Organic Farming Guidelines for Saha Astitva Eco Farm For the harmonious integration of forests, fields and people. Providing grassroots solutions to global challenges. 25 June 2012 ORGANIC FARMING GUIDELINES FOR SAHA ASTITVA Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................... 1 Guiding Vision .................................................... 6 Building Good Soil .............................................. 8 Maintaining Good Soil ...................................... 10 Restoring Biodiversity ....................................... 14 Planting ............................................................. 17 Managing Diseases and Pests .......................... 20 Workshop 1: Agnihotra ..................................... 21 Workshop 2: Building Topsoil from Clay Soil ... 24 Workshop 3: How to store seeds ...................... 26 Workshop 4: Planting Calendar and Plant ....... 32 Workshop 5: Organic Microbe Starter Recipes .. 34 Workshop 6: Biological Pest Contol .................. 36 Appendix 1: Operations Management ............. 50 Workshop 7: Connecting with the Farm Spirits . 46 Appendix 2 Snakes as Friends of the Farm ...... 52 Appendix 3: Farm Map ..................................... 53 Appendix 4: Experiments ................................. 54 1 25 June 2012 ORGANIC FARMING GUIDELINES FOR SAHA ASTITVA Forward – Welcome to the promise of a new future Three years in the making so far, the Saha Astitva Eco-Farm is a journey into the unknown with numerous challenges and adventures. When I left my comfortable Oxford house in the UK 5 years ago, I had no idea my journey would bring me to work in India on a project addressing some of the world’s most fundamental issues. The project is based on micro-farming in harmony with nature, with the holistic principles of interconnectivity and local village empowerment and sustainability at its core. The project aims to inspire a harmonious relationship between human habitation, agro eco-systems and forestry eco-systems. The rich and multi-layered complex country that is India is a far cry from the orderly grey and cold of my native England. In England, until recently, the most talked about uncertainty on people’s minds, was the state of the weather. In India, a tropical landscape rich in cultural heritage and chaos, where nothing but the weather is certain. The contrast between the two countries is stark: from 5 degrees C one day in the UK to 25 degrees the next in May. In India the daily temperature varies by a few degrees and the main contrast in conditions is certain: monsoon is wet; winters moderate and summer hot. From mono-crop wheat grown using petrochemical fertilisers and pesticides for animal fodder by wealthy UK farmers on hundreds of acres, highly mechanised; to mono-crop rice paddy using petrochemical fertilisers and pesticides by the majority of poor Indian farmers on just a few acres, labour intense. Ironically the price per kilo for grain is similar; Rice gets slightly more per kilo at Rs 14/kg ($0.28), compared to UK grown wheat at 15p/kg ($0.25). But the economies of scale are mind-boggling, when you consider hundreds of acres to just a few acres. But of course prices are different between the two countries. But that too is changing rapidly. In India, the rural unskilled labourer earns $3 per day (Rs 150 - Rs 200) as opposed to $90 per day (£7.50 per hour) for the minimum wage in the UK. Petrol is now approaching Rs 80/litre ($1.60) in India and £1.40/litre in the UK ($2.20). The Indian landscape, is fast becoming industrialised but thankfully, there is a target to double the 13% forest cover, although ancient trees are being rapidly cut to make way for ‘development’. In the UK most of the trees were cut and now areas are urgently being replanted and farmers paid by the government to leave natural spaces for the biodiversity to return; At the Saha Astitva Eco-Farm, we are working with indigenous people who’s natural green living heritage is now recognized as sustainable practices. My heart opens each day when our Warli adivasi (Scheduled Tribe) staff, 3 years into the work, greet me with a smile from the heart, the glimmer of hope in their eyes as they prefer to take on an alternative future to their prematurely-dead fathers; to provide for their young families without the requirement to migrate to the appalling lifestyle of Mumbai slums in search of ii 25 June 2012 ORGANIC FARMING GUIDELINES FOR SAHA ASTITVA a daily wage; instead to stay at home, keep their culture, revive their green ancestry and rekindle the basic human right of self worth. Their knowledge and skill is unrivalled when it comes to identifying tree species in the forest and the ability to hunt for food successfully armed with a simple slingshot. One has to question who will survive the unsustainable modern world, when fuel becomes too expensive for food grown in far flung places to move, governments and financial institutions collapse and everyone is held to ransom. A