keep being inspired to do more and also to inspire. Besides being an urban farmer, Kalpana does so much more.
“I also teach farming at schools and conduct workshops aiming at people to understand a chemical-free lifestyle - essentially helping people eliminate all chemical usages from their homes. Being an urban farmer, I try encouraging food safety and advantages of organic farming so that we understand how chemical farming rips us off good food and resources. ”
A sustainability coach, a social entrepreneur, an aspiring homesteader, a blogger, a home chef – is Ms Kalpana Manivannan living a dream? Everything starts with a dream, does it not?
What nudged you into this line of profession without an agriculture background?
Sometimes things get personal. It comes down to understand what kind of food we consume. Though, for a very long time I have been trying to procure organic produce for my family, I have realized that the word organic also has been abused. We are not very sure how organic is the organic produce we procure. We hardly know about the produce's life cycle. At some point, I got rather concerned about what we were consuming and what I was feeding my family. That was my turning point to begin organic farming.
What crops do you cultivate on your farm?
I cultivate all kinds of seasonal and local vegetables. I grow whatever we can grow in the given climatic conditions of Chennai and, locally and whatever it is that best grows in the soil on my piece of land.
I grow around 60-70 types of vegetables on my farm, which is not even the whole of my half acre. Besides the vegetables section, I also grow a lot of fruit trees. I have some the native mangoes,guavas, papaya, 25 coconut trees etc. So, all my coconut needs are met by my farm including the coconut oil I process from my produce. I get it done at a wood-press place I know.
I believe in making my things myself instead of buying it from the stores because there are a lot of things I began questioning after I gathered interest in organic farming. I make my own soaps, body butters etc too. I bake my own bread, make my jams, sauces, pastas etc. The coconut oil that I process from my coconut trees is used for my cooking and for my soap making as well.
I am also a social entrepreneur catering to made-to-order business. Whoever approaches me personally, I supply skin-care products that I make.
Is the produce from your farm used only for your consumption or do you sell them too?
Whenever there is an excess produce of crops, I give it away to my neighbors - there are a certain group of people who are very interested in my farm produce. I was previously into a full-time job but I have quit and am focused completely on this. Right now, I am focused around living a self-sustainable life.
I am not looking forward to becoming a supplier. In fact, I aim at teaching and encouraging people to grow their own produce. People do ask me if I can sell the home-made cleaners etc that I make. But I keep reverting offering to teach them to make it themselves. Whether it is gardening or making things to switch to a natural living, I would rather teach people that skill than adorning the role of a supplier.
Through my journey, I would like to showcase how people can live the life of a producer and be as self sustainable as possible. In fact, you don't even need to own a piece of land. You can do it on your terrace or balcony or any small space that you may have.
What is the minimum requirements to start one's own small vegetable garden and how did you prepare yours?
I have attended couple of workshops initially because I do not have an agricultural background. When I started growing, I started learning much in depth and I realise now that once we start we begin doing things that work for us, rather than following a set template.
When I procured the land that I have, it wasn't actually employed for cultivation in a long time. Also, we cannot be sure what kind of treatment the soil was subjected to earlier. So, I had to start from making the ground fertile.
I have strong faith in soil. I believe that if you invest time and effort into making soil fertile, everything else is taken care of. Everything grows beautifully in good soil and the plant that grows in such soil is capable of fighting its own evils.
Also, it is highly essential that one spends time in ensuring soil fertility because if we were to plunge into sowing etc and that gets to be a failure, the encouragement and drive to do these things gets thrown out of the window.
The first thing I did to prepare the soil was sowed it with urad dal. All lentils are nitrogen fixers. So, I tilled the small area that I was planning on cultivating to loosen the soil and I scattered some organic urad seeds, watered it and let it grow for around 3 months. At the end of 2.5-3 months, the seeds began sprouting. Once that happened, I harvested a few of the pods, post which I tilled the rest of the plant and roots back into the soil. That was my first step. I didn't add any manure of anything to my soil. Of course, the first produce wasn't great. From the 1 kg urad dal seeds I sowed, I probably would have received 1 kg of ural dal in return. But the intention then was not the harvest, it was the fertility of the land. I understand that the roots of lentils is what fixes the nitrogen in the soil.
