tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14637015963799099112024-03-06T14:29:41.818+05:30Back to the soilRavi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-34318765894254727072022-05-14T08:24:00.141+05:302022-06-17T09:06:56.215+05:30Rammed earth farm house - Soil Testing<br />
<a href="about:invalid#zClosurez" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=1463701596379909911" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><b>Soil</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
I started looking for suitable soil to build the
structure. I stumbled upon a possibly good soil sample.
Look and feel of the soil was good. It had lightly rained couple of days
before I found the soil. Holding a handful of soil and pressing it made a nice
and compact soil ball - which also gave an indication of good soil. Soil had bright red colour indicating no organic content. FYI - soil with organic content is usually dark/black/brown and smells like decayed organic matter. I
decided to take this soil sample for further testing.</div>
<br />
I did these tests:<br />
<br />
1. Mason jar or sedimentation test.<br />
2. Cigar test.<br />
3. Biscuit test.<br />
<br />
<b>Soil Test : Mason jar / sedimentation test</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
I decided to begin with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_jar" target="_blank">Mason Jar</a> test
or sedimentation test. This is a simple test needing little time,
effort and material. Take a mason jar with water tight lid. If you don't
know what is mason jar - don't worry, use a 1-2 kg/litre sized cylindrical glass
bottle/jar with wide mouth as shown in the picture. Don't use fancy
shaped bottle because it becomes difficult to see the ratio of different contents after sedimentation. Take soil sample and remove large pebbles from it (don't
sieve it though). Put this soil to 1/3rd level in the jar. Pour water up
to 2/3rd level of the jar. Close the lid tightly and shake the jar
vigorously for few minutes so that soil particles mix well with water.
Keep the bottle on a stable surface and wait for 1 minute. Heavy
particles like sand settle down within first minute. After that silt
particles settle down - within first 30 minutes. Fine clay particles
remain suspended further and settle down within first 24 hours. Anything
that remains suspended in water is too fine clay particle - ignore
that. We should see several clear layers (typically 1-4 layers) of
particles indicating how much gravel, sand, silt and clay is present in
the soil.</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ1B8yuST_vPr_QP0JtYptLmhb1ekPGAakw16F0OvK1eXuJ8y2Izw4CoU1Iswj_AvapPMUF0Umywdcr2-QGwBrrDJwgvVR1TWvZAhaoXyczmc5VpiDdyQOq3jd2yd8I__gth5b28i/s1600/IMG_20161016_172433.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ1B8yuST_vPr_QP0JtYptLmhb1ekPGAakw16F0OvK1eXuJ8y2Izw4CoU1Iswj_AvapPMUF0Umywdcr2-QGwBrrDJwgvVR1TWvZAhaoXyczmc5VpiDdyQOq3jd2yd8I__gth5b28i/s320/IMG_20161016_172433.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 10 minutes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is the result of the soil sample I picked up.</div>
<br />
This
picture was taken 10 minutes after shaking the jar. You can see a clear
water layer at the top and soil suspended in water at the bottom. Clear
water layer indicates there are no fine particles at all. But the soil
looked pretty fine. I expected some fine particles to remain suspended
in water. But this result does not show fine particles. I thought - may
be I did a mistake and did not take right sample or did not shake the
jar well when mixing soil sample with water. Therefore I repeated the
test with another sample from the same pile of soil.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpu4Z3A-WOUPzUJwisbLNshPqqqHMNTdLAZXgyHrqzY980C947tibvXsWj1BYXBhGAXPXgM7aQBXrzSiSTZ_JRv18qMD3DlWDLwsHuwbIo7kvIhdayMTUPaelAsINc4igl3XVO7O-o/s1600/IMG_20161017_074103.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpu4Z3A-WOUPzUJwisbLNshPqqqHMNTdLAZXgyHrqzY980C947tibvXsWj1BYXBhGAXPXgM7aQBXrzSiSTZ_JRv18qMD3DlWDLwsHuwbIo7kvIhdayMTUPaelAsINc4igl3XVO7O-o/s320/IMG_20161017_074103.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 24 hours<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Second
sample also showed similar result. Clear water layer appeared after 10
minutes. Everything settled down within first 30 minutes leaving almost
clear water at the top.<br />
<br />
Even then I waited till 24
hours to see whether more particles settle. Nothing happened - it did
not show any changes after 24 hours. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Conclusion: No pebbles or large particles in the bottom layer. This soil probably
has only sand and silt because it settles very fast. There is no clay
in this soil - because if there is clay it should have remained
suspended in water for longer duration. Clay is the binder to hold the
soil particles together when we ram the soil. Without clay, the wall may
not be strong enough to withstand the load (both vertical and lateral)
and wear & tear of normal usage. Wall built from soil without clay
tends to weather easily. So what to do now? Is this soil unfit for
rammed earth walls?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Soil test : Cigar test</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIQfL5xpYwshKHe34DV3khbUgbhntgpYnx-Gsegb_LVNQ263isuGWTcCatjtsoTdhueACBoXITxMi-OPWStJQcDf-MfMy4nWUgu2gnoNH_IBBUpjPmCt2V204m_PcLGb8zTfaApDzOhhihM5LiPZr_cvLMJC7Lqkg1A6Md-NBNcozjNly_4duUw/s3264/cigar.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIQfL5xpYwshKHe34DV3khbUgbhntgpYnx-Gsegb_LVNQ263isuGWTcCatjtsoTdhueACBoXITxMi-OPWStJQcDf-MfMy4nWUgu2gnoNH_IBBUpjPmCt2V204m_PcLGb8zTfaApDzOhhihM5LiPZr_cvLMJC7Lqkg1A6Md-NBNcozjNly_4duUw/s320/cigar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cigar test</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Remove pebbles / stone pieces from the soil. Don't sieve it, just hand pick pebbles from some soil; couple of fist full is enough. Mix enough water to make plastic dough. Take a medium lemon size dough ball and roll it between your palms to make cigars. When you push it out of your palm, it bends, hangs and ultimately breaks. It should break between 2-6 inch length. It is considered too sandy if it breaks below 2 inches (too fragile/brittle). It is considered too clayey if it breaks above 6 inches (too sticky). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My soil sample never went beyond 3-4 inch. Sometimes broke at 2 inches too. Soil is not clayey, it is more sandy/silty. This is largely in agreement with mason jar test.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Soil test : Biscuit test</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Prepare soil sample similar to cigar test by removing pebbles / stone pieces. Mix enough water to make malleable dough. Make approximately 2 inch diameter and slightly thicker then quarter inch biscuits.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwczeQ9tDZ2PVoE93x-jygMvnAGcq84au_M2NboBaFnbBuOPrW4Jf5cfSUkEXXD5Om3WZcE3OPZzVYASM2rEvZhu7AEuR2FnhtpNVu5rkJz0nULZlBQJYX7E2Ov7iR5fX4Np2VDNkZR2Lshnlj1sOBYz-QWF3VnaCKqUEutDT2MnuBT7yfZqHNJA/s3264/biscuit.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Biscuit test" border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwczeQ9tDZ2PVoE93x-jygMvnAGcq84au_M2NboBaFnbBuOPrW4Jf5cfSUkEXXD5Om3WZcE3OPZzVYASM2rEvZhu7AEuR2FnhtpNVu5rkJz0nULZlBQJYX7E2Ov7iR5fX4Np2VDNkZR2Lshnlj1sOBYz-QWF3VnaCKqUEutDT2MnuBT7yfZqHNJA/w320-h240/biscuit.jpg" title="Biscuit test" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Biscuit test</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> First dry them in shade for couple of days and later couple of days in sun so that they dry completely. Keeping them in sun first may lead to cracks since the soil dries too quickly. After the biscuits dry completely, take a biscuit and snap it in 2 pieces with your fingers. Soil is too sandy if it shatters or breaks into too small pieces or crumbles into powder. Soil is too clayey if it is hard to break it. Soil is considered good if it snaps into 2-3 pieces easily. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My soil sample turned out to be good in this test because it snapped into 2-3 pieces without too much effort.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><b>Soil Composition</b></p><p>
Particle
ratio of 40% sand + gravel, 40% silt and 20% clay is well suited (all
ratios approximate) for rammed earth. Soil is a complex material.
Science (science of soil is called Soil Mechanics; you Civil Engineers - remember 2nd/3rd year?) has not been able to understand soil properly because soil does not follow precise scientific rules
and formulas. Formulas and rules mentioned in soil mechanics are
empirical. Therefore any rule (including the soil composition rule) is
only indicative, not deterministic. Therefore soil without having one or
more types of these particles or particle types in very different
ratios can also make good/acceptable rammed earth walls; especially with some
stabilizers like lime or OPC (ordinary portland cement). Lime is used
with clayey soils. OPC does not play well with clay because clay is soft
and expands when wet. Cement is hard and brittle after setting.
Therefore OPC should not be used for stabilizing clayey soil. OPC is
best suited for sandy and/or gravely soils. OPC with sandy and/or
gravely soil results in soilcrete (like concrete - but with soil instead
of gravel and sand [called coarse aggregate and fine aggregate in
structural engineering] in concrete).<br />
<br />
<b>Proof of the pudding ... rather proof of the wall!</b><br />
<br />Soil suitability for rammed earth construction can be verified by making a sample rammed
earth block and testing it. I made a small box of 12 inch x 5 inch x 5
inch for ramming a test block. Don't jump on me for the unorthodox size -
I ended up with this size because I used some wooden boards lying
around. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJv1S5bXSGoZnxZ6IbtH_PEP0KVzQAQUKAjmyulElrhIJ8x_KIfu0dx_Heiqim0zknAXdm5F79EgStfTq2If2_VqhpbkJVh9jeRIbvsdhLND7tcSvt8gr-eKzDKBl8x8UF5Jf8gq5ufYLPskSOitKb3MogB2rN3ccPL7iNUdmN4zGHT5IJKocSFw/s3264/test-block.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Test block" border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJv1S5bXSGoZnxZ6IbtH_PEP0KVzQAQUKAjmyulElrhIJ8x_KIfu0dx_Heiqim0zknAXdm5F79EgStfTq2If2_VqhpbkJVh9jeRIbvsdhLND7tcSvt8gr-eKzDKBl8x8UF5Jf8gq5ufYLPskSOitKb3MogB2rN3ccPL7iNUdmN4zGHT5IJKocSFw/w320-h240/test-block.jpg" title="Test block" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Test block</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I was too lazy to cut the boards to regular brick size. Box sides are held with screws so that I can disassemble the box
to take the block out after ramming. Well, that turned out to be a bad decision in hind sight because pressure of ramming caused the screws to pull out and the box disassembled itself! After that I made a tourniquet setup to hold the boards of the box tightly in place.<br /><br />
I rammed first
block without any stabilizer. Block came out looking well - in the sense
there was no shrinkage and no cracks. Probably I ended up using less
water than needed while ramming. Therefore this block did not come out
that strong. Rammed layers of soil separated and broke when I dropped it
on the ground from shoulder height. Conclusion: 1st attempt is a failure. No worries, failures are stepping stones of success!<br />
<br />
I stabilized second
block with 5% cement. Block looked better than the previous block.
Probably I used less water for this block too. I allowed it to cure for
7 days and then dropped it from shoulder height. It fared far
better than the block without stabilizer. Rammed earth layers did not
separate out when dropped from shoulder height. But the block broke into
2 pieces. Rammed earth layers separated when one of those pieces was
dropped from 15 ft. height. Conclusion: 2nd attempt is a moderate success. I told you - first attempt was the stepping stone ;-)<br />
<br />
I stabilized 3rd block with
5% cement . I used more water than earlier blocks. After 3 days of
curing it is looking really good. I did a drop test after 7 days of
curing. Block passed drop tests from shoulder height and 15 ft. height without major damages. What I mean by that is - block was intact, rammed layers did not separate, only the corners got damaged when dropped; which is expected.<br />
<br />
Later
I had put the third block in the farm under irrigation sprinkler for testing the effect of water on the block. This irrigation sprinkler sprays water every
day for 1 hour. I did not find major erosion of the block after keeping it under the sprinkler for 15 days.
Looks good and I feel confident of using 5% cement stabilization with little higher
water content than usually recommended in rammed earth literature. Slightly more water content is better than less water content. Lower water content does not allow us to compact the soil to needed extent. Higher water content also affects compaction, but not as much as lower water content. Therefore it is ok to have slightly higher water content than lower water content.<p></p><p><i>Note: After having rammed the whole building, I know slightly higher water content is better for sure. There are instances where my helpers put in little more water. After ramming such soil mixture we found it "sweating". We saw sweating on the inside of the form work when we removed the form work and also on the surface of the rammed wall. </i><i>It is extra water oozing out of the rammed soil. Later, after curing, I found such walls to be dense and nice. On the other hand, walls with lower water content did not turn up that well. I found them to be less dense and porous. Therefore slightly higher water content is better than lower water content.</i></p><p><br />
<br />
<br /></p>Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-41062637012375778692018-12-24T07:48:00.002+05:302018-12-24T08:54:19.340+05:30Rammed earth farm house - Structure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>The structure</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
I started construction of my house in the farm (farm house) this year (2017-2018). Building will use eco-friendly materials - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth" target="_blank">rammed earth</a> walls and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalore_tiles" target="_blank">Mangalore tile</a> roof. As famous Indian mud architect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Baker" target="_blank">Laurie Baker</a> says, house should go back to the earth after we stop living in them (rather ... after we stop maintaining them). Today's fancy concrete buildings remain on earth for thousands of years after people stop living in them. Nature cannot destroy and recycle concrete. Concrete buildings will stand for ever like ghost structures. Unlike the concrete buildings, soil buildings will go back to earth if people stop maintaining them. Almost all the parts of the building (mainly walls and roofing) will weather and go into the soil in few decades if the building is abandoned. Also, another very important feature of soil buildings is - they use very little energy and resources when compared to concrete monsters.<br />
<br />
Therefore my home is going to be a soil structure. Different techniques like cob, adobe, rammed earth, and stabilized earth blocks can be used for building soil structure. I decided to use rammed earth because of some advantages with rammed earth. More about advantages of rammed earth will be provided in a future blog article.<br />
<br />
Apart from lot of information available on the internet, good reference books for rammed earth structures are:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7wBv00aoYV19Y6V5sDu5HfEYS7SVw2nkajNQyQz8SZtgxXngBJQOFmZSVPuD8QBwizakHUVTJvS3jRj6hyzx2GIRU0CfdcHWC4WNSBjH9NqnlmsGart7tVu2RWTnlrduY7_JfzFl/s1600/book1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7wBv00aoYV19Y6V5sDu5HfEYS7SVw2nkajNQyQz8SZtgxXngBJQOFmZSVPuD8QBwizakHUVTJvS3jRj6hyzx2GIRU0CfdcHWC4WNSBjH9NqnlmsGart7tVu2RWTnlrduY7_JfzFl/s1600/book1.jpg" /></a><a href="https://g.co/kgs/4qczn9" target="_blank">1. Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings. Design and Construction. - Paul Graham McHenry, Jr.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuF_7jG3kuIrBgwhuZmTaBDv88s36ysWuigixt-tkw31bQuQLPfxRyBFncLG6aYltz2UFU4SY5jFU0aXzjhyihL_tU8PyvxMWGKCGJCsLHWFxNVCISS7m53uQm5LjRb22U4Nd0_qXe/s1600/book2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuF_7jG3kuIrBgwhuZmTaBDv88s36ysWuigixt-tkw31bQuQLPfxRyBFncLG6aYltz2UFU4SY5jFU0aXzjhyihL_tU8PyvxMWGKCGJCsLHWFxNVCISS7m53uQm5LjRb22U4Nd0_qXe/s1600/book2.jpeg" /></a> <a href="https://g.co/kgs/41zQLe" target="_blank">2. Rammed Earth Structures, A Code of Practice. - Julian Keable and Rowland Keable</a></div>
<ol></ol>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"Keable & Keable" book is the bible of rammed earth. This book is the standard for rammed earth buildings in Zimbabwe (and other African countries I believe). This is expensive book (more you feel so when you see the thickness of the book), but very well worth the price tag because it covers minutest subject areas of rammed earth technique. </div>
<br />
By the way - fact that I am a qualified structural engineer helped a lot. My engineering background made it easy to understand the technical terms and techniques mentioned in the books, reference materials, and WWW.<br />
<br />
Also, I was the engineer, designer, and contractor for the project. I used <a href="https://g.co/kgs/X4ewbS" target="_blank">Google SketchUp</a> for 3D layout of the building. Basic version is free for personal use. Only catch is - for the reason best known to Google, it is available only for Windows and Mac (no luck Linux users like me). I had to struggle a lot to run it under <a href="https://g.co/kgs/9bswZa" target="_blank">Wine</a>. Under Linux/Wine it crashes few times in a day. I had to bear it because I don't want to pay for Windows OS or buy a Mac just for using SketchUp.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQHRbpKnWAIIIlsXTU8XTYP6PqjrSW-3ddNfKnF3b6SpruVhcmmmsumlNgXTb3pXpcXE53tArCCpyirnSTk9Qk-V4rTOssBBAjXpxj_9Z0igCKvFDflsT54YuCOxlgir08aonnAIUM/s1600/IMG_20170205_163328.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQHRbpKnWAIIIlsXTU8XTYP6PqjrSW-3ddNfKnF3b6SpruVhcmmmsumlNgXTb3pXpcXE53tArCCpyirnSTk9Qk-V4rTOssBBAjXpxj_9Z0igCKvFDflsT54YuCOxlgir08aonnAIUM/s320/IMG_20170205_163328.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foundation trench outlines.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I printed SketchUp drawing layout on paper for the use of building workers. I then used 2 ft long 10mm steel bar (rebar) pieces as stakes to mark the center line on the ground. 18 inch wide foundation trench outlines were marked with lime powder. Stakes and string line tied to the stakes for marking the layout are
visible in the picture (click to view full size). Blue/yellow plastic sheets are for covering soil procured for rammed earth walls. White pile of stone pieces on the remote corner is for laying concrete bed for the foundation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-37591167756646191682018-05-28T15:16:00.002+05:302018-05-30T23:15:47.892+05:30Rammed earth farm house - Intro<b>Low foot print living</b><br />
<br />
This year (2017-2018) I started construction of my farm house. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterite" target="_blank">Laterite stone block</a>s, portland cement and reinforced cement concrete (RCC) are popular building materials in this place now. All of them are playing havoc with the environment in different ways.<br />
<br />
However, the picture was different few decades back. Traveling in the villages shows us the true picture of how the people built their homes. People were using locally available natural building materials. Buildings older than few decades are either <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cob_(material)" target="_blank">cob</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe" target="_blank">sun dried mud blocks (adobe bricks)</a> with thatched roof or Mangalore tile (clay roofing tile) roof.<br />