sustainable farming project offers an alternative to this rather bleak picture. As an engineer, I have a feeling that natural farming in harmony with nature can be the most efficient provider of basic environmental resource requirements in the world. Without considering food miles, climate change mitigation, or more nutritious food for our future long-term heath and vitality, we can consider more direct benefits. Natural farming can be deduced to be more efficient when assessed against productivity against inputs; the real cost of inputs. That is locally sourced animal wastes and biomass against globally sourced petroleum based products for fertilizer and pest control. The difficulty in convincing the argument for food produced naturally is associated with false costs as opposed to real costs. Food travels days to reach your plate, is grown with chemical fertilisers and pesticides and processed with multiple additives to maintain it’s healthy appearance. This food is heavily subsidized. You will never know the real cost of growing that food, or the real cost of the impact of that food. This type of food we can term unsustainable. For example unsustainable food, is shown to lack vital nutrition and have chemical pesticide residues. This may lead to health problems in the long term requiring high medical bills and endless misery to sort them out. Hidden costs may be associated with climate change associated with food-miles or land cleared for mass cattle grazing; destruction of biodiversity and disappearance of species; heavily polluted water. Then there are the associated social costs of dealing with farmers that end up living in poverty or migrating to the slums, or looking after the families of those who get left behind following premature death. The Saha Astitva Eco-Farm has an aim for our young tribal men to one day run this complete farming project and them to once again be confident enough to grow produce on their own farms without the use of chemicals. We are rekindling their forgotten techniques and learning both with them and from them. Our future vision for this region, is that no top-soil in this area should be sold off to brick kilns for short term gain, as is the common practice. The local forests are no longer cut for the sale of unmanaged timber. The abundant ecology and economy of this region becomes regenerated as a rich biodiversity of trees, plants and field crops led by market demand for healthy produce. This in turn, with Gandhi-inspired village based food-processing, should provide a decent income for those that live here. iii 25 June 2012 ORGANIC FARMING GUIDELINES FOR SAHA ASTITVA Such an approach, not only improves wildlife, ecology and local healthy food supplies, but promises to safeguard future rural and city water supplies through protecting major watersheds. This is an essential environmental service that cannot be ignored for the rapidly expanding Mumbai area, which may reach 50 million in the next 10 years. The guide is in a state of evolvement, and far from complete. Much will be added by future volunteers and staff in the years to come. We outline some surprising techniques that have no place in the conventional scientific world. Come, experiment and be as pleasantly surprised as I was when I came to realize nature is much more complex and intelligent than the Western mind gives it credit for; we are indeed living in a multi-dimensional universe, energetic in nature and affected on a subtle level by our very intentions. Magic does exist and our farm offers a place to experience this. As a bonus you get to eat freshly cooked organic food grown in a pure land, with pure water, laden with vitality and hidden nutrition which will soon become the cells of your body. Your mind and lungs will clear and your heart will open. Challenges lay ahead which require you to develop the spiritual attributes of allowing, non-attachment and surrender to the natural order of things; of knowing when to work and when to relax, when to push and when to let go and finally knowing our place and role in this ocean of evolving consciousness. We look to a future where all soils are naturally fertile, all water is clean and pure; all air is clean to breathe; global warming is under control and the vibrations that fill all space resonate at such a frequency we will question why it was ever any different. Choose farming as your dharma (calling in life) and never look back. K. Uppendahl, Managing Director , Saha Astitva Foundation, Ganeshpuri, India. iv 25 June 2012 ORGANIC FARMING GUIDELINES FOR SAHA ASTITVA Forward: A Letter to the Future Farm Manager I haven't met you, but I'm sure that my work and the work of many stages to rebuild the soil. In my opinion, the next great step others to build this guide book will have an influence on what you for you to take is to learn from other farmers and apply that might think about and what you might want to do on this farm.
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