Having spent over an year in developing water security, fences against grazing cattle, road access to the site, a room to stowaway tools and a basic shelter for overnight stops, the time has come at last to begin planting. Ahead of answering ‘what’ to plant, I cooked up a strategy in answer to ‘how’ to plant. Some basic rules emerged. …

The story so far: in six days spread over nearly a fortnight, tonnes of debris and rubble had been ferried from well-heads nearby, to form a 2200′ long road. It was mostly rocky and lay as piled. The story ended with the intent that it would be compacted and then given a overlay of finer soil to make it smooth. Well, the road didn’t quite run that way. It took its own turns to reach the end …read on

A newly formed road is always a precursor of change. Whether that change is beneficial or harmful is a matter worth studying. Often, it’s a trade-off between necessity and disruption. The pointReturn site is about 2200 feet away from a public road and I have just formed a private road on fields through which I had bought access rights. It’s time to do an environmental audit on this step. …read on

On April 08, I began the day at 5.30am, picked up Venu and his three assistants and a car load of materials and equipment. Messrs Palani and Sridhar of Aureka [-the windmill suppliers] arrived from Auroville at 9am, Raju [-the pointReturn staff] at 10.30 from Chennai and Babu [-the reliable Reddiar] with Senthil [-the laughing lad] came from Peruveli. The day ended at 11pm for me but by then the windmill foundation had been cast and four large cement pipes had been aligned to form a culvert in the storm water canal at the western entrance to pointReturn. …read on

The long running saga on fencing is somewhat nearing conclusion. The intent to fence was formed in February. Since then delays have plagued the project. …read on

The pointReturn site of 17 acres, bought on July 31, 06, has been without a secure all-weather road access to it. This was required for realising the whole dream. On December 21, I signed a deal that put in the missing piece to complete the jig-saw picture. It is an appropriate occasion to reflect on ways of rural India today. …read on

The quickest way to fall in love with vetiver [ vetiveria zizanioides ] is to count the many ecologically gentle ways in which this simple, hardy, Cinderella grass can serve and better our lives. …read on

One of the reasons a sloping land gets abandoned is soil erosion. To arrest this, contours of the land should be determined and rain water run-off impeded across the contour. A simple way to mark a contour line is by means of a home made A-Frame. …read on

I hear many -often, young people- say, “I will buy a small piece of land and take to growing trees or growing crops or whatever”. The wish to get back to land is compelling and frequent. I succumbed to that once, 26 years ago and having seen a patch go green, have begun again with another bare lot.
I thought setting down my experience of the legalities of buying land might be of use to wannabe homesteaders. …read on

The search for a suitable land was into its sixth frenetic week when on June 17, Manoharan, a fisherman of my village Muttukkadu, said: “I have just the kind of property you have in mind. A friend has the details. Give me a day, for me to go visit it and confirm it meets your needs.” …read on