Addition to the family ...

I know its been a long time since the last update ... but things have been hectic with people running from their summer vacations and demand for milk rising , along with that more and more samples being distributed as some members giving us loads of references to their friends . Though we have lots of members referring , we have lots of them who are not referring any and we hoping that do start to as its them that we relying on to spread the word as much as possible .

In keeping with the rise in demand for milk .. we went out and got some more cows to come join the family . And along with the cows we got some lil ones as well so the gang has really grown . We are now catering to almost 150 odd homes across Gurgaon though our conversion percentage has dropped a bit with us finally coming across a few people who refuse to take our milk and rather stick to the Mother Dairy or Nestle brand .

There has been demand coming our way from Delhi also and keeping in mind our gud friends who reside in South Delhi we have decied to start a pre registration drive along with sampling to see if we can sum up the demand required for us to start delivering in these areas . We are as of now only looking at Saket - Sainik Farms - GK II - GK I & East of Kailash , this is being done as it will help our delivery costs stay low and also allow us to deliver within time . Lets see how it goes in this part of the city ....

There has been work going on at the farm keeping in mind teh upcoming vegetable season ... in which the fields have started to get ploughed and the green cover crop is about to go in so that the soil gets plenty of Nitrogen by the time planting happens in mid - end August . The rains are almost here and we hoping that irrigation set up is not required as of now ... we still have to set that up and hoping it is in place by the time planting happens . We looking to grow Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes , some beef tomatoes , lettuces , zucchini , brinjal , pac choi , red cabbage , cabbage & cauliflower ( not very sure of this as we have heard that they not very suited to this soil ) , carrots , radish , brocolii and a few herbs like Basil , thyme and rosemary . Hope the pests stay away from our fields though we have our neem and cow urine solutions ready to keep them at bay .

Besides this we have started to make paneer at our farm as a lot of members were wanting it .. and seeing the response we feel we did well as its been a HUGE SUCCESS . We have some homes taking in a kg of paneer almost every alternate day . The one mistake that we made is with the pricing and we hoping the revised pricing doesnt hamper the demand -- :-) !! We also starting to look at making curd as a lot of ppl are having trouble in getting the curd to set well with the new milk , as they were used to setting it with the other milk and havn't been able to find the right combination for this milk . We ourselves had a problem at home but the maid has it sorted out and we get some real gud curd these days .

Of late there has been a demand for eggs and chicken also .. a lot of members feel that the chicken they buy from the market maybe injected with hormones and stuff to make it grow faster so wud like it if they could be given an option of getting chicken knowing that it aint injected with anything . As we consume about 7-8 kgs of chicken at home every week , we had planned to keep a few desi murgi's for our own consumption but it seems we may keep a few extra just incase our members would like to take them from us . We will not be rearing broilers but the ' Desi Murgi's -- difference being that the broilers can be prepared much faster though taste wise we prefer the other ones .

We have been having our share of small trivial issues ... specially regarding teh delivery man and all . We have realised no matter how well you treat them and pay them , they one day will turn on you just bcoz they know you need them . We missed out on delivery one day just bcoz of this as at 5 am our delivery man suddenly felt that he needed to be paid more ..... and as we didn't have a back up guy we had to give in for the time being . Its against our principle to treat the workers as workers and we do a lot to keep them to feel that they are not labor but such incidents leave a bitter taste and just makes us wonder if we right in the way we behave with our staff . We hoping that we don't have any such trouble in the future , as we have 2 substitute delivery guys ready now . We also are having to get a second delivery vehicle running around to deliver milk so that all deliveries can be wrapped up as early as possible and not like its happening now -- we do our last delivery at about 10.30 - 11 !!! Just bear with us a few more days .... and all members shall have their milk before 9 am .

Well, I still havn't managed going on a vacation ..... and I don't think its happening anytime soon specially with Delhi as a delivery zone also starting soon . Rest everything at the farm is on control .... hoping that we do reach our target by end August !!!

Will put up some pictures in a few days ... I know its pretty boring reading what I write -- with no pictures to go with it .