<br />
I am deeply committed to eco-friendly and sustainable life style. Therefore I wanted to build my home with locally available natural materials. I decided to make it a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth" target="_blank">rammed earth</a> structure. Load bearing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth" target="_blank">rammed earth</a> walls and clay roofing using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalore_tiles" target="_blank">Mangalore roofing tile</a>s.<br />
<br />
As famous Indian mud architect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Baker" target="_blank">Laurie Baker</a>
says, house should go back to the earth after we stop living in them
(meaning - after we stop maintaining them). Today's modern and fancy concrete
buildings remain on earth for thousands of years after people stop
living in them. Nature cannot easily destroy and recycle concrete. Unlike the concrete
buildings, soil buildings will go back to earth if people stop
maintaining them. Almost all the parts of the building will weather and go into the soil in few decades once the
building is abandoned.<br />
<br />
One important feature of soil
buildings is - they use very little embodied energy and resources when compared
to conventional structures (like wood, stone, or concrete). Bulk of the material used for the building (which is soil) is taken from the site or transported from nearby area if the soil in the site is not suitable for construction. Compared to this, a conventional structure fetches building material from distant quarries/forests causing large scale environmental destruction in the process and burns precious fossil fuel for transportation adding to the ecological destruction.<br />
<br />
Thanks to my farm helpers, lot of heavy physical work has gone into the building. This is how the building looks now. It is not yet complete. I have lot of work to do. I will explain each part of the building in the coming days in a series of articles.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNV2UPOKWqkS8NVA-faRkT4DboE1JUm1yh017tAl1uf6PLH0-rJAjsMZQqJohHybdPzsdphaEeReQDWHKDzNxVLEr313JCef2zEYyty5kEZkDQsCCUJkSmn3kiy2bPi1txn1O1Aswt/s1600/IMG_2360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNV2UPOKWqkS8NVA-faRkT4DboE1JUm1yh017tAl1uf6PLH0-rJAjsMZQqJohHybdPzsdphaEeReQDWHKDzNxVLEr313JCef2zEYyty5kEZkDQsCCUJkSmn3kiy2bPi1txn1O1Aswt/s400/IMG_2360.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rammed earth building under construction.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-12026681415837478902017-08-27T16:45:00.001+05:302017-08-27T16:45:30.962+05:30Monsoon season vegetablesFarmer should be self-sufficient. Food is a very important department of self-sufficiency. We are growing our staple food - <a href="https://soilatlast.blogspot.com/2017/07/paddy-cultivation.html" target="_blank">paddy</a>. Next in the list are vegetables. These are the vegetable crops we planted so far in this monsoon.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJeSOhn3VpdfvBUAG3dMHnzVd77Q1G5mUs_QKO3K3vvlMgG9TBm5yCrSyXaxHk0WB1B6giOit_xcrCqdWSEsrIZWoXtziwm388VhOoTq_iymvw8PGAroHf8H_b5bBow6ylCDVo1uw/s1600/IMG_20170717_091245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJeSOhn3VpdfvBUAG3dMHnzVd77Q1G5mUs_QKO3K3vvlMgG9TBm5yCrSyXaxHk0WB1B6giOit_xcrCqdWSEsrIZWoXtziwm388VhOoTq_iymvw8PGAroHf8H_b5bBow6ylCDVo1uw/s200/IMG_20170717_091245.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A female pumpkin flower<br />
(a bee is busy pollinating the flower - click to see full size image)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7C0zRFBuDYrCkhu_5y18UaPbH3htmicILsR-OSvrYcyJfXmm2RR87aDnHyomWv_1n2VMM4aqRtRwuc2jIJXnjlMKAWxpmObNnDVXiERJx1bGhnG6w22Ugr55sCw_D4uHuPDKI9vU/s1600/IMG_20170717_091230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7C0zRFBuDYrCkhu_5y18UaPbH3htmicILsR-OSvrYcyJfXmm2RR87aDnHyomWv_1n2VMM4aqRtRwuc2jIJXnjlMKAWxpmObNnDVXiERJx1bGhnG6w22Ugr55sCw_D4uHuPDKI9vU/s200/IMG_20170717_091230.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pumpkin (ಕುಂಬಳ/ಚೀನಿ ಕಾಯಿ) creeper <br />
(a colocasia plant and a coconut <br />
plant are seen in the background) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk50zjDgP9igh1nS3BiblTQtagSm1pgFlSiZaD_Atd5IhI43cJiyEaanuKs67THO2s3uwAdwD1G7xzpN5chE_BRVAvzsxRDLhBTQOsPyK75kRoazzatVGs_PaAB1sFyIxWOo9PjapZ/s1600/IMG_20170717_092002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk50zjDgP9igh1nS3BiblTQtagSm1pgFlSiZaD_Atd5IhI43cJiyEaanuKs67THO2s3uwAdwD1G7xzpN5chE_BRVAvzsxRDLhBTQOsPyK75kRoazzatVGs_PaAB1sFyIxWOo9PjapZ/s320/IMG_20170717_092002.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Growing pumpkin with a smaller one in the background and buds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1ItRONPvSnGfaKzhkN4rAKNTysBTxdEpICuvaSnxwiH1Zg-czXFjZwYr7inxkqq8dmgCCjs-bk_3q2Vs4l-itNmjD8D3FqxEBG7BfsdSfEA9WZLCg4X7DVYdZHeD4xRRhFPXrfnH/s1600/IMG_20170717_091659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1ItRONPvSnGfaKzhkN4rAKNTysBTxdEpICuvaSnxwiH1Zg-czXFjZwYr7inxkqq8dmgCCjs-bk_3q2Vs4l-itNmjD8D3FqxEBG7BfsdSfEA9WZLCg4X7DVYdZHeD4xRRhFPXrfnH/s320/IMG_20170717_091659.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colored cucumber creeper (ಮಗ್ಗೆ/ಮೊಗೆ/ಮಂಗಳೂರು ಸೌತೆ ಕಾಯಿ ) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ypvS9IpFqFrguI-6KiyVpZ9VMYqex5BwBZDGY-1odWe_YzbJnJWSOX_uStTU-_Ll0B1ovUY6AInQgbvmNN4RHw8cJBr02X9EZV69_MnZw_0c3hUaD9JiEou8Hx99yCnmpi5nsb9v/s1600/IMG_20170717_091723.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ypvS9IpFqFrguI-6KiyVpZ9VMYqex5BwBZDGY-1odWe_YzbJnJWSOX_uStTU-_Ll0B1ovUY6AInQgbvmNN4RHw8cJBr02X9EZV69_MnZw_0c3hUaD9JiEou8Hx99yCnmpi5nsb9v/s320/IMG_20170717_091723.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Large cucumber creeper (ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸೌತೆ/ಮುಳ್ಳು ಸೌತೆ)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2SojBiLstkjliuizgeGan-oBiORTs8PJMeDI8I4hbajqRnir_oQn4OtQg9S3c1mn6OCkPu45-5vVAk2VNIA2llLgd2s1McstPUxI4pD3ulFHloww633sRsFhkV_Va-UaAN-Hj7xjN/s1600/IMG_20170717_091735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2SojBiLstkjliuizgeGan-oBiORTs8PJMeDI8I4hbajqRnir_oQn4OtQg9S3c1mn6OCkPu45-5vVAk2VNIA2llLgd2s1McstPUxI4pD3ulFHloww633sRsFhkV_Va-UaAN-Hj7xjN/s320/IMG_20170717_091735.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red pumpkin creeper (ಕೆಂಪು/ಗೋವೆ ಕುಂಬಳ)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJ3SJr_Ksi-oYmAOYYqraDWhZOHCyKWkvakzNrKeqHo5lbR5OogSY0FJl1r8mCS9ojNp0lGq3QIWHVIS2a5LEkzx6GeeRK9OK63zHdaHuyhmNGlJtUb7XyARoYkcy07POCcHN60yi/s1600/IMG_20170717_091748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJ3SJr_Ksi-oYmAOYYqraDWhZOHCyKWkvakzNrKeqHo5lbR5OogSY0FJl1r8mCS9ojNp0lGq3QIWHVIS2a5LEkzx6GeeRK9OK63zHdaHuyhmNGlJtUb7XyARoYkcy07POCcHN60yi/s320/IMG_20170717_091748.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bitter gourd creeper (ಹಾಗಲ)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Z4T5wvRvcF9nCfVSKHDvRdAefiz1cvcq54_MvIuYprkFbshwOQnXDNKyMZksai33EUMLhPaPMH8QTLXAuD6eCZ_DdgxenVBkajywvHf5q5m6Xs_qJ-LeZvkSfYTRCNJCua-M7221/s1600/IMG_20170717_091922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Z4T5wvRvcF9nCfVSKHDvRdAefiz1cvcq54_MvIuYprkFbshwOQnXDNKyMZksai33EUMLhPaPMH8QTLXAuD6eCZ_DdgxenVBkajywvHf5q5m6Xs_qJ-LeZvkSfYTRCNJCua-M7221/s320/IMG_20170717_091922.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flame flower/Purslane/Talinum (ನೆಲಬಸಳೆ)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-73206440883561213492017-07-19T17:09:00.000+05:302017-07-19T17:09:17.116+05:30Paddy cultivationLast year I had written a detailed post about <a href="https://soilatlast.blogspot.com/2016/06/growing-grain-paddy.html" target="_blank">paddy cultivation</a>. This year also we did almost the same - with one change. Decided to bring some old technologies. Brought in Bangarappa's (our farm neighbour and farm helper) traditional skills and his animals for ploughing the field. It is lot of hard work both for human and the animals. But it is far less destructive compared to machines - they burn so much fossil fuel, throw lot of carbon into the air and also over-till the ground damaging the soil biology.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JOTM6U6_HBs/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JOTM6U6_HBs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
Last year I had borrowed seeds from Bangarappa. I did completely natural farming - I did not use chemicals and fertilisers of any kind. My crop had got some diseases. Plants resisted diseases and grew well. I got one generation of seeds grown without chemicals. Hopefully this year they will improve further in disease resistance and adaptation to local environment.<br />
<br />
I should have treated seeds with biological agents like pseudomonas. My bad - I missed it because of my bad planning. I will for sure do it in the next season. I have to wait for one more year for that though :-(<br />
<br />
We sowed seeds on 30-Jun. Saplings were transplanted on 16-Jun. We ran out of saplings though because of a minor mistake. Our saplings were little younger than the usual age transplanting. Transplanting workers did not consider that. They planted usual thickness of plants - ending up planting one or two extra samplings in each group. Because of that we ran out of saplings when one small terrace was still to be planted. Thanks to Bangarappa - he borrowed some saplings from another farmer who had some excess saplings and completed the job.<br />
<br />
Will keep you posted about how it goes this year.<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-40205499640037206862017-07-19T13:07:00.001+05:302017-07-19T13:07:28.639+05:30Monsoon timeIt is the time of the year everybody in India is eagerly looking forward to - monsoon time. Monsoon not only brings lot of water; it also brings lot of interesting things (see below). It is the single biggest event of the year for farmers like me because it makes or breaks the plans for the next whole year. Everything gets delayed if monsoon is delayed. Year is ruined because of lack of water if monsoon is short. Lives and property lost if monsoon is in excess. Therefore, our lives hang in fine balance setup by monsoon!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So far (June-2017) monsoon had been disappointing for South India this year. Government statistics say our district (Shimoga district in Karnataka state) had 40% less rain this year compared to long term average. However, it has started raining well in last few days. Hopefully it will pick up now and cover up the shortage in rest of this monsoon season.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Some pictures of this monsoon:<br />
<br />
One day came out of the house and found this beautiful orchid on a tree in front of the house. Such a beautiful creation of nature it is. See the close-up for more details of the compound flower. Pictures are not as good as I wanted them to be - continuous rain and less than satisfactory light conditions because of heavy cloud cover interfered with my efforts of taking better pictures.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeRR9KFy4abZlDAaaJ6FohlAz1crrwwEpdUH2DhKrHCrg5lyl7AsBo1EjA4qvhSButY32mrMWm5ohW13BpZCqayGyFpcdfb4vF738RcjpKnhWcodtZcgfbDQZH9WmbSDpHB7uvmiI/s1600/IMG_20170612_114856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeRR9KFy4abZlDAaaJ6FohlAz1crrwwEpdUH2DhKrHCrg5lyl7AsBo1EjA4qvhSButY32mrMWm5ohW13BpZCqayGyFpcdfb4vF738RcjpKnhWcodtZcgfbDQZH9WmbSDpHB7uvmiI/s320/IMG_20170612_114856.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orchid in front of the house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCj1wZM-MgjYuUrKa8p1Fa1rZsNQyej0lcd8xTURmRfoQQNbCgd9V-jrO3XqjZYQgP_8AcwY0YiNz1jtYLQhPrpCHtcErl0DFRCyFwBsTKoSbCWSmW6OiAp_301_YrNyc7zgOApRjo/s1600/IMG_20170612_114733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCj1wZM-MgjYuUrKa8p1Fa1rZsNQyej0lcd8xTURmRfoQQNbCgd9V-jrO3XqjZYQgP_8AcwY0YiNz1jtYLQhPrpCHtcErl0DFRCyFwBsTKoSbCWSmW6OiAp_301_YrNyc7zgOApRjo/s320/IMG_20170612_114733.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closeup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Very wet conditions created by the monsoon bring up lot of hidden life to visibility. See some amazing fungi found in our farm and around house.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmq6VTctgyqTgmRj41dluhmAzgXuxRHH69nfTDKVCerNOIlSU8jNDYRoOLZbG-KGsn9R23S4j_wIuyHF_TSkQLN1r2i6Vgj44QeWYHt2I1hXirBbf0ZGP0NVvzA4vItWyVng3b2VaX/s1600/IMG_20170617_080845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmq6VTctgyqTgmRj41dluhmAzgXuxRHH69nfTDKVCerNOIlSU8jNDYRoOLZbG-KGsn9R23S4j_wIuyHF_TSkQLN1r2i6Vgj44QeWYHt2I1hXirBbf0ZGP0NVvzA4vItWyVng3b2VaX/s200/IMG_20170617_080845.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near our home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCGvU2KsnvPZYOo7O1u0ZePVArUQWke0gob-qf3pRRFqMLw0NFB17jCBP586zFMV4LpixaQf2K_hTOHMS5HAS6wkj6tJOnGMND1GnTN_1kdoPvAtzX9fq4Ag1yGiwfSez1jLeMBd1/s1600/IMG_20170702_104041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCGvU2KsnvPZYOo7O1u0ZePVArUQWke0gob-qf3pRRFqMLw0NFB17jCBP586zFMV4LpixaQf2K_hTOHMS5HAS6wkj6tJOnGMND1GnTN_1kdoPvAtzX9fq4Ag1yGiwfSez1jLeMBd1/s200/IMG_20170702_104041.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White fungi on dead coconut tree in the farm</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-7FsIiFtSSPFfQrteI1d-ic7Jywuh7g4UCmbCAJCUn4x6l8q_0vEBj3ZhhIyeeOamf7sspPJyYfiBemQK0Yro4FDOgLrLkU6lCKrJvFrbphMh64noYP2q1g7mxeh5bkw4YGTcy9kd/s1600/IMG_20170702_104854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-7FsIiFtSSPFfQrteI1d-ic7Jywuh7g4UCmbCAJCUn4x6l8q_0vEBj3ZhhIyeeOamf7sspPJyYfiBemQK0Yro4FDOgLrLkU6lCKrJvFrbphMh64noYP2q1g7mxeh5bkw4YGTcy9kd/s320/IMG_20170702_104854.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red fungi on dead coconut tree in the farm</td></tr>
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Monsoon brings in its share of misery too. Here is one example of it - a tree fell on a 11,000 V electricity line bringing down the poles and wires to the ground. Luckily nobody was hurt. Electric equipment in the nearby homes were burnt to charcoal when the 11,000 V line touched 230 V domestic supply lines. Building behind the fallen tree is a school. Kids were inside the school when the incident took place. You can imagine what kind of disaster it would have been if this happened when the kids were walking out of school.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tree fallen on electric line</td></tr>
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-90380536475652285972016-10-16T15:00:00.002+05:302016-10-16T15:01:10.772+05:30Bhoomi Hunnime - day of earth worshipBhoomi Hunnime is a festival for worshiping mother earth, say sorry for the digging and troubling her all round the year, offer delicacies to her and pray for a good harvest. For western people and people in cities it may look like a meaningless celebration. It is a natural thing and their own extension for people connected with the soil. Mother earth gives birth to us and supports our life in every way. That is why Indian farmers in our villages treat her as mother. This is the time when the crops are about to start flowering and producing grain. Therefore people treat earth as a pregnant lady. They worship her and offer many delicacies to her like we do in case of a pregnant lady. Some of these delicacies are buried in the soil and spread in the soil with the belief that it will satisfy pregnant mother earth's food craving. Even today many Indians don't look at earth as a 50x60 plot or a commodity to sell and buy. Earth is treated with greatest respect as a living being - which it is and it deserves that respect and royal treatment. No wonder, this festival is celebrated in India, the land where every living thing is treated as God. We are not at war with the nature like today's industrial farming, we are one with the nature and treat nature as God.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkTgAT6lhTaq59OZBMbmx-fvclIZcHZNi0hJm4nCuE5cyS_36deFv2EJ3Gdac-28eLv7gA5s3DXVNoTk5zimXCxY_RU0_VaQcoO1biA2lYz0lvy_q_gl1o0x704-x0Vibq1-A8osv/s1600/IMG_20161016_084907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkTgAT6lhTaq59OZBMbmx-fvclIZcHZNi0hJm4nCuE5cyS_36deFv2EJ3Gdac-28eLv7gA5s3DXVNoTk5zimXCxY_RU0_VaQcoO1biA2lYz0lvy_q_gl1o0x704-x0Vibq1-A8osv/s320/IMG_20161016_084907.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. Satyanarayana Bhat (foreground) and his wife (background)</td></tr>
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This year I got an opportunity to attend some of these celebrations. Some pictures of earth worship are here. See how environment friendly they are - everything is bio-degradable or becomes food for some animal. Even the lamp is made up of coconut shell. This is how we all were few years back. Plastics and chemicals have invaded our lives only in recent years. There is urgent need to reverse the clock and go back few decades. Only then can we live happy and fulfilling life like our ancestors did.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. Kiran (foreground) and his son Tejas (background)</td></tr>
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After the worship we ate in the farm and came back. This experience will remain in our memory for a long time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlC4aKRZ1gRw8NLG7_VPbFmUPNFNwuybqqBhhad8a5eYcJFgY8iXWAzar5bLQwvUDDSD9trnojBkSH61ZgkbeEVoYeGgPAoR2rtlKEbB9hV3jwPVDwu68Ja7fwkVJ_x7OA91c7Fc3G/s1600/IMG_20161016_094643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlC4aKRZ1gRw8NLG7_VPbFmUPNFNwuybqqBhhad8a5eYcJFgY8iXWAzar5bLQwvUDDSD9trnojBkSH61ZgkbeEVoYeGgPAoR2rtlKEbB9hV3jwPVDwu68Ja7fwkVJ_x7OA91c7Fc3G/s320/IMG_20161016_094643.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Environment friendly lamp made from coconut shell</td></tr>
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An example of environment conscience our ancestors had. Even the lamp is made from used coconut shell. People use lot of coconut to cook the delicacies for the celebration. One of those shells becomes the lamp :-)<br />
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-40178072010632665892016-06-19T21:11:00.001+05:302016-06-19T21:11:47.863+05:30Car shelterMy friend Rajesh recently moved to a village near our farm. Being a village there are not many rented homes available here. Therefore he had to take a small house vacant at the time he moved here. Covered car parking is not available in that house.<br />
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It rains around 2000 mm here during monsoon. As per normal rain pattern here it rains heavily between June and August. Car remains wet for approximately 3 months in that time. It is a recipe for rust to invade the metal body of the car! Therefore he needed a car shelter to keep the pouring rain water away from the car and allow it to dry up. It was not wise to spend lot of money for the planned car shelter to be constructed in the rented premises; he will have to leave it there whenever he decides to move out of the rented house.<br />
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Minimum cost of conventional car shelter is above 20,000 Rupees. Our search for lowering the cost did not lead to any major cost reduction. Solution was elsewhere - it was there in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_nursery" target="_blank">plant nursery</a>. I noticed a low cost poly tunnel in a nursery. It is in the form of a tunnel with polythene sheet covering on PVC pipe skeleton. We decided to replicate that poly tunnel and use it as car shelter.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqcUest9l8535CDKkkAaY5rXbo-4yQqHgtHX7PWiF1U1yITQqDrrHIAQduJLivkpAfRRNTw_KBbCtpI_bR0mxefxVdkrk1G-ey65Ij-yx_OupK83VHb_N2vDdAHJ_6N0aK9-vGJ7y/s1600/IMG_20160605_180525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqcUest9l8535CDKkkAaY5rXbo-4yQqHgtHX7PWiF1U1yITQqDrrHIAQduJLivkpAfRRNTw_KBbCtpI_bR0mxefxVdkrk1G-ey65Ij-yx_OupK83VHb_N2vDdAHJ_6N0aK9-vGJ7y/s320/IMG_20160605_180525.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poly tunnel skeleton - notice bent PVC pipes. <br />A car and a scooter are parked inside for testing.</td></tr>