Then I moved to the second step of fertilizing the soil. This took at least 30-40 days. The three most important things for a good soil is:
1. The Physical component of the soil - Soil should be well aerated.
2. The Biological component of the soil - It should be rich in microbes, earth worms etc. Their presence tells you if your soil is alive or not.
3. The Chemical component of the soil - is the soil mineral richness. This ensures that the soil can support plant growth.
To make sure all this was facilitated, I tried a raised garden method. I did rows of raise garden so that I could have patches for different crops. I procured some sugar cane waste - you need a dry plant waste; so the sugar cane should be well dried so that it doesn't attract ants. Choose components that are available in your vicinity. You can even use dry leaves or grass, hay etc.. Another thing you need is cow dung manure or an equivalent. It can be any animal waste. The third is the garden soil - the soil that you are planning to grow your crops in. I layered these components - a thin layer of sugar cane waste under a thin layer of cow dung manure under a thin layer of garden soil. Repeat this three times.
The reason for the above steps is:
1. The cow dung manure attracts a lot of earthworms in the soil.
2. The worms need something to eat in order to thrive and that is where the dry leaves and dry waste comes to use.
3. These earthworms decompose the leaves. When this decomposition happens your soil is getting recharged.
Remember, compost and manure, when it is in the process of conversion generates a lot of heat. So, use the manure only when it is all done and the heat is all dissipated.
Now, leave this raised bed for 30-40 days untouched for nature to take its course. If you take some time to prepare your land then you are set for life and in a sense your garden gets automated for future. The misconception that agriculture doesn't reap benefits arises from human beings' impatience - our need to see instant results without any preparation.
Of course, you need to fertilize your soil after every crop because each crop will take minerals from the soil. But that is like a top up. Add some manure every other season.
How do you manage the pest issues?
Coming to pests, I was very particular not to use any kind of chemicals. So, there are a few things that I did. Once I prepare the land, I grew castor on the periphery of my farm. Castor is a plant that generates castor oil seeds and these are natural pest controllers. The pest naturally attacks the castor rather than your core crop. I think that is the logic behind the castor. So, every 7 ft in the peripheral area, I have castor plants. I also planted sesbania grandiflora - a small-sized tree, which is a crop that is absolutely healthy and is fed to the cows for its highly nutritious greens. This is also planted in the peripheral area.
Another thing I did was intercropping and used natural pest control methods. In between the vegetable crops we also sowed marigold, tulsi, and such flowers and herbs which are all biological pest control methods. These flowering plants masks the smell of the vegetables and confuses the pests thereby protecting the plants from the pests. Some plants also attract these pests towards them, thereby helping the crops. Also, natural pollination happens on your farm. Hence, your farm attracts butterflies. With the coming of butterflies, your vegetable flowers also get pollinated.
Now, bear in mind, that these being natural methods, is not a 100% preventive. It reduces the pests. So, apart from all this we may need to do a little bit of pest control. So, there are two things I religiously followed:
The 3G spray - This is also called the agni astra. It consists of garlic, green chilly and ginger. You can prepare this by yourself. Take all three components in equal proportions, grind it and filter it - dilute it in water in the ratio 1:30 and spray your plants. And the filtered pulp can of course go into your composting unit. This spray being highly pungent and strong. and so deters the pests and can be used as a prevention and cure.
Another thing that I use is neem-oil emulsion. It is highly common with agriculturists. You need to use a few drops of this emulsion with soap. Instead of using the detergent, I use the soap nut solution. I add the soap nut solution to emulsify the oil, dilute it to about 500 times with water and shake well before spraying it on your plants. That is again very effective in controlling the pests.
