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2016 — today

Ten years, season by season

Bare red soil to a closing canopy. Tap any photo to open that year’s slideshow.

1. 2016

   The year of clearing and beginning — old papaya pulled out, land ploughed into ridges, the first shed built by hand, and the first truckload of saplings written down in a notebook.

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   • Monsoon clouds over the green belt of Bidadi.
   • Bare red soil, drip lines laid, everything still ahead.
   • The old papaya crop cleared, ground opened up again.
   • First ridges cut, evening light on the hill behind.
   • The farm shed goes up beyond the earth mounds.
   • Palm leaf and tarpaulin — the first shelter on site.
   • Laying the shed floor, slab by slab, by hand.
   • A truckload of saplings arrives from the nursery.
   • Radish and greens fill the gaps between young trees.
   • 17 Dec 2016 — the first sapling list, written by hand.

2. 2017

   The fruit forest begins — nursery raised, saplings planted, millets and the first vegetables off the land.

   13 photos · 3 notes
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   • Getting started with Natural Farming→
   • Fruit Forest→
   • Rain water harvesting→

   • Mango and banana sharing one patch of ground.
   • A young mango sapling already trying to flower.
   • Sapling by sapling, pit by pit, into the ground.
   • Seed trays sprouting outside the shed.
   • The shade-net nursery, full and waiting to be planted.
   • Malaysian apple fruiting between maize and creepers.
   • Millet coming up in rows after the first rain.
   • Foxtail millet heads standing above the grass.
   • A whole field in grain below the hill.
   • A boot full of pumpkins, cucumbers and beans.
   • A calf making short work of the dry banana leaves.
   • Millet in grain, a cloth flag keeping the birds off.
   • Banana bunches in from the field, stacked by the shed.

3. 2018

   Ancient grains return, bananas come in by the bootload, and turmeric, marigold and the first custard apples join the mix.

   14 photos · 1 note
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   • Growing Millets (Ancient Grain)→

   • Millet rows drawn by hand across tilled earth.
   • Moringa, maize and creepers holding the slope together.
   • The mango trees carry their first real load.
   • Banana and timber saplings coming up through mulch.
   • A boot packed to the roof with banana bunches.
   • Bunches cut and laid out on banana leaves.
   • Crates and car under the tree, ready for the load.
   • Another boot of saplings on its way in.
   • Turmeric spreading its leaves after the rain.
   • Marigolds between the bananas, work going on.
   • Star fruit forming on a young plant.
   • The first custard apple, held but not picked.
   • Banana clumps closing in, undergrowth left alone.
   • Ragi heads filling out across the field.

4. 2019

   Earthworks year — trenches, a pond and levelled beds, more saplings in the ground, cows in the new shed, and the first soursop off the tree.

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   • Maize standing tall beneath the rocky hill.
   • Foxtail millet heavy with grain after the rains.
   • Ploughed and rested, with the timber line already tall behind.
   • An excavator in to shape the land and open new beds.
   • A boundary trench cut to slow the run-off.
   • The first pond, holding its first monsoon.
   • Nursery bags lined up, waiting for planting week.
   • Another car-load of saplings brought up from the nursery.
   • Coconut saplings resting on mulch before they go in.
   • The timber rows finally overhead, three years on.
   • Soursop, big and small, off the same tree.
   • Cows in the new shed — dung, urine and everything they give back.
   • A car boot full of banana saplings, headed to the farm.

5. 2020

   Bananas, bamboo and compost — the farm settles into its own rhythm.

   11 photos · 1 note
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   • Growing Ragi (Finger Millet)→

   • Finger millet (ragi) dehusked, awaiting a final cleaning.
   • A mango tree finding its shape above the bananas.
   • Banana rows spread out below the familiar hill.
   • Bananas standing tall against a clear February sky.
   • Timber saplings tucked between the banana rows.
   • Sundown over the banana patch, work done for the day.
   • The slope filling in, leaf over leaf.
   • A carload of bamboo saplings heading to the farm.
   • A young sapling mulched with dry banana leaves.
   • Monsoon green along the edge of fresh-ploughed ground.
   • Rain drops holding on the banana leaves after a shower.

6. 2021

   The first real harvests — bananas by the crate alongside avocado, custard apple and guava — while boundary posts, fresh trenches, pigeon pea hedges and heaps of mulch quietly set up the years ahead.