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My friend's poly house car shelter consists of 20 ft. long PVC pipes bent in semi-circular or parabolic shape. Two ends of the pipe are buried in the ground to a depth of 1 ft. and secured there using cement concrete. We used 6 such bent pipes at 3 ft. distance making the total length of poly tunnel 15 ft. We ensured width of the tunnel is enough (around 11 ft.) to comfortably open the car door when the car is inside the shelter so that the driver can get in/out of the car when the car is in the shelter.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Completed poly tunnel car shelter</td></tr>
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Heavy wind can cause strong lifting force on the pipes buried in the cement concrete footings poured into the pits dug in the soil. Smooth PVC pipe secured using cement concrete can pull out of the concrete holding it to the ground. To be on the safer side we decided to glue PVC T joints at the end of the pipes buried in cement concrete to make it difficult for the wind force to pull the pipe out.<br />
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After this we draped UV stabilized polythene sheet on the skeleton. It is important to use UV stabilized sheet to avoid the sheet crumbling to powder because of UV component in sun light. Oh yes, we tied one pipe at the top center line to ensure skeleton pipes don't move away from their position. This is how it looks after completion.<br />
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Cost? Approximately 5,500 Rupees (+ some elbow grease - we did not put a value to that as it was fun doing it). That translates to 82 USD @ 67 Rs. conversion rate as of today. Probably a car shelter can't get any cheaper than that!<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-84500049176962276222016-06-19T19:26:00.000+05:302017-06-01T13:09:42.093+05:30Growing a grain - paddyThough we acquired our farm last year, it was too late to start the activity of sowing. Therefore we left the paddy fields fallow. Being the fertile land it is, it has given an opportunity for all sorts of weeds to grow. This year we decided to grow paddy in a part of the field. It was not possible to plough the field using animals because of thick weed cover. Therefore we decided to use a tractor to plough the land deep and keep it ready before it starts raining heavily. I will document the subsequent process here. Don't go away, keep coming back to this post :-)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paddy field ploughed and ready to go to next step</td></tr>
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Next step is preparing the seedlings to be transplanted in the field when they grow for around 20 days. This is how we did it:<br />
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<li>Select good quality rice seeds. We decided to take some seed (saved from the rice he had grown in last season) from our neighbor Mr. Bangarappa.</li>
<li>Ensure good quality using salt water: Mix salt in water until uncooked hen's egg put in the water floats. Put the rice seeds in that water and mix it. Good quality seeds sink to the bottom. Bad quality ones float on top. Remove the floating seeds. Drain out water. Rinse in fresh water and dry the seeds in shade.</li>
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<li>We did not do salt water test because the seeds were good and germination rate was also very good. We knew it because Mr. Bangarappa had sowed the seeds in his field before us.</li>
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<li>Soak the seeds in fresh water for 24 hours.</li>
<li>Take the seeds out of water. Wrap them in gunny bags and keep aside for germination. Another practice is spreading the seeds on wet floor and covering with gunny bags. Basically water soaked seeds should be kept wrapped with a wet cloth/bag to avoid water loss and be allowed to germinate.</li>
<li>In 3-4 days rice seeds start growing roots and a small spec of green shoot.</li>
<li>Make seedling beds in the field and sow them. Seedling bed making and sowing procedure is explained next.</li>
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We had decided to grow rice in approximately 3/4th of acre land. For that we need around 15kg seeds. For that much seed approximately 50ft X 50ft area of field is needed for making seedling beds. You will see Mr. Bangarappa mixing in the soil preparing to make the seedling beds.</div>
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Sorry, I don't have video or pictures of in-progress process as I had thick layer of mud on my hand. What is the point in being arm chair farmer? I better get into the mud and actively work. Therefore muddy hands did not allow me to shoot the process :-)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sowing work in progress</td></tr>
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After the beds are made we walk in the trenches between the beds and sow the seeds thinly and uniformly over the beds. We should be careful to avoid seeds falling into the trenches to reduce wastage.<br />
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You can notice first 2 beds towards left side are smoother and uniform. Those are prepared beds on which we were sowing at that time. You can notice there are no pockets of water on these beds. 2 beds towards right are not yet completely ready for sowing. They are uneven and have water pockets.</div>
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3 of us are sowing (for the first time I am showing up in my blog pictures and videos; thanks to my friend Rajesh for being cameraman). After few seconds you see Mr. Bangarappa smoothing next bed for sowing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After one day</td></tr>
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Seeds are doing fine one day after sowing. Birds are the challenge at this stage - they come in big groups and finish off the seeds. Luckily for us there were only two birds in the field for first day. Therefore no damage to the seedling beds. May be they have eaten some, but insignificant damage.<br />
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You see some green shoots at this stage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 2 days</td></tr>
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Green shoots are clearly visible now. Still there is a chance of bird damage. We were lucky to have no birds around on 2nd day too. Other animals also did not damage them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsjdj9vzwCt731QIzSiPDL3NF-kozbfvLTGJr-dgDqSZWrCYwEDliZSCwm_tXMUFzydx8eA6kY1P4QeOr9J_3BA_zq7anl6bcvQLD-5XHM0NIRxaqUH9VE8_oJ9TPPPGI4J2go46df/s1600/IMG_20160718_092230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsjdj9vzwCt731QIzSiPDL3NF-kozbfvLTGJr-dgDqSZWrCYwEDliZSCwm_tXMUFzydx8eA6kY1P4QeOr9J_3BA_zq7anl6bcvQLD-5XHM0NIRxaqUH9VE8_oJ9TPPPGI4J2go46df/s320/IMG_20160718_092230.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 5 days</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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After 3 days when the shoots grow up we hold water in the seedling beds - only enough to submerge the seeds, but not the growing up shoots. Birds and other animals don't like to get into water. Therefore holding water at this stage is for protecting the seedlings from animal/bird damage.<br />
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However, this protection technique should be applied only during day time. We drain the water in the evening for the roots to get some air. Otherwise roots rot and the whole bed can die.<br />
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<i><b>Out of sowing experience - a word of advise for people going to attempt farming newly:</b> I had gone to the paddy field with gumboots to avoid stepping into mud. It does not work, boots get stuck in the mud and it becomes a hassle to drag them around. I finally threw them aside and stepped into the mud bare footed. It has one problem though. Mud can get into the gaps between toe nails and cause infection. Wash your feet cleanly with soap. Use old toothbrush to clean around toe nails. Then disinfect your toe nails with diluted hydrogen peroxide.</i><br />
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Now we have to wait for the seedlings to grow for around 20-25 days. After that we pull them out and transplant them in prepared paddy field. Wait ... wait ... that is why I have heard someone saying - If you want to get the patience of a saint you should become a farmer!<br />
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Today is 14-July. Transplantation is going to happen around 05-Aug.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wlplSzmOggY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wlplSzmOggY?feature=player_embedded" style="clear: left; float: left;" width="320"></iframe><br />
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We prepare the paddy field for transplanting when the seedlings are growing. Bunds between the terraces are tidied up and prepared to hold water (water is held on need basis).<br />
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Here you see 3 farm helpers working to tidy up the bunds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmCwzYM6Fbk8X0IwqFAtgTSPTInA6KKF8vm_7v94YqBQoYxSZwiYnX_QBq3i8ePA-JvjBt6ZA3VcITg-lyvhD4MG4-8fxh1MVM_w126amGhx4tp-hSdMRBIBQAZPVkpRY7homKGZn/s1600/IMG_20160805_142103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmCwzYM6Fbk8X0IwqFAtgTSPTInA6KKF8vm_7v94YqBQoYxSZwiYnX_QBq3i8ePA-JvjBt6ZA3VcITg-lyvhD4MG4-8fxh1MVM_w126amGhx4tp-hSdMRBIBQAZPVkpRY7homKGZn/s320/IMG_20160805_142103.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seedlings ready for transplant</td></tr>
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One day before transplant seedlings are pulled out, bundled and kept ready for transplant.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uryJuscR1-s/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uryJuscR1-s?feature=player_embedded" style="clear: right; float: right;" width="320"></iframe>Using a power tiller we stir up the soil and prepare it for transplanting. This is done on the day of transplanting so that soil is little sticky and soft for transplant.<br />
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After this we hire a team of workers to transplant the seedlings. 2-3 seedlings are put together as one group with 8-10 inch distance between them (just guess work - they may fall little closer or farther).<br />
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As planned we did transplantation 20 days after sowing the seeds; on 05-Aug.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZOf1LId6n-BL8bFNQKJdS8qW-tWxkO_kCvjulXtnVZq8NhbDvSMewpWorvOI9vLwX012AfAF6DyXZSff3PqvAVJUaTltUO78sdDDi7axYsg1dekGK3lNVC-3FQZZ0f6drLwCbNd_/s1600/IMG_20160806_133819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZOf1LId6n-BL8bFNQKJdS8qW-tWxkO_kCvjulXtnVZq8NhbDvSMewpWorvOI9vLwX012AfAF6DyXZSff3PqvAVJUaTltUO78sdDDi7axYsg1dekGK3lNVC-3FQZZ0f6drLwCbNd_/s320/IMG_20160806_133819.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Immediately after transplant</td></tr>
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We hold at least 4 inches of water in the paddy field after transplant. 2 problems come up if we don't hold water: (a) weeds start growing vigorously if there is no water. Being submerged in water kills the weeds and does not give them a chance to come up. (b) Buoyancy of water lifts up the seedlings little bit and allows them to get upright and grow. Without water they are knocked off by the breeze and die.<br />
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This is how the field looks little more than a month after transplant:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqbbXYjwU5kgfbdcgRmtVrpfClkHPjXnRZPZtCnhtbmzypnrEkTB_SHF1JKDl0MCCvbQY0CN-Jtr2Rnvy-FUJHAG9WKs9WGImX320O19PgXdQLlPPuP77x6NzZqro26n8VkbmMZJC/s1600/IMG_20160903_112452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqbbXYjwU5kgfbdcgRmtVrpfClkHPjXnRZPZtCnhtbmzypnrEkTB_SHF1JKDl0MCCvbQY0CN-Jtr2Rnvy-FUJHAG9WKs9WGImX320O19PgXdQLlPPuP77x6NzZqro26n8VkbmMZJC/s320/IMG_20160903_112452.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little more than a month after transplant</td></tr>
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There should have been some standing water in the field. Unfortunately we had close to 40% rain shortage. So much for excess rain forecast from all weather agencies. If situation continues like this for some more days I may have to switch on irrigation pump to water growing rice plants.<br />
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3 weeks after transplant rice crop was attacked by some insects. They did some damage by cutting the leaves. Soon after that some birds showed up in the field and ate the insects. Damage control happened naturally.<br />
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7 weeks after transplant I see some symptoms of rice blast disease (a fungal disease). Neighboring fields have major damage. I am hoping this disease also is controlled naturally somehow. Have to wait and watch what happens.<br />
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<b>Update: 26-Sep-2016</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFQf3lJ7yqbK-FUkgD0FdWlmYRgyGIyRJudzGIGNFxXEfLdw87qGeHoQLajGA_BBvTUCF6Kei_fvTzW81LSGwvi4g0ODRogflNKcCADCGzsHKQxcQ5jSbfJeb1sYiTiaN10PTLkyW/s1600/IMG_20160926_103058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFQf3lJ7yqbK-FUkgD0FdWlmYRgyGIyRJudzGIGNFxXEfLdw87qGeHoQLajGA_BBvTUCF6Kei_fvTzW81LSGwvi4g0ODRogflNKcCADCGzsHKQxcQ5jSbfJeb1sYiTiaN10PTLkyW/s320/IMG_20160926_103058.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Some plants affected by rice blast disease (I believe it is rice blast, please comment if you are sure it is not rice blast). Some traditional farmers suggested me to spray chemicals for treating the disease. I decided not to spray and let the nature take care of it.<br />
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In hind sight certain environment friendly seed treatments could have avoided it or reduced it considerably. I will try it for the next crop (if I grow rice again).<br />
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<b>Update: 12-Oct-2016</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcuGUQwDV4XzMkbSjmPF1l7AsVswQQ5b0ZXtAz4YI6sqZ-YS7Bu9w14wFyapNysJYL1VEfZM8nUNrVegCbOP2ujVw8K4_sN4pD-ARL6PwkUrB600yGK0s6ffrHODukWehUrDXC_Ob/s1600/IMG_20161012_110722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcuGUQwDV4XzMkbSjmPF1l7AsVswQQ5b0ZXtAz4YI6sqZ-YS7Bu9w14wFyapNysJYL1VEfZM8nUNrVegCbOP2ujVw8K4_sN4pD-ARL6PwkUrB600yGK0s6ffrHODukWehUrDXC_Ob/s320/IMG_20161012_110722.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Nature did its job. Blast disease went away without doing anything :-) Conventional farmers don't have the patience to wait and also they have lost faith in nature. They start throwing chemicals at the slightest indication of a disease - thereby polluting the environment and poisoning their food.<br />
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<b>Update: 23-Oct-2016</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahDOdd2wK8pgNRo936WOq-QMpHS6aEhNuOWiaYo0hj3DpSkDM4carvKDPpTMIRheORLzhpIyzyl6aiq8RAn8YSi0biGtS62kI-0szY_TPeK2bl_TBq5t1bEA7MCRsB5m2fDNDnN3O/s1600/IMG_20161023_123607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahDOdd2wK8pgNRo936WOq-QMpHS6aEhNuOWiaYo0hj3DpSkDM4carvKDPpTMIRheORLzhpIyzyl6aiq8RAn8YSi0biGtS62kI-0szY_TPeK2bl_TBq5t1bEA7MCRsB5m2fDNDnN3O/s320/IMG_20161023_123607.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rice grains - baby steps</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is great feeling when I see the rice grains on the plants in the field. Finally we are not depending on others for food - talk about "food security" ;-)<br />
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Harvesting is another month and half away. I have to wait .. wait .. wait!<br />
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<b>Update: 14-Nov-2016</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5F8Wc_X5Z-EAYmnhonxdTtBk_gtbQabRKbr7_bzY0I3doGyGotWOXFZmr_5N2I_Hc93JyZUJLuvhy_cYEzPViBRSR6fgV2ezXvtJY1EY9bq5akK_gKZd67I3ycEOT_51_wsjcEmY2/s1600/IMG_20161113_162329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5F8Wc_X5Z-EAYmnhonxdTtBk_gtbQabRKbr7_bzY0I3doGyGotWOXFZmr_5N2I_Hc93JyZUJLuvhy_cYEzPViBRSR6fgV2ezXvtJY1EY9bq5akK_gKZd67I3ycEOT_51_wsjcEmY2/s320/IMG_20161113_162329.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Growing rice grains</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Grains are growing well. In the beginning grain sacs have milky substance inside - which grows and hardens to become rice grain. Now they have hardened and look like rice when we open the husk. Harvesting is another month away.<br />
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<b>Update: 07-Dec-2016</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAh3gognZZWW37wYPEoeKOSHQPqvR8m76uepJG4L7r63BUcCz7jOWzSLsMfsjx96_h6DEvJcfGD3Kxb2U-B2M1UIduJ3TOCHhnGJF7IUTQn-wNpW31wXBorJQ9QtMrdMFuIkAHG9M/s1600/IMG_20161210_093454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAh3gognZZWW37wYPEoeKOSHQPqvR8m76uepJG4L7r63BUcCz7jOWzSLsMfsjx96_h6DEvJcfGD3Kxb2U-B2M1UIduJ3TOCHhnGJF7IUTQn-wNpW31wXBorJQ9QtMrdMFuIkAHG9M/s320/IMG_20161210_093454.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cut paddy kept in the field for drying</td></tr>
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Finally harvest day arrives. Mr. Bangarappa (our farm helper) and team came to the field, cut the paddy grass and laid it on the ground to dry. It will be in the field for few days. After that we will move the stuff to flat clean ground for threshing and winnowing. Keep tuned for the last stage ...<br />
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I am few days away from eating 100% naturally grown food, grown by myself!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQieyYZIv5rYRwLpV04r4gJ5oAZ4vfR8WzSc12aIrWvXnhb3zpMGfupOU1Nj7iyGkkFNLXtPQMhF7w-dLyWJZvhJjjcGO2giI0rzQ2uWPuhCfRNM4xv1n_gtKZ4b0ZVitWjMgq_RJF/s1600/IMG_20161212_123049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQieyYZIv5rYRwLpV04r4gJ5oAZ4vfR8WzSc12aIrWvXnhb3zpMGfupOU1Nj7iyGkkFNLXtPQMhF7w-dLyWJZvhJjjcGO2giI0rzQ2uWPuhCfRNM4xv1n_gtKZ4b0ZVitWjMgq_RJF/s1600/IMG_20161212_123049.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paddy tied up for carrying to threshing yard</td></tr>
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<b>Update: 12-Dec-2016</b><br />
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Mr. Bangarappa moved harvested paddy to threshing yard today. Threshing is done in 2 different ways: (a) holding the base of the cut straw bunch and hitting the grain side against a hard surface. Grains fall down leaving only the straw in hand. (b) spreading the paddy in the threshing yard and running bullocks/cattle/tractor on them for some time. This separates grains from the straw. We took easy path of using a tractor to separate the grains from straw.<br />
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<b>Update: 14-Dec-2016</b><br />
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Unfortunately a cyclonic storm named Varda threw major challenge for harvesting work. This cyclone hit Tamilnadu coast and became a depression causing continuous drizzle for a day in our area. We had just separated the grains from the straw. We could not carry them to a place safe from rain. We covered paddy in the threshing yard with plastic sheets. Straw was left in the open to soak up the rain! Hopefully very soon sun will show up and dry them before they rot down because of wet conditions. We need this straw for our cattle - it is their main food.<br />
