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 .....