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Viewing messages 109 to 60.
Message 109 - Vamsi & Hema
Srikanth& Preeti, Thanks for taking us around. we are happy to see some one doing things that are still in our mind as of now. Keep going
9 March 2010 - Presently in India / Bangalore
Message 108 - Guruprasad
Hi Srikanth/Preeti, It was really a nice experience, interacting with you in your farm. You people have done a wonderful job and it is appreciable that being in hi-tech industry you are seeking a simpler lifestyle. Your effort gives a new hope to those who are abandoning their lands because of laborer problem and many other problems and also inspires many like me who are looking forward to do some thing similar. Thank you very much again for you hospitality.
8 March 2010 - Bengaluru
Message 107 - Madhusudan Naidu
Accidently came across your site.I have a plan for the future which looks similar to that of yours.Its too early to say but do not mind working towards that. Would love to meet you even before visiting the farm,
5 March 2010 - Koramangala,Bangalore,India
Message 106 - Venkat
Hearty Congrats on, not merely about successfully establishing this "do-nothing or natural" farm.but for consciously deciding to commit yourselves to simple living, which is the ultimate that everyone has to adopt, whether one likes such a lifestyle or not (coupled ofcourse with God Consciousness). The way things are now and likely to be in future the world over, what you all have done is "just the right thing". Keenly looking forward to adopting a similar way of living soon ourselves. Will definitely drop in with family and friends someday. With Best Wishes, Venkat
2 March 2010 - Dubai - UAE
Srikanth's Reply   Thanks Venkat,
We are still a long way to go. Respect for "Nature" automatically is leading us in a path which sometimes is in conflict with our current style of living. I won't say we have been completely successful in disassociating with many of the urban comforts (also read as environmental exploitation). We will be glad as long as we keep reducing our impact on our surrounding. Looking forward to meeting you in the near future. Regards - Srikanth
Message 105 - manbir
can FYM Sole can helps in increasng yield of my kitchen garden.any tips 2 prepare fym
28 February 2010 - punjab,india
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Manbir,
FYM can help enriching the soil significantly. Yield from plants grown using native seeds or non hybrid seeds increase significantly with just FYM. The same is not true with Hybrid seeds. The FYM prepartion method mentioned in the website is for large scale requirement. For kitchen garden pursposes, I would recommend "Daily Dump" solution. http://www.dailydump.org Regards - Srikanth
Message 104 - Sunitha N Stehly
Dear Srikanth & Priti, I really enjoyed and amazed at the way you have built the farm. As said I can see lots of intuitive efforts have borne fruitful for maximizing the yield, allelopathy methods is making your farm looks rich with wildness also proving facts that Nature can take care of itself. Thanks for your wonderful/simple and humble hospitality, very much appreciative of your worthwhile efforts and you are indeed setting an example for sustainable living in a witnessing manner. Many thanks for your time as well. Many blessings to you and your family. Cheers, Sunitha N Stehly
28 February 2010 - Bath, Pennsylvania
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Sunitha,
It was a pleasure having you with us. We have been fortunate in witnessing many of the symbiotic relationships between various animal and plants. Guess, all we need to do is not come in nature's way and most of the things are taken care by itself. We are still a long way to go towards sustainable living, however the journey has been absolutely enjoyable. Expecting to see you often at Vanashree. Regards - Srikanth & Priti
Message 103 - Prathima
I find these achievements very, very inspiring. I have no experience in farming or agriculture. Despite that, I can only imagine the love for Mother Earth that drives you & your family to commit so much of yourselves to this cause. Hearty congratulations and may many more be inspired to do what you are doing.
18 February 2010 - Singapore, Singapore
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Prathima,
First and foremost very glad to get back in touch with you. Yes it has been a very interesting and enjoyable journey and lot different from our school and college days. You next visit to Bangalore should include a visit to our farm. Keep in touch. Looking forward to meeting you all - Srikanth
Message 102 - K Y Philip
Hi Srikant, Thanks for letting me visit Vanashree on 4-Feb. My visit was quite 'fruitful' as I got to taste some of the red berries and to actually see how far you had progressed with your ideas. Shanmukha happily showed us around the place with his unique style of commentary and his sense of humor. That same evening I had to leave for Riyadh, so I could not get in touch with you that day. I hope we can meet the next time I come to Bangalore.
15 February 2010 - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Philip,
Very glad to hear that you enjoyed the visit to our farm. Wish we could have met you in person. Do keep in touch and lets plan to meet when you are in Bangalore next time. Regards - Srikanth
Message 101 - Sobana Sundar
Hi Wow. it is nice to know there are other souls like us out there. My husband and I live on a 6 acre plus farm and are working towards a green refuge. We are bird lovers too. Unlike you we have not been able to find any live in help and so we toil away as much as we can health and the hot sun permitting. Keep going and maybe we can all inspire some more to take up such activities.