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Such unpredictable weather is a major challenge for farmers. A farmer depending only on crops for the livelihood of whole year will be in major problem when such unfavorable weather events occur. Luckily for me I can tide through such situations even when there is 100% crop loss. Farmers have to change their farming practices to include some crops which are not so much dependent on weather or impacted so much by weather.<br />
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<b>Update: 18-Dec-2016</b><br />
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Luckily there was no crop loss or damage because of un-seasonal/un-expected rains. Our farm help Mr. Bangarappa covered the crop with plastic sheets to protect them from rain. Today I received almost a tonne of paddy and a big pile of hay. This much paddy is enough for several years for my family of 3. Therefore I have decided to share it with friends and family so that people around me can taste pesticide free and chemical free food.<br />
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With total expenditure of approximately 8,000 Rs. I got paddy worth at least 12,000 Rs. and hay worth at least 3,000 Rs. Almost 100% profit margin - for those who look at everything from ROI perspective. However, chemical free food for us (and also for my cows) is invaluable. Health benefits of such chemical free food is worth lot more than straight forward ROI can calculate. Therefore look at it from any angle - farming is really worth the time, effort and money one spends on it :-)<br />
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-39128501880344728562016-06-10T23:09:00.001+05:302016-06-16T08:11:26.148+05:30Well ... well!Plants in the farm need irrigation during hot and dry summer months. That needs a water source. Usual water source in this part of the world is a well. We have one well near the stream running adjacent to the farm. Though it was supposed to be a well, it did not remain a well more than 30 years after it was dug. It became a dirty water pond. This is how it looked when we bought the farm:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtC1sFIJAJWqLC-BCDY_ZSA2M8dO9R1z6_WLGDGP1LubbjLzT7M-n83kf-I-C9sUEa4qpM7P7LvyC83LsxJRSvz8fQArWPeQ_I3i8qPgLX3bdCSgfhjHOgwr8hwXbrXPmp99Sl4Hxt/s1600/IMG_20150328_131427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtC1sFIJAJWqLC-BCDY_ZSA2M8dO9R1z6_WLGDGP1LubbjLzT7M-n83kf-I-C9sUEa4qpM7P7LvyC83LsxJRSvz8fQArWPeQ_I3i8qPgLX3bdCSgfhjHOgwr8hwXbrXPmp99Sl4Hxt/s320/IMG_20150328_131427.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pond? No, it is a well! Silt from the<br />
stream converted the well to a dirty pond.</td></tr>
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Efforts to manually de-silt this pond failed because the silt was very slippery and soft. It was almost like quicksand - a worker entering this drowned few feet of depth and came out fearing for his life! There was no way I could have pumped out water for irrigation from this dirty pond. Therefore I decided to convert it to a proper well so that we can use it easily.</div>
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Soft soil all around the well needs reinforcement to hold the sides of the well in place. In earlier times people used to line such wells with a stone wall (round shaped stone wall). That works only if the sides of the wall are strong enough to stay until the well is dug and the lining work is completed. Also, stone lining means there is very less chance for further deepening the well if need arises in future. Modern solution to the problem is using concrete rings for lining. Well diggers place the concrete ring liner as soon as they find soft soil. Therefore there is no danger of the well collapsing at any time. Expert well diggers can dig under the concrete ring and deepen the well further if need arises. Digging under the ring and sinking them vertically is an art form well diggers have perfected over the years. But it all comes at a cost - they demand a premium for risking their life for this kind of work.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94tRieB8_U8T_45vn-Qyd8eY5HTefxqa6-kunwh2c7ykSUwj-E7lxmZnJ3RYWOYMaQVIzOi1XEuFN56LIEaOJxNDOkVcjW5_SOzvn4w5ER_MXxYRJY1aKL3TEMxSj8I1w6i2OL5dX/s1600/IMG_20160410_115121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94tRieB8_U8T_45vn-Qyd8eY5HTefxqa6-kunwh2c7ykSUwj-E7lxmZnJ3RYWOYMaQVIzOi1XEuFN56LIEaOJxNDOkVcjW5_SOzvn4w5ER_MXxYRJY1aKL3TEMxSj8I1w6i2OL5dX/s320/IMG_20160410_115121.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Concrete rings cast on site and ready to go into the well</td></tr>
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I decided to use 10 ft diameter concrete rings for the well. Ring height is 1 ft and thickness is 5 inches. Obviously they are very heavy with all the steel reinforcement inside and the concrete. Therefore they are almost always cast on site and placed into the well after curing the concrete.</div>
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Well diggers don't dig such large diameter wells manually now. They use earth moving equipment to dig such large diameter wells up to 25-30 ft depth (provided there is enough space around the well for the earth moving equipment to move around and work). They use the same equipment to lift and place the rings into the well.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Earth moving equipment digging the well</span></div>
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We had our well ready after 10 hours of heavy digging, moving the soil, dropping the rings into the well, adjusting the rings for proper alignment and filling gravel between the rings and outer wall of the well. Gravel is filled between rings and outer wall of the well for the oozing ground water to filter through and enter the well. We started at around 10:00 am and it was well past mid night when we finished. This is how finished well looks:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_0sCIvBfuZrT7fYaSgmJo1hK1q0zVFPKXCUdGqvpYbuVGi46bd-WnQhBm108SOnMLLfeaJASijkPvldDwvaeBe9kujmDrYHDoxv4BwDXCs5LW2ODeWCdfR5Dz2e-deBdX_YMjv5N/s1600/IMG_20160609_093226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_0sCIvBfuZrT7fYaSgmJo1hK1q0zVFPKXCUdGqvpYbuVGi46bd-WnQhBm108SOnMLLfeaJASijkPvldDwvaeBe9kujmDrYHDoxv4BwDXCs5LW2ODeWCdfR5Dz2e-deBdX_YMjv5N/s320/IMG_20160609_093226.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished well, photographed almost at the<br />
same <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">angle as the pond photograph above.</span></td></tr>
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Best part of the well is - water; it has lot of water. We saw water oozing from all sides of the well when the work was in progress. It started filling up as the work was progressing. There was close to 8 ft standing water in the well by the time we finished the work. When I saw next morning water level was around 5 ft from ground level (10 ft deep water in the well) - means ground water table is at a depth of 5 ft in this land. According to my back-of-the-envelope calculation this well is holding approx. 25000 liters of water. Even if I completely empty the well it fills up overnight. Imagine such a good source of water at this peak summer after a drought year. It was worth spending close to 150,000 INR for the well. That too not heeding the advice from several "well wishers" of drilling a tube well. I got a well which can be recharged instead of exploiting the water stored thousands of years back deep under earth surface.</div>
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-33006426484555057932016-05-31T16:22:00.003+05:302016-09-22T20:28:57.969+05:30DIY AA to D battery converter/adapterA powerful torch light (well, it is flashlight for US guys) is necessary for a farmer to see things after it gets dark. There are 2 types of torch lights - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashlight#Incandescent" target="_blank">conventional incandescent bulb</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashlight#LED" target="_blank">LED light</a>. More than a century old energy inefficient incandescent bulb torch lights have been superseded by modern LED lights outperforming incandescent bulb in every department. Therefore LED torch light is the way to go. <a href="http://www.fenixlight.com/" target="_blank">Fenix</a> is a popular brand when it comes to high end LED flashlight. However, the price is insane - it costs several thousand Indian Rupees for a light! I need a practical solution, not an expensive "brand" I can flaunt. Therefore I started looking around for a lower cost option. Found some lower priced torch lights in the cost range of 1000-2000 Indian Rupees on Amazon and eBay. Still it looked too much to pay for a torch light. My search for a practical torch light continued. I found an unknown brand torch light in a small electrical shop in Sagara town. Best things of this light were throw of light and the cost. Cost was just 500 Rs., that too with 4 numbers of D size <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93carbon_battery" target="_blank">zinc-carbon batteries</a> included. I thought I can very well risk 500 Rs. instead of risking 2-4 times of that money on some other torch light. Therefore I bought this torch light for experimenting. I pointed it to the road outside and switched it on after it got dark. Wow - it could light up several hundred meters distance easily. This was the practical torch light I was looking for - good light at reasonable price. Probably this torch light stands at the top position when it comes to light/price ratio.<br />
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No doubt this torch light is good for seeing outside things after it gets dark. It has also worked well as replacement for candle light when there was power failure in the night. Just switch it on and point it to the roof. Reflection from the white painted roof illuminates the room pretty well. Little bit of reflective paint on the roof can make it really nice.<br />
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This was going great until last month. For last few days I started feeling the light is not as bright as it used to be. Either the LED is going bad OR the batteries are getting weak. With today's LED technology it is rare for the LED to go bad so early. Therefore battery was the suspect. To test it I pulled out the battery and put a multi-meter across the battery. It read dismal 1.1 V indicating battery is dead. This battery is hopeless because open circuit voltage of 1.1 V means it will perform far worse when loaded.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6vNJVDJqeYcHuFrqPkPHKLCSXwc0mVkogfncF6UODPjRyjS3R-R_tifMSLO7pRA5jPpM0B7y2WByouiY58JqQL8SYZ6XbTypsOria1WYcanCQMBQn-t9_Iwx6JSMNcjCBKEXFoe1/s1600/IMG_20160531_122857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6vNJVDJqeYcHuFrqPkPHKLCSXwc0mVkogfncF6UODPjRyjS3R-R_tifMSLO7pRA5jPpM0B7y2WByouiY58JqQL8SYZ6XbTypsOria1WYcanCQMBQn-t9_Iwx6JSMNcjCBKEXFoe1/s320/IMG_20160531_122857.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D size battery (left) and AA size battery (right)</td></tr>
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What are my options for the batteries? 4 numbers of D size Duracell batteries cost approximately 600 Indian Rupees - more than the price of the torch light. Therefore using rechargeable batteries is sensible option. However, rechargeable D size batteries cost several times more than conventional batteries. More over it is hard to find D size battery chargers in India. Therefore that is not a practical option for me. Only option I have is using widely available rechargeable batteries - which are AA size batteries. I have to somehow use AA size batteries in a D size battery torch light. Say, I have to adapt AA size batteries to a D size battery - either individual batteries or as a set of 4 batteries connected in series (as they are used inside the torch light).<br />
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There are AA to D size battery adapters available in the market. They are D size plastic shells inside which 1-3 AA size batteries fit in. After fitting the AA size batteries and closing the shell it looks like a D size battery - both in size and voltage (in theory). I am saying voltage is in theory because voltages measured with adapter may be slightly less than without adapter - simply for the reason that each adapter adds at least 2 more contact points, thereby increasing the contact resistance and resulting voltage drop. Using 4 such AA to D size adapters will make it possible to use AA size batteries in the torch light. Again, cost came in the way. On Amazon I found one such AA to D size adapter at 350 Rs. Paying so much for just a plastic shell does not make any sense. Making such an adapter does not need any complicated technology. Manufacturing cost of each adapter should not be more than 2 or 3 Rs. Selling price is nonsense even if I assume manufacturing cost is 10 Rs. Definitely seller/manufacturer (or both?) are making insane profit. I hate such businesses ripping off their customers. I will not buy it!<br />
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How about making my own AA to D adapter? It need not be a fancy thing like the ones sold online. It should do the job without major inconvenience for me to use it. A DIY adapter will do the job if it satisfies following requirements:<br />
<ul>
<li>Should have same outer diameter as that of D size battery - 33.2 mm +/- 1 mm.</li>
<li>Should have same length as 4 D size batteries put together - 61.5 mm * 4 = 246 mm.</li>
<li>Should have same voltage as 4 D size batteries connected in series - 1.5 V * 4 = 6 V. I have tested my torch light even with 4.5 V. It works well as long as around 300 mA current is supplied even at 4.5 V. Therefore voltage between 4.5 V to 6 V is fine.</li>
</ul>
I decided to use AA size <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93metal_hydride_battery" target="_blank">Ni-MH batteries</a> because they are widely used in digital cameras, it is easy to source them and it is easy to find a charger for them. Though a new fully charged Ni-MH battery gives out 1.4 V, average voltage is 1.2 V. Therefore they can be a good replacement for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93carbon_battery" target="_blank">zinc-carbon batteries</a> having 1.5 V. 4 numbers Ni-MH batteries in series are almost equivalent to 4 zinc-carbon batteries in series. Challenge is battery size - AA size batteries are much thinner and shorter than D size batteries. One way of solving the problem is:<br />
<ul>
<li>Add something around AA batteries to get outer diameter of 33.2 mm. Very high accuracy is not needed. Approximate size is enough. 1 or 2 mm tolerance is good enough.</li>
<li>Put the batteries in series to reach same length as that of 4 numbers D size batteries put in series. AA size batteries have a length of 50 mm approx. 4 numbers AA batteries in series make only 200 mm (+/- 2 mm). We fall short of 46 mm when compared to 246 mm (see the requirement list above) length of 4 numbers D size batteries. How to manage that? Simple, use some kind of filler to take up 46 mm length.</li>
</ul>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUQd9l-FgDrI1i5MfthF3zdjqwSlToddF4_ersfdZBFleK6neeUsBZUKdrloOsrWk0B0DOs2u5BxwQI7LxbVqtcb2ns9gUk46oWgWbUcrzinSDpjH_WAkPRjNGKg7ZLEPl3kc6rAV/s1600/IMG_20160528_103252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUQd9l-FgDrI1i5MfthF3zdjqwSlToddF4_ersfdZBFleK6neeUsBZUKdrloOsrWk0B0DOs2u5BxwQI7LxbVqtcb2ns9gUk46oWgWbUcrzinSDpjH_WAkPRjNGKg7ZLEPl3kc6rAV/s320/IMG_20160528_103252.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">23 mm inner (29 mm outer) dia uPVC pipe (above) <br />
18 mm outer diameter PVC pipe (below)</td></tr>
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Being a farmer I also have many pipes (used for watering the plants) and one them happened to be a uPVC pipe with 23 mm inner diameter and 29 mm outer diameter (though the label on the pipe reads 1 inch / 25 mm inner diameter). This is the closest dimensions I could manage to reach the goal of 33 mm outer diameter of D size battery. I cut out a 200 mm piece of the pipe - which is the length of 4 numbers AA batteries connected in series minus 2 mm (you will read later why 2 mm less). Next challenge is filling the gap between AA battery diameter and the 23 mm inner diameter of the uPVC pipe I chose. For that I chose 18 mm external diameter PVC pipe used as electrical wiring sheath. I took 200 mm length of this pipe and fitted it inside the uPVC pipe. Remember - this electrical sheath pipe should fit concentrically inside uPVC pipe; therefore their length should be equal: 200 mm.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkbW1QSYn_bM7B2WB-IfpE0317IL7Ya3Ru_5ZyEs7cC4HAMusgP0KI7BolZhwI1bESYONXcBWwGwCLnrPGEXOBFwH-cjuZ_dIAE_Q0Ez5XUB5kHyDweYJGULfHzYUlkdDlVYcVEpP/s1600/IMG_20160531_133523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkbW1QSYn_bM7B2WB-IfpE0317IL7Ya3Ru_5ZyEs7cC4HAMusgP0KI7BolZhwI1bESYONXcBWwGwCLnrPGEXOBFwH-cjuZ_dIAE_Q0Ez5XUB5kHyDweYJGULfHzYUlkdDlVYcVEpP/s320/IMG_20160531_133523.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Layer of foam tape on inner (black) pipe.<br />
I have applied few layers of electric <br />
insulation tape over foam tape for proper fit.</td></tr>
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However, there is a gap between the outer pipe (white one) and the pipe (black one) fitted inside it. You have to somehow fill this gap so that the inner pipe is concentric when fitted inside the outer pipe. I used foam tape to fill the gap. One layer of foam tape was enough to fill the gap. I applied the foam tape on both ends of the pipe and in the middle. If you want feel free to apply the tape all along - does no harm but not needed, why waste the tape? I could source only double sided foam tape (are the foam tapes always double sided? May be ...). Be careful not to peel off the outer backing tape on the foam tape to avoid the foam sticking to the outer pipe when you are inserting the thinner pipe (black one) inside the thicker pipe (white one). Fret not if you peeled it off by mistake, just apply a layer of cello tape on it to cover up the glue layer.<br />
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Note: Depending on exact thickness and diameter of the pipes you are using there may be some slack between the inner pipe and outer pipe even after applying foam tape. In that case apply few layers of cello tape or electrical insulation tape on top of foam tape to fill the gap. Be creative and use what you have to reach the goal!<br />
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Now comes the challenge of achieving outer diameter of 33 mm. Foam tape comes to rescue again. I applied a layer of foam tape on the outer pipe (white one) to get 33 mm outer diameter. Well, in my case it turned out to be little more than 33 mm. But that is okay - torch light barrel has adequate tolerance to take slightly bigger diameter battery too.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7D81zxg6JWFUaWQQcbTmvH9X5gyuepfM52IHj2qHK3zaQeP5idvWnyLi4SctrfvOEIrFLLPBPF26zBLs2buo9LLWRRcxvE5Q1t52156D7YnoRV4vu1RzOkEEqH2lc4_1jNfLLiJ_/s1600/IMG_20160531_142453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7D81zxg6JWFUaWQQcbTmvH9X5gyuepfM52IHj2qHK3zaQeP5idvWnyLi4SctrfvOEIrFLLPBPF26zBLs2buo9LLWRRcxvE5Q1t52156D7YnoRV4vu1RzOkEEqH2lc4_1jNfLLiJ_/s320/IMG_20160531_142453.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outer pipe of 29 mm outer diameter with foam tape to convert it to 33 mm outer diameter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then I put 4 numbers AA size batteries in the newly made holder and tested it. Positive terminal of the first battery and the negative terminal of last battery extend 1 mm outside the 200 mm long holder. That is perfect fit because it is necessary for both the terminals to extend little bit outside the holder for establishing proper connection. This is the reason why I had cut 200 mm long piece of pipe instead of 202 mm needed for 4 numbers of AA size batteries.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdpMDAcSs0VVMVZLWNTq5NB1xe2COny4tEqm_3DklU5XUhAqa-xZ8xv2AqJHxg3wRMqEZLiNrSxn51it2bO9kBo9iocowOGzv9INYnTqQDt5Tf-c9bFphMNiDbegJvSiak-7Yyrm3/s1600/IMG_20160528_110424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdpMDAcSs0VVMVZLWNTq5NB1xe2COny4tEqm_3DklU5XUhAqa-xZ8xv2AqJHxg3wRMqEZLiNrSxn51it2bO9kBo9iocowOGzv9INYnTqQDt5Tf-c9bFphMNiDbegJvSiak-7Yyrm3/s320/IMG_20160528_110424.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cut and split pipe pieces for fitting inside the <br />
