Quick backgrounder: I had requested people to write what they would do if they had 7 acres of farm land. This was done primarily as a way to crowdsource ideas for my own farm and also be useful for anyone else wanting to follow a similar dream.
This triggered Samuel Eddy to start off on a series of posts on this subject. This post is 4th in his series where he talks about his ideas for a farm house. At the bottom of this article, you’ll also find links to his other posts on this series. Recommended reading.
The Farm House
This will be one of the major projects in my farm. Assuming that I am going to live on the farm or I may be visiting weekends ,my home on the farm is going to be a unique resting place .It will be my hiding place so to say ,where I can spend my time being myself and be with my loved ones! And therefore I need to build something which my family will be proud off.
I will plan my home to be ethnic, rugged, close to nature or be an extension of my outdoors and which will let a lot of natural light in .I will spend time researching on how my forefathers built their houses and why? How did they enjoy much better health than me etc. I would also spend time observing how other animals and birds build their homes and if possible biomimic some of their ideas!!
I am not being very specific here because each and everyone need to figure out what he or she really wants in their homes and how it will reveal their personality. It should make them feel good.
But the principle of organic farming states that you need to build with the materials that are available within your neighborhood. Not only do you save on transportation costs but also the home becomes endemic to that area and truly reflects the materials available in that area.
Since I am going to give you ideas on how safe and secure your home is going to be, do not try to put fences, barred windows etc in your home .Let it draw in visitors and friends and let all who enter the portals of your home feel good. Let it be charged with negative ions and positive emotions and most importantly of love.
Photo by Exmoor Owl & Hawks
Photo by Tyson Burkele
I have shown 2 examples above of the entrance to the house .I would use a lot of stones that I can get on my farm or close by.
The above pictures are just to give an idea as to how the home can be made rustic and ethnic by using raw stones or wooden beams for the ceiling, walls etc.
Recently in a friends farm I saw that he had used the traditional brass urli as wash basins and the traditional brass lamp served as the soap tray and hung just above the washbasin. It was unique!!
So use art and artifacts to make your home unique. Get friends who are good in painting or in other crafts to come and add value to your home .I am sure they will love to do that.
I will also use lime mortar more than cement and mud blocks rather than burnt bricks etc as I would be particular about the carbon footprint that I would leave behind! As far as possible I would use natural materials than artificial or processed ones!!
I would excavate the ground and surely have a basement and also have an attic .My roof will have a definite slant so that the top can draw out the air. I would have air pipes at the ground level which will draw in fresh air and so this creates an air conditioning effort. The house therefore will be multilevel so that the outside can be landscaped with green lawns surrounding the house.
Put all the thoughts on paper and have a 3D plan made before starting the construction. If this can be done on the computer as a 3D model with a walk through, you can “see” your home even before you start building it. As you plan your house also take into consideration future additions and alterations and expansions as there will definitely be need for that.
Moreover as far as possible build it yourself, be involved in the construction, and don’t just outsource it. This will give immense satisfaction not only to you but to your children and grandchildren and the many people who will visit your farm house!!
Part 1 : Fencing Tips
Part 2 : Tips on How to Name Your Farm
Part 3: Building a Pond in Your Farm
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This blog post is part of the popular series called, ‘What If I had 7 Acres‘. It’s an online challenge that I threw to pick ideas on what would people do if they had the chance to play with 7 acres of farm land. You don’t necessarily have to have the land to take part.
Samuel Eddy‘s ideas have been brilliant and practical. His 3rd installment in this series talks about the importance of a pond in your farm. For his other parts, look for links at the bottom.
“Now that the area of 7 acres has been fenced and we have an impressive gateway, the next thing I would do is to get a contour map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contour_map). If you feel this is too much, figure out using your eyesight to identify the highest point in your farm and trace out or mark or peg a Farm pond! The reason why I am suggesting a farm pond is that you want to save every drop of rain water and thus “raise” your farm’s water table .
Also by excavating a farm pond you will be able to have enough soil for landscaping your farm. Stones if any from this excavation can be used to line the farm pond. The soil can be used to also make your own mud blocks to build your farm house. Use a JCB (earth excavator) to do this and estimate costs.
Photo by MassDistraction
A good idea to figure out the highest point is also by observing how the water runs after a rain and follow this contour. Having the pond at the highest point also helps irrigate the farm using the gravity instead of pumping up the water which adds to the energy costs.
A pond also is aesthetically beautiful as there is nothing more serene than a pond. Also this can be used to improve revenue streams as I shall explain later.
A few pond suggestions are given below. Have a irregular shape .The following links help in calculating the surface area and /or calculate the amount of water your pond will hold. ( http://www.watergarden.com/calculate/Flex/FlexVolumeCalculator.html). I would suggest a half an acre farm pond which means it is about 21860 sq ft.