What core gardening advice would you like to give our readers?
Starting a small garden is an answer to a lot of questions. As a community we are all turning into a consumer-oriented society, which is the gateway for a lot of adulterated produce. Once you start a garden, a lot of issues that we face today get sorted.
But there are a few things to keep in mind.
When you start - start small.
Start with seasonal and local variety crops rather than exotic plant variety. Once you succeed with simple local crops, build your farm gradually.
What are some of the challenges you have faced?
For me, the biggest issue was the commute to my farm and me not being in the vicinity posed some problems which I had to figure out. Pests were also not of a major concern because I was prepared for it. I wanted my eco-system to be natural and so that includes pests as well. It is all part of the natural cycle.
Another important thing for me was succession planting. For instance, you grow tomatoes and by the time you are ready to harvest the crop, you should have the next batch of tomato plantation ready. That is how you can make sure you get produce from your land through out the year. So, planning is very crucial. And that took time for me to figure out. I do seed harvesting from my earlier crop so that I do not have to keep buying seeds.
So, seed saving is of equal importance. So, in terms of succession cropping, I will have a batch of seeds that is just sown, another batch will be almost ready to flower and then there will be a third batch which will be in the fruiting stages. So, that way when you harvest the fruiting batch, I will have a next batch which will reach the fruiting stage. So, that continuity should be met. So, you need to be careful to sow the seeds at the right time to keep up this balance.
So, plan your garden farming as per your family's needs.
CONTACT –
Kalpana Manivannan
Founder & CEO
Kalpavriksha Farms
Chennai-600119
Tamil Nadu
Phone - 9789867598
Email - kalpana@kalpavrikshafarms.com
Let’s talk consistency. How about growing your own food? Faster than that thought pours down all possible excuses on why we couldn’t rather than why not?
Meet Ms. Kalpana Manivannan, an urban farmer from Chennai, who gave more weightage to the why not and is now going head on to cut any traces of chemicals that may enter her household.
“I grow all my vegetables and whatever I need on my farm and live a farm to table lifestyle. I am more of a weekend farmer owing to the fact that I reside in the city. Having said that, my farm is just 45 mins away and so I travel to my farm whenever I want to or need to.”
Kalpana lives her life to keep being inspired to do more and also to inspire. Besides being an urban farmer, Kalpana does so much more.
“I also teach farming at schools and conduct workshops aiming at people to understand a chemical-free lifestyle - essentially helping people eliminate all chemical usages from their homes. Being an urban farmer, I try encouraging food safety and advantages of organic farming so that we understand how chemical farming rips us off good food and resources. ”
A sustainability coach, a social entrepreneur, an aspiring homesteader, a blogger, a home chef – is Ms Kalpana Manivannan living a dream? Everything starts with a dream, does it not?
What nudged you into this line of profession without an agriculture background?
Sometimes things get personal. It comes down to understand what kind of food we consume. Though, for a very long time I have been trying to procure organic produce for my family, I have realized that the word organic also has been abused. We are not very sure how organic is the organic produce we procure. We hardly know about the produce's life cycle. At some point, I got rather concerned about what we were consuming and what I was feeding my family. That was my turning point to begin organic farming.
What crops do you cultivate on your farm?
I cultivate all kinds of seasonal and local vegetables. I grow whatever we can grow in the given climatic conditions of Chennai and, locally and whatever it is that best grows in the soil on my piece of land.
I grow around 60-70 types of vegetables on my farm, which is not even the whole of my half acre. Besides the vegetables section, I also grow a lot of fruit trees. I have some the native mangoes,guavas, papaya, 25 coconut trees etc. So, all my coconut needs are met by my farm including the coconut oil I process from my produce. I get it done at a wood-press place I know.
I believe in making my things myself instead of buying it from the stores because there are a lot of things I began questioning after I gathered interest in organic farming. I make my own soaps, body butters etc too. I bake my own bread, make my jams, sauces, pastas etc. The coconut oil that I process from my coconut trees is used for my cooking and for my soap making as well.