ends of 18 mm PVC pipe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
However, there was a small problem. There was some gap between the batteries and 18 mm pipe containing the batteries. That much of little gap may not cause any problem. But I wanted to be more accurate. So I filled that gap using small pieces of 18 mm PVC pipe pieces. For that cut 15-20 mm long piece of 18 mm pipe and remove around 6 mm on its side. Then press it so that the cut ends meet and push it inside the pipe. You may have to remove more than 6 mm or less than 6 mm or even file the inside of the cut piece depending on the thickness of the pipe you are using. Just make sure AA batteries slide in comfortably after fitting in the filler pieces. Filler pieces have a tendency to slide inside the pipe. Therefore glue it to the outer pipe using PVC cement or any quick curing adhesive. Lightly file (use a circular or semi circular file) or sand the inside of the ends If at all you find that it is little too tight for inserting AA batteries.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCE6hCoS4WyfWnKzVn2vetupcXC-MEQdKtN9slEWkpCBm2mmoGUJyBg6Qg9sMmqlAAOfQCkwxQxBuENq4MlpyL17l_Y2a8N0az7uEeYfD0-mNWQb7PPGgs4DNEH9chxAv58r73tGcf/s1600/IMG_20160528_112636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCE6hCoS4WyfWnKzVn2vetupcXC-MEQdKtN9slEWkpCBm2mmoGUJyBg6Qg9sMmqlAAOfQCkwxQxBuENq4MlpyL17l_Y2a8N0az7uEeYfD0-mNWQb7PPGgs4DNEH9chxAv58r73tGcf/s320/IMG_20160528_112636.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thin black layer outside the white outer cover of battery <br />
is the filler piece</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Just 2 pieces at each end of the 200 mm length of 18 mm diameter pipe is enough because any gap inside the pipe does not matter much. Filling the gap at the 2 ends of the pipe ensures positive terminal of first battery and negative terminal of the last battery are at the center of the battery adapter.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFxaBNGewmEzmpUmCqHxwDwreV5XDE-GM0VysvnPOxYSyCFDV82J1HB0ki8g8FVtiadK-iMg4VzVKTDibHaaU_PpLHNAdpfpSBW1Zow5q07UBuz8DBVzfhlDQJk6Vpu2N6d2pUQy1/s1600/IMG_20160528_114039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFxaBNGewmEzmpUmCqHxwDwreV5XDE-GM0VysvnPOxYSyCFDV82J1HB0ki8g8FVtiadK-iMg4VzVKTDibHaaU_PpLHNAdpfpSBW1Zow5q07UBuz8DBVzfhlDQJk6Vpu2N6d2pUQy1/s320/IMG_20160528_114039.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filler battery to fill 46 mm shortfall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now the challenge of making up for the 46 mm short fall between the total length of 4 numbers D batteries and 4 numbers AA batteries connected in series. For that I cut out a 30 mm length of the 29 mm diameter uPVC pipe. Then I harvested the top and bottom ends of the spent D size battery and attached them to the ends of the pipe. It should look like a 46 mm long mini battery. It should act like a filler battery to fill that space conducting the electricity through it. Solder a wire connecting both ends of this "filler battery" to conduct electricity from one end to the other end. In the picture you don't see soldered wire because I have put the wire inside.<br />
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Now open the torch light, drop the filler battery to the bottom, fill batteries in the battery holder pipe and drop it on top of the filler (make sure polarity of batteries are all correct). Close the torch light. Switch it on. You should see it lighting up fully bright :-) Don't worry when the brightness of the light goes down. Just pull out the batteries, charge them and put them back. It restores full brightness.<br />
<br />
After this experiment I felt confident of handling D to AA conversion. Ordered one more much better torch light for further experiments :-)<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-43019583728014932862016-04-12T13:21:00.000+05:302016-09-22T21:34:39.755+05:30Remote control for irrigation pumpI don't have a house in the farm at this time. Therefore I am living in a place few kms away from the farm. Karnataka state (my farm is in Karnataka) had been producing far less electric power than the demand. Therefore power companies take a easy route - stop power to villages to supply power to towns and cities. Power shutdown in villages is very common. Scheduled power shutdown is at least for 6 hours in a day. There can be more power shutdown depending on situation like less water availability in hydro power generation stations, less water availability for thermal power generation stations etc. during summer months when the electricity need peaks (for cooling and irrigation). Also there is this practice of "single phasing" (meaning one or two phases are disconnected or too low voltage is provided) during day time to prevent running 3 phase irrigation pumps. Because of these reasons it is possible to run irrigation pumps only during night time for few hours when the electricity supply is available and stable. This situation makes it very difficult to irrigate the farm for people living away from farm like me. It is a major hassle to walk to the pump house in the night to operate the pump even for people living close to the farm or in the farm. There are also instances of people dying of snake bite when they went to the farm in the night to operate the irrigation pump!<br />
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<div>
What is the solution to this problem? I thought of 2 possibilities:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Sun is far more reliable than anything else in this part of the world. Use the Sun, install a solar pump. It runs only during day time when Sun is shining bright. That works very well for irrigation pump.</li>
<li>Have some way to operate the pump remotely when there is power in the farm.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
Solar pump solution does not work for me because solar panels can be stolen or damaged by miscreants since there is nobody living in the farm at this time to protect the panels. Therefore solar pump is not feasible option for me. Only way I can operate the pump is through some kind of remote control.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
First thought coming to mind to solve this problem is running the pump using a timer. This timer needs to be little intelligent to run the pump for specified duration even when there are power interruptions in between. For example - if I set the timer to run for 10 minutes, it should remember to run the pump for remaining duration of 4 minutes if the power shuts down when the pump has run for 6 minutes. It is not difficult to have such an implementation. However, there is one problem here. I may not want to run the pump for a fixed duration every day. For example - I may want to irrigate more on the previous day if I am traveling out of town for a day or two. Then the pump has to run for extra duration that day. Another example - I may not want to run the pump for a day or two when there is some rain. Summary is - fixed timer based pump controller is not flexible; it is not practical.</div>
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<div>
I need an implementation where I can decide how long to run the pump on any day/time or even not to run the pump on any given day/time. Call it "on-demand" remote pump switch. It should be like a remote control to control the pump from anywhere. That means I need some kind of wireless communication to the pump controller.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiakUXnpvCoJfC9Hy3UC7-yd_M8zY9nCinm_XR62T7Op_RWsF-kkBfI6YVfyM9zbsuz0WYusvChsU6PS-07q2KaAeWy1VvNoYJKlWey1wWBkuMG1xeKAP6VL3x40FkjiO5CPzMcWoZ/s1600/GSM-module.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiakUXnpvCoJfC9Hy3UC7-yd_M8zY9nCinm_XR62T7Op_RWsF-kkBfI6YVfyM9zbsuz0WYusvChsU6PS-07q2KaAeWy1VvNoYJKlWey1wWBkuMG1xeKAP6VL3x40FkjiO5CPzMcWoZ/s320/GSM-module.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SIM900 module I bought off Amazon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thanks to GSM mobile phone technology, anybody can have wireless communication today. I decided to use a GSM module for wireless communication. A GSM module is a cell phone signal transceiver with serial communication interface for programming it through a micro processor. For micro processor I used a Raspberry Pi gifted to me by some engineering students when I helped them as their final year project guide. Instead of buying a new micro processor I decided to use Raspberry Pi which was lying around idle. Pi is an overkill for this application. I will buy Arduino nano If I have to buy a micro processor for this.<br />
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I bought a SIM900 module, relay board, a power relay (10A @ 250V) to switch the pump on/off, and 5V 2A power supply online. I added a 12V transformer for supplying power to GSM module. Hooked up Tx and Rx pins of SIM900 module to Rx and Tx pins of Raspberry Pi (Tx of GSM module goes to Rx of Pi and Rx of GSM module goes to Tx of Pi). I added some circuits soldered on a general purpose PCB to detect over voltage and under voltage to stop the pump if the voltage goes above or below certain levels. Programmed Pi using Python language to process messages sent to GSM module. In the program I baked in intelligence to work around power interruptions to ensure pump runs for the specified duration. Bought an electric switch board container box to house the whole thing. Drilled some holes on it for ventilation (obviously all the electronic stuff generates some amount of heat which should be dissipated). Popped in a SIM in the SIM holder of GSM module. This is how it looks when completely wired up. People with some electronics knowledge can make out which board is what. Please feel free to ask if you need any more information about the controller.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5ruQ7Ua1ZLevLVL_Nhw0ytnxJxzVjMq_XfRThmseGVQHONcV56Q24pskPSvpjUrpBe6iK0aCjsdVM3PqaA5BSrMoJWwhIUi735ATTMhXPT6dn5-Olqvn-Hw0-P-dSQKrfNzoRsnc/s1600/pump-controller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5ruQ7Ua1ZLevLVL_Nhw0ytnxJxzVjMq_XfRThmseGVQHONcV56Q24pskPSvpjUrpBe6iK0aCjsdVM3PqaA5BSrMoJWwhIUi735ATTMhXPT6dn5-Olqvn-Hw0-P-dSQKrfNzoRsnc/s320/pump-controller.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pump controller as installed in the farm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcCsjzvNVq1EiN_goEMlEJsgXUA9uLRjoz3FR2HF9wnUoUxirzuoVWn_6EH0nRoEqJfluQgFTPddrPJ7KYUhI3zAjLqz1XT7Mb3Yl9vbwre4NVZa307dGFAyH0F73LeYUbEAxJtoG/s1600/PumpController-01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcCsjzvNVq1EiN_goEMlEJsgXUA9uLRjoz3FR2HF9wnUoUxirzuoVWn_6EH0nRoEqJfluQgFTPddrPJ7KYUhI3zAjLqz1XT7Mb3Yl9vbwre4NVZa307dGFAyH0F73LeYUbEAxJtoG/s320/PumpController-01.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conversation between my cell phone and pump controller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is a sample of conversation between my cell phone and the pump controller. Don't bother sending messages (if you can somehow figure out the complete cell number of pump SIM card) to hack into my pump controller, it won't work because I have programmed the controller to take messages from specific phone numbers only :-) Messages from other phone numbers are ignored and deleted. Controller has been tested under field conditions to ensure it works fine. There were some hiccups initially. I added a USB storage device to Raspberry Pi for collecting logs from the application. Logs were used for debugging the code running inside Pi. Controller had been running reliably from Oct/Nov-2015.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Next step to this is having moisture sensors in the farm to decide when the plants need water and turn the pump on/off as per needs of the plant. That will be a dream come true because then the plants will be watered automatically whenever they need water.<br />
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<b>Update on 22-Sep-2016:</b><br />
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Pump controller had a major problem after being operational for around 7-8 months (excluding the monsoon months when I had switched it off). Yesterday evening I switched the pump on for 2 hours to irrigate growing paddy crop. Pump controller responded with messages when it switched the pump on and 2 hours later when it switched the pump off. However, I was surprised to see the water flowing through the pipe when I visited the farm today morning. Pump had been running for last 16 hours! Further investigation showed that the relay used for switching the pump on/off had failed in permanently closed position. In fact relay contacts got welded in on position keeping it on irrespective of on/off indications coming from the controller.<br />
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Why did it happen? Simple - pump is an inductive load. Theoretically pump winding offers very low resistance to current flow when the pump is not running - called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inrush_current" target="_blank">inrush current</a>. Therefore very high current flows through the windings for a moment until the pump picks up speed. After that current flow through the pump drops to normal running current. Therefore a surge of power flows through the relay contacts when the relay contacts close to switch the pump on. According to some estimates momentary current (ampere-age) when the pump is switched on is up to 10 times the normal running current. Another surge runs through the contacts when switching off the pump because of back EMF (I am not sure whether it holds good for AC motors). These very high momentary currents cause arcing. That can either cause welding or decaying/wearing off of relay contacts. Unfortunately my relay contacts got welded in permanently on position. Fortunately I found it soon, by next morning, before the motor was killed!<br />
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What is the solution? Use something to absorb the surge. Either varistors or capacitors or a capacitor/resistor network (suitable values calculated to match the load) called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snubber" target="_blank">snubber</a> network is used across the relay contacts to absorb the surge. I knew it is needed. But did not use it because I thought relay can handle the surge from my motor because normal running current of my motor is around 3 amps and the relay is rated for 10 amps. Obviously relay rating was not enough, I should have used heavier relay.<br />
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Unfortunately I don't have access to much heavier electro-mechanical relays. Instead of heavier relay I could have used a snubber network. But I don't know the inductance of the motor to calculate the snubber network component values. Therefore I decided to try the SSR (solid state relay) I had in my collection. I have Autonix brand SSR rated @ 40 amps. It has a built-in snubber network. I assumed it takes care of some surges at least, though it is not calculated to match the surge from the motor I have. I connected the relay, switched on the pump and the relay failed within few seconds! I had another one. Removed the failed one and connected the new SSR - that survived for several minutes but produced lot of heat. Message on the relay package reads "External heat sink is needed for currents more than 3 amps." I don't like to add a crown (heat sink) on top of my controller. Therefore I dropped the idea of using SSR (solid state relay) for pump controller.<br />
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What is next? There are devices called "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactor" target="_blank">contactors</a>". These are like relay but much bigger and heavy duty with heavy connector points. I have ordered a contactor online and waiting for it to arrive. Let us see how the contactor does :-)<br />
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-11043611563748998852016-04-03T20:34:00.002+05:302016-04-03T20:34:41.998+05:30Power backupI am <a href="https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/14%C2%B007'21.0%22N+75%C2%B003'16.2%22E/@14.1225056,75.0534271,467m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en" target="_blank">living in a village</a> after deciding to move out of city and <a href="http://soilatlast.blogspot.in/2016/03/the-farm.html" target="_blank">buying the farm</a>. Apart from being a farmer, I am still a software architect too. Every day I spend almost half a day on software projects. Therefore I need reliable electricity supply. Being a village there are some challenges for electric power. This post provides information about how I solved the problem. <b><i>Please note - I don't have any affiliation or any relationship whatsoever to any brands I mention in this post.</i></b> I am describing what I did to solve my problem hoping that will help someone with similar challenges.<br />
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As you know cities get major share of electric power. Villages are the most neglected places by the power sector. We have 6 hours scheduled power shutdown in this village. Apart from that power may go and return at any time - that is unscheduled. Mains voltage may vary anywhere between 170 to 240 V. Electric power is unreliable here. That is why I need a power backup. I ended up buying a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery">lead acid battery</a> backed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_inverter">inverter</a> for power. General tendency is to buy some inverter and battery combination recommended by the dealer. Some dealers push whatever is best for them (who pays them more commission), not for the customer. Therefore I did my home work to decide which one to buy.<br />
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When it comes to large storage battery for the inverter currently available options are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery">lead acid battery</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93iron_battery">Nickel Iron battery</a> (also called as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93iron_battery">Ni-Fe battery</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93iron_battery">Edison battery</a> - named after the inventor Thomas Edison). Almost all the batteries you have seen in an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_inverter">inverter</a> installation are lead acid batteries (either a flat plate battery, tubular battery, tall tubular battery, absorbed glass mat or gel). Lead acid batteries are very toxic; both lead and sulfuric acid in the battery are toxic substances. Lead acid batteries need lot of careful maintenance and don't last more than 5-6 years even with best maintenance. Compared to this Nickel Iron batteries are less toxic and last really long. Frequent deep cycling does not damage Nickel Iron batteries. Nickel Iron batteries can last several decades. There is a <a href="http://www.nickel-iron-battery.com/Edison%20Cell%20Rejuvenation%2085%20yr-old%2013.%20DeMar.pdf">study done on almost a century old Nickel Iron batteries</a> indicating they are still working well! Looking at that Nickel Iron battery is the winner. But there are challenges in using Nickel Iron batteries. Lead acid and Nickel Iron battery charging and discharging characteristics are very different. All our mass market equipment are designed to run with lead acid batteries, not Nickel Iron batteries. Therefore if I decide to use Nickel Iron battery I will have to design and fabricate a special inverter for working with Nickel Iron battery. Another challenge with Nickel Iron batteries is difficulty of sourcing them. There are very few manufacturers and sellers of Nickel Iron batteries because of low demand. It will remain a maintenance nightmare even if I import few pieces of Nickel Iron batteries. Therefore practically only viable option was only one - some kind of lead acid battery. Tall tubular type is the choice out of flat plate, tubular, tall tubular, gel, and absorbed glass mat type lead acid batteries because tall tubular are the most widely used ones. My goal now is to make sure this battery I buy lasts as long as practically possible so that I don't need to throw another 15-20 thousand rupees for another heavy box of toxin [ unfortunately that is what a lead acid battery is :-( ]<br />
