Sardar Patel Farm A 125-acre organic farm on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Organic farming based on the Natural Farming framework is followed by us in our effort to be a part of the healthy chain healthy soil healthy crops healthy foods – healthy life.
After over 16 years of following these farming practices, we have successfully been able to retail and provide organic produce locally and nationally through our own brand ECOVITALS.
In addition we have also discovered that we have succeeded in:
(1) improving the health of our soil to such a degree that the crops we grow, the trees in our orchards, the plants in our garden and nursery are able to battle the onslaught of harmful pests and crippling diseases without the help of harmful chemical pesticides.
(2) increasing the population of useful insects, earthworms, birds as a result of ridding the environment of harmful pesticides and they are our unpaid workforce (ants rid plants of harmful aphids , bees and birds help in pollination, birds consume harmful caterpillars and insects, earthworms plough and aerate soil etc.)
(3) Producing products that provide humans with ample ammunition to fight disease and environmental pollution (e.g. higher content of minerals in grains, vitamin C in amla etc)
(4) Produce which is tastier and some having a longer shelf life than their inorganically grown counterparts .
The farming method followed on our farm is a fusion of organic and biodynamic farming. While organic means going nature’s way of live and let live and doing away with the use of chemical additives (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides,) biodynamic goes one step forward and harnesses cosmic energy too. Biodynamic refers to working with energies which create and maintain life, that is utilizing planetary rhythms (positions of the sun and the moon against the zodiacs ) as guidelines to determine when to sow, harvest, manure, prune, etc. In addition to compost, vermicompost, mulches, special biodynamic preparations like CPP, 500, 501 etc are used to build up soil structure enhance its immune system and thus increase productivity. The interaction of cosmic energy and healthy soil gives food life energies which bring back that extra 'zing' which is sadly missing in the inorganic produce, though no doubt exotic looking, that we habitually consume and can be likened to beauty without a soul.
We are presently certified producers of grains, wheat, paddy, bajra, maize, pulses-horse gