Zero Budget Sustainable Famring @vaatalya
Farming at Vaatalya today is the same as it has been on small farms in these areas for hundreds of years. Every year we try to improve our farming and varieties of salads, herbs, vegetables, and pulses are all coming up. Out of our 9 acres mountain top land, we have induged in almost 07 acres of farms and orchards.
This method works along with the natural biodiversity of each farmed area, encouraging the complexity of living organisms, both plants and animals that shape each particular ecosystem to thrive along with food plants.
Though blessed with abundant water, the soil is rocky and challenging for many types of cultivation. Self-sufficiency is still a dream, but being true to the land, we ensure as much as possible of what is cultivated finds its way to the dinner plate.
Why is this important ?
Our farming practices emphasises traditional and new practices in which all the input is produced by the farm itself, resulting in food self-sufficiency. It originated as a design science for small-scale farmers to create quantity produces, ease their work and also to address environmental degradation.
Natural Chemical Free Soil
Fertile and healthy soil is the basis for healthy plants, animals, and humans. And soil organic matter is the very foundation for healthy and productive soils. Understanding the role of organic matter in maintaining healthy soil is essential for developing ecologically sound agricultural practices. Our mountain top has 100% virgin natural chemical-free soil. We have never used any chemicals in the growth of our plants ensuring the plants & trees grow naturally & healthy in the soil.
Butterflies and Bees
Pollination is essential to the survival of plants because it is part of their reproductive process. It is equally important for people because without pollination we would not have vegetables and fruits to eat. The most well-known pollinators are bees. The second most productive pollinators are butterflies.
Butterfly : Solan district is situated in the northeast region of Himachal Pradesh. During the present study, one hundred and five species of butterflies belonging to 5 families of 72 genera are recorded. The most abundant family is Nymphalidae followed by Lycaenidae, Hesperidae, Pieridae and Papilionidae. Analysis of these species for abundance revealed that 54 species (51.42%) were common.
Bees: Where would we be without bees? As far as important species go, they are top of the list. They are critical pollinators: they pollinate 70 of them around 100 crop species that feed 90% of the world. That’s only the start. If we lose the plants that bees pollinate, all of the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain. Which means a world without bees could struggle to sustain the global human population of 7.7 billion. Honey bees are going extinct because of excessive use of pesticides in crops and certain blood-sucking parasites that only reproduce in bee colonies. It's true that the extinction of bees would mean the end of humanity.
At Vaatalya we use homemade natural manure and pesticides leading to a balance in the environment where nature and thrive and grow. When you wake up in the morning you 'll see numerous amount of honey bees & butterflies making love to the flowers and plants that we grow at Vaatalya.
Home Grown Manure
Manure is organic matter, mostly derived from animal faeces, soil & food waste. We have cows at Vaatalya which provide us with natural manure. Vermiculture unit helps us further decompose the biodegradable materialise used at Vaatalya and further makes more organic manure. All this manure is then used in plants and orchards to help them grow healthy and organically.
Home Grown Organic Pesticides
We at Vaatalya make our own natural pesticides. We blend herbs like Neem, Vasaka, Curry leaves, Rosemary, Thyme & Nirgundi with Cow Urine which is then sprayed in plants. It is one of the most natural Biopesticides and Biofertilizer available for plants. The spraying eliminates fungal infection, insect attack as well as parasites such as nematodes. The blend has Urea, minerals and enzymes required for the enrichment for the soil.
Fruits we grow
With the above methods of agriculture, we have grown the following fruits. We never interfere in the course of nature, therefore, all our fruits and vegetables we eat are seasonal.
Apple | Nectarine | Apricot | Peach | Picanut | Kiwi | Pomegranate | Walnut | Almonds
Seasonal veggie we grow
Green Beans, Tomato, Lady Finger, Aubergine, Arbi Eddoe or eddo, Potato, Beetroot, Turnip, Radish, Spinach, Mustard. We use our homegrown produce in most of our meals. We create an evolving dining menu, where we invent healthy ways to cook food using local, organic and innovative ingredients mostly grown in our farms. If you wish to learn more about sustainability, how to grow your own food or simply enjoy a farm to table meal visit www.vaatalya.com.