More soon ...........

Rest in Peace ...

27th June '07 -- Our friend for ages left us and moved to his next destination . Duke has been with us for ages and given our family so many special moments and the void left by him will be felt for a long time to come . He came to us as a lil pup along with his sister ' Blackie ' and then grew to be a very very special friend .

I don't know how but he learnt a lot on his own and it felt as if he could understand us and what he had to do to make himself a very popular part of the Singha family . He realised that the monkeys were not welcome in our orchards ... so what did he do ?? Come April and once the apples started to form on the trees he would on his own trudge up every morning to go sit where our orchard ended and the forest started so if the monkeys did decide to try and feast in our orchard he would be there to chase them away . He would leave his spot and come back outside the kitchen like a clock at 9 am for his breakfast and after the meal would return to his duty and only to return at 5 pm for his evening meal and then back on duty till it got dark . All this with no training .....

He also had a soft spot for other animals as you can see from the pic above ... that lil kitten on his back was not adopted by us but by ' Duke ' himself . One day we saw him walk up teh drive with a lil ball of fur in his mouth , we thought he had killed a lil kitten and gotten the kill home . When I ran down to get him to drop her , I realised that he hadn't killed her , instead he had gotten her by the scruff of her neck . He gently put her down in front of me and then started to lick her till she started to stir , that moment was a very special and touching moment . Special as his sister ' Blackie ' had also adopted a lil kitten a few yrs earlier and gotten her to grow up on her own milk along with her litter that she had given birth to around the same time . Like sister - like brother !!!

I could go on and on about his antics which would show how smart he was , and how affectionate he was . But all thats gonna change as he finally did decide to move on and go to where his sister probably is waiting for him , and hope he is out there in some HUGE field making merry and looking down upon us .

Duke , you were very very special and we will remember you for a long time to come . Thanx for all the moments that you gave us -- I can't remember one incident where he would make any of us at home MAD at him .

Rest in peace Duke !!!

Surviving the HEAT wave '07 ...

After the hail storm hitting the farm in Himachal we had to try and figure out a way to survive the heat wave that hit Delhi in June after the pretty cool month of May . The temps touched the 44 deg Celsius mark on a every day basis and the cows lost their apperite and thus leading to a drop in their milk production .

To keep them safe from the effect of the heat we have installed a fogging system where they rest but in this heat the foggers also didn't seem to work wonders but yeah they were definitely better off than the animals in the neighboring farms . There is only so much we cud do , and if possible we wud have luvd to install AC's for them ;-) , but obviously that would have been asking the members to pay an extra 10 bucks behind every litre which I don't think they would have agreed to , but shall ask them for next year .

The heat also got to my dad and me .. which resulted in my dad packing his bags , starting the car and driving of to Himachal to re charge his batteries in the cooler environment . He's gone for 10 odd days and shall be back before our members start to return from their vacations and result in increased work load at the farm . I on the other hand just couldn't get myself to speak with prospective members though I had about 10-12 women who were interested in the membership programme. The heat just seems to shut my mind of and I don't see myself being able to run for a vacation this year though I'm dying to get away to re charge my batteries as well . Maddie on the other hand also decided to take a short vacation and headed of to meet her mom & brother thus leaving me and Shadow all by ourselves for a few days .

The members base hasn't increased by too many in the past week or so due to me not calling anyone , but since it cooled down over the last 3 days I have again gotten the phone stuck to my ear and been making the calls and have had about 9 more added to the list . Also with vacation about to get over we are gearing up for a hopeful surge in demand . We are going to be buying 6-7 more cows in the next 10 days and then keeping fingers crossed that our members do spread the word and we have lots more ppl signing up over the next few months .

Also there has been a huge demand for paneer and curd by our members and we are looking at starting to make the paneer for now , curd shall be looked into a lil later . Unfortunately the vegetables in HImchal also seem to be making trouble for us , the pests have really taken a liking for our fields and attacked with a vengeance . Huge losses suffered but I guess it makes us more determined for next year . So as of now we havn't been able to offer any to our members but our getting the fields ready for the winter season at the Gurgaon farm , and we hopin that goes off better than the summer season . All in all its been a tough year so far in the field .....

