Thamirabarani, the only perennial river in Tamil Nadu, flows through Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Thoothukudi districts. Its steady water supply has supported rice cultivation for centuries. Tirunelveli —also called Nellai —derives its name from “Nellu” (paddy), and the temple deity Nellaiappar reflects this agrarian heritage. One legend tells of a devotee who left paddy to dry…
Category: Natural Farming
Vivasayee’s Life – Organic Store : Product Catalogue – March 2025
When we started selling our produce in 2019, it was just a handful of groceries from just our farm. We now have more than 70 products from 20 different farmers in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts. We are also contemplating adding more produce from trusted organic farmers in other districts. The product list in this catalogue…
Iluppai Poo Samba : An aromatic rice variety of Tamil Nadu
When i was working with ITC, I faced a couple of instances of kidney stones. The painful experience in the hospital got me thinking about dietary choices. It was one of the many triggers for moving to a physically active farm life. Transitioning to Brown rice was one of the most popular choices that the…
Vaanavil Farm Stay: Bookings open!
Vanakkam folks! Sudhakar here. You must have seen us posting about the farm stay on our social media pages. Simple living has been our motto since 2018. And we hope that more people transition to simple minimalistic sustainable lives. The transition is not as simple as it should be because habits, lifestyles, careers aren’t easy…
A cute red rice variety : Kothamalli Samba
All my childhood, I remember rice varieties being identified by a couple of letters and numbers, during monthly grocery haul with my Appa. He would ask for the best table rice for everyday use and idli rice to make weekly idli dosai maavu stash. When i moved to Tamil Nadu, started networking with seed savers…
What gets measured, gets managed – And that is a problem!
One of the foundational philosophies of modern breeding of plants in the 20th century has been to increase the productivity of singular crops. Now, we have reached a situation in the 21st century where we are having to research and implement bio-fortification for staple crops like rice. This is a clear indication that over the…
Why it might not be a good idea to quit the city life and start living on a farm?
I did not move to the farm because i wanted to be left alone in life. Everyone is an ambivert. I am an extrovert, more than an introvert. I love the company of people. I now love the company of all the people and species that call Vaanavil Farm & Food Forest home. Everytime someone…
6X increase in soil organic carbon in 6 years at Vaanavil Farm & Food Forest
It has been 6 years since we started organic farming in our land. We are very happy to announce that we have achieved an average of 5.75X increase in soil organic carbon at Vaanavil Farm & Food Forest, Vikramasingapuram, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu. The results were very encouraging especially because the improvement was seen across…
Personal Finances of farmer folks working with us
6 of the 9 people working at our farm are in debt. The rest of the 3 are helping other people in their families pay off debt. The interest rates that they are paying ensure that they might never escape the debt trap. The only way to get out of this is to ensure that…
Sri Lanka’s failed attempt of transitioning to organic farming. Explained.
It is sad that Sri Lanka’s 2021-22 case study is often used to justify not making any move towards Organic farming at all. Sri Lanka’s experiment should be used as a case study by governments HOW NOT to transition to organic farming, NOT WHETHER. FOREX crisis The local religious tensions after the 2019 easter bombings…
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