The ultimate goal of farming is not growing of
crops;
But the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
-
Masanobu Fukuoka
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| Naveen Garden |
Agriculture and Farming is deeply rooted in my
living tissues. Hailing from a modest agricultural family, my parents, and my ancestors
earned their livelihood from farming. All the cells and building blocks of my
body are nourished from the agricultural soil. I belong to the first generation
graduate, who flew miles away from my nest to earn money and food for a living,
without knowing the food and simple living is
already there at my backyard. This is a
post about a progressive and new-age agriculture farm located in Trichy
district of Tamilnadu, South India. Krishnapuram is a typical village in Musri Taluk of
Trichy District. Agriculture and farming is one of the most predominant occupations
in this village. Though River Cauvery flows 20 kilometers away from this
village settlement, the land is dry and parched due to the geographical elevated
location & rocky terrain. The deficit in successive monsoons and extreme
summer posed extreme challenges to the farmers in this village settlement.
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| Hangout Zone |
Midst of all these obstacles, an inspiring
agricultural farm flourishes with many great endeavors to revive farming, to
promote awareness on protecting nature and wildlife, and animal rescue
operations. I walked into this agricultural farm on a gloomy
night to spend a few days volunteering and experiential learning. A pack of canines
came running towards me, and jumped on me. Matrix (Rottweiler breed) was the leader
of the pack. I went on my knees to the ground to hug those friendly pets and started
to pat them fondly. Sooner, three Labrador Retriever breeds - Kukuva, Luna, and
Kutta, two cute Pug breeds – Puggy and Sham, Kaaka (Dobberman breed), Panda
(Lasapso breed), and Bolt (Miniature pinscher breed) were fighting to get my
attention and the pat. All of them were friendly, and at the same time terrific,
started pulling me in each of their directions.
I have to spend a few minutes with each of those friendly breeds to calm
them down. In all those breeds, Bolt was very young; he got my rapt
attention. He jumped into my face, started to sniff my eyes, nose, and
ears. This is one of the
best and most over-whelming welcome I have experienced ever in my life.
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| Shrida - The Curious kid |
Ganesh and his small family were volunteering at
this farm for the past one year. Shrida, his kid is worth mentioning here.
Curious and inquisitive mind gifted with immense talents, he can easily
befriend with any stranger at no time. Ganesh is a university by himself, and
he exposes his little son to real-life learning. The family keeps moving to
inspiring places across India, Nepal, and Srilanka stays and volunteers there,
and lives a minimalistic life in this materialistic world. These family members
are my guide for the next few days at this farm. It was the first week of January, and the
night was shimmering with cold in this winter. I went to my room to retire for
the day. Bolt came running under my legs, jumped on the bed, sat on the pillow,
and nodded at me with his usual hyper reflexes. Shrida ran into my room, to
inform that Bolt will be sleeping in this room; whereas other pets will be
guarding my room by staying outside. I slept with a puzzled mind; whether I am
privileged to sleep with Bolt or Bolt is privileged to sleep with me?
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| DSP - The crazy kid |
I was super amazed by strolling around the
integrated farm next morning with Ganesh. The farm was established by a young post-graduate
Mr. Naveen Krishnan, a visionary agripreneur with a great mission of meeting
few objectives of Dr. Kalam’s vision 2020 – environmental protection, creating
awareness on wildlife and nature, educating farmers about innovative farming,
and creating man-made forests. The
entire farm was distinctly earmarked based on the specific tasks – animal zone
with proper fencing and appropriate strategies to house a list of exotic animal
breeds. I was completely engrossed with those exotic collections in an
agricultural farm – pigmy goats, Arabian racehorses, Asino Amiatina donkeys, two giant green and orange iguanas with
dozens of baby iguanas, gerbil, hamster, tortoise, native kangayam bull, brahma
chicken, fish breeds like alligator gar, arapaima, and piranha. It takes a lot
of special interest to rear these exotic breeds. Ganesh explained to me in
detail about those exotic breeds and he had enough patience to clarify most of
my inquisitive doubts. There was a fenced livestock area nearby this animal
zone to rear goats, cows and poultries.
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| Miyawaki method |
The world tails the plough despite other pursuits
Even if one toils, farming remains foremost
சுழன்றும்ஏர்ப் பின்னது உலகம் அதனால்
உழந்தும் உழவே தலை.
உழந்தும் உழவே தலை.
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| Volunteering |
Amused by all these endearing endeavors, we moved
ahead for another surprise of an artificial Olympic size agricultural pond with
the length of 140 feet, breadth of 70
feet and depth of 12 feet filled with gallons of water. Water is being pumped from a bore well which
is located 6kms away and stored here to irrigate this farmland. Every drop of
water counts here and, all the crops are watered by drip irrigation ensuring
optimal water management. As time eluded, I was soaked completely in the daily
chores of the farm, chopping fodder grass, processing the fodder, feeding the
cattle’s and pet dogs, and cleaning the cattle sheds. We took a pair of goats to nearby veterinary
doctor. The animals are deprived of communicating by language; and when it is
sick, it’s very complex for us to find the etiology, and it’s suffering. The
veterinarian was professionally competent, examined the sick goats, diagnosed
as an infection and gave an antibiotic shot in the goats neck. Tired and
exhausted; the goats took comfort on my lap and shoulder while returning back
to the farm.
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| Naveen with special kids |
Naveen Garden farm is quite popular among the
school and college educators for providing their students with an experiential
learning on nature, wildlife, and agriculture. And it is also equally hit among
the public for a relaxed day outing in a farm along with exotic breeds. During
my volunteering, a bunch of special kids arrived here for their Pongal
celebrations. I went to receive them from their van along with the entire
matrix gang. Luna, Panda and Bolt stormed into the van; and few kids started to
scream their lungs out. I assured these intellectually challenged special kids
about the friendly character of the pets and brought them to the common
activity area. My community rehabilitation & public health expertise helped
me to manage these kids with very minimal efforts; and sooner some kids were
seen attached to the pets. I was their guide now taking them to all the areas
in the farm; detailing them about the exotic breeds, agriculture techniques,
water conservation techniques, and all about Naveen Garden. Abandoned by their
family members, neglected from society, these special kids have a horrifying
past in their lives. But at this very moment, I can see smiles, excitement and
laughter in those kids’ faces by the love, affection, touch and nurturance of
the pet animals.
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| Eyespotting Iguana |
Naveen Krishnan endeavors are really inspiring, and
most of his aspirations are fueled by Dr. Kalam’s mission. He invested enormous
resources in building in a residential home for mentally challenged on his
farm. The project was ultimate, with a novel approach to care and nurture the
mentally challenged individuals in a peaceful residential ambiance midst of
green farms and pet animals. The buildings are in the last phase of completion.
Unfortunately, this project is stalled now at the due to a lack of sufficient
funds. This unfinished building is the
only unaccomplished dream here in this Naveen Garden. My volunteering days here
in this Naveen Garden was a great quest for my learning in many dimensions, understanding
the importance of farming, practical insights to miyawaki tree plantations,
water management approaches, playing around with the gang of the matrix, the best
time in bringing out the smiles in those special kids and most importantly
nurturing the sick goat by hugging close to my chest.
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| Miles to go |
This farm is a perfect embodiment of Masanobu
Fukuoka’s words - The ultimate goal of farming is not growing of crops; But the
cultivation and perfection of human beings. Naveen Garden is cultivating the
perfection in Human beings.
You can find more details about Naveen Garden
Naveen can be reached @ +91-98423 53713