The last 3 days have seen the rains come down which has given us all a respite from the heat and we praying that heat wave has gone for good . Though we all know that of late the weather has started behaving strangely so never know what can happen next . There is nothing better than the rain inspite of all the traffic snarls it creates , the smell of dampness in the car , the get wet situation when Shadow insist he has to do his job inspite of it pouring outside ( need to get a raincoat ) and not having ones favoritre tee dry in time for the party . But lets hope it keeps raing like this from now on .... will allow us to till the fields and grow some green grass which will help in the soil getting in some Nitrogen before the vegetables are planted .

I guess its time to call another lady .... so signing out for now !!! Shall try and post a bit more often from now on , I know thats what I said last time also .

Cheers

Selling the ' CONCEPT ' + Farm update !!!

Well its been just over 2 weeks since I started the Marketing Campaign ... Started out by getting the close friends to sign up , people who had been explained the concept way before I even started and they signed up without even sampling the milk . But soon I ran out of friends with children so I started hounding them friends to talk to their friends .... as thats how we had decided to spread our network . That ways I wud be connected to each and every member through some common people and in the long run would allow us to have a more interactive dealing with most of them . Soon the word started spreading , I started speaking to friends friends ... but they wanted to sample the milk and see for themselves how it tastes , how does the curd form, how good is the paneer that is made of this milk . Soon, we started getting people signing up without too much of a fuss as once they tried the milk , they were pretty much hooked on to it .

Ive spoken to and met over a 150 mothers ... out of which I've had a few refusals -- mostly as they felt that the children or the husband didnt take to the taste of this new milk and they would rather have the milk that is probably adulterated with various chemicals ( guess I can't convince them all ) . It does hurt a bit to hear some try the milk , infact even like the milk and its by products but then refuse on the ground that the children/husband didnt like the taste . I mean , its for the elders to know what is gud for the child ... and to explain it to them ... and insist that the organic milk is good for them and they just have to get used to the new taste . I guess and hope someday these parents see sense , and do come back coz we wudn't want children suffering due to their parents lack of awareness . Ive had one case of a mother telling me that she luvs it but the membership fees that we charging is not fair -- I mean , what is so unfair in it ?? I refuse to accept the fact that a nominal amount of 1500 bucks is too much as a one time fee to be part of our organic farm . The same person has probably paid lakhs for a clubs membership , paid lakhs in advance to the builder of the flat they live in ..... but 1500 bucks for a healthy body is TOOO MUCH !!! Not that I'm gonna be wasting too much time with such people ... I wud understand if they had a problem with the product or the service ..... but the Membership fees . But such people keep you entertained , I usually have a smile on my face when talking to such people .

On the other hand I've come across women .. who have lapped up the product and infact have started recomending a lot of their friends to also join in and start taking milk from our farm. Most of these mothers are a pleasure to talk to , some have even given me tips on how to convince the price conscious Indian women . We didn't expect such a good response when we started out , but I have to thank all the mothers who becoming a part of the farm and its activities . The summer vacations have played in keeping enrollment on the slower side , as a lot of ppl are travelling . Infact a lot of people have tried the milk , liked it , approved it .. but wud join in after they return from their summer vacations . We look forward to July as that month shud really have me busy ... ;-)

So far its been pretty easy to convince people about the quality of the milk coming from our farm . Also a lot of them have surprised me with questions that only well aware people would know . Just goes to show that there are loads of people out there who really want to give up adulteration in their foods and are willing to pay the premium that Organic demands .

Also things have moved a bit too fast ... meaning that a lot of our members are requesting me to also make paneer and curd for them . We are working on that and hopefully should start with the Paneer pretty soon , though the logistics of the curd might take a bit longer . Lets see what happens on this front .

