Perseverance is the name of the game

We spotted this land nestled in Western Ghats in 2013. 

A brick making unit was functioning in this land. A few dilapidated roof structures were used to store raw 'cut bricks' made from red earth dug up from the same land; mostly manual work. A lorry would come in regularly to haul the dried bricks to a kiln nearby to make finished bricks.

This place was standing out like a sore thumb, a gored underbelly surrounded by boundless nature cloaked in green-blue velvet. The moment we spotted this land (up for sale, that was how we came to know this one), we realised that we were standing on an ancient forest, the one we were going to help re-grow, in the near future!

We negotiated quickly, completed the paper work and bought it.

We started the land clearing work in 2014. Top soil was completely gone (six feet depth) into making millions of bricks in the last decades and we were left with hardened, unusable soil with piles of burnt bricks and tires that filled every pit they dug to take out red earth. We did not have a choice but to use an earth mover to clear it all.

We levelled the land, put up a drip irrigation system and started planting saplings just in time for the monsoon. We began with Lemon; this place is frequented by Elephants and these gentle giants hate citrus fruits. So we chose it.

We got an able hand, Ramaiya, to help us tend the farm. 

His tea breaks were (and are) legendary!

With a functioning Bore well that is run on Commercial EB connection (7.5 bucks per unit), the plants started growing. We roped in Forest department to assist us in setting up a diversified forest sort of structure within our farm. They donated Teak, Causarina, Melia Dubia, Gooseberry and a host of other indigenous trees free of cost plus Vermicompost free of cost. They were able to because they got funds from Asian Development Bank (Japan) to help farmers grow agro forests in private farmlands.

One year later, Melia Dubia trees declared themselves as the winners in the growth competition!

Lemon saplings struggled (they still do) to break the rocky subsoil terrain with their tender roots but nature will help them to succeed eventually!

Two years later...

Three years later...

We kept experimenting a lot, growing Sesame, Urad Dal, Mustard...even Wheat! - Some grew well and some failed due to truant monsoons but we were undeterred!

We also kept adding more and more trees, including Oranges, Guavas, Pistachios, Cherries, Pomegranates, Gooseberries to name a few, emboldened by an electrical fence we threw around and the ever thinning down visits by the gentle giants. 

Umpteen herbs unknown to us started thriving down under!

Plants just fed on Sun, rain and little bit vermicompost / cow dung; no other additives.

A decade later... jump forward to 2024 and the transformation has been way beyond our dream :-)

We learnt a thing or two about ourselves in this journey so far. Most importantly, we learned to watch and learned to wait. Also, we befriended lot of new birds and butterflies that flock the hills in generali and our farm in particular! These birds already started bringing newer trees to our farms :-)

Recently the erstwhile farm owner visited this area and was disappointed that she could not locate 'her' land!