12 February 2010 - Hosur, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Sobana,
You will be surprised that there are quite a few families on a similar journey as ours, some have just started and many have traversed quite a distance. Visitors during the weekend and comments on guestbook reaffirms my faith that there lots of people committed and concerned about the environment. One straw revolution by Fukuoka san and some amazing people inspired us and somewhere along the way if we can get to inspire others, I would like to consider that as a tribute to thos e people who helped us. We would love to meet you and do keep in touch. Warm Regards - Srikanth & Priti
Message 100 - Anupama
Hai Srikant and Priti, Firstly, would like to thank you for making us feel so comfortable at VANASHREE. Our intention of visiting vanashree was entirely different more than pleasure we wanted to learn the new methods, proper techniques which are cost effective and less labour more important was complete usage of land for farming. I was surprised when you told that only 4 members are working on the field and have done such a wonderful work. And the small walk that we had in vanashree was a eye opener. And we came out with a new hope that our intention of helping the farmers to learn new technique and to adopt them will be a success. Your example is a wonderful lesson to us. Please accept my sincere thanks and best regards to Shanmukha, Jaya, Sriram, Manoj for making our trip memorable. Best Wishes, Anupama and Harish (visited on 24th Jan 2010)
26 January 2010 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Anupama,
It was wonderful having you and Harish at our place.For us the journey, though at times is tough, but still very fulfilling. It has been a very nice experience to manage the farm completely by ourselves, sowing, harvesting or just upkeep of the premises . It was nice to hear about your efforts towards wildlife conservation and efforts to avoid man-animal conflict. When people like you visit us, it always reaffirms faith that there are many people around us caring and dedicated to leave a better future for the next generation. Look forward to your next visit. Regards - Priti & Srikanth
Message 99 - Jagadish S
Saturday 12th Dec was the day of my trip to Vanashree along with my son. It was our good fortune that we could go along with Srikanth & family thereby starting off our conversations right from Bangalore. I discovered that there were a lot of common interests that we hold. One big difference is that Srikanth has translated it all to action! Since I have been to Navadarshanam I had an inkling of what to expect. However the transformation (if I compare to the before pictures in the site) is simply remarkable. Shanmukha & family deserve a great deal of commendation for all the work done in the background. Srikanth's patient handling of the barrage of questions from my son stood out. I could go on and on. but suffice to say that this is only the beginning of a great relationship and I look forward to my next visit.
16 December 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Jagadish,
It was a pleasure having and you and Simha at our place. Our faith in the society always gets reaffirmed on meeting people like you. We were glad with nice gifts in the form of saplings that were given to us and happy to say that they have all found a good home under the loving care of Shanmukha. We look forward to our continued relationship. Warm Regards
- Priti & Srikanth
Message 98 - Vijaya sarathi
My name is Vijay and my hobby is farming. I work in IT field, and also I do farming in my village. I am very much interested to know about cost effective techniques in farming. I am very happy to know and read your website and I would like to visit your farm on December 6th. We two people(me and my friend) would like to come there, please let me know the address of your farm if it is OK to visit your farm on that date.
23 November 2009 - Bengaluru and India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Vijay,
Very nice to know that you found our website useful. You are welcome to visit us, but we are unlikely to be at the farm on 6th Dec. You are welcome to visit us the following weekend i.e 13th Dec. I have sent the routemap & contact number in a separate mail. Regards - Srikanth
Message 97 - Arun Kaulige
Hi Srikanth, Your website was referred to me by Mahesh a dear friend. I am awestruck by your efforts! Infact I am practising organic/naturalfarmi
ng near Madhure on a 2 acre plot. The difference is that you started from the scratch, while I work on an already established area, my only contribution being adding a few more trees and preventing the farm from going the chemical way. Pls. do visit my farm whilst you are free so that I can imbibe from your experience. Shall try and make it to your farm sometimes. Kudos to Priti and you once again. Best Regards, Arun
12 November 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Arun,
Apologies for the delay in my response. Very glad to know of your efforts. I enjoyed seeing the photos that were shared by Mahesh. Every tree counts and all efforts make a difference. I would surely like to visit the place your place. You are welcome to visit us when opportunity presents. Warm Regards - Srikanth
Message 96 - Manjunath
Me and my wife would like to visit your farm either on 14 or 15 November. Please let me if we can Visit your farm. If so, please give us the adress and location. Thanking you in advance. Regards, Manjunath- 9886-737-234
5 November 2009 - Bangalore
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Manjunath,
You are welcome to visit us on 14 or 15th. Lets finalize the date by early next week. I have attached the route map and provided my contact details in a separate mail. Looking forward to your visit. Regards - Srikanth