Things at the farm have been progressing well ... most of the required buildings have been constructed . Organic wheat has come into our stores , the cows have their relaxation areas covered with over head foggers to keep them cool during the after noon heat wave . 2 cows are really creating trouble for us and we may have to think about their future at the farm . They are the trouble makers , also their milk yield is way lower than what it should be ... so a decision will be taken in a few days . As usual the labor is being a problem , the more you take care of them the more trouble they create for you . I wonder why they so thick headed ..... we are paying our staff way more than any other farm or way more than they were earning before they came to our farm . But I guess this will be an ongoing head ache , though we hope that we do get lucky and get a good set of people to work for us .

As of now we have about 80 paid up members + another 40 families that have liked the milk and will sign up when they return from their vacations . So this far its looking good .... though we still are a long way of the target needed to get to a break even point .

More later .................................................

Im just soooo dying to get away with Maddie for a lil vacation to re charge my batteries ..... though I somehow don't see that happening anytime soon :-( .

WEATHER GODS smash us ....

Ive been really busy of late and thus havn't had much time to pen down anything new . Last week our apple season ended even before it had started , wondering how ? Well, this year for a change we had a decent crop of apple coming up but even before the apples reached the toddler stage , Kotgarh got hammered by a massive hail storm --- a down pour of hail the size of big lemons , which really damaged the crop 100% . There is no way one can escape a hail storm unless the trees are covered with anti hail nets , which may sound easy to put but actually is a very tedious and time consuming, expensive and damaging process . So a lot of us just sit and pray to the weather Gods that he spares us .... and this time he didnt .

Its sad and frustrating as when there is no crop there is no hail ... but when once evry few years we do get a good crop , the hail is bound to also come . So this year I guess there aint gonna be apples coming from our orchard , a few maybe but those too will be scarred . Though a scarred apple is not bad to eat , its just that the visual appeal is not there and thus people tend to stay away from it .

So thats what happened at the APPLE ORCHARD ... another year with no income :-( !!!

The vegetable farm somehow escaped the hail storm , though we were very nervous as it did start to hail there but didnt hail with all its fury . The cherry tomatoes are about to get ready and should start coming into Delhi soon , just hoping that the prices are good and we have a good crop at the farm. Also the Chinese Cabbage has managed not to attract too many pests though the heavy and continuos rain fall is very alarming .. from the pest attack point of view . The insect repelalant that we spray every 15 days needs to be done almost every 3-4th day , which is very time consuming . Our man Pinku has been doing a good job inspite of dad and me not being there to help him , also hes been working without too much labor as this year sourcing labor was a huge problem . As for other vegetables like zucchini , cucumber, brinjal, regular tomatoes , iceberg lettuce .. they doing fine -- but unfortunately the local market for cucmber and zuccchini crashed badly ( again shows how dependant we are on other factors ) , and inspite of being grown organically is not fetching us anything . We are hoping that the Delhi market stays at a good rate .. as soon our vegetables will hit the delhi market .

Coming down to the farm at Gurgaon .. which as of now is probably seeing the most activity and we are relying heavily for people to accept our new concept coz of the effort and hard work that has gone in to set it up . I started marketing the fresh organic cow milk to the people of Gurgaon about 2 weeks ago , and so far we have had a good response ... with very few people refusing to accept it . Some children have reported that they didnt like the taste which is very strange as its not too different . Also its for the parents to decide wether taste is more important or pure unadulterated milk is more important .. but then there are all kinds of parents out there and we are no one to make them understand this . Some have also reported that Doctors tell kids to consume skimmed milk , which for us is very SHOCKING -- as growing children do need their doses of fat . We then realised that doctors say NO to full cream milk as the milk available in the market could have artificial fat mixed and that fat is tougher to break down in a body and can lead to obesity and other complications .

Its SAD that people have forgotten to TRUST people .. and what we are offering is pure unadulterated milk -- the fat in this milk is broken down by a growing childs system much faster that other fats . Also as long as the cows are kept in hygienic conditions , fed well ( we feed fodder more than concentrated feeds ) and the milk not tampered with in any form -- it is known to be the best thing for children . The milk corporations with their huge advertising budget and stuff have made the common man believe that milk directly from farms is dangerous and harmful -- and people believe that shit .

