Farm Update

These last couple weeks at the farm have been busy. I will try and summerize a bit :). On a weekly basis we visit local farmers, try to help the farmers, visit and engage the local kids from schools, and visit markets in the area; this is of course not mentioning the work we do at our own farm. There are now three cows and three sheep, although we are looking for another breed of cow and some chickens. Our regular chores include a lot of watering, and basic maintaining of the farm. We are constantly planting, weeding, and watering in a never ending cycle. The good thing is I am finally starting to see changes and growth on the farm, here in India things grow a lot faster then they do in the US, or Norway for that matter. I am enjoying getting into a rhythm that includes getting up very early (630) and going to bed also very early (2100-2200), as well as a good dose of south Indian cuisine. Our hose family makes the most amazing food, it makes me want to never leave. The best dish is her bori, which is a puffy fried thing which we eat together with a stew type dish, and of course her delicious coconut chutney. mmm makes me hungry writing about it!  She also makes the most amazing dosa, which has a taste of sour dough to it. I am not sure it is possible to get sick of south Indian food. 

In the afternoons after our siesta we often stop by our small tea shop in the village on our way to the farm and drink some of the best chai ever. The local cows have a hump on their back and they produce an extremely rich milk which gives the tea an extra good taste. 

Teaching local kids about our vermi-unit

Our calf named Lars (I love him!)

Cows at the cattle market

Host and friends

Drinking rose milk together with Anna and Theirry, I am glad we did not get sick!

Days seem to blend together her and all of a sudden another week has gone by without me really noticing it. Over a month has gone by and I feel as though we have just arrived.

During our time off at the farm we usually play football or cricket with the kids, which is very intense. Or sometimes we read a book, or The Hindu newspaper. But recently we found a halfway clean water hole that we deemed clean enough to swim in, that is to say the dirt floats to the sides once we jump in. So a couple times we have cooled ourselves off in this water hole. There is like a 10-15 foot drop into the hole and we never know what could be waiting for us down there. I went there a couple days ago, and on my second jump I decided that Theirry (a swiss volunteer) and I should have a little race across the pool. So we swam over to one of the sides and got ready to push off. I then saw the dead skin of a snake on the side. So I said, haha there is a snake. Then Theirry looked over at the wall where he was swimming, and only a couple inches from where he was we saw a live snake just above the waters edge on the wall. That was enough for me and I ran out of the water at once. We had an Indian man called Kumar with us on this day and he wanted to know if the snake was dangerous or not. But he also was clear that this time he was not swimming because he had nice clothes on. So when he was leaning out over the edge trying to poke the snake with a stick, of course he fell into the water! The sad part is we never found out if the snake was dangerous or not because it slithered into a crack in the wall; to be honest I am not sure if we will find out because I am not at all keen on going back there swimming anytime soon!

Our wonderful swimming hole

And off...

...we go :)

Sebastien