Message 95 - Manjunath
Dear Shrikanth, I am very impressed by your work and wish you all the best!!! Have you heard of Dr.Prafulla Chandra a progressive farmer from shimoga district? You might get more info.help from web. Regards, Manjunath
27 October 2009 - Bangalore
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Manjunath,
Thanks for sharing inofrmation on Dr. Prafulla Chandra. He is an amazing person who has achieved incredible things in the field of natural farming. Thanks for the encouraging words. Keep in touch. Warm Regards
- Srikanth
Message 94 - K Y Philip
Hello Shrikant and Priti, A freind of ours, who has a master's degree in agriculture had taken us to visit his friend's 100+24 acres farm near Maralwadi in September. That farm belonged to someone with a name similar to yours. We could not meet him because he was busy elsewhere in Bangalore city. We were searching for more information on that man's farm on the net when we found your website. Your website serves as a source of encouragement and inspiration to people like us, who have a desire to do farming, but have no idea how to go about it. We keep asking ourselves whether we will be at the mercy of the elements (unpredictable weather, global warming, etc.), and whether we also would be driven to despair like so many Indian farmers we hear of in the news. From your website we came to know of Masanobu Fukuoka, and are now reading his One Straw Revolution. Before we saw your website on 29-Sep, we had not even heard of Fukuoka-sensei. From you, we also came to know about Shri Subash Palekar, which led us to discover his Zero Budget Natural Farming methods. We were so happy that we had accidentally stumbled upon your website that we had put it on Twitter: twitter(dot)com/KYPhilip/status/4453449053 We hope to meet you both in person when we visit Bangalore next (hopefully sometime in Dec-2009), and we wish you every success in your farming activity. -- With warm regards, Philip (Mech Engr., IIT) & Preeti (High School Coordinator & Math Teacher)
25 October 2009 - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Philip & Preeti,
Thanks for the encouraging words. Very glad to hear that you find our website useful. Honestly, we too started with little information or knowledge about farming. Mother nature has been teaching us most things, all she needs is a small helping hand and rest she cares for herself. In this journey, we have been fortunate to come across some amazing people and their works. One such event was coming across "One Straw Revolution", which has changed many things in our outlook and propelled us to explore living in harmony with nature. Thanks for the nice note on twitter. You are welcome to visit us in December when you are here. We are abour 5 kms before the farm we visited in Sep this year. Looking forward to your visit and meeting you and your family in person... Warm Regards - Srikanth & Priti
Message 93 - Bala Pandian
Hi Sriram, It's great to see your perseverance in the natural way of farming. You are doing a great job and this is one way of motivating others to come on the natural way. I work for the IT industry, but my mind is always towards moving close to nature. I have grouped with like minded 3 colleagues of mine and we all are now in search of the farm land. I was in india but did'nt knew your farm and hence could not make use of that time. I'll be back in bangalore by December and definiitely have plans to visit your farm, and if given an opportunity, would like to work on your farm as a volunteer. Being in UK, I have reading books of Joel Salatin and MG Kains on the sustainable agriculture methods. I will ask my friends to contact you to schedule the visit to your farm. Also if you can guide us on any of the available farm land near that area, it would be helpful. Keep up the good work. Cheers, - Bala
21 October 2009 - Sheffield, United Kingdom
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Bala,
Thanks for the kind words. You and your colleagues are welcome to visit us and yes any help over here is always welcome. "Five Acre and Independence" by Kains has had a big impact in the western world. In India though, most of the land holders are much smaller....so exploring indepence thru' smaller landholding become vital. Look foward to meeting you in December. Regards - Srikanth
Message 92 - Sanjay
Hi Srikanth & family - It was a great and rejuvenating experience for all of us who visited the farm couple of weekends back. Thanks for your hospitality and Kudos to the work you have been doing and wishing you all the very best. I have a small blogpost on the same at my blog - vagabondmind(dot)blo
gspot(dot)com.
20 October 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Sanjay,
It was nice having you and your family over here. Really enjoyed your blog, couldn't help but read all your other posts too. You and your friends are always welcome. Wishing You, Sudeep and Sajeev Godspeed in search for your land. Keep in touch. Regards - Srikanth
Message 91 - Chris
I am very glad to find your website. What you are doing there are awesome! I would like to do the similar thing in Indonesia. Thanks!
20 October 2009 - Batu, Indonesia
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Chris,
Very glad to hear that you find information on the website useful. We have started to realize that one can do so much by adopting natural practices. Living in harmony with nature is also teaching one of the most important thing....there is more to life than the current city centred life. Keep checking for updates and do keep in touch with us. Regards - Srikanth
Message 90 - Raghu
Excellent Work, Great Initiative. Me and my wife have a similar plan, working towards it.
