Food for Thought – Vivasayee's Life

Do we need to thank the green revolution for India being food self-sufficient?

“Thanks to the Green Revolution, India is food self-sufficient”. I am tired of reading and listening to variations of this statement of gratitude. What do these journalists even imagine? Do people really believe that before the British colonialized India, Tribes, Rajas and traders were importing food from the rest of the world to feed the…

What is the big deal about not tilling our soil?

I remember learning about top soil erosion during the environmental studies in class 5 in school. But, beyond that i don’t remember having any discussion about soil health or top soil loss in any other forum during classroom education. This is unfortunate, given that our existence is still dependent on us consuming food and not…

What we eat will decide if we need to find another planet to grow our food

Much is said about how organic farming is much less productive than industrialized forms of agriculture. For people who have been thinking about organic farming as one of the many solutions to the apocalyptic mess we find ourselves in, this argument of productivity in a debate with friends and family becomes a speed breaker. While…

Obituaries of the Wild around Vaanavil

~ 10 minute read Trigger warning : couple of photos in the blog include pictures of dead animals. We keep posting a lot of happy stories about the farm life and the domesticated animals we rear. But the complete picture is more uglier than the image social media prods us to create. We want to…

My thoughts on Natural Produce Costs and Pricing in Tamil Nadu

ஏன் இயற்கை விவசாயத்தில் விளைவிக்கப்பட்ட விளை பொருட்களின் விலை அதிகமாக உள்ளது? மேலே உள்ள கேள்வி ஒரு சாமானியனின் கேள்வியாக உள்ளது இதற்கான விடைகாணும் பொருட்டு ஒரு இயற்கை விவசாயியாக இதை ஒரு சாமானியனுக்கு புரியும் வண்ணம் எடுத்துரைக்க இந்த பதிவு. நீண்ட பதிவிற்கு மன்னிக்கவும் சற்று நேரம் ஒதுக்கி படித்தால் நம் வயிற்றிற்கு இடும் உணவு நல் உணவாக அமையும். பொதுவாக விவசாயத்தில் விலை நிர்ணயம் என்பது விவசாயிகளால் 100% நிர்ணயிக்கப்படுவதில்லை!!! பின் யார் விலை…

Can organic farming be profitable?

Palm Jaggery – King of Sweeteners

In the first 17 years of my life in Bombay, I used to wait for Taadgola every summer. I vividly remember the vendors who used to sell Taadgola in the corner of the road 100 metres from our house in the suburbs. I used to coax my mother to buy some whenever we used to…

Can natural – organic – sustainable – regenerative farming feed the world?

A lot of people agree that sustainable ways of farming are good for the ecosystems, humans and animals. But they don’t agree that it will be able to feed the world. The yield of individual crops have known to be lesser in sustainable farming than conventional agriculture. But rarely are the systems compared in entirety….

Farm Bills and Stone Age

A common argument that we hear against the simple lifestyle that Noushadya and I are trying to lead is that we are going backwards from the common narratives of progress and development. The comment that we usually encounter is that we are heading towards the stone age. While it is known or can be intelligently…