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Wide array of 4500 plus trees of 160 species grown in harmony with nature
Barren land converted into lush green farm by Bangalore based IT professionals Mrs. Priti and Mr. Srikant, who call themselves as farmers at heart. There are 45 different fruit trees while the remaining are forest varieties. Cereals, flowers and vegetables are grown as required. “Ours is an IMO certified organic farm nurtured since 2006. Our farming methods are organic and natural with absolutely no use of chemicals. We always adopt low-cost, low-tech and also less labour intensive methods. We let the nature take care of the trees naturally,” says Mr. Srikanth, Founder, Vanashree Farms.
Mr. Srikanth and Family
Vanashree Farms spreads in 8 acres. It is an integrated farm planned thoughtfully to incorporate various verticals of agriculture in a systematic way to have the blend of trees, livestock, cereals and vegetable farming. “We have almost all the commonly found fruit trees such as banana, sapota, pomegranate, pineapple, coconut, jackfruit, jamun, guava, sweet lime and so on. However, the uncommon variants of fruiting trees are litchi, ramphal, red custard apple, avocado, wood apple, rose apple, water apple, citron, cherry and palm dates. Rarest of rare trees in our farm are asafoetida and rudraksha. Presently all the trees are flowering and fruiting,” informs Mrs. Priti. “We both love being close to nature and we wanted to enjoy bird watching at our ancestral land. So we planted a sapling with the purpose to attract birds. But then the entire process was so alluring that slowly and gradually we started setting up the farm by adding different verticals of an integrated farm with the primary focus on trees.” Saplings were procured from nurseries in and around Bangalore.
The trees are allowed to grow as naturally as possible. The wild timber trees on the farm boundary are completely rain fed while fruits trees are drip irrigated once in two weeks from January till June, when the monsoon starts. The weeds are cut and mulched back in the soil to improve the fertility. “There is no tilling done in the 7.5 acre to allow the microorganism live at peace. Further there are trees all over 7.5 acre. In the balance 0.5 acre we grow cereals and vegetables so it is cultivated following the routine process but strictly no chemicals are used in the farm as we use poultry and dairy based manure,” he elaborates.
The farm received its’ first five native cows through adoption. “5 ‘Malenadu Gidda’ cows were on their way to slaughter houses. After rescuing, those came on our farm. Malenadu Gidda" is a very short breed and is found extensively in the western ghats of Karnataka. These cows are very hardy and docile in nature. We also have 4 ‘Hallikar’ breed. These are native breeds of the south interior Karnataka. Milk yield is quite less compared to Jersey or Holstein breeds but the maintenance needs are also very less,” explains Mrs. Priti. Fodder for the cattle is procured from the market. “We also let the cattle graze in the farm as much as possible.”
Poultry unit at the farm is the manure producing factory. It all started with five chicks but now the brood has crossed 50. “Poultry manure is power pack of nutrients if used in the right dosage else the results could be negative. We use only one fistful of poultry manure per tree once in 4-5 months,” he shares.
To further enhance the farm productivity and optimum use of water mulching is done regularly. Amongst dry and live mulch, at Vanashree Farms, “We have mainly adopted dry mulching by using straw/grass/weeds cleared around the farm. We also grow horse gram exclusively for mulching. The plant when attains the height between 2-4 inches, is cut with the weed cutter and left on the soil to form the green cover on the soil. It is very effective in retaining the moisture for considerable number of days. We have used the mulch mainly for all the fruiting trees which get watered once in 7-10 days. Even on the 7th day we noticed sufficient moisture in the top soil. This has also resulted in less usage of water. However, at the places where weeds (mainly parthaneum) were used, occasionally ended up having weed growth at the mulch area,” asserts Mr. Srikanth. The farm has rainwater harvesting facility, fish rearing, bee keeping and bio gas unit as well. All considered as whole the farm is self-reliant.
Passionate farmer couple has lost the crops few times due to pest attack. “But the next season we got good production. May be it is nature’s prerogative to return back! However, the pest or disease attack is not frequent. We are having crop biodiversity so we have many natural predators too. It is very well taken care by the nature,” he asserts.
All the fruits and select vegetables are sold at the organic stores, producer societies and even through the direct sales. When asked about the pricing for direct sales, Mr. Srikanth replies, “We keep it just as the market price. We follow the same pricing as the usual fruits and vegetables available at the ecommerce websites and super markets. We do not keep the price high just because it is chemical free.”
In time to come Mr. Srikanth and Mrs. Priti would like to continue with present farm set up. They conclude saying, “We are able to enjoy being weekend farmers because of the immense support from our respective companies. Being with nature is the best way to rejuvenate!!”