20 October 2009 - Bangalore,India
Srikanth's Reply   Raghu,
Very nice to hear that you are having similar plans. Keep us updated on the progress and development at your place. Looking forward to keeping in touch with you. Regards - Srikanth
Message 89 - Pradeep B.
Visiting your farm was a great experience. It was for the first time that I saw an organic farm in my life. I realize this initiative is more than just a source of income for you. I appreciate your work. Wish you all the best.
17 October 2009 - Bengaluru, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Pradeep,
It was a pleasure having you and your family at Vanashree. Farming for us is truly turning out be an opportunity to appreciate small and simple things in life. We just feel fortunate to be living our dreams. Fukuoka said "farming is not a vocation, its a way of life". Thanks for the wishes.
Regards - Srikanth & Priti
Message 88 - Manjunath
Srikanth- Your a great inspiration to young India. Hope guys like us follow your footsteps in bringing back the Green Revolution. You are always been inspiration to me.
5 October 2009 - Melbourne & Australia, Donimalai & India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Manjunath,
We are doing our small bit in bringing back some greenery and it has been a extremely fulfilling journey so far. Encouraging words from likeminded folks like you makes our determination that much more stronger. In a world where green cover is disappearing in acres every second, it is of dire need to preserve and pursue bio-diversity. There are many folks whom we have come across who have embarked on similar journey and making a difference in their vicinity. Donimalai, which I had visited as a kid, was covered with thick forest but not sure how the situation is now with all the mining activity. Hope the forest and wildlife there survives the onslaught. Do drop in when you are visiting this part of the world. Warm Regards - Srikanth
Message 87 - farah khan
dear shrikanth, preeti, sriram, manoj, his parents and rani, simba: we had the most incredible time at your farm on monday 28th sept. thank you for hosting us and inviting us to be a part of your family . the kids, my mom and i will cherish the memories of that day for ever. my kids and i did a fun quiz about our day at vanashree and it was so good to know they enjoyed the experience as they were able to answer some tricky questions! lots of love to you, the oys and the dogs. p.s are you on facebook? i have uploaded some photos that we took that day. cheers farah, zoe, arrow and sultana khan.
29 September 2009 - delhi, india
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Farah,
It was a pleasure having you and your family at our place. Very glad to hear that you all had a nice time. We look forward to your next visit. We are on the facebook and will look up your photos. Warm Regards - "Vanashree" team
Message 86 - KN Ramesh
Dear Srikanth, I had visited your farm a few months back.I thought I will share with you, our humble efforts for a greener mother earth. We successfully completed a seed ball scattering (Fukuoka method) program at Devarabetta hills (In Doddaballapur forest area around Ghati Subramanya). 100,000 seedballs of the native tree variety were dispersed by a team of 150+ volunteers.This was accomplished as part of a CSR initiative at the company where I work.I continue to be inspired by the work you do. I regularly check your websites "latest news" section for updates. I wish you the very best. Best regards, Ramesh
9 September 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Ramesh,
My day was made when I read your message. I am so happy to hear that you and your friends accomplished a great initiative. 100,000 seedballs of native tree variety will do wonders to the habitat over there. The recent rains will also help your efforts immensely. You and your brother need to plan on visiting us again and I am keen on visiting your farm too. Warm Regards - Srikanth
Message 85 - thulaseswar Reddy
Hi Srikanth, the true Indian and great agriculturist. First of all, I salute you for the effort you are putting into the farming field and inculcating such agricultural practices to all those who are interested in nature and agriculture. Today, I feel that I am lucky for coming across your website "Vanshree" and for knowing some details about you, your farm and your team,most importantly. And I was glad to know that you are also from a technical background. I am a software professional, for the past 12 years, who is very much interest in nature and doing something in agriculture and save this mother nature. For that reason I wanted to get into organic farming and I had been searching for help for quite a long time. Very fortunately, I found your website and I was very happy to find out about a person like you, who is willing to help others also in that field. I will definetly visit your farm during the weekend after Dhashera. And I would like to get hands on from your field. I am not able to express my happiness in words today. I would like to thank you many many times for creating this website, without which I would have not known about you.You can share your contact number, if you are willing to, so that I can congragulate and thank you orally.
