Today we found that two more papaya trees had
fallen down because their roots couldn’t hold in the very wet soil after all
the rain. These trees tend to get top
heavy as they grow larger and are very prone to fall down in rain and wind.
One of them fell on the very expensive pipe of
one of the water research units. As the
picture shows, fortunately it didn’t break.
Its beautifully sunny again today for at least some of the time.
The rain has devastated the plastic on the roof
of the new nursery. We will have to go back
to the drawing board to find something more robust. Maybe polycarbonate sheets or something like
that.
More sun and rain which continued to clear the
air. Parts of Buddha Garden looked quite
magical in the sun. Although at other
times it was extremely grey and wet and muddy.
The day started with heavy rain but this
disappeared as sun took over the rest of the day. The air seemed very clear and the sun very
bright and everything growing like crazy.
I’ve spent the day doing the weekly video as
fire crackers go off all around me. This
is not very good for the air quality, although of course its not as bad here as
in urban areas.
Its taken us about two months but at last we
have completed the roof on the new nursery.
I wonder if the plastic will let through enough light, especially in the
monsoon, but we can plant some plants and see how they like it.
I couldn’t resist taking this picture of the
New Horizon vegetable garden where I cut the grass yesterday afternoon. Cutting the grass was really hard work as it
was very overgrown and doing it has made my back sore today.
But as the picture shows, it was worth it.
Today I was sitting inside and could hear a
sound which I couldn’t identify. Turned
out it was Vasantha and Mala sorting the mung beans which we use to make
sprouts. They toss them up in the flat baskets
so the small mung beans jump out and then go through them to take out any bad
ones or bugs that they find. The noise consists of the beans being thrown up
and down and rolling around.
According to Rajan most people now do this job
with a machine!
As I was walking around the farm this evening I
came across these flowers that glowed gold in the sun.
Today we started removing the thorns in the old
cashew orchard that we have recently replanted.
There turned out to be are far more thorn bushes than we first thought. The grass had grown so long it hid a lot of
the thorn plants. So I don’t know how
long it will be before it is finished.
I was really pleased with this picture which
was just a happy result rather than a thoughtful one. I just pointed my camera at
the flowers and pressed the button. I
love the colours and the detail, especially how the raindrops on the flowers
have come out.
I loved the way these bunches of leaves hung
down from the vine which was curling around a palmyra tree. Yet another shade of green to enjoy.
Sun and showers means there are many shades of
intense green everywhere. Its beautiful.
As well as being for good for our newly planted
trees the sun and showers have been very good for Sangeeta’s roses. I love the delicate pink of this rose and
felt this was the right blue for it as background.
We have been doing a lot of planting in the
past weeks but I have been really worried that we would miss planting
cashews. At last the cashew seedlings
arrived (from quite a distance) and they are being planted in the gaps in the
cashew orchard.
This is a picture of the first custard apples
of the season. They are a really good
size, presumably because of the rain. I
love the different colours.
Today I did
a lot of grass cutting especially in the orchards where I cut paths through the grass. This is a picture of
where I did it in the Pryog orchard.
Its lovely to walk along these paths as the
grass seems to encourage the butterflies that fly all around as I walk.
Rajan recently bought this for me in Pondy and
I am finding it very useful for all the grass cutting we are doing right
now. It stops a lot of grass going on my
face.
I don’t think it covers enough to keep the
virus out though.
I spoke too soon about my camera working again
as today I couldn’t get it to power itself from the new battery. I’ve had to use my phone instead and although
I don’t like using it so much I think I have got enough material for the
video. At the very least I think I will
be able to do a slide show.
This picture of the micro greens infrastructure
in the nursery is likely to be part of it.
I have been without my camera for the last few
days and I have felt lost without it.
Today at last the battery arrived and I am very pleased that it is
working again. I can (and did) take
pictures with my phone, but I much prefer to use my camera.
The blossom that the butterflies enjoyed is
still going strong. Although normally it
does not last very long.
