the love that we get is equal to the love that we give.
Our body is our home. our earth is our home. Our thoughts are our home. Our love is our home. We are all made of the same emotions and the elements our world is made of. We become what we think, what we eat, what we love, and what we dream.
The earth is what we all have in common. In order for us to reclaim, restore and renew this common treasure, we have to go to our roots in farming. The Natural Farm is an organic farm that was born of love for cows, love for the earth, and a passion for farming.
The Natural Farm has its presence in two locations – In the village of Mudalipalayam and in the hills of Attapadi.
The Farm in Mudalipalayam Village is a thriving ecosystem with an orchard, a vegetable garden, flowering, fruiting, and hardwood trees, beekeeping, vermicomposting, gobar gas plant, rainwater harvesting with the desi cows at the heart of it. The Farm is a Certified Organic Farm where Zero Budget Natural Farming is practiced.
The Farm in Attapadi Hills is home to Naturally grown Coffee, Pepper, Cloves, Bay Leaf, Cinnamon, Arecanut, Avocadoes, Nutmeg, and Bananas. With an intention to afforest, we have planted over 20,000 trees. We also do goat rearing and dairy farming.
Through our sustainable agricultural practices, The Natural Farm contributes to rejuvenating over 100 acres of land.
Meet Vikram, the farmer.
As a young boy, I remember spending most of my holidays in the village with my grandmother. Many family members recall how I would be bathed and sent into the farm only to find me an hour later sleeping on the cows or goats and smelling of dung. I grew up marveling at the cows and the workings of a farm. Soon after college, I went to the village to try my hand at farming. I could hardly sustain it for less than a year after which I gave up on it and went to study further and soon found myself working in the corporate world.
My wife and I were living and working in Chennai with our two daughters Kimaaya and Sahana and dreamt of coming back to Coimbatore when we retired, to start a farm – my dream and a school, my wife’s dream. One fine morning, we packed our bags and arrived in Coimbatore to pursue our dreams.
I traveled across the state to meet many farmers to see how they worked and started working on the farm. I realized the first place to start was water. The farm was dry arid land with two dried wells. I started with rainwater harvesting before anything else and started the dairy. I was in love with cows and valued the native breeds. I started to grow fodder for the animals and simultaneously planted trees and vegetable patches. Everything was trial and error. Some things worked and many things did not. When I met Subash Palekar at a training and understood the workings of the Zero Budget Natural Farm I felt I had many answers. Ever since I have been practicing those ideas and slowly expanding each area in the farm – orchard, vermicompost, beekeeping, and so on. Being at the farm and watching what you grow is the most fulfilling feeling I have ever had. I wish many young people and families will turn to farming because I believe that is the future of this world. I am doing my bit and the Natural Farm is my small contribution.
At the Natural Farm, we produce milk, butter, ghee, vegetables, fruits, eggs, honey, and vermicompost. We source organic ingredients and make value-added products such as oils, podis, jams, pickles.
“To farm well requires an elaborate courtesy toward all creatures, animate and inanimate.”