Photo by FireSign
When I build my pond I would also plan to have a water sluice like the one pictured below to control the flow of water, besides having a overflow section where the excess water will flow out during the rainy season.This overflow section can continue as a stream across the farm with a series of check dams which will help conserve water.
I would then plant a whole lot of water plants like the Lotus etc but I will elaborate that in another post!”
Other posts in this series:
Part 1 : Fencing Tips
Part 2 : Tips on How to Name Your Farm
Part 4: Samuel Eddy on Tips on Building a Farm House
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After mulling over a name for months and seriously researching for one the last couple of days, my family and I picked out a real winner. We named our 7 acre farm, Vaksana.
Vaksana is a Sanskrit word that has several meaning, all of which we liked.
Nourisher, Invigorating, Refreshing and the one we really liked, Fertile Place.
I have realized that branding is very important to a farm. I learned this after I started visiting various other farm, most notably VanaShree and NavaDarshanam.
In the beginning a name may not seem important to a farm. Especially when its barren. But one will start to realize its potential when the products have to be marketed. Without an identity, it can be difficult to create a differentiation.
Also, naming a farm is like naming a child. The name grows on you and the more you call it by its name, the more the bonding.
What is the naming process that I followed? I started off with noting down the words that I truly believed in. Some of the words that I noted down were Open, Collaboration, Sweat, Joy, Fertility. I started to find out the Sanskrit names for these words.
I had a choice of having an English word, Tamil word or a Sanskrit word for the name. As soon as I looked at the list of Sanskrit words, I immediately fell in love with them. There were lots of words that really sounded very nice and knew that I will focus only on Sanskrit words.
I then made a shortlist of names that I liked. I used a few online Sanskrit dictionaries that also showed the meaning for the words to pick out the names. Here’s what I landed with.
Navadina : New Day, New Beginning
Vyatta : Open
SasyaPradha : Fertile
Susveda : Sweating profusely
Samasta : Whole
Tanha : Thirst for living
Kshipta : Active
Vaksana : Fertile Place thats refreshing and invigorating.
I seemed to like pretty much the entire lot. Now I know that if I buy many farms, it will be a lot easier for me to name them! 
In order to select the best of the lot, I wrote down all the names along with their meaning in a sheet of paper. I showed it to my wife, mother and father. I asked them to pick up two of their favorite names from the list. Vaksana was picked by all four of us and that made the choice easier.
As luck would have it, the domain names for Vaksana were available and I promptly went and booked Vaksana.org and Vaksana.in domain names. The .com, though, was picked by someone else but not being used.
Vaksana.org will be the primary domain name while the .in was picked more to avoid domain squatting and brand dilution. Both these domain names will be redirected to http://www.Kiruba.com/farm
Before picking up a name, I always google for it to find the search results. If the results are low, then its a good pick. Vaksana had very few results and that’s a good thing.
Vaksana is new and I hope you get to meet her in person soon!
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I had the most interesting, enthusiastic phone conversation with Narasinga Pakka from Bangalore who is very passionate about starting a farm. Narasinga has returned back from the US after 14 years and is seriously considering full time farming. I have huge respect for people who have the clarity of vision and the guts to do things that other’s shy away from. I’m also a big fan of putting your heart and soul on a project and doing it full time.
Narasinga sent me this email and I took his permission to post his ideas so others can benefit from his knowledge. The following are in Narasinga’s own words.
“I also have a small patch of land near Bangalore and I intend to develop it here are some of the ideas I’m thinking of.
1) Design the farm – Before that attend a farm design course at Vanagam
- Inspiration from Vanashree, GreenLocal and also Baifwadi
2) Put in a place good infrastructure that could be like a dream I would refer to page 8 of this document at India Water Portal
3) Grow as many fruit trees as possible including underutilized, rare exotics check out
Soans, Indian Institute of Horticulture Research and FloraCafe
4) Grow as many non fruit trees as possible you can find the list on Vanashree & Greenlocal and also at Project GreenHands
5) By the way read LEISA India Magazine on http://leisaindia.org/ and I can also suggest a few Kannada ones (if you can read it).
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Whenever I visit farms that are run by IT professionals, I keep hearing about Masanobu Fukuoka and his book ‘One Straw Revolution’. I knew his concept was on ‘No Effort Farming’ and letting nature do its course but that’s all I knew. I made a mental note of buying his book and I only knew too well about my poor book reading habit.
So, I started off on the easy route of watching videos about Fukuoka San and his methods of farming. I particularly found this documentary a wonderful way to get introduced to his techniques. Now, am inspired enough to pick up his book. Afterall, the book carries decades of experience and his bountiful harvests is testimony to the man’s way of farming.
Links:
My farm website is at http://Kiruba.com/farm
Blog posts on my farming experience : http://kiruba.com/tag/farm
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Email:Kiruba @ Kiruba.com
Phone :+91-44-42733619
Mobile : 98415 97744
Snail Mail :(Home)
Virugambakkam,
Chennai, INDIA
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