I am also a social entrepreneur catering to made-to-order business. Whoever approaches me personally, I supply skin-care products that I make.
Is the produce from your farm used only for your consumption or do you sell them too?
Whenever there is an excess produce of crops, I give it away to my neighbors - there are a certain group of people who are very interested in my farm produce. I was previously into a full-time job but I have quit and am focused completely on this. Right now, I am focused around living a self-sustainable life.
I am not looking forward to becoming a supplier. In fact, I aim at teaching and encouraging people to grow their own produce. People do ask me if I can sell the home-made cleaners etc that I make. But I keep reverting offering to teach them to make it themselves. Whether it is gardening or making things to switch to a natural living, I would rather teach people that skill than adorning the role of a supplier.
Through my journey, I would like to showcase how people can live the life of a producer and be as self sustainable as possible. In fact, you don't even need to own a piece of land. You can do it on your terrace or balcony or any small space that you may have.
What is the minimum requirements to start one's own small vegetable garden and how did you prepare yours?
I have attended couple of workshops initially because I do not have an agricultural background. When I started growing, I started learning much in depth and I realise now that once we start we begin doing things that work for us, rather than following a set template.
When I procured the land that I have, it wasn't actually employed for cultivation in a long time. Also, we cannot be sure what kind of treatment the soil was subjected to earlier. So, I had to start from making the ground fertile.
I have strong faith in soil. I believe that if you invest time and effort into making soil fertile, everything else is taken care of. Everything grows beautifully in good soil and the plant that grows in such soil is capable of fighting its own evils.
Also, it is highly essential that one spends time in ensuring soil fertility because if we were to plunge into sowing etc and that gets to be a failure, the encouragement and drive to do these things gets thrown out of the window.
The first thing I did to prepare the soil was sowed it with urad dal. All lentils are nitrogen fixers. So, I tilled the small area that I was planning on cultivating to loosen the soil and I scattered some organic urad seeds, watered it and let it grow for around 3 months. At the end of 2.5-3 months, the seeds began sprouting. Once that happened, I harvested a few of the pods, post which I tilled the rest of the plant and roots back into the soil. That was my first step. I didn't add any manure of anything to my soil. Of course, the first produce wasn't great. From the 1 kg urad dal seeds I sowed, I probably would have received 1 kg of ural dal in return. But the intention then was not the harvest, it was the fertility of the land. I understand that the roots of lentils is what fixes the nitrogen in the soil.
Then I moved to the second step of fertilizing the soil. This took at least 30-40 days. The three most important things for a good soil is:
1. The Physical component of the soil - Soil should be well aerated.
2. The Biological component of the soil - It should be rich in microbes, earth worms etc. Their presence tells you if your soil is alive or not.
3. The Chemical component of the soil - is the soil mineral richness. This ensures that the soil can support plant growth.
To make sure all this was facilitated, I tried a raised garden method. I did rows of raise garden so that I could have patches for different crops. I procured some sugar cane waste - you need a dry plant waste; so the sugar cane should be well dried so that it doesn't attract ants. Choose components that are available in your vicinity. You can even use dry leaves or grass, hay etc.. Another thing you need is cow dung manure or an equivalent. It can be any animal waste. The third is the garden soil - the soil that you are planning to grow your crops in. I layered these components - a thin layer of sugar cane waste under a thin layer of cow dung manure under a thin layer of garden soil. Repeat this three times.
The reason for the above steps is:
1. The cow dung manure attracts a lot of earthworms in the soil.
2. The worms need something to eat in order to thrive and that is where the dry leaves and dry waste comes to use.
3. These earthworms decompose the leaves. When this decomposition happens your soil is getting recharged.
Remember, compost and manure, when it is in the process of conversion generates a lot of heat. So, use the manure only when it is all done and the heat is all dissipated.