9 September 2009 - Bangalore
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Thulaseswar,
Farming for us started just as a hobby many years ago. Some where along the line we came across some amazing people and books that changed our lives for ever. Sharing of information about what we are doing is just a tribute to them. You are welcome to visit us on any weekend. We will not be at the farm during the weekends of 26th Sep and 2nd Oct. I have attached the route map and contact details in a seperate mail. Let us know a few days in advance about your visit. Looking forward to your visit. Regards - Srikanth
Message 84 - Shreesh
Dear Srikanth, I admire your perseverance with the fukuoka method. A few months earlier when you had reported that Fukuoka for paddy was not doing as good as some other method, I mentally wrote off Fukuoka for Indian conditions . now I see you still experimenting with it and achieving success as well, and experimenting even more! Kudos. I hope to visit sometime, as I said earlier. Have been very busy for the last year hunting for a farm around Pune. Still hunting.
23 August 2009 - Pune
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Shreesh,
This time too paddy in "Fukuoka" method has failed completely. However, horse gram and tur have been very successful in "Fukuoka" method. One of the things that Fukuoka talks about is patience and coming closer to local & natural conditions. So we are at it. Godspeed, in your search for the farmland and look forward to your visit. Regards - Srikanth
Message 83 - Rajesh.S
Hello Mr. Srikanth & Family, we are already know both,(message 71), now i am always visit your website, I search some organic farms, i have send one web address for you, i think, it is helpful and useful to your farm. plz search vetiver it is a org site Soil Erosion Control: The Vetiver System is the premier soil erosion method outside of temperate zones. Narrow hedgerows of Vetiver grass will spread out rainfall runoff across the slope, act as a filter to trap erosion sediment, create natural terraces and reduces the velocity of rainfall runoff. It has application for on farm soil and water conservation, rehabilitation of eroded lands, and prevention of erosion on sloping lands. Slope Protection: The combination of deep roots with tensile strength of 75 MPa that improve the shear strength of soil by as much as 40% makes Vetiver grass an ideal plant for stabilizing steep and unstable slopes. The Vetiver System when applied to such slopes significantly reduces the probability of land slippage and reduces the need for “hard solutions”. Agriculture Improvement: The Vetiver System has many agricultural uses for: soil and water conservation, soil moisture improvement, groundwater recharge, recycling soil nutrients, pest control, mulch, forage, clean up of agricultural contaminated waste water, protection of farm infrastructure (canals, drains, roads, and building sites. etc., etc., etc., thankyou sri, meet again bye urs rajesh.s. Ram Nagar, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu 627 011
20 August 2009 - Tirunelveli, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Rajesh,
Thans for visiting our website regularly and infact, people like you are an inspiration for us to regularly update the website. Thanks for the information on "Vettiver". I had heard of it long time back and never had got to pursue it seriously. Will certainly plan to reading up more on this and trying out in the near future. Regards - Srikanth
Message 82 - Ranju R
Hi Srikanth/Priti, I have been interested in organic and natural farming , also Fukuako has inspired too. I came to know of "Vanashree" today only , from Fukuako FarmingYahoo groups . I and my wife wish to visit your farm. Please let us know the directions , if we are to start from Kammanahally by bus or two wheeler. Also let us know if "Vanashree" is on Orkut . You have taken a very noble path, which is a guiding light for many like us. Ranju R
15 August 2009 - Bangalore India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Ranju,
Apologies for the delay in our response. The bout of seasonal flu that the family went thru' resulted in us being behind all our responses and farm updates...
We are very glad to know that you are interested in Organic and Natural farming. Fukuoka's book "One Straw Revolution" changed our lives for ever. You are welcome to visit our farm on weekends. We will not be on the farm on 19th Sep weekend and the weekend of 2nd Oct. I have attached the route map to "Vanashree" in a separate email. Looking forward to your visit - Srikanth & Priti
Message 81 - Sajeev TK
Hi Iwas going through your website introduced to me by a friend of mine in B'lore. You have written that mice had made a feast of your wheat. They can be controlled by providing nesting and roosting sites for Owls in your field. Your site at the moment have lots of roosting sites but put some sticks with a 'T' at the top near field for them to perch and look for rodents. Also provide nestboxes above your barn and house. They will tackle that problem free of cost for you. If you wanted to know more about the nest box designs visit the RSPB UK website. I am looking for a farm for purchase and do the same as you have done. Thanks for the lovely job. you may write to me if you need any help in terms of info. I volunteer to give it. All the Best!
