What pushed me towards farming

I visited my village on a few occasions in the past decade. During these visits, I observed the dark side of an Indian farmer's life. The typical Indian farmer is caught in a vicious circle of debt, labour problems, price fluctuations and vagaries of climate. Quite a few of my relatives are stuck in this quicksand.

As a naturally curious person, I tried to delve deep into their problems and searched for solutions on the web. That is when I came across the lifechanging 'One Straw Revolution' by Fukuoka-san and Zero Budget Natural Farming by Subhash Palekar. When I suggested these techniques to my relatives, I was met with cynicism and a resistance to change. Someone said "What do city bred engineers who earn in lakhs know about agriculture?" and that is when it struck me, I have to be a successful farmer before I dole out advices to people.

Being an engineer by profession, I had to execute a quick Proof of Concept to see if I really had a 'green thumb'. My terrace at home in Bangalore was the chosen location and I started off with potted plants. Within 3 months, I had almost 50 plants - roses, hibiscus, mango, lemon, guava, vegetables and greens growing on my terrace garden.

I have tried to keep it organic, with the exception of a couple of sprays of pesticide when the mealy bug menace went out of control. It was definitely a good experiment. I observed all the beneficial insects that Fukuoka-san mentioned - spiders, mantis, bees, wasps, butterflies -flock to my terrace garden. I don't know where they came from, but they did come as if by magic!

My terrace garden proved to me beyond doubt that I had a knack with plants. The plants didn't exactly thrive, but I didn't kill anyof them either. This small garden also taught me a few lessons in life. I remember this incident with a jasmine plant clearly. There was this variety of jasmine that never flowered under my care. I pampered it with vermicompost, water, different positions for ample sunlight. Nothing seemed to work. Then, one day, I lost my patience and I uprooted the plant and left it on the terrace. A couple of days later, I saw the first buds! In an uprooted plant! I planted it back in the pot and the plant has regularly flowered since. A few days later, I was reading about Steve Jobs where he said 'A man performs to his potential only when he accepts his mortality' and I could immediately relate it to this plant! :)

With the successful execution of the PoC, I wanted to purchase some land to continue my experiments on natural farming. It was a big step and there was a little bit of hesitation. Then, as if by chance, I happened to visit a family friend in Varadapura in Sagar Taluk, Shimoga District. He is a retired bank employee who has bought a nice 18 acre farm for himself. Looking at his efforts, I was convinced that I could do it as well. The decision was made!