Now, leave this raised bed for 30-40 days untouched for nature to take its course. If you take some time to prepare your land then you are set for life and in a sense your garden gets automated for future. The misconception that agriculture doesn't reap benefits arises from human beings' impatience - our need to see instant results without any preparation.
Of course, you need to fertilize your soil after every crop because each crop will take minerals from the soil. But that is like a top up. Add some manure every other season.
How do you manage the pest issues?
Coming to pests, I was very particular not to use any kind of chemicals. So, there are a few things that I did. Once I prepare the land, I grew castor on the periphery of my farm. Castor is a plant that generates castor oil seeds and these are natural pest controllers. The pest naturally attacks the castor rather than your core crop. I think that is the logic behind the castor. So, every 7 ft in the peripheral area, I have castor plants. I also planted sesbania grandiflora - a small-sized tree, which is a crop that is absolutely healthy and is fed to the cows for its highly nutritious greens. This is also planted in the peripheral area.
Another thing I did was intercropping and used natural pest control methods. In between the vegetable crops we also sowed marigold, tulsi, and such flowers and herbs which are all biological pest control methods. These flowering plants masks the smell of the vegetables and confuses the pests thereby protecting the plants from the pests. Some plants also attract these pests towards them, thereby helping the crops. Also, natural pollination happens on your farm. Hence, your farm attracts butterflies. With the coming of butterflies, your vegetable flowers also get pollinated.
Now, bear in mind, that these being natural methods, is not a 100% preventive. It reduces the pests. So, apart from all this we may need to do a little bit of pest control. So, there are two things I religiously followed:
The 3G spray - This is also called the agni astra. It consists of garlic, green chilly and ginger. You can prepare this by yourself. Take all three components in equal proportions, grind it and filter it - dilute it in water in the ratio 1:30 and spray your plants. And the filtered pulp can of course go into your composting unit. This spray being highly pungent and strong. and so deters the pests and can be used as a prevention and cure.
Another thing that I use is neem-oil emulsion. It is highly common with agriculturists. You need to use a few drops of this emulsion with soap. Instead of using the detergent, I use the soap nut solution. I add the soap nut solution to emulsify the oil, dilute it to about 500 times with water and shake well before spraying it on your plants. That is again very effective in controlling the pests.
What core gardening advice would you like to give our readers?
Starting a small garden is an answer to a lot of questions. As a community we are all turning into a consumer-oriented society, which is the gateway for a lot of adulterated produce. Once you start a garden, a lot of issues that we face today get sorted.
But there are a few things to keep in mind.
When you start - start small.
Start with seasonal and local variety crops rather than exotic plant variety. Once you succeed with simple local crops, build your farm gradually.
What are some of the challenges you have faced?
For me, the biggest issue was the commute to my farm and me not being in the vicinity posed some problems which I had to figure out. Pests were also not of a major concern because I was prepared for it. I wanted my eco-system to be natural and so that includes pests as well. It is all part of the natural cycle.
Another important thing for me was succession planting. For instance, you grow tomatoes and by the time you are ready to harvest the crop, you should have the next batch of tomato plantation ready. That is how you can make sure you get produce from your land through out the year. So, planning is very crucial. And that took time for me to figure out. I do seed harvesting from my earlier crop so that I do not have to keep buying seeds.
So, seed saving is of equal importance. So, in terms of succession cropping, I will have a batch of seeds that is just sown, another batch will be almost ready to flower and then there will be a third batch which will be in the fruiting stages. So, that way when you harvest the fruiting batch, I will have a next batch which will reach the fruiting stage. So, that continuity should be met. So, you need to be careful to sow the seeds at the right time to keep up this balance.
So, plan your garden farming as per your family's needs.
CONTACT –
Kalpana Manivannan
Founder & CEO
Kalpavriksha Farms
Chennai-600119
Tamil Nadu
Phone - 9789867598
Email - kalpana@kalpavrikshafarms.com
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