Farming

New Vehicle, and Roof Complete

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We are regularly on the lookout for good deals to expand our utility vehicle fleet, and a great opportunity recently presented itself. Now we’ve added this Polaris Ranger to our lineup. The row of flowers is from it’s blessing the other day. Here, Sadhaka Shankaranatha is transporting several bins of leafy greens from the hydroponic greenhouse to the kitchen refrigerator.

The roofing team also completed the Guru Peedam hall the other day. The final layer of asphalt shingles was applied, along with copper gutters and flashing, and mortar in various places to prevent leaks. This re-roofing is a temporary fix for the next 5-10 years while we saving up for completely rebuilding the structure of the Guru Peedam ceiling, which is slowly rotting.

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Our Latest SSC Sishya Taskforce Arrivals

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  • Sadhaka Shankaranatha processes the harvested long beans
    Sadhaka Shankaranatha processes the harvested long beans
  • Our employee Eddie is busy mowing grassy areas about 2.5 days each week.
    Our employee Eddie is busy mowing grassy areas about 2.5 days each week.

Roshan Sivayogam arrived from Malaysia for a few weeks. Here he is in a hydroponic greenhouse where they just finished harvesting a long bean planting. He is about to pressure wash the area in preparation for the next trellis crop. A cucumber trellis is in the foreground.

Gajanan Nataraj arrived from New York for a couple weeks. Here he is being shown which kind of gasoline to collect for filling a pressure washer tank. Then he started washing our utility vehicles, which is part of a maintenance routine performed on them every month or so.

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Gifts of Wood

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We were able to get three straight logs from the recently felled rudraksha tree clump. They are around 13 feet long and will provide valuable milled boards over the next few weeks. Kumarnathaswami painted the ends right away to protect the logs from insect infestation.

Meanwhile, nearby the milling area is a hibiscus field where we gradually add more tree branch mulch around the trunks. Not only providing nutrients as it breaks down, the mulch also helps regulate ground temperature around the plant and of course suppresses grass and weeds that would compete for nutrients.

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Leaning Tower of Rudraksha (Tree)

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As we shared a week or so ago, recent strong winds were too much for a very tall rudraksha tree clump that has been growing in a low swampy area for decades soon after the Ganesha shrine on San Marga path. The clump was uprooted, but rather than falling all the way down, it got stuck at a 45-degree angle on more rudraksha trees on the other side of the path.

Cutting down a tree clump in this scenario is very dangerous because the weight distribution is difficult to predict. Fortunately we have professionals on the job. We got some photos of the beginning stages and thought we could come back later in the afternoon to capture some of the biggest pieces being felled, but they moved so quickly that the clump was all down by the time we came back mid afternoon!

  • They had to first remove some other tree branches that were in the way
  • A large piece in the midst of falling after being cut
  • Despite all the experience and best efforts, the chainsaw got stuck at least once. They had to attach rope to a section and pull the branch down with with a excavator arm
  • Another recent rainbow

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Fruit Orchard Mulching

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Though time consuming to apply, our avocado and other fruit trees respond well to mulching, so the Siddhidata Kulam is carving out time to replenish the mulch layer around them more frequently. This is partly possible due to a large amount of material being regularly delivered by tree trimmer companies when they work in our area. We are very thankful for this.

Many of the avocado trees are putting out blossoms and tiny fruits right now, so this is the time to add more mulch.

  • A couple new avocado saplings
  • Lots of baby avocados
  • The tree is loaded
  • Mulch arrives
  • The egrit birds always gather around work like this, waiting for insects to show their faces

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Propagating Hibiscus Through Air Layering

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  • Fluffy double white hibiscus
  • Source plant of this white hibiscus, with new air layer attached
  • Opening the air layer after around six weeks
  • Air layering results now planted in the ground

A couple of our common tropical hibiscus varieties planted in the ground are so resilient that you can just take cuttings from a mature plant, stick them directly in the ground and they’ll grow new plants. With more complex varieties, not so easy. For a long time we were temporarily putting cuttings in pots that serve as a gentler way station for them to put out new roots. After a while we would transfer them to the ground. However, this method was not always successful, especially with more complex hybrids, and took many months to accomplish.

Then we heard about air layering, a faster, more reliable propagation method whereby you expose the inner stem of a young branch and wrap a growing material around it, such as coco peat or sphagnum peat moss, held together by foil or a plastic bag. It only takes about 1.5 to two months for new roots to form and be ready to transfer to the ground. We are having good success with it. The slideshow above shows the process from start to finish for a fluffy double white hibiscus.

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