our first few days on an indian farm

meeting the people of this farming community.

from kochi we took an overnight train, a taxi, a bus, another bus that was the wrong bus, and then a motorized rickshaw to the correct bus stop. jeroy was waiting there with milan for us.

the four of us walked down a narrow footpath for about a quarter mile, passing many houses. when we finally reached the correct home, we were served water and we slept for a good two hours.

when i woke up i met shree kumar and chatted  with sahadevan. shree kumar is a part-time chemical engineering professor who works three consecutive days (monday through wednesday) and lives with his sister during that time as the university is a good distance away.

sahadevan is an anti-nuclear activist (since the age of 16) and is also the father of a family living here in this community. he has two children who are home schooled here: his eight-year-old boy milan, and his twelve-year-old daughter svetlana. his wife is ranjana, who we have only recently met as she was away the first two days.

jeroy has a doctorate in artificial intelligence and something to do with the internet, he joined this community only a few days before our arrival.  all of us work on the farm together and live in the same house.

that sums it up for humans. there are two cows here, a matured calf and a mother who is carrying. there is a dog named gunda, the neighbors dog, but we feed him, and a puppy who looks sort of german shepard-like.

zoe and i are still translating many of the crops into english, but many of them we have never encountered before. the ones that are quite familiar are bananas, coconuts, okra, and rice, which is the core of our diet. we also eat a lot of tomatoes, onions, and lentils, which are bought from the market.

as far as mysterious crops grown here that we have yet to translate, there is a mysterious nut. it is chewed with tobacco and has a stimulating effect on the brain. this is what brings in main income on the farm. there are also some other strange fruits which are mashed up and used for bright orange food coloring.

there are enemies of the farm.

as shree kumar said: "everything beautiful is our enemy." peacocks and monkeys are the farm's main problems. so far we have seen a lot of monkeys but no peacocks; apparently they roam the fields early in the morning.

the monkeys are quite clever. they will hide behind trees just outside the house and wait for us to leave, and then they will run in and grab some food. a small ambush is 20 monkeys, a large one being 50, but only a few go inside the house. they eat the green coconuts before they are any good for us to eat. they have also recently figured out that we usually hear them when they drop the coconuts, so when they finish eating them they tuck them back into the tree. they are loud when they jump from tree to tree; they never really sneak by us.

they will also eat the crops, especially bananas. shree kumar has told us stories of monkeys coming in and taking away all the almost-ripe bananas that were to be picked very soon. they are small, mostly in the range of 5 to 10 pounds.

the farm house.

there are three identical houses; we own the one in the center. originally there was a father who split the land between his three sons, two of which are still here, one of which sold out to the trust organization that owns this farm. the building is roughly 20 by 40 or 50 feet with and has an attic that is used for storage. at night the rats are quite loud, but they have yet to enter the room where zoe and i sleep. mostly we just hear the crashing of a bowl in the kitchen or scurrying amongst the rafters. shree kumar sleeps near the kitchen, so the rats keep him up a bit more. one morning he was telling me about how the rats kept him up, and every time he would shine his flashlight at the kitchen they would quickly scurry back up to the attic.

we sleep on a straw mat with two blankets on top. the floor is smooth concrete so sleeping can be difficult on the stiff ground. we also eat on the floor as well, in a circle all together on with small mats, and sit Indian-style. we eat with our hands and there are no rules about table manners; burps are welcome. after dinner we wash our plates outside, first rinsing them, then scrubbing with ash, then rinsing again, the rinsing in really clean water.

so far the food has been very good. each meal is a mountain of rice with vegetables on top or something similar to that. there are many chai breaks spread through out the day. we attempted to make coffee which came out weak; we drank it anyways but our indian friends found it to be overwhelmingly too strong. zoe and I are both keen on learning how to cook all the indian dishes which taste so amazing, especially since the food is so fresh.

there is a western toilet here that empties into a tank just down the hill. shree kumar adds critters to it to break down the waste and produce methane. there is a hose from the tank to the kitchen stove, but since it is new not enough methane has built up yet. there is also a composting toilet which i am fascinated with because there is no smell at all. i could be blindfolded and tell you i was in the kitchen. the waste from that is broken down well and added to the trees.

the farm is on the side of a sloping hill and at the bottom is a river about 20 or 30 feet wide and about 4 feet deep. the river is green from all the algae and there are tons of small fish in it. it is also great for swimming and we find it to be a great temperature in the heat of the day. water is pumped from this river onto the farm for irrigation. we have a separate well which is very clean and does not need filtering. the well is about 8 feet wide and 40 feet deep and gives me a little bit of vertigo. there is about 5 feet of water on the bottom, but shree kumar says it fills all the way up in the rainy season. the neighbor has one the same size but it has no wall around it; there is just a gigantic hole.

what seems to be our schedule:

6:50 try to wake up

7:45-815 get up

8:00 breakfast

8:30-10:30 or 11:00 work in the field until it is too hot

10:30 or 11:00-1:00 hang out, read, write, tea, and go for a swim

1:00 Lunch

1:00 to 4:30 is siesta, very little is accomplished other than sleeping and reading since this is the hottest part of the day, and it's hot!

4:30-6:30 or 7:00 bring leaves down for compost from the jungle which is just above the farm on the hill (but really surrounds us).

7:00-8:00 relax and avoid the misquotes which come out in the evening

8:00 dinner

8:30 possibly a meeting, but usually nothing just hanging out

9:00 bed

i have really enjoyed eating the fresh bananas. one tree doing well will make about 200 bananas. there is also a flower on the end of the stem with the bananas; the flower is actually a lot of little flowers, and we pick them and the suck out the sweet nectar. each flower only has a few drops of nectar, but it is so good. then we also eat the inside of the trunk of the banana tree/giant stem. the inner core which is maybe only an inch or two in diameter is a lot like potato and has a mild taste.

the coconuts have a tough husk on the outside, which is pried off with a simple lever machine. after smacking the tough inner shell with a large knife, it splits opens and we drink the coconut water. we eat the flesh on the inside of the shell which is definitely fatty and delicious. to make oil, the flesh is left in the sun to dry out, then i believe it is ground up.

lots of rice is grown here and is cleaned off-site. it is about halfway between brown and white rice due to the factory. we cook it in a solar oven which does a fine job. my favorite rice is cooked with coconut water and ground flesh.