Krish Ashok is at it yet again. He thinks he has built a nuanced position for GMOs. Nothing could be far from the truth. His recent video conflates artificial selection that has happened over thousands of years with lab developed GMOs which have a questionable history over 50 years. At its broadest, the definition of…
Tag: Permaculture
Why Masala Lab needs to update his understanding of pesticides and organic farming?
Krish Ashok is at it again. He admits that food and agriculture are complex topics; yet he continues to make reels that over-simplify. Krish Ashok’s recently uploaded a video on Instagram reels “Pesticides in spices : Do we need to worry?”. The conclusion he wants hs to draw is that “We don’t”. His understanding of…
Rising from the Rain : Our Compost Toilet Chronicles! December 2023
We lost our compost toilet’s walls, partially, and roof to the torrential downpour over the session that lasted 36+ hours in our farm between 16th December evening to 18th December noon. The deluge that occurred in Tirunelveli and neighbouring districts has been atrributed to cyclonic storm near Sri Lanka. We had transplanted our rice saplings…
Transformation from Rice Fields to Forest Garden at Vaanavil Farm & Food Forest
Back in 2018, we were skeptical when we wanted to convert 40% of erstwhile rice fields to a bio-diverse forest garden comprising of fruit trees, timber trees, herbs, spices and more. Typically, rice fields are plots which get flooded because of proximity to a river, irrigation canal, pond or any major water body. Also, to…
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…
Homesteading update : Composting our own shit
We started construction of compost toilet in May 2019 and completed in August, the same year. The compost toilet foundation and the chamber walls, the chamber ceiling were constructed with stones, hollow bricks, cement, sand and concrete. The walls were built with self-manufactured sun-dried adobe bricks made with farm sub-soil. The roof was a madras…
COP26: Are India’s commitments enough?
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th annual conference, held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. Around 197 countries attended. The representatives were either the country’s leaders or delegates. Here is a summary of what India what has agreed to in COP26. There are only 7…
Raising chickens: our experience over the last six months
Chickens, we wanted to raise for quite some time but never took the first step. When we shifted from hybrid cows to native cows, we realized it was time to buy native chickens. And it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Chickens and cows share a symbiotic relationship – cows poop attract…
Up in the hills, In a forest clearing: Prayogshala
While searching for farm land, we had explored several parts of Tamil Nadu. Kodaikanal was one of them. It got dropped off the list because of difficulty of access and doubt of my family’s tolerance to colder climate for prolonged periods of time. But, no other place in Tamil Nadu came close to the beauty…
Palm Jaggery – King of Sweeteners
The author reflects on childhood memories of enjoying Taadgola and Neera in Bombay while expressing concern over the decline of local, sustainable products like palm jaggery in favor of industrial cane sugar. Advocating for localized economies, the text highlights the environmental benefits and health superiority of palm jaggery over its cheaper counterpart.
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