Pasteurization , the magic word is basically a method of extending the shelf life of milk by killing all forms of bacteria in the milk -- which means that the good bacteria is also killed , so then why should one drink milk ? There is a huge debate happening as of late studies have proved that even pasteurization doesnt kill the MMT bacteria which leads to Crohns disease ... so basically the companies are just fooling people . Boiling is the ebst way of treating milk , and has been done for ages -- and never has anyone had a problem due to it .

Anyways this is a topic I cud go on and on and on .. so Ill get back to the farm . The cows have settled in well .. the milk yield is obviously lower than what we expected , but thats due to the heat . We have also set up over head fogger systems ... to keep the cows cool and comfortable in the after noon heat . It seems to be working well as the milk yield went up by a few litres . Next we gonna set up the World Space Radio at the cow shed and see if the theory of soothing music making them yield more will work . we could easily give them hormonal injections that increase yield ... but then we aint here just for the commercial value !!! All the machines have been set up , teh farm is starting to look like a farm now , though there will always be things that need to be done .

Delivery of milk has started in Gurgaon .... we allready have about 80 odd members -- and even though its vacation time , we are satisfied with the number of members we are making . A lot of them have been of immense help and have referred us to a lot of friends and thus growing the Singha Farms network in Gurgaon . We still have a long way to go to make the project a financially viable one -- so if all geos well and the existing members stay happy with our product , we will rely heavily on them to spread the word and get more people into the system .

Its an on going process ... thus I havnt had a chance to get away from this heat -- kills me but what to do . As of now Im going around delivering milk ... which allows me to meet people I spoken to over the phone and get to know them better . My digi cam is giving me problems so no new pictures of the farm but next week I shall definitely add pictures of then cows . Also I still havnt gotten down to naming the cows .... :-( !!!

All those who do read this ... its good to know that you taking time out to read some farm story -- but after reading if you cud leave your comments with your names it wud be highly appreciated as those words are words of encouragement and will show us that people are with us in the drive for pure healthy food .

Until next time .............

Singha Farms .. the professional way

Seems I'm getting the hang of it .. and soon probably will be hooked onto it . By now you must have realised that we are an average farming family who wanted to do things differently than the conventional farmers -- and that is to try and reach the final consumers directly .

So in order to do this I finally went to a designer and got a logo for my farm ... got some brochures made ... got a friend to help me with a web site ( hes doing it for free ;-) ) .. and then started calling up all friends, relatives and acquaintances in Gurgaon to refer me to their friends and relatives who had lil kids at home . After spreading the word , I started ringing up the all those who showed a lil interest and wanted to know more . I had started of thinking that i would get 3-4 families to sign up after speaking with 10 -- meaning a conversion rate of about 40% , but interstingly so far almost everyone who we spoken to is willing to sign up which gives us a solid boost of confidence as I've been very nervous .

We have invested a lot of time and money .. losing sleepless nights setting up the farm for the cows to be comfortable . We not confining the cows the way most dairies around do as we feel that teh cow should choose where it feels comfortable and rest accordingly . A lot of farmers who run commercial dairies who came and saw the set up feel that we being stupid and it would be a loss as a unit coz we wasting lots of space which can be ussed for holding more animals . But I guess time will only tell ....

As of now only 6 cows have come in ... we expecting more as per the demand from the people of Gurgaon . We are capable of handling upto 30 cows , meaning the barns and play area are designed for about 30 of them . If we have to go beyond that number then we will have to do some more construction .

The cows have settled in though we still getting used to their calls ... In about a weeks time we will start delivering the milk to all those who have become members of the farm and then we will see how it goes . Meanwhile we looking for names for the cows so if you have any suggestions ... pls post them in the comments !!! The comments will also give us support in our endeavour to continue with what our family believes in .