12 August 2009 - India (born in Kerala Trichur)
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Sajeev,
Your suggestion is great and we are in the process of putting sticks with "T" to enable Owls to act as natural control. We have many resident "Spotted Owlet" families in and around the farm and have been regular visitors. Probably they never had a good vantage point near the paddy and wheat area. We had used this method to control caterpillars in our tur crop. The birds that perched on these picked off many of the pests. We built couple of bird houses, but yet to see any of them making use of them...Thanks once again for all the inputs and keep it coming. You are welcome to visit us when you are in this part of the world. Regards -Srikanth
Message 80 - Yogish Sekhar
Hi, Dunno if you'd remember me from the days I spent in Intel Bangalore! I must say I am and was always inspired by your commitment to social service. Keep up the good work! Yogish
7 August 2009 - Bangalore, India / Cambridge, UK
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Yogi,
I do remember the days we spent at the ESO (Ethernet Switching Group). The "switch" to explore the sustainable life style has been very exhilirating. Keep checking for the updates and plan to visit us when you are in Bangalore. Regards - Srikanth
Message 79 - Prasanna
Hi Priti & Srikanth, I wish to congratulate you & your family. You have inspired us a lot. I’m Prasanna & own 4.5 acre wet land in mandya (very close to Melkote). I purchased it in the year 2006 with a similar intention as yours with all my savings. However, till date I spent all my money repaying the loan I took for purchasing the land. This year I plan to start off with agriculture. I have hired a tractor driver to till the land as it has been a dry land for more than 5 years now. Could you suggest any ideas for this? Can we ( my family) visit you this weekend? Please advise. Thanks & looking forward to hear from you.
29 July 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Prasanna,
It was wonderful meeting you and your family at the farm. Hope you had equally fruitful and enjoyable time at Vanashree. We are quite sure that you and your family will achieve the dreams of making the land green. We will eagerly await your progress. Regards - Priti & Srikanth
Message 78 - Suresh K Nagarajarao
Hi Srikanth, i own land near Harohalli, close to your farm. I am inspired by your endeavour. Looking forward to meet you and get few TIPS about organic farming. Planning to visit your farm during one of the weekends.
28 July 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Suresh,
We will be glad to share our experiences and methods we have adopted. We are about 15 minute drive from your land. You are welcome to visit us on any weekend. Call us few days in advance. Looking forward to your visit. Regards - Srikanth
Message 77 - Geetha
We have a small plot of agriculture land where we had deweeded, tilled and planted different saplings from lalbagh last year, varieties including gauva, mango, drumstick, neem, sapota etc to name a few. within weeks after planting due to water logging none of the them survived. looking at your Ankura gives me hope that one day i will have a similar green covered area, which i can call my own and self cultivated!!! The only water source at the moment is rainwater. Now it is full of parthenium again. What is best way start off?
27 July 2009 - Bangalure, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Geetha,
Need to understand the reason for water logging. Depending on duration of waterlogging, you can take advatage of the same to grow paddy. For the timebeing, I would recommend broadcasting horsegram without tilling or deweeding initially. You may need appx. 2kgs of horsegram per acre. We are equally confident of you having a green covered area very soon. Feel free to call us on weekends and we can understand and plan on next steps. Regards - Srikanth
Message 76 - Manjula
Hi Srikanth and Priti, I just admire your efforts and decision to put a step forward into farming. :-) I am an IT professional and currently have taken a break due to my baby. just at the moment of thinking 'what next.' I read about u ppl in the news paper (DNA). I am interested to visit your farm. We have a small farm land in TN. Will get in touch when I plan to visit your farm. (hopefully very shortly!) Cheers.
27 July 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Manjula,
We are glad to know that you are thinking of farming as one of the options as part of "what next" . Just imagine, even if a small percentage of us who have agricultural & farm lands who have come to city start planting trees. Imagine, the green cover we can create. There are many trees that can be planted during onset of monsoon and the nature takes care of the rest. Fervently hope that you will also do the same. You are welcome to visit us on any weekend. Please let us know a few days in advance. I have sent routemap & contact number in a separate e-mail to you. Looking forward to your visit. Regards - Srikanth & Priti
Message 75 - Ashwin
I admire your work and your enthusiasm to experience things. Wish you many many exciting experiences. I am sure you are interested in rainwater harvesting, so it would be helpful to share some of your experiences/experiments in that area.
26 July 2009 - USA
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Ashwin,
Farming is letting us experience a way of life that has been dramatically different and exciting than the one we had envisioned about 6-7 years back. We always feel fortunate for the sheer opportunity we have got especially, to chase our dreams. Rainwater harvesting has been core part of our activities. We have excavated 2 low cost tanks for collecting rain water over last 2 years. I will provide more details regarding design and cost on the website shortly. Thanks for visiting our website and plan to visit us when you are in this part of the world. Regards - Srikanth
Message 74 - Veena Rajappa
It was a very inspiring trip where we got some good tips about what could be done with our lands back at home. The kids had a great time at your farm house. Overall we enjoyed the hospitality and experince about natural farming. Thank you.
