By now most of us know the history of Karuppu Kavuni – the fragrant black rice that was brought from Burma to Tamil Nadu by the Chettiar community. The first time I learnt about Karuppu Kavuni was a few months after we moved to Tirunelveli in 2018. It looked so exotic and I decided to…
Tag: eco-friendly
Ode to 7 years of Vivasayee’s Life at Vaanavil Farm & Food Forest
10th July 2025 I now live in a farmAt the edge of a reserve forestOutside a small villageRight outside a small tier 3 town It has been 7 yearsSince i made the switchFrom the city to the rural itchBecause the urban lifestyle was a bitch I was attracted to the romanceOf being amidst natureI wanted…
Compost Toilet : Risen like a Phoenix from the ashes
If you remember our last blog on this topic, it was posted after the heavy rains and floods that hit Tirunelveli in December 2023. We had lost the roof & walls to the heavy downpour and questionable construction design. Compost toilet was our first experiment in construction with local sustainable materials and techniques when we…
Rising from the Rain : Our Compost Toilet Chronicles! December 2023
We lost our compost toilet’s walls, partially, and roof to the torrential downpour over the session that lasted 36+ hours in our farm between 16th December evening to 18th December noon. The deluge that occurred in Tirunelveli and neighbouring districts has been atrributed to cyclonic storm near Sri Lanka. We had transplanted our rice saplings…
How do we deal with our shit? Like, literally…
In human history and specifically India’s history, there is a plenty of stigma associated with handling human faeces / shit / poop; whatever you like to call it. I think poop sounds cute. So, I will stick with poop, for the rest of the blog. And pee, for urine. If handled incorrectly, poop and pee…
A House made of Earth – Part 3
This is Part 3 of a three part series of our story of the construction of our house using locally available sustainable material and skill. Click here to read Part 1 and Part 2. I am not sharing too many technical details for I am not an expert. Those who are interested in the finer…
A snapshot of happenings at our farm
We are building a food forest and kitchen garden for ourselves at Papanasam, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India since July 2018. We have been focusing on adding a lot of carbon / organic material to the soil. That’s why you will see photos covered with neem, mexican sunflower and glyricidia. We have let the old neem…
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