Also I take this time to thank a lot of my friends who have shown a lot of encouragement and support . From friends who I met online on my hang out forums who I have never seen but helped me in choosing my logo , thinking of a name to friends who helped me design my brochure to others who threw in their suggestions keeping the bigger picture of the project in mind . A friend of mine from an online forum who I never met and lives in Kochi put me in contact with a friend of hers who lives in Gurgaon, and she in turn has also helped me ... inspite of me chewing her brains at odd hours for odd favors . This project has also made me expand my social network as well as made me meet people who I can refer to as friends . Thanx guys .. I OWE YOU LOADS , though dunno how many of them will read this thanx .

More later .....

My farming journey so far !!

It all started of very casually -- I had already been farming since 2000 in Himachal after quitting from the regular 9-5 job cycle . My family has always been into farming , so it made it much easier for me compared to a lot of other people I know who would luv to quit the corporate life and do something like this . I have to thank my parents who really supported me inspite of thinking that I was better of doing a job .

The first thing that I did was to stop the use of any form of chemical fertilisers in my fields , which did come up for flak as it wud affect the quality of the fruits and stuff . But I felt it was necessary as we had ruined our soils and made the fruits and vegetables into a dose of chemical which wasn't fair fopr those wanting to eat it .. food after all is meant to be healthy !!! It did affect the production of our orchards for a year or so .. but we realised that the fruit started to taste better and stayed crisper for much longer than the fruit in the neghboring fields . the next step was to try and find people in the cities who would buy directly from me ... as the wholesale market was never gonna appreciate organic produce .

Meanwhile my best friends mother got diagnosed with cancer and that got the doctor telling him that he should feed her with a chemical free diet ... and that started our hunt for things organic . Veges and fruits was still possible .. but never the less we decided to grow them in a farm just outside Delhi . But the biggest hurdle was to try and find milk that was from an animal that wasn't injected with any of them hormonal injections or adulterated with any external substances . This lead us out into the countryside where after a lot of search we found one ex army man who was producing such milk . And thats where the thought crept in .... I was looking for a product that homes would use daily and would also allow me to offer the produce from my farm directly into their kitchens . This way I would beat the normal system of going through the wholesale market , get better prices and the final consumer would also get organic produce cheaper . So the survey started .. spoke to lots of friends if they would be interetsed in pure milk , ready to pay the price , etc etc . It told me that this option needed to be explored seriously . It took me more than a year to try and give it a shot as we are a farming family and business doesnt come that easy to us , plus we wanted to keep the concept as close to simple as we could .

Now after a lot of hard work , encouragement from friends and their friends we have reached a point where we have a few cows giving us milk at our farm just outside Gurgaon . The fodder is all grown on our own farm without the use of any fertilisers .. we only use vermi compost -- plus the cows are not tied all the time .... we leave them free in their play area as much as we can . They decide where they wanna sit .. when they wanna eat , so nothing is forced on them .

We have devised a membership programme .. that allows a family with children to join up by paying a one time fees and that will entail them to get fresh milk , fresh organically grown vegetables and fruits , visits to the farms with their children and a few other benefits . Also our produce will not be available in the market as we will deliver it directly to your door . This is being done so that NO ADULTERATION can happen and the produce is what we claim it to be .

We still in a starting phase ... and hoping that people do take to it . We will expand to a level that we can handle as per demand , we not hoping to be a major dairy as that would make us lose a lot of teh personal touch which we DO NOT want to lose . As of now delivery zone is only within Gurgaon but we hoping we can offer the scheme in Delhi soon .

This blog is gonna be more like a farm dairy .... about our members , the hurdles that we face ( like cows spilling half the milk ) , the lives of the cows ( their mother hood , illness, etc ) , and anything and everything connected to the farm . Hope it doesnt get people bored --

As of now we have 6 beautiful Holstein cows and we are looking for names for them , so if you have any suggestions pls feel free to throw them our way !!! Will keep you all updated as regularly as time permits ..

Starting off ...

Im very new to the blogging world so the first few write ups are probably not gonna be very interesting or creative . The blog has been started for me to share my experience of trying to get people to read about the developments on my organic farm and my endeavour to try and get ppl to eat pure unadulterated fresh food .

So lets see how it goes from here on ....