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Once it was a given that I have to live with a tall tubular lead acid battery I had to find an inverter which does the best job of charging the battery for longest battery life. I had a 6 year old Su-Kam brand Sturdy-i model inverter. This inverter has served me well so far. However this inverter does not consider fine variations between different lead acid battery types charging and discharging characteristics. Therefore it cannot maximize the battery life.<br />
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Another challenge is battery charging voltage vs. battery temperature. As the temperature rises battery electrolyte becomes more conductive. Therefore lower charging voltage should be used at higher temperatures and higher charging voltage should be used at lower temperatures. Any inverter not taking battery temperature into consideration for charging the battery will under charge the battery in winter and over charge the battery in summer. Both are damaging to the battery. That shortens battery life. Since my goal was maximizing battery life I wanted my inverter to adjust charging voltage according to battery temperature.<br />
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Once my requirements were clear, I spent some time on Google. I zeroed in on Su-Kam brand Falcon+ model inverter. Falcon+ has several innovations in it. You can set it to flat plate, tubular and tall tubular batteries to consider battery specific characteristics for charging/discharging. It also differentiates between a small size battery and large size battery (VA rating of the battery). Best thing about this inverter is - it reads battery temperature to decide battery charging voltage. This inverter also has ability to play well with solar charge controllers. I am planning to go completely off-grid when I build my farm house. This inverter implements 6 stage charging technology (de-sulphation, soft start charging, bulk charging, absorption charging, equalization, and float charging) controlled by a microprocessor. I believe this is the best inverter technology available in India at this moment. I have couploed a 200 AH tall tubular battery (60 months warranty) to this inverter. This gives me more than one full day autonomy for one wireless router, a desktop with LED monitor, 2-3 10-15 W LED bulbs (only in the evening), and 2-3 hours of a DTH receiver & 34 inch LED TV.Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-14267868543425145382016-03-29T15:16:00.000+05:302016-03-29T15:19:19.732+05:30IrrigationLong term goal of <a href="http://soilatlast.blogspot.in/2016/03/irrigation.html" target="_blank">our farm</a> is to build a self sustaining food forest. We planted few hundred saplings in our farm as a step towards that. Though the plants become self sustaining after few years, they need watering in the initial few years until their roots go deep and wide enough to provide them moisture during dry summer months (Feb/Mar - Jun).<br />
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We decided to install <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_irrigation" target="_blank">drip irrigation</a> to conserve water. We placed 1000 liter water tank at the highest point in the farm and ran drip irrigation lines to the plants from the tank. Now comes the challenge of pumping water into the tank from the well.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5T3GYgrsS21hDpU0GxCOuL2t8_PdVsD3vyPzY195BbORN42WSfisnCIWKFkcMG6scZUYGPMmlNxy6tiv7kKXTdyxrFakBUMm_wp_Gx5QyJI7cNP8hrSC6ejioOCaICs5iAwxVRpC/s1600/IMG_20150328_131427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5T3GYgrsS21hDpU0GxCOuL2t8_PdVsD3vyPzY195BbORN42WSfisnCIWKFkcMG6scZUYGPMmlNxy6tiv7kKXTdyxrFakBUMm_wp_Gx5QyJI7cNP8hrSC6ejioOCaICs5iAwxVRpC/s320/IMG_20150328_131427.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pond? Nope, it is a well!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Luckily previous owner of our farm had installed a 5 HP irrigation pump connected to a 30+ year old irrigation well. Well .. well, it does not look like a well any more because the soil from the sides has collapsed into the well in so many years and created a pond. Very soon we will convert it to a proper well - stay tuned for that. We had electricity connection too for the irrigation pump. By the way electricity is free for agriculture purpose in this state. This pump previous owner had installed was a low head (meaning cannot generate lot of pressure to pump water to higher altitudes) pump. That pump could not deliver water to the tank which was easily 50-60 ft above the water level in the well. We told RIP to the old pump, disconnected it and left it in its place. We bought a 1 HP V-Guard pump capable of throwing water to a height of 100 ft. It sucks water through a 32 mm diameter pipe and pushes it out through a 32 mm pipe. We buried approximately 500 ft long PVC pipe from the pump to the tank. From there we laid one main line through one section of the farm to water the plants.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0Tc85AW0sg5Hau3fmq3C6D6cm36Dp6nN8EGnPLKVtIlVGphfxg0z0HPli6J0ND_5iLFpiFan9HPk0HzyylmjsyibSeG0D8YflPC4w7mavQsQYw-uVtpeU-k-syDRgRXdB-TyqG8F/s1600/IMG_20150328_131414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0Tc85AW0sg5Hau3fmq3C6D6cm36Dp6nN8EGnPLKVtIlVGphfxg0z0HPli6J0ND_5iLFpiFan9HPk0HzyylmjsyibSeG0D8YflPC4w7mavQsQYw-uVtpeU-k-syDRgRXdB-TyqG8F/s320/IMG_20150328_131414.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old pump house</td></tr>
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</div>
<div>
Then I connected 16 mm HDPE drip line to take water to the plants from the main line. this 16 mm line runs to almost all the plants. You may say I could have run 12 mm pipes to the plants for cost cutting (obviously 12 mm pipe costs less than 16 mm pipe for the same length). There are less chances of the pipe clogging with debris in water if the pipe is wider - therefore 16 mm is less hassle compared to 12 mm. I decided to go with 16 mm all over because there is no considerable cost difference for the length of pipe we need.<br />
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Next important thing in drip irrigation is - emitter. Emitter is the thing which emits water from the drip line to the plants. Emitters are important because they should provide reliable delivery of water to the plants. You know what happens if water is not delivered to the plants properly - yes, they wilt and die. Many shops in my town sell only cheapo unreliable emitters. After quite a bit of search I found Jain 4.2 lph (liters per hour) turbo key pressure compensated emitters. That is the right stuff for our farm because:<br />
<ul>
<li>Jain is a known name in irrigation - we are less likely to go wrong with Jain equipment.</li>
<li>4.2 liters per hour is right kind of discharge for orchard crops - that is what we have in our farm.</li>
<li>Turbo key emitter has arrangement to open and clean it when it is clogged with debris from water. Jain sells a key to open it. I open it with God gifted equipment - my hands!</li>
<li>Pressure compensation is important for our farm because our farm is not flat terrain. From top to bottom of planted area there is at least 10-15 ft. elevation difference. Without pressure compensation plants lower below get more water and the ones at higher elevation get less water because of pressure difference. With pressure compensation we get uniform water delivery (within specified pressure range and manufacturing error in the pressure compensation mechanism within emitters).</li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAfx1bf8WxQBh0ajtT_EWUxUURJKHcZ3S-T8Zu4aq0a6xDHH3agumZ6leogMK1w491n7vsv4_kDaKhjnYDdjyA-zOBC0HynLlLMW4GwqFwn7-SxqbxuED7fSIW8EckCaaLW1-V0ExD/s1600/dripper.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAfx1bf8WxQBh0ajtT_EWUxUURJKHcZ3S-T8Zu4aq0a6xDHH3agumZ6leogMK1w491n7vsv4_kDaKhjnYDdjyA-zOBC0HynLlLMW4GwqFwn7-SxqbxuED7fSIW8EckCaaLW1-V0ExD/s320/dripper.png" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close-up of the emitter on the drip line</td></tr>
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Total cost of this project came to approximately 30,000 Rs. Mostly one time cost like pump, pipe line etc. With this setup plants are happy and we are happy too because plants are happy :-D. You may be thinking that is a recursive statement!<br />
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-68152390636703955472016-03-22T20:07:00.002+05:302016-03-22T22:02:39.282+05:30Our inspirationThese are the people, organizations and resources who inspired us to think of leaving the city - farming as a way to live healthier, independent, self sustainable life. If you want more information please run a Google search on them, they have loads of information and several YouTube videos available on the web.<br />
<div>
<ul>
<li>Bhaskar Save: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaskar_Save">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaskar_Save</a></li>
<li>Subhash Palekar: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhash_Palekar">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhash_Palekar</a></li>
<li>Rajiv Dixit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Dixit">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Dixit</a></li>
<li>Kailash Murthy: <a href="https://www.google.co.in/search?q=kailash+murthy">https://www.google.co.in/search?q=kailash+murthy</a></li>
<li>Raju Titus: <a href="https://www.google.co.in/search?q=raju+titus">https://www.google.co.in/search?q=raju+titus</a></li>
<li>Geoff Lawton: <a href="http://geofflawton.com/">http://geofflawton.com/</a></li>
<li>Bill Mollison: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison</a></li>
<li>Masanobu Fukuoka: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka</a></li>
<li>Deep Green Permaculture: <a href="http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/">http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/</a></li>
<li>Farmer's Handbook: <a href="http://permaculturenews.org/2010/01/06/farmers-handbook/">http://permaculturenews.org/2010/01/06/farmers-handbook/</a></li>
<li>Permaculture News: <a href="http://permaculturenews.org/">http://permaculturenews.org/</a></li>
</ul>
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-31897478179751610532016-03-17T11:49:00.001+05:302016-07-10T20:41:49.908+05:30Internet in a remote placeI am <a href="https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/14%C2%B007'21.0%22N+75%C2%B003'16.2%22E/@14.1225056,75.0534271,467m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en" target="_blank">living in a village</a> after deciding to move out of city and <a href="http://soilatlast.blogspot.in/2016/03/the-farm.html" target="_blank">buying the farm</a>. Apart from being a farmer, I am still a software architect too. I spend almost half a day on software projects. Therefore I need reliable internet service. There are some challenges for internet service in a village. This post provides information about how I solved the problem. Please note - I don't have any affiliation to any brands I mention in this post. I am describing what I did to solve my problem hoping that will help someone with similar challenges.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bsnl.co.in/" target="_blank">BSNL</a> is the only internet service provider who can connect a copper wire to homes when it comes to villages here. Catch is - <a href="http://www.bsnl.co.in/" target="_blank">BSNL</a> lines don't work for most of the time in a year because by the time their service department fixes the line it again goes bad; more so during monsoon. That is why many people in these villages are phasing out copper line phones in favor of cell phones. Therefore I decided not to take <a href="http://www.bsnl.co.in/" target="_blank">BSNL</a> copper line connection for internet.<br />
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Only option left after that decision was buying 3G/4G internet service. I studied signal strength of different service providers in the village. I used my cell phone for the signal strength study. My phone showed fairly strong 3G signal from <a href="http://www.airtel.in/" target="_blank">Airtel</a> during the study (4G has not started yet, so only 3G for now though SIM is 4G). That is why I rented out the home in the village and moved in. I use a wifi router with 3G/4G USB dongle support (D-Link DWR-116 model). When I installed my 4G dongle (Huawei E-3276 model) with <a href="http://www.airtel.in/" target="_blank">Airtel</a> 4G SIM it did not show any 3G/4G signal even on the roof top. I was disappointed with the situation because I had already moved into a beautiful home in the village, but no internet in that place :-(<br />
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Being an engineer by nature (and by training - I am a structural engineer), I was not going to give up so easily. Nearest 3G tower from the village is 6 kms away. There was no way tiny 2-3 cm long antenna in the dongle could transmit signal up to 6 kms of thick forest. I thought a good antenna setup will make it work. Some <a href="http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/homemade_yagi" target="_blank">research on internet</a> showed I can use a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi-Uda_antenna" target="_blank">Yagi antenna</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi-Uda_antenna" target="_blank">Yagi antenna</a> (actually it is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi-Uda_antenna" target="_blank">Yagi Uda antenna</a> because it is named after the inventors) is a directional antenna which is easy to design, fabricate and use. I was unable to use the designs from <a href="http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/homemade_yagi" target="_blank">whirlpool website</a> because matching boom and element materials were not available here. I used <a href="http://www.yagicad.com/" target="_blank">Yagi CAD</a> and <a href="http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmana-gal.php" target="_blank">MMANA-GAL</a> software to design and optimize the antenna for the material I got. I designed a fabricated 2 antennas - one with 4 mm diameter solid copper elements and another one with 9 mm aluminium pipe elements. Here is one my antennas in action:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsyTC72a3xiaRb0l15_8YzrH5u9fmoczQ8XMeSV2fcrTgqYYU8EG7rZZdmkqHNqjPf5FQVsuXSs7cl6CWM-VLXdWAHESZqyBe1B-w1ObXyCx8FhajxK_DI0z-twQRNlD9nLw1gvKN/s1600/IMG_20160316_160834.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsyTC72a3xiaRb0l15_8YzrH5u9fmoczQ8XMeSV2fcrTgqYYU8EG7rZZdmkqHNqjPf5FQVsuXSs7cl6CWM-VLXdWAHESZqyBe1B-w1ObXyCx8FhajxK_DI0z-twQRNlD9nLw1gvKN/s320/IMG_20160316_160834.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4 mm copper wire element antenna</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3G band is essentially UMTS technology. According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands" target="_blank">wikipedia page</a> frequency range of UMTS 2100 band used in Asia is - 1920-1980 MHz for uplink and 2110-2170 MHz for downlink. Middle of frequency range is 2045 MHz. Antenna is designed for this middle frequency. In the absence of any more authentic information I took that as the design frequency for the antenna. Antenna element lengths should be accurate to fraction of a millimeter. I ended up buying a vernier caliper for the purpose of measuring the elements when cutting them.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpQANd2jpCxF86PDifEjnraw5kmlhAKh_ZHVZnSzyBrsA-y5re_vMtwqyj8PyuRS_K4uqYFvvMCWpC4nAmm736EMyN_v05HOsDGVdnYen_KByQYsuR1MzKxm-K4YKZQ3J-huTrBrZ/s1600/IMG_20160316_072621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpQANd2jpCxF86PDifEjnraw5kmlhAKh_ZHVZnSzyBrsA-y5re_vMtwqyj8PyuRS_K4uqYFvvMCWpC4nAmm736EMyN_v05HOsDGVdnYen_KByQYsuR1MzKxm-K4YKZQ3J-huTrBrZ/s320/IMG_20160316_072621.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3G/4G USB dongle enclosed in a box</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My 3G/4G dongle (Huawei E-3276 model) has CRC-9 type connectors for connecting antenna. I bought 2 numbers of CRC-9 to F-female connector adapters on ebay to connect the antenna to the dongle. CRC-9 connectors on the dongle are delicate. I enclosed the dongle in a box and brought out the F(female) connectors to avoid any damage in daily usage. I connected the antenna to dongle using a piece of 75 Ohms <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RG-6" target="_blank">RG-6</a> cable (used for connecting DTH antenna to the set top box). I crimped a F connector to the end of the RG-6 wire connected to the dongle. This dongle uses only one antenna when connected to 3G. This dongle can boost the speed when connecting to 4G network using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIMO" target="_blank">MIMO</a> technology. For using MIMO we need to use 2 antennas mounted at 45 degree angle to vertical direction.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJs4fMisxk1-Bbn_TL9hbaxOOwXk5gkFNlOA5sLBC-kpGIpI8et8XzNB9XxiWIsMiAMAXjXPWsRtYlFwLW7Bmr0gN64o0bD0E1oVrb0nP45tg_NAwIJ7ItUtafnci0Dt7i-_3jUFJL/s1600/IMG_20160316_084721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJs4fMisxk1-Bbn_TL9hbaxOOwXk5gkFNlOA5sLBC-kpGIpI8et8XzNB9XxiWIsMiAMAXjXPWsRtYlFwLW7Bmr0gN64o0bD0E1oVrb0nP45tg_NAwIJ7ItUtafnci0Dt7i-_3jUFJL/s320/IMG_20160316_084721.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dongle connection details</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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After connecting the antenna I got good internet speed. However, my happiness was short lived. After few minutes my dongle used to drop the connection and did not reconnect until I switched off the whole stuff and switched it on. What that means is power cycling was necessary to connect the dongle once it drops the connection. I struggled with it for quite some time. One day the bulb lighted - I thought probably dongle needs more power than the power provided by the USB port of the wifi router. More so because probably the dongle is trying to transmit stronger signals since it is working in a weak signal area. I scavenged a USB-female port from a USB hub. I soldered two separate USB cables (male part) to it - one for carrying the USB signals and another one exclusively for power. Instead of using power from the USB port of wifi router now I can power my dongle using a 5V 2A external power adapter. Bought a 5V 2A power adapter online and plugged it in. That solved connection drop problem all together!<br />
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Little bit more about the dongle connections: Two metal connectors you see in the picture above towards the left are CRC-9 connectors. Wires from those 2 connectors lead to the metal connectors on the lower side - which are two F(female) connectors for connecting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_connector" target="_blank">F connectors</a> on the end of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RG-6" target="_blank">RG-6</a> cable. Small piece of green circuit board towards the top is the board soldered to female USB port scavenged from a USB hub. That female USB port is plugged into the USB port of the dongle. There are two wires soldered to the circuit board. Thin wire is soldered to the data connectors of USB port. USB end of that wire goes into the USB port of the wifi router. Thick wire is soldered to the power connectors of the USB port. USB end of that wire goes to 5V 2A power adapter.<br />