24 July 2009 - Bangalore
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Veena,
It was a pleasure having you and your family at our place. Very glad to hear that you all had a great time. I will be eagerly waiting for your update on the activities in your farm land. Keep in touch. Warm Regards - Priti & Srikanth
Message 73 - Radhika Madhu
Spell Bound ! feast for eyes . went thro' ur web site.Vanshree is beautiful ,Very simple & neat.I happen to search about organic farming at home , landed with your Vanashree site,thank god I learnt a lot . Wish I could visit your farm once with my family soon.
19 July 2009 - Chennai , Tamil Nadu
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Radhika,
Very glad to hear that the information being provided on the website is of help to you. The recent rains has brought a dramatic change in the landscape all around us making it lush green. It has also been a busy past few weeks with tree planting and also sowing of Paddy, Ragi, Pulses co-inciding with onset of monsoon showers. You are welcome to visit with your family on any weekends. Just let us know a few days in advance about your visit. Warm Regards - Priti & Srikanth
Message 72 - RYN Rao
I am eagerly waiting for your technical details of your self designed solar rice cooker
16 July 2009 - Bangalore-Hassan
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Rao,
Aplogies from my side for the delayed response. The delay is more due to the good and busy state of affairs at the farm. I will upload the details of the solar rice cooker in couple of weeks. I have still not been able to get consistent results which has been compounded by lack of proper sunshine over last 4-6 weeks. I will post details of our design in a week or two. I have also found the following website http://solarcooking.org/ providing lot of information on solar cooking. Regards - Srikanth
Message 71 - Srini
Dear Srikanth, Preeti, Sriram, Shanmukha,Jaya and Manoj, Me and my family thoroughly enjoyed a day's outing in your farm. It was also a great experience for us to learn about different techniques followed in agriculture (organic,natural etc.,). We wish to do the same in the near future and your project is an inspiration for us.
7 July 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Srini,
It was wonderful having you and your family at our place. Over the last few years, we are trying to discover ourselves by being closer to nature. Natural farming is helping us immensely in this at process. Very glad to know that you had a great time over here. Keep in touch. Warm Regards - "Vanashree" team
Message 70 - Rajesh.S
Hai THE REAL INDIAN FARMER, i am very happy about your site, i am rajesh, working in annamalai university Tirunelveli branch, tamilnadu, It is very nice travel, keep it up, i am not a farmer, but i like agriculture particularly Organic Agri, my brother Mr. Anandkumar is a Agri-Student(M.Sc Agri), i have link to your web site to my brother's mail id, and also my students id, thank again, thanks you and your family members, You have finish MY Dreams dear brother, urs rajesh.s. Ram Nagar, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu 627 011
26 June 2009 - Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Rajesh,
Thanks for visiting our website. We are very glad to hear that you are interested in Organic agriculture. Our effort is only a tribute to the amazing people who have inspired us. I consider ourselves fortunate to pursue our dream and in the process we have found our website a useful platform to share our experiences with a hope that some people might find it useful. Hope to meet you and your brother sometime in person. Warm Regards - Srikanth
Message 69 - gopu
amazing. me too dream the same keep it up
25 June 2009 - almora, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Gopu,
Yes, it has been an exhilarating journey so far. We wish that your dreams also come true at the earliest. Warm Regards - Srikanth
Message 68 - S Giri
Hi Srikanth, it has been quite an inspiring journey going thorugh your website. The journey from Ankura to Vanashree has been really remarkable. I wish to take your guidelines to bring up by farm also. I wish to visit your farm shortly.
21 June 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Giri,
It was very nice meeting you at Lal Bagh. We will be very glad to assist you in whatever way it is possible from our side. You are welcome to visit us on any weekend. I have attached the routemap to our farm in a separate e-mail. Looking forward to your visit. Regards-Srikanth
Message 67 - DR Manoj Raj Saxena
Well done interesting,I have also developed around 100 acres of wateland into Pomegranate/ Mango/Ambla plantation near Zahirabad about 130 kms from hyd,ypu are most welcome to visit our farm.
12 June 2009 - Hyderabad
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Dr. Manoj Saxena,
Wow, Developing 100 acres of wasteland is an amazing achievement. Hope lot more people get influenced by the work done by you to start plantations in huge tracts of land which have been wasted. We would love to visit you and experience first hand the transformation that you have done for the land. Please do keep in touch. Warm Regards - Srikanth & Priti
Message 66 - John M Riggs
Well done we are doing similar work and hope to share information in the future best wishes find my blog " haaspoortacademy": by searching blogspot dot com
5 June 2009 - cape town, south africa
Srikanth's Reply   Hi John,
Went thru' your site and you are doing amazing work over at Haaspoort. We will keep in touch and lets keep sharing information. Regards -Srikanth
Message 65 - Avinash
Hi Srikanth, Reading your blog is both a inspiration and information for newebies like me. I have purchased a small parcel of vacant land and after reading your blog, i have decided for going Organic. I would like to increase the fertility of the soil rather than leaving the land vacant, as i will not be starting any activity for another 6 months. I would kindly request your help to know which plants( i had read somewhere horse gram dal increases the nitrogen in the soil) can be planted and also some books to learn Organic farming.