   15 photos · 2 notes
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   • Journey of a banana sapling till harvest→
   • Fast composting→

   • Banana rows standing tall, a season of care behind them.
   • Harvest day — bunches waiting beside the farm track.
   • Banana bunch and mango bloom sharing the same corner.
   • A young litchi flushing coppery new leaves.
   • Cowpea harvested and heaped up, waiting to be dehusked.
   • One weekend's harvest — bananas, avocado, custard apple, guava.
   • Up a bamboo ladder to prune the taller trees.
   • Foundation for a single-room farmhouse, later abandoned for the 2026 build.
   • Pigeon pea hedges sheltering saplings along the path.
   • Stone fencing going up along two sides of the farm.
   • A working day spent under the trees.
   • Coconut palms filling out along the red soil path.
   • Avocado seeds saved from the harvest, sprouted back into new plants.
   • Pepper vines and turmeric waiting to be planted out.
   • Cover crop greening the ground between young trees.

7. 2022

   Timber saplings planted — teak and friends, for the next generation.

   13 photos · 1 note
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   • Lessons from camping→

   • Avocado in flower, timber trees closing in around it.
   • The first yellow cocoa pod under the canopy.
   • Young guava tree bearing among the bananas.
   • Cabbage beds settling into the red soil.
   • Onion beds laid out row by row.
   • Marigolds lighting up the bed at dusk.
   • Paddy nursery greening up before transplanting.
   • A teak tree braced with bamboo, holding its own.
   • Road to walk till the end of the farm.
   • Facing the wild fire — scorched, but still standing.
   • A new calf finds its feet in the shed.
   • Morning dew held on a young banana leaf.
   • A tent, a campfire, and a night on the farm.

8. 2023

   The food forest starts paying — mango, jackfruit, avocado, pepper and turmeric.

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   • Mango trees bending with fruit over green ground cover.
   • Jackfruit hanging straight off the trunk.
   • Avocados set well this season.
   • A young coconut palm flowers for the first time.
   • Pepper vines climbing the timber trees.
   • Banana, lemongrass and saplings sharing the slope.
   • Turmeric coming up between the fruit trees.
   • Turmeric harvest heaped up and bagged.
   • Tomatoes and cabbage in the kitchen garden.
   • Another carload of saplings on the way in.

9. 2024

   Trees you can no longer put your arms around — pepper, rose apple and avocado bearing, turmeric drying by the sackful, and hens settled into the coop.

   15 photos · 1 note
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   • Building a movable chicken coop→

   • Mango trees bending under a season of green fruit.
   • Eight years on, a trunk you can barely hold.
   • Avocado rows in full leaf, grass kept green below.
   • Rose apples in clusters, pink through the leaves.
   • Pepper vines hanging heavy on their host tree.
   • Turmeric thriving in the shade of the timber rows.
   • The turmeric harvest laid out to dry.
   • The coop settled in, hens scratching under the trees.
   • Fresh rows and drip lines drawn across the slope.
   • The farm road, coconut palms grown along it.
   • Summer on the upper slope, waiting on the rain.
   • The bamboo clump, now a green wall of its own.
   • A flowering hedge running along the tree line.
   • Avocado, coconut and timber, all reaching up together.
   • Brinjal rows tucked between the fruit trees.

10. 2025

    The canopy closes in — cashew, jamun and mango flowering, cover crops feeding the soil, and a solar dryer, shed and water tank added to the farm.

    12 photos · 1 note
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    • Building a solar dryer for the farm→

    • Mango trees in full flower, sun through the canopy.
    • A full bunch, flower still hanging below it.
    • Cashew nuts forming on the branch.
    • Velvet apples turning red on the tree.
    • Legume cover crop feeding the soil between trees.
    • A solar dryer built with the farm team.
    • A new storage shed with a concrete floor.
    • The chicken coop, tucked under the coconut palms.
    • A cement vermicompost pit, built in two chambers.
    • The litchi sapling, now a tree beside the path.
    • Custard apple loaded across every branch.
    • Avocados hanging high, a good year for them.

11. 2026

    Ten years in — tamarind, fig, amla and coconut bearing, and the farmhouse goes up.

    10 photos
    • The tamarind tree carrying its first pods.
    • Figs crowding the trunk, branch to branch.
    • Amla ripening under the shade of the grove.
    • Tender coconuts filling out in the crown.
    • A grown tree in full flower against the sky.
    • Mangoes picked and packed in straw under the trees.
    • A heap of turmeric in from the field.
    • The farmhouse begins — first courses of brick.
    • Pillars and walls up, waiting for the roof.
    • Shuttering propped up, roof beam next.