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This is the speed measured now using <a href="http://speedtest.net/">speedtest.net</a>. Connection is stable now though speed varies quite a bit. Isn't that a big improvement from "no internet" without the antenna?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpPHIjPydOXfMpJTPRr9LvbPpV60MnSmAZAP7fCirIvSfemjN-V2uKcnn1i1bpvq5B2X-t69_OMg1GAuAB2-ji_OIYb9WvN4gwUBlxJiOEW3BPB-0dmrvMBieB-PFNjGwricbL0WM/s1600/speedtest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpPHIjPydOXfMpJTPRr9LvbPpV60MnSmAZAP7fCirIvSfemjN-V2uKcnn1i1bpvq5B2X-t69_OMg1GAuAB2-ji_OIYb9WvN4gwUBlxJiOEW3BPB-0dmrvMBieB-PFNjGwricbL0WM/s320/speedtest.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Internet speed after connecting antenna and external power supply</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You may ask what happens when <a href="http://www.airtel.in/" target="_blank">Airtel</a> begins 4G service in the town? Nothing - 3G will continue to work as long as Airtel transmits 3G signals. I will get 4G if I design, fabricate and connect a 4G antenna (which I am planning to do when 4G service begins). That's all!<br />
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<b>Update on 10-Jul-2016:</b><br />
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Huawei E-3276 dongle started acting unstable for last few days and finally stopped working. It does not show any error when connected to computer. It shows very weak signal and fails to connect to service provider. Now I guess it is because of high humidity in the air since it had been raining heavily in this area for last few days.<br />
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My work needs internet connection. There was no time to order some device online and wait for several days for the delivery. I know service provider (Airtel) sells internet connection device because my friend has one. I borrowed that one for testing. I had a "wow" moment when I connected to it. It shows almost full strength 3G signal and provides stable internet connection if I place the device in first floor at a height - without any external antenna! Immediately I ran to the town and bought the device. It turned out to be Huawei-E5573s-606. Now I am using this device without any antenna. Yagi antenna that served me well for last 2 years is having well deserved rest now :-)<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-33158525946562139962016-03-12T17:19:00.006+05:302016-03-15T08:54:58.232+05:30Farming planWhen I say "<a href="http://soilatlast.blogspot.in/2016/03/the-farm.html" target="_blank">I bought a farm</a>" first thing people ask is "What are you planning to grow there?" Some "experienced" farmers suggested me to clear the forest area and plant their favorite cash crops like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_nut" target="_blank">areca</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber" target="_blank">rubber</a> etc. They also suggested me to fill up soil in the low lying paddy fields and plant the cash crops there too. Initially I tried explaining our philosophy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_farming" target="_blank">natural farming</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">permaculture</a> - which many did not get or thought I have gone insane. This post is an effort to clearly document our philosophy and plans for the farm.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzl4Lo-SkqVf6Om1uxvQuzmt_XVtyP4SSFsfdGmvmNWT9AzAXqBfrhv5TTXrczhzvWuq2eks1ZmX6yy7X406ylRuyS2Hlp9V60au237RkfyDoL_XVlHOGH2CJOGceUJYGKKlohMJ-/s1600/IMG_20160106_074135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Custard apples" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzl4Lo-SkqVf6Om1uxvQuzmt_XVtyP4SSFsfdGmvmNWT9AzAXqBfrhv5TTXrczhzvWuq2eks1ZmX6yy7X406ylRuyS2Hlp9V60au237RkfyDoL_XVlHOGH2CJOGceUJYGKKlohMJ-/s320/IMG_20160106_074135.jpg" title="Custard apples" width="309" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Custard apples harvested from the farm</td></tr>
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Chemical intensive "modern agriculture" (so called) we are practicing today is depleting earth of its fertility and making it sterile. Heavy chemical usage combined with continuous pumping out of water stored deep under the earth has played havoc with water table. One problem is water table going down ever deeper and the other problem is whatever is there is polluted with chemicals leached down by the irrigation water. Some areas in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in India are now <a href="http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2015/12/10/how-unchecked-pumping-sucking-aquifers-dry-india/74634336/" target="_blank">pumping out water from 1000+ feet deep aquifers</a> containing water stored during stone age. These aquifers cannot be recharged. That emergency storage is gone once they are emptied. You can imagine what will happen to these areas in next few years after the farmers run out of this water. No doubt we will end up with large deserts. Half century back average depth of water table in whole of India was not more than few tens of feet. Same land has faced disastrous consequences after "green revolution" promoted unscrupulous subsidized chemical usage and uncontrolled pumping out of water backed by free electricity supply for agricultural pumps.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZGqIkmVIYKiTmnM6PxtpX5ZIE3vVKwXUAky3qNYrUBO2W3lqXSuGnBJ9LJhTCGhUzS9sfbONZtL2oUI9YXXSsQBMcJ_LFCoHDXgU7I9cMtRxr7vIFc0d1Ii4YRA6yuukGD4w8BIq/s1600/IMG_20150610_102255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Citrus fruit" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZGqIkmVIYKiTmnM6PxtpX5ZIE3vVKwXUAky3qNYrUBO2W3lqXSuGnBJ9LJhTCGhUzS9sfbONZtL2oUI9YXXSsQBMcJ_LFCoHDXgU7I9cMtRxr7vIFc0d1Ii4YRA6yuukGD4w8BIq/s320/IMG_20150610_102255.jpg" title="Citrus fruit" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A citrus fruit harvested from the farm</td></tr>
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If we understand the seriousness of this problem and start thinking what is the solution we get the answer not too far away - we see it in any natural forest nearby (if you are lucky to see one nearby). Plants grow vigorously, healthy in any natural forest. Nobody puts chemical fertilizers. Nobody sprays pesticides. Plants of all varieties coexist and grow to reach the sky. In fact plants just want to grow because they start dying the moment they stop growing. That is why you see a plant seed fallen on a boulder or on roof of a building growing without any assistance. Problem begins when we start fiddling with the nature. That is why <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka" target="_blank">Masanobu Fukuoka</a> says - incomplete human knowledge is the problem. Human knowledge about nature will remain incomplete because nature is very complex. The science we follow today is called reductionist science as it reduces the problem to very few parameters for the sake of study. But nature does not obey this reductionist approach. For example if you take growth of rice as a study subject, there are so many parameters like temperature, rain fall (intensity and timing of rain), sun light intensity, insects, bacterium in the soil interacting with the plant roots, oxygen and CO2 content in the air etc. Nuclear radiation absorbed by clouds passing over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster" target="_blank">Fukushima nuclear disaster</a> site may affect rice growth! Realistically, number of parameters is endless. There is no way a scientist can study the plant growth and yield keeping all these parameters and their continuous variations in view. Therefore scientist chooses handful of parameters to control them in a green house and studies them. But that reductionist view does not hold good in field where all parameters continuously vary. Therefore only way one can understand this complex nature to some extent is by carefully observing the nature itself. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka" target="_blank">Masanobu Fukuoka</a> developed his method of natural farming by observing the nature for several decades and after several failed attempts. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka" target="_blank">Masanobu Fukuoka</a>'s book <a href="http://www.amazon.in/The-One-Straw-Revolution-Introduction-Classics/dp/1590173139" target="_blank">One Straw Revolution</a> published in 1975 beautifully explains this.</div>
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Purists of non chemical philosophy are divided into philosophies of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_farming" target="_blank">natural farming</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">permaculture</a>. We don't consider organic farming for this discussion because one can use "approved" chemicals (some of which are toxic too) in approved quantities and still be certified organic! This kind of organic farming can damage earth as much as any kind of chemical farming does, if not more. Therefore we disagree with organic farming; it is not for us.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX856W-cLSu5SuSKjCHy49dDXBahH8d2BswcM8Rq5stk0GAEaQFKeUNCEYBbA1asraOuZTuym87mN7XN82WIY8dcia8m8RMnVkdFHtvWfuKkt_ZHxlHaPsKbWhJauvBe9j5ki7h921/s1600/IMG_20150607_113347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ishaan on cashew tree" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX856W-cLSu5SuSKjCHy49dDXBahH8d2BswcM8Rq5stk0GAEaQFKeUNCEYBbA1asraOuZTuym87mN7XN82WIY8dcia8m8RMnVkdFHtvWfuKkt_ZHxlHaPsKbWhJauvBe9j5ki7h921/s320/IMG_20150607_113347.jpg" title="Ishaan on cashew tree" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Ishaan (my son) on a cashew tree</td></tr>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_farming" target="_blank">Natural farming</a> philosophy was promoted by Masanobu Fukuoka. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_farming" target="_blank">Natural farming</a> is what it literally means - allow nature to do its work with minimum human intervention. Human intervention is mainly in the form of harvesting the produce, returning excess to the nature and sowing the seeds of the plants useful for humans.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">Permaculture</a> is a term coined by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison" target="_blank">Bill Mollison</a> in 1978. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">Permaculture</a> is derived from "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture". For us "permanent agriculture" looks most appropriate. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">Permaculture</a> also follows the principle of allowing nature to do its job. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">Permaculture</a> is more methodical or formal than natural farming because usually there is a formal "design" process employed in case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">permaculture</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" target="_blank">Permaculture</a> design involves designing different zones and a pattern of companion plants to help each other.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: Bill Mollison and few others have tried to copyright/restrict usage of terms like "permaculture", "permaculture design" and "permaculture design course" in different ways. None of those attempts have been successful. Many applications to statutory/regulatory bodies have been either rejected or withdrawn by the applicant. As far as we know none of the terms related to permaculture are copyrighted or restricted.</span></i><br />
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Both these philosophies aim at preventing damage to the earth and reversing already done damage. We look at both of them as philosophies for healing the earth where humans help nature to do its best by reducing interference with nature. Both of them shun chemicals like plague. That is what we believe in very strongly - avoid all chemicals, allow nature to do its best. However, we are not purists. Therefore we treat both natural farming and permaculture as twin children of mother earth. We don't differentiate between them. At the same time we don't mind using natural and non-toxic amendments like lime or micro nutrients when the soil really needs it. We may throw some cow dung manure at our vegetable beds once in a while if we feel the need for it. We may also use some mulch to suppress weeds when needed. Other than that we don't want to interfere with nature. We plan to keep farm animals like cows, dogs, chicken and water birds like ducks to work with nature. By the way, we already have 2 cows with calves and a puppy in our rented house waiting to enter the farm as soon as we construct a house and move into the farm. Our goal is to live a self sustaining life with minimum inputs and dependency on outside world. We will be able to live comfortable and happy life even if the worst kind of economic disaster strikes the world because we will be able to live without cash.<br />
<br />
We want to develop a food forest in the forest area of the farm. Forest area has several native trees. You can imagine the number of trees if I say whole ground is covered with several inches thick leaf litter when those trees shed their leaves in winter. Soil is very fertile like in a forest because of these fallen leaves rotting down every year.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGoS2D1jU2TxGXr15vSl9GsK-UC3zY_2qZTM11cO1T0UhKp77a41u3RtBrCmAmIcQBZYxTE18nY8m_SadbEP8C-YTQA4IFD0_Wl8z6m2a35IQOvmk0H6HLq62Noj8CDFsypvryfb_/s1600/IMG_20150610_095843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Thick layer of leaf litter on the ground" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGoS2D1jU2TxGXr15vSl9GsK-UC3zY_2qZTM11cO1T0UhKp77a41u3RtBrCmAmIcQBZYxTE18nY8m_SadbEP8C-YTQA4IFD0_Wl8z6m2a35IQOvmk0H6HLq62Noj8CDFsypvryfb_/s320/IMG_20150610_095843.jpg" title="Thick layer of leaf litter on the ground" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thick layer of leaf litter on the ground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Several fruit trees like custard apple, mango, jack fruit, citrus and cashew are already in the farm.<br />
<br />
In last monsoon we planted 3 varieties of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guava" target="_blank">guava</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar-apple" target="_blank">custard apple</a>, 2 varieties of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manilkara_zapota" target="_blank">sapota</a>, 5 varieties of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango" target="_blank">mango</a>, 5 varieties of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus" target="_blank">citrus</a>, 10 varieties of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit" target="_blank">jack fruit</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon" target="_blank">cinnamon</a>, Indian sour cherry, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntingia" target="_blank">Singapore cherry</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg" target="_blank">nutmeg</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadfruit" target="_blank">bread fruit</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_mangosteen" target="_blank">mangosteen</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychee" target="_blank">lychee</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_fig" target="_blank">fig</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clove" target="_blank">clove</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate" target="_blank">pomegranate</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado" target="_blank">butter fruit</a> saplings in approximately 8% of the area (92% more left to be planted!). Almost all the plants except clove have survived so far. This scorching summer is the litmus test for my farming skills. I hope I will be able to keep them alive through this summer. Keeping fingers crossed. Goal is to achieve a permanent system which needs very little maintenance after the plants grow and develop deep roots. After that there is no much work, only enjoy the "fruits" of our labor.<br />
By the way list of saplings I listed above are only one level of canopy in multiple canopy system. Some people say 7 levels, some say 9 levels - let us just say multi level to emphasis the fact that we can get really good productivity by emulating natural forests where plants of different heights grow close to each other producing abundant amount of food. Roughly these are the levels we are going to have in the farm:<br />
<ul>
<li>Tall trees</li>
<li>Short/dwarf trees</li>
<li>Shrubs</li>
<li>Herbs</li>
<li>Tubers/root vegetables (underground)</li>
<li>Creepers/climbers (climbing on trees and shrubs)</li>
</ul>
Paddy fields below the forest area had been left fallow (un-cultivated) for last 2 years. Planning to do some paddy this year as an experiment using natural farming technique. Only time will tell the results. I will post a new article about how that experiment goes and the outcome of it. I am planning to sow some seed mixture in the remaining area to avoid weeds growing there. For now we have decided to keep the paddy fields for growing grains. We may convert a part of it to food forest if we find we don't need so much area to grow grains.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9__EfTnZBWNOA_RQa9KbWOjVXLcjjf84BxjjRh2Mv_8FJU0AoWutFUbL2QJMyRLatBo__DfeJkZPEdRtn8em6RIhhNnVXRTh9OS71LmUsjw2POJhmKax5o9wVIP59fjf26VrlBQ3/s1600/IMG_20150328_131045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Paddy fields left fallow" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9__EfTnZBWNOA_RQa9KbWOjVXLcjjf84BxjjRh2Mv_8FJU0AoWutFUbL2QJMyRLatBo__DfeJkZPEdRtn8em6RIhhNnVXRTh9OS71LmUsjw2POJhmKax5o9wVIP59fjf26VrlBQ3/s320/IMG_20150328_131045.jpg" title="Paddy fields left fallow" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paddy fields left fallow (un-cultivated)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-27220888809125113312016-03-11T17:50:00.000+05:302016-03-12T08:26:36.544+05:30Cashew season beginsMy son spotted one cashew fruit fallen on the ground when we were walking in the farm today. Then we walked around and found several dozens of them fallen on the ground.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuWocBARvPuPebptKC6y8BlK6qpg8hc5Eg6kg_5J7tzXXMF965q5I_yQn1IUroU5ct63heDRlL4BIp91pkcuMYgwecYns1Y4rn6tTy1dCK2iq2lcStphhu8AG6MGpxtXb6RDjksKgS/s1600/IMG_20160311_121932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuWocBARvPuPebptKC6y8BlK6qpg8hc5Eg6kg_5J7tzXXMF965q5I_yQn1IUroU5ct63heDRlL4BIp91pkcuMYgwecYns1Y4rn6tTy1dCK2iq2lcStphhu8AG6MGpxtXb6RDjksKgS/s320/IMG_20160311_121932.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bucket full of cashew apples</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Biological name of cashew is "Anacardium Occidentale". Anacardium is derived from Greek language. Ana meaning "reverse" or "backwards" and cardium or cardio means "heart". Meaning of the term is one having its heart reversed - that is to say heart of the fruit, the seed, is outside; which is the reverse of vast majority of fruits containing the seed inside the fruit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-rM1ZkeR_c47dGeRLucE8HXU7oL7RoloH2XdTyyEOsBT6IUCCmUSxali9yFcfyBgIoiROuLwlt7_366cALbGNrjVFsaJCle3L0WVhQuYQX6CeodRiK9zisyqCdlSwxadDwE2brZg/s1600/IMG_20160311_114500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-rM1ZkeR_c47dGeRLucE8HXU7oL7RoloH2XdTyyEOsBT6IUCCmUSxali9yFcfyBgIoiROuLwlt7_366cALbGNrjVFsaJCle3L0WVhQuYQX6CeodRiK9zisyqCdlSwxadDwE2brZg/s320/IMG_20160311_114500.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cashew flowers and fruits under development</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You are very well aware of tasty cashew nuts (called "kaju" in Hindi which is an adaptation from Portuguese name "caju" for cashew). It is eaten as a nut, dipped in masala and fried to make it a tasty snack, and used in cooking. However, the fruit part is not well known to people; especially city dwellers. Actually it is not a fruit; it is the swollen stalk of the real fruit. Real fruit is the cashew nut hanging below the pseudo fruit securely wrapped in a hard shell with toxic/acidic liquid called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol" target="_blank">urushiol</a>. You will <a href="http://matthewcevans.com/blog/2010/08/11/youve-got-to-be-nuts-to-eat-a-cashew-nut-shell/" target="_blank">repent if you bite into the shell</a> because the juice burns the skin and causes blisters. People allergic to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol" target="_blank">urushiol</a> get severe skin rashes if touched. This is the main reason why cashew nut is always sold to end users after removing the shell. Cashew processing factories extract the nut shell oil after removing the cashew nut from the shell. This oil is traditionally used as a protective coating on wood to protect wood from rotting and termite attack.<br />