5 June 2009 - Bangalore,India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Avinash,
Very glad to hear about decision to go Organic. Growing any legume plants like dal crops increases nitrogen in the soil. Horse gram is one of the easiest grams to grow. You don't have to do any tilling or remove any weeds and just broadcast the Horse gram seeds over the entire area. You will need appx. 1-2 kgs for an acre. The monsoon showers are good enough for them to germinate and thrive. "Organic Farming Handbook" by Other India Press is an excellent resource for organic farming. Also please consider planting some trees like Silver Oak, Acacia, Tamarind, Neem, Mahagony, Rosewood, Teak along the border during this monsoon. These are hardy enough to survive thru' even if you don't water them regularly. Just the monsoon showers are good enough for take them thru' to next summer. Feel free to visit us during any of the weekends and we can walk you thru' some of the
methods we have adopted at Vanashree. Best Wishes in your journey - Srikanth
Message 64 - (Kris)hnaprasad
Srikanth, The site and the journey are amazing and very inspiring. We have a farm near Hoskote on the way to Malur. We are trying to do a few things with conservation and sustainable farming in mind. We have a lot to learn from Vanashree. thanks for taking the effort to document it for all the rest of us.
1 June 2009 - Bangalore, India
Srikanth's Reply   Kris,
Our journey itself has been inspired by some amazing people. Our effort is only a very small contribution to " Mother Nature" for all the wealth she has showered. We are very glad to know of your efforts in conservation and sustainable farming. The website has been an effort to share what we have learnt both successess and failures and hope that others find some use from the information shared. Warm Regards -Srikanth
Message 63 - Mahesha Prasad Neerkaje
Hi Srikanth, after looking at your site, I am getting a feeling of 'finding the lost roots'. I want to tell you that I have found in you, the ideal, best life I want (actually, need) to live. I have nurtured similar interests like yours, since my childhood, like any nature lovers do. My sincere congratulations to you and your family. I, with my friends, sure will visit you once.
11 May 2009 - Bangalore
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Mahesh Prasad,
To be honest, this is a place where we are discovering ourselves. It has been a great journey so far and thankful to some amazing people who have inspired us. You and your friends are welcome at Vanashree on any weekend to spend a day with us. Please let us know few days in advance about your visit. Regards - Srikanth
Message 62 - Suresh Meda
Am impressed with your vision and approach for Organic farming, am also interested in the same, Request to drop your contact number, shall fix up an appointment with you to visit the farm
9 May 2009 - bangalore,India
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Suresh,
Very glad to know about your interests in sustainable agriculture practices and biodiversity conservation. We are at the farm on most weekends. I have provided my contact details in a separate email to you. Please let us know a few days in advance about your visit. Looking forward to your visit. Regards-Srikanth
Message 61 - Krishna Ramakoti
Dear Srikanth & Priti. I was reading the effort you guys have take to do such a wonderful job. I always had a Dream to come back to India and do something like this.
4 May 2009 - Troy, Michigan
Srikanth's Reply   Dear Krishna,
Living in the nature was always our dream and feel very fortunate that we are able to pursue our dream. Most of our weekends when we were in US, were spent exploring the nearby wilderness and hiking. However, farming and the exploration of sustainable living, now has brought a whole new meaning to "living closer to nature". We certainly wish you can pursue your dream. Keep checking for updates and drop by when you are in this part of the world. Warm Regards - Priti & Srikanth
Message 60 - Aby
Hi Srikanth, Priti We are plannin to start Organic farming in one acre land near Bangalore. Pls let us know how to go abt it/ We have no idea at all or pls refer us to any matreials to start a farm from scratch. it wil be highly appreciated. pls email me.tnx in advance.
3 May 2009 - Bangalore
Srikanth's Reply   Hi Aby,
We are very glad to know of your interest in pursuing Organic farming and will help you in whatever way it is possible from our side. Few details about your land (eg. water source, existing trees/plants) will help us to kickstart the process. In an acre of land at "Ankura" we have close to 20 different fruiting trees and another 50 different wild trees. If planned properly you can even grow sufficient vegetables for 3-4 families for year around consumption in about 3-4000 sft of area i.e less than 10% of an acre. You can also visit us at Vanashree on any weekends starting 16th May and we can share some of the organic and natural methods we have been practising at the farm. I have provided my contact details in a separate email. Regards - Srikanth
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