Contact details:
Vanashree Farms
Near Annapoorneshwari Temple, Dodda Maralawadi, Kanakapura Taluk, Ramanagara District, Bangalore
Phone: 080 66970456,
Email: pritisrikanth@gmail.com
Barren land converted into lush green farm by Bangalore based IT professionals Mrs. Priti and Mr. Srikant, who call themselves as farmers at heart. There are 45 different fruit trees while the remaining are forest varieties. Cereals, flowers and vegetables are grown as required. “Ours is an IMO certified organic farm nurtured since 2006. Our farming methods are organic and natural with absolutely no use of chemicals. We always adopt low-cost, low-tech and also less labour intensive methods. We let the nature take care of the trees naturally,” says Mr. Srikanth, Founder, Vanashree Farms.
Mr. Srikanth and Family
Vanashree Farms spreads in 8 acres. It is an integrated farm planned thoughtfully to incorporate various verticals of agriculture in a systematic way to have the blend of trees, livestock, cereals and vegetable farming. “We have almost all the commonly found fruit trees such as banana, sapota, pomegranate, pineapple, coconut, jackfruit, jamun, guava, sweet lime and so on. However, the uncommon variants of fruiting trees are litchi, ramphal, red custard apple, avocado, wood apple, rose apple, water apple, citron, cherry and palm dates. Rarest of rare trees in our farm are asafoetida and rudraksha. Presently all the trees are flowering and fruiting,” informs Mrs. Priti. “We both love being close to nature and we wanted to enjoy bird watching at our ancestral land. So we planted a sapling with the purpose to attract birds. But then the entire process was so alluring that slowly and gradually we started setting up the farm by adding different verticals of an integrated farm with the primary focus on trees.” Saplings were procured from nurseries in and around Bangalore.
The trees are allowed to grow as naturally as possible. The wild timber trees on the farm boundary are completely rain fed while fruits trees are drip irrigated once in two weeks from January till June, when the monsoon starts. The weeds are cut and mulched back in the soil to improve the fertility. “There is no tilling done in the 7.5 acre to allow the microorganism live at peace. Further there are trees all over 7.5 acre. In the balance 0.5 acre we grow cereals and vegetables so it is cultivated following the routine process but strictly no chemicals are used in the farm as we use poultry and dairy based manure,” he elaborates.
The farm received its’ first five native cows through adoption. “5 ‘Malenadu Gidda’ cows were on their way to slaughter houses. After rescuing, those came on our farm. Malenadu Gidda" is a very short breed and is found extensively in the western ghats of Karnataka. These cows are very hardy and docile in nature. We also have 4 ‘Hallikar’ breed. These are native breeds of the south interior Karnataka. Milk yield is quite less compared to Jersey or Holstein breeds but the maintenance needs are also very less,” explains Mrs. Priti. Fodder for the cattle is procured from the market. “We also let the cattle graze in the farm as much as possible.”
Poultry unit at the farm is the manure producing factory. It all started with five chicks but now the brood has crossed 50. “Poultry manure is power pack of nutrients if used in the right dosage else the results could be negative. We use only one fistful of poultry manure per tree once in 4-5 months,” he shares.
To further enhance the farm productivity and optimum use of water mulching is done regularly. Amongst dry and live mulch, at Vanashree Farms, “We have mainly adopted dry mulching by using straw/grass/weeds cleared around the farm. We also grow horse gram exclusively for mulching. The plant when attains the height between 2-4 inches, is cut with the weed cutter and left on the soil to form the green cover on the soil. It is very effective in retaining the moisture for considerable number of days. We have used the mulch mainly for all the fruiting trees which get watered once in 7-10 days. Even on the 7th day we noticed sufficient moisture in the top soil. This has also resulted in less usage of water. However, at the places where weeds (mainly parthaneum) were used, occasionally ended up having weed growth at the mulch area,” asserts Mr. Srikanth. The farm has rainwater harvesting facility, fish rearing, bee keeping and bio gas unit as well. All considered as whole the farm is self-reliant.
Passionate farmer couple has lost the crops few times due to pest attack. “But the next season we got good production. May be it is nature’s prerogative to return back! However, the pest or disease attack is not frequent. We are having crop biodiversity so we have many natural predators too. It is very well taken care by the nature,” he asserts.
All the fruits and select vegetables are sold at the organic stores, producer societies and even through the direct sales. When asked about the pricing for direct sales, Mr. Srikanth replies, “We keep it just as the market price. We follow the same pricing as the usual fruits and vegetables available at the ecommerce websites and super markets. We do not keep the price high just because it is chemical free.”
In time to come Mr. Srikanth and Mrs. Priti would like to continue with present farm set up. They conclude saying, “We are able to enjoy being weekend farmers because of the immense support from our respective companies. Being with nature is the best way to rejuvenate!!”
Contact details:
Vanashree Farms
Near Annapoorneshwari Temple, Dodda Maralawadi, Kanakapura Taluk, Ramanagara District, Bangalore
Phone: 080 66970456,
Email: pritisrikanth@gmail.com