Fr.V
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 09:43 — Ragu
In the past few months, Nisha and I put our heads and hearts together many times in the hope of coming up with a good design for our farm. Yet, whatever we put on the paper did not look convincing. We decided to wait.
One day in October 2008, a new friend, Natarajan who is the Farmer-in-Chief at the local Chinmaya International Residential School had come home. We got talking about the design and at one point, I told him that when mature, our farm should resemble a forest. His eyes lit up and he said, “I know just such a farm. It’s called Muthu Pannai and I will give you a magazine that has an article about this farm.”
We got the magazine a month later. The article was written by Nammazhwar, a veteran natural farming evangelist. Along with super inspiring details about the farm, it had the contact number of Venkatasalam, the owner of Muthu Pannai. I called Farmer Venkatasalam (Fr.V henceforth) and asked him whether he has a few minutes to talk. He said, “I have all 24 hours, go ahead.” We had found our mentor.
We showed up at his farm in Ammapettai, (a village between Bhavani and Mettur five hours away from Coimbatore) the very next day at 8am. We spent the next 11 hours with him touring his farm and six other farms that he has helped design in and around his village. None of these farms have been ploughed for years. Many of them resemble a forest with a lot of healthy trees and a variety of crops that have not used anything other than sunlight, farm waste and minimal water. All the farms designed by Fr.V are fully maintained by their owners who occasionally employ labour, mostly women, for he says, “My farms do not need the strong arms of men who would overdo the delicate tasks.” He has helped design over a hundred farms in the last six years and he works with each new farm for six months.
He talked nonstop pouring out principles and practices of natural farming with examples from the farms he has designed. We felt like elephants left loose in a sugar cane field (rural version of ‘kid-in-the-candy-store’ :)
Quotes from Venkatasalam’s conversations with us:
“Natural Farming means nature does the farming and you take care not to allow anything unnatural to enter the farm.”
“Your needs include the needs of your farm, your family, your cattle and your community.”
“First produce for your need, not for the market. As for the surplus produce, let the market come to you on your terms.”
“Trees, domestic animals and water harvesting sinks are the main infrastructure of a natural farm.”
Fr.V does not sugarcoat his words or delay his actions. Considering the purpose and context, even his occasional impatience and profanities feel unthorny. And he does not spare anyone from his uncompromising principles, especially his family and friends.
After grilling us on our motives and the path that has led us to natural farming, he agreed to consult for us. As fate would have it, he has been practicing gift economy in his consulting for 6 years: he offers his services for free (he even pays for his own travel) and accepts gifts in any form that people offer to him out of their gratitude (last time we visited him, he showed us a big, white hen that was gifted).
He is a big fan of Gandhi, Fukuoka, Vinobha and he is going to do a 10 day Vipassana meditation course in the next couple of months.
Few days ago, he said, “My motive in helping you is very selfish. Once I am done with you, then I don’t have to visit this region. You will help people here that are interested in natural farming.”
So far, he has made 3 visits and we can see the progress in the farm as well as our own learning. He also helped us purchase around 7000 saplings of trees of many species.
If your main motivation is not making money, and if you want to practice sustainable, natural farming in this region, you can contact Fr.V at: 9443545862. You could also support his service to natural farmers in many ways:
In the past few months, Nisha and I put our heads and hearts together many times in the hope of coming up with a good design for our farm. Yet, whatever we put on the paper did not look convincing. We decided to wait.One day in October 2008, a new friend, Natarajan who is the Farmer-in-Chief at the local Chinmaya International Residential School had come home. We got talking about the design and at one point, I told him that when mature, our farm should resemble a forest. His eyes lit up and he said, “I know just such a farm. It’s called Muthu Pannai and I will give you a magazine that has an article about this farm.”
We got the magazine a month later. The article was written by Nammazhwar, a veteran natural farming evangelist. Along with super inspiring details about the farm, it had the contact number of Venkatasalam, the owner of Muthu Pannai. I called Farmer Venkatasalam (Fr.V henceforth) and asked him whether he has a few minutes to talk. He said, “I have all 24 hours, go ahead.” We had found our mentor.
We showed up at his farm in Ammapettai, (a village between Bhavani and Mettur five hours away from Coimbatore) the very next day at 8am. We spent the next 11 hours with him touring his farm and six other farms that he has helped design in and around his village. None of these farms have been ploughed for years. Many of them resemble a forest with a lot of healthy trees and a variety of crops that have not used anything other than sunlight, farm waste and minimal water. All the farms designed by Fr.V are fully maintained by their owners who occasionally employ labour, mostly women, for he says, “My farms do not need the strong arms of men who would overdo the delicate tasks.” He has helped design over a hundred farms in the last six years and he works with each new farm for six months.
He talked nonstop pouring out principles and practices of natural farming with examples from the farms he has designed. We felt like elephants left loose in a sugar cane field (rural version of ‘kid-in-the-candy-store’ :)
Quotes from Venkatasalam’s conversations with us:
“Natural Farming means nature does the farming and you take care not to allow anything unnatural to enter the farm.”
“Your needs include the needs of your farm, your family, your cattle and your community.”
“First produce for your need, not for the market. As for the surplus produce, let the market come to you on your terms.”
“Trees, domestic animals and water harvesting sinks are the main infrastructure of a natural farm.”
Fr.V does not sugarcoat his words or delay his actions. Considering the purpose and context, even his occasional impatience and profanities feel unthorny. And he does not spare anyone from his uncompromising principles, especially his family and friends.
After grilling us on our motives and the path that has led us to natural farming, he agreed to consult for us. As fate would have it, he has been practicing gift economy in his consulting for 6 years: he offers his services for free (he even pays for his own travel) and accepts gifts in any form that people offer to him out of their gratitude (last time we visited him, he showed us a big, white hen that was gifted).
He is a big fan of Gandhi, Fukuoka, Vinobha and he is going to do a 10 day Vipassana meditation course in the next couple of months.
Few days ago, he said, “My motive in helping you is very selfish. Once I am done with you, then I don’t have to visit this region. You will help people here that are interested in natural farming.”
So far, he has made 3 visits and we can see the progress in the farm as well as our own learning. He also helped us purchase around 7000 saplings of trees of many species.
If your main motivation is not making money, and if you want to practice sustainable, natural farming in this region, you can contact Fr.V at: 9443545862. You could also support his service to natural farmers in many ways:
Drop me a note for more details.
- Add minutes to his cell phone as he does a lot of remote support.
- Arrange to gift him seeds and saplings of plants and trees that you like.
- Volunteer in his farm for a Learn and Give experience.
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Natural Farming
Nammazhvar
Kareem
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