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This year I am going to get some amount of cashew nuts. At home it is difficult to remove the shell like the factories do because factories use a special <a href="http://www.cashewmachine.in/cashew-nut-shelling-system.html" target="_blank">cashew nut cutting machine</a> (manual / semi-automatic / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvfqXgxA_ps" target="_blank">fully automatic</a>) to remove the shell.<br />
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Traditionally cashew was processed at homes by burning the shell. In my ancestral home we had a perforated steel plate for this purpose. We used to light a fire, keep the perforated plate on the fire and put the cashew nuts on the plate. Cashew nut shell has highly inflammable oils. It catches fire soon and burns rapidly. Burning process emits beautiful and characteristic smell which goes to far away distances. Whole village will know if one house is burning cashew shells. Burning process should be carefully controlled and the burning nuts should be doused at the right time because:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Too less burning leaves the urushiol and other toxic contents in the shell. It burns the fingers if one tries to take out the kernel from incompletely burnt shells. Sometimes left over toxic oil that came out of the shell reaches the kernel which makes them inedible.</li>
<li>Too much burning converts the whole thing into charcoal!</li>
</ul>
<br />
Cashew burning expert in the house knows when to douse the fire and douses it. After dousing the fire and nuts cool down it is the matter of hammering out the outer burnt shell to take out the tasty kernels. By the way, burnt kernels taste better than the factory shelled kernels because burning process introduces new flavors and smells. You can see the whole process in the video below. The guy in the video makes it look so easy. But don't be fooled by that; he is a professional who knows the process very well.<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MrMmO5Wr2CU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MrMmO5Wr2CU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Coming back to the fruit (well, it is a pseudo fruit, I have already told you) it is a very juicy and tasty fruit. It is highly nutritious too. It is very rich in fiber, antioxidants, calcium, phosphorous, iron, vitamin C and potassium. Some sources say it contains 4-5 times more Vitamin C than Orange. Fruit juice boosts immune system. It is also known to kill worms in the digestive system.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvlIcJk4HZxdY77rsQNGxminHlGeKjazq1xVzLLtuI3IKMKunBy73UqfLhyphenhyphenRsS-kpIPDgFzKRvmz2NA4ZyYunxr4b2-oOuLpflV3k9KGcZ94yIDdhU2eQUZCcALAUX2_poaGMvVG4/s1600/IMG_20160311_114702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvlIcJk4HZxdY77rsQNGxminHlGeKjazq1xVzLLtuI3IKMKunBy73UqfLhyphenhyphenRsS-kpIPDgFzKRvmz2NA4ZyYunxr4b2-oOuLpflV3k9KGcZ94yIDdhU2eQUZCcALAUX2_poaGMvVG4/s320/IMG_20160311_114702.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ripe cashew fruit in foreground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unfortunately several thousand tonnes of this fruit with such good health benefits goes waste every year. Goa is the only state which extracts the famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feni_(liquor)" target="_blank">Feni</a> liquor from it. Selling this fruit is not a commercial success because: (a) Its shelf life is very short - a day or two maximum after plucking from the tree. (b) Being a soft fruit it bruises and is damaged easily. Therefore difficult to transport. (c) It has a strong smell. Some people don't like that kind of strong smell. It is a great fruit to eat if you are not averse to its smell.<br />
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Pluck a ripe fruit from the tree, wash it, twist and keep aside the nut, cut it, apply little salt if you like and eat it. You may spit out the fiber if you don't like to swallow it. If you can lay your hands on a cashew apple try it and see if you like it! See you later, I am busy enjoying today's harvest of my cashew apples :-)<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: Be careful about cashew nuts and fruit if you are allergic to nuts because many people with nut allergy are allergic to cashew nuts too.</span></i>Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-62659911028476866992016-03-10T07:03:00.000+05:302016-03-10T07:03:52.021+05:30The fenceFor good or bad previous owner of our farm had not done anything in the farm. Minimum thing a farmer does is protecting his property with a fence. But this person was ultimate - he did not install a fence too. It had become open grazing ground for all the cattle in the village. Forested area of the farm (see <a href="http://soilatlast.blogspot.in/2016/03/the-farm.html" target="_blank">The farm</a>) is completely chemical free because nothing (except native forest) was grown in that area. Minimal amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides were used in the paddy fields (see <a href="http://soilatlast.blogspot.in/2016/03/the-farm.html" target="_blank">The farm</a>) though.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrraJkgiUNorrGX-U_zKu0VmdyTFGlZaSzlQOzVRQ8gCg83Tu0oWADB_yzIiv_NUsCKmbKfoyxcQLNS4m6kJRn7JcU_-B-0ajuQIEQ3TR2g70TUh7WA-vd-qgM4ajkBGeC2r3qoROn/s1600/IMG_20150328_130322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrraJkgiUNorrGX-U_zKu0VmdyTFGlZaSzlQOzVRQ8gCg83Tu0oWADB_yzIiv_NUsCKmbKfoyxcQLNS4m6kJRn7JcU_-B-0ajuQIEQ3TR2g70TUh7WA-vd-qgM4ajkBGeC2r3qoROn/s320/IMG_20150328_130322.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cattle grazing in our farm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
First thing we wanted to do after taking possession of the land was fencing. Barbed wire fence supported on stone posts is a common type of fencing in this place. Back of the envelope calculation showed we need approximately 2 lakh (2,00,000.00) rupees for the fence. Spending so much for not environmental friendly thing (stone mining and barbed wire making both are environmentally damaging) did not make lot of sense.<br />
<br />
Then we started search for environment friendly option. It came in the form of several dead bamboo colonies in our farm. Bamboo flowers once in several decades - it is specific to the bamboo species. See <a href="http://www.guaduabamboo.com/identification/bamboo-flowering-habits" target="_blank">Bamboo Flowering Habits</a> for more information. Bamboo species here is believed to flower once in 30 or 40 years. Whole bamboo colony dies after the bamboo flowers. In last 2-3 years most of the native bamboo species here have flowered, produced seeds and died. This left us with around 10 dead bamboo colonies with loads of bamboo. We decided to cut the bamboo and use that for fencing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrnac_FfBamhMInuKiif3UGVl0mGYi09ZAi0Ft99KtdolBPCUSfKYkabcZYQQtkt0ABe0MMb2_hgeVlSwzEy4Feh2n_HfoM3sv3FAkdaSmc2g9JxJUbEkRVChtU1qvHYPjrvnDqC1/s1600/IMG_20150610_095715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrnac_FfBamhMInuKiif3UGVl0mGYi09ZAi0Ft99KtdolBPCUSfKYkabcZYQQtkt0ABe0MMb2_hgeVlSwzEy4Feh2n_HfoM3sv3FAkdaSmc2g9JxJUbEkRVChtU1qvHYPjrvnDqC1/s320/IMG_20150610_095715.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead bamboo colony</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: People in this area believe bamboo flowering brings natural calamities like drought. In a way it turned out to be true because this year we had major rain short fall. Hopefully that situation will resolve in coming monsoon.</span></i><br />
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Bamboo colonies are structurally very strong. All the bamboos get meshed into each other through the branches which gives them immense strength to withstand wind force and water currents. Therefore they are very good wind breaks and erosion protection devices. However, that strength makes it very difficult to cut and separate them. Already difficult work is further made difficult because of thorns on the bamboos. Those thorns are almost 1 inch long and very strong. They easily penetrate footwear and prick the foot if one steps on those thorns.<br />
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We found Mr. Bangarappa and Iranna to help us with the fence. Bangarappa though young is very knowledgeable about agriculture activities. He smartly optimizes his work so that he gets more work done with least effort. Iranna is aged, has lot of experience. Their team was very good for our work. They have helped us with most of the farm work so far.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpg9-WPRnaiibnuRjiF1IJuoOC20gbUviDvJUXmz8kiLwzI_xxPP-23OZQA3coFJLAQ6_t2kJvKI3l_EnqYvFbXQ9PItPz8kuqGey2PjZsmFaLMRWPd3p15tntGUvYX4DaIOFn5T-/s1600/IMG_20150610_094220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpg9-WPRnaiibnuRjiF1IJuoOC20gbUviDvJUXmz8kiLwzI_xxPP-23OZQA3coFJLAQ6_t2kJvKI3l_EnqYvFbXQ9PItPz8kuqGey2PjZsmFaLMRWPd3p15tntGUvYX4DaIOFn5T-/s320/IMG_20150610_094220.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bangarappa (left) and Iranna (right)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These two brave hearts climbed the bamboo colony without any safety equipment, untangled the bamboos, and cut them. They had to spend almost a week on top of the very thorny bamboo colony to get enough bamboo for the fence work.<br />
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After couple of weeks we had beautiful and environment friendly fence :-)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh38UkjIx8LyBcZgdp0JdQM6Z4PkW8e-HxSW7XpD712DZ21SDZKoBBQvWsvyLmqym5Ex_-fWILBrsNjsAJudIUHGH6KHBOxglfLsa1z-cWFtZhr1-su-0Sh8Y5y_vlbY_b99KhYR8WA/s1600/IMG_20150610_095503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh38UkjIx8LyBcZgdp0JdQM6Z4PkW8e-HxSW7XpD712DZ21SDZKoBBQvWsvyLmqym5Ex_-fWILBrsNjsAJudIUHGH6KHBOxglfLsa1z-cWFtZhr1-su-0Sh8Y5y_vlbY_b99KhYR8WA/s320/IMG_20150610_095503.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful environment friendly fence</td></tr>
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Best fence is live fence - a fence made up of live plants. It is best because:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It costs only a small fraction of artificial fences. You trade off time to reduce the cost when you install live fence.</li>
<li>It keeps growing, and repairs itself as long as some care is taken to maintain favorable conditions for growth. This means fence may need some watering under severe drought conditions.</li>
<li>It can be very useful if we grow useful plants as live fence. For example a live fence can provide fodder for animals, medicines, fire wood, help honey bees to produce more honey, can act as a beautiful wall around the property, etc.</li>
</ul>
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Kinds of plants that can be grown as live fence are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Grow thorny plants like <a href="http://medplants.blogspot.in/2012/08/caesalpinia-bonduc-gachakaya-kalarci.html" target="_blank">Caesalpinia bonducella</a> (Gajjaga in Kannada). Thorns keep the animals away. However thorny plants don't differentiate between us and animals; they prick everyone. It becomes very difficult to work near the fence once we install thorny fence. Also, it becomes difficult for people walking on the road next to the fence. Therefore we did not consider thorny plants.</li>
<li>Grow useful plants like Gliricidia, Subabul etc. They make good fence when grown sufficiently close and the gap between them is blocked using bamboo or some other strong material. I have plans to use thickly growing creeper/climber like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combretum_indicum" target="_blank">Madhu Malati</a> to block the gaps between closely grown trees along the fence. Madhu Malati grows vigorously and thickly. When in full bloom it looks beautiful. Any way we need the fence, why not make it a beautiful too?</li>
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Live fence is a long term game. It takes several years for a strong live fence to come up. In last monsoon I sowed Gliricidia seeds along the fence hoping to jump start live fence. Unfortunately the company that sold seeds gave us dead seeds. Not even one seed germinated. This year planning to buy Gliricidia seeds from some other source and try our luck!<br />
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<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-6288216570403691322016-03-09T13:36:00.001+05:302016-05-17T14:57:27.416+05:30The farmOur farm is 7 kms from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sagara</a> town. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sagara</a> has several places of tourist interest. Being on western ghats this area has good forest cover and pleasant weather. I have shot couple of video tours of the farm in June-2015. Videos were shot from my phone as I walked around in the farm. Therefore they are little jerky, please excuse me for that. YouTube offered to fix the jerkiness. I did not take that option because it blurred the videos. There is no sound track mixed with the videos. Sounds you hear are all natural sounds of the farm and me walking through the thick grass cover on the ground. Hope you find them interesting.<br />
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Total area of the farm is 6 acres. Farm is a joint venture between my and few of my close friends. Farm has 2 distinct areas. There is one area of higher elevation with trees. This area is a typical western ghat forest with many native plants. First video is 10 minutes walk through in the forest area.<br />
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Area of lower elevation is paddy field with a small stream next to it. Second video covers the paddy field and the stream. This video is also close to 10 minutes.<br />
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<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-49440013256470433302016-03-08T22:48:00.000+05:302016-03-25T07:33:41.963+05:30The decisionMy 4 year old son was having frequent episodes of cold and blocked nose. When I asked his doctor about this he joked "Cold will not leave him as long as you live in Bangalore and he has nose". Though it was a joke it made me and my wife take it seriously. We questioned ourselves "Why are we living in the city?". There was no convincing answer for the question.<br />
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My wife is a home maker - she does not go out for work. My son had decided school is waste of time and quit school when he entered UKG. Thanks to a professional disaster which later turned out to be a professional freedom - I was working from home most of the days. I went to office only once a week just to meet others in office. We were not visiting malls every weekend to kill time. Have not been to a multiplex in several years. We were not (and are not) addicted to pizza or any other junk food available only in cities. There was no reason to be in a city. So the question was - are we living in the city just to breathe toxic air, drink toxic water and eat toxic vegetables and fruits supplied to the city? Only logical thing to do after this realization was leaving the city. I spoke to my friends and partners at work place. I am very thankful to them since they fully supported and encouraged me to move out of the city. We were out of the city within 15 days of making the decision.</div>
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We wanted to buy a small piece of farm land in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirsi,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sirsi</a>. A close relative had a house available for rent in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirsi,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sirsi</a>. We rented that house and moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirsi,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sirsi</a> in mid September 2013. Move was smooth. Started enjoying the clean air, water and food without chemicals. When it came to buying farm land in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirsi,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sirsi</a> it turned out to be impossible thing because of crazy value demanded by the land owners in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirsi,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sirsi</a> area. Therefore I had to leave <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirsi,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sirsi</a> and move to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sagara</a> to make it happen.<br />
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<i><b>Update on 12-Mar-2016:</b> Happy news - a close friend's family has made the decision of moving to Sagara from Bangalore. He has rented a house near beautiful village <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heggodu" target="_blank">Heggodu</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninasam" target="_blank">NINASAM</a> fame. As per plan they should be in Sagara by 19-Mar-2016.</i><br />
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<i><b>Update on 25-Mar-2016:</b> My friend's family has moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heggodu" target="_blank">Heggodu</a> on 21-Mar-2016. </i><i>We welcome them to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara,_Karnataka" target="_blank">Sagara</a>, to healthy and happy life. We wish all the best for them and hope they will enjoy the place as much as we do.</i><br />
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Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1463701596379909911.post-45051867943078980682016-03-08T20:34:00.000+05:302016-04-01T08:14:54.802+05:30AboutThis blog is about my move from IT world to farming and my family's move from city to a village. In this blog I have documented our reasons for leaving the city and starting farming. Everybody has his/her reasons for doing what they are doing. Therefore take it only as documentation of my thoughts and our experiences; not as suggestion that anybody should do it. I hope this blog gives you one perspective of high-tech (farming) vs. low-tech (information technology). Oh, yes that is what I believe - our farmers deal with lot more complexity and uncertainty than what we deal with in IT field. I am saying "we" because I am still a software architect too. Therefore I have first hand experience of both fields to comment about them. I would love to hear your views about what I write here - please do comment if you like.<br />
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Happy reading.<br />
<br />Ravi Hegdehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877990004680852345noreply@blogger.com1