Experience the Farm
A visit to the farm will recharge and nourish you with a vast, open, biodiversely rich enviroment with a wide variety of birds and animals, patches of rejuvenated farmlands, delicious local food, beautiful sunset across the hills and so on.
What to expect
We are on a hillslope facing west and this gives you some stunning sunset views on the hills across the valley. If you hike up to the Chikkamma - Doddamma temple, you can get a panoramic view of the valley.
The farm is broadly divided into 3 areas,
- the wildlife corridor, higher up on the hill, closer to the forest, which is let to grow by itself
- the food forests which consists of supporting plants as well as fruit bearing trees and actively cultivated land
- the residential area, where the housing units and the common amenties for the community
Depending on the season you visit, you will see a hue of colors starting from deep green with dense foliage in June/July (hoping there were some early showers in May) which changes into a yellow/brown by February/March. The place is getting greener by the year.
You will be greeted with the cacophony of bird songs early in the morning and in the evening. You can take long walks into what will seem like a deep forest. Post Dussehra the morning dew sets in and your walks will bring you back with wet trousers.
The Team at the Farm
The day to day activities at the farm is managed by the team lead by Madhavan, a passionate naturalist who has been tirelessly working on rejuvenating the farm, documenting the flora and the fauna, gathering seeds from the forest, maintaining a nursery, adding diversity and nurturing the ecosystem. He is our repository of information, knows every tree, bird and reptile that you will run into at the farm. He lives on the farm with his wife Krithika and daughter Sashtika.
He is supported by an able team who has grown up and lived in the Odhipuram/Thagatti village. Ramdoss is a master craftsman when it comes to making bamboo baskets. Gundappa knows the forest like the back of his hand, the elephant paths and the local stories. Yellaraju is the runner boy always ready to run to the village on the moped. The kitchen is managed by Chikkama.
We also have a few other-than-human team members: 3 cows (one of them a calf) and two dogs - who help to run the farm!!
The Food
We try to keep the food local, but what we grow is still not sufficient so we have to augment that with buying from the outside. But the cooking is local, with recipes that have been used by the cooks from the local community who run our kitchen.
There is mudde made from the Ragi that we grow. The tangy rasam and sambhar use the tamarind that we harvest. You can expect a soppu from whatever we can harvest at the farm which includes moringa leaves, amaranth, Malabar spinach and an occasional radish. The palyas are usually from a variety of beans, banana stem, air potato and even a local cactus. The curries are made of gourds, yams, bamboo shoots that we grow locally. All of these augmented by the regular vegetables purchased from the market. Some of the local chutney flavours include the gongura and balloon vine in addition to the peanut and the coconut ones.
The fruits vary with the season and there is usually papaya, ramphals in early summer, followed by mangoes and gooseberry, custard apples and guavas towards the end of summer, all this pending on whether the elephants and monkeys have decided to leave something for us.
Facilities
We have tented accommodation consisting of two decks, the Malabar hut with two tents and a large common space, and the Banyan hut which has one tent with the outside deck space. Each of these tents can comfortably accommodate up to 3 adults and a family of 2 adults and 2 kids. Additionally, there are 2 bamboo huts which can accommodate 2 adults each. All of these are weatherproof and can be used round the year.
If you are a little more adventurous and would like the true camping experience, we have the dome tents as well which can be pitched on the ground or on the common space on the decks. All the accommodation is laid out with mattresses and sheets to make it comfortable for you. There are also a couple of stand fans if you cannot take the heat.
We have WiFi connection given by BSNL, accessible near the camp site. There are no attached toilets, but the common toilets (WC) are easily accessible. There is a closed shower and one open one. There is no hot water facility for the showers, but you can get some hot water from the kitchen if required. Lighting is minimal to avoid polluting the environment.
Activities
The place has been built to take you closer to nature and experience natural farming systems. Here are some of the things you can do to engage yourself
Farm Tour, bird watching, basket making, star gazing, chop & drop, board games, camp fire, hiking etc.
The Hogenekal falls is about 55 kms and takes about 1:30 hours of drive winding through the forests passing Anchetty, Natrapalayam and Bingundala.
Chunchi Falls / Mekedatu is about 53 Kms and will take you about 1:15 hours to reach. If you are passing through Kanakpura, this can be a 1 hour detour before you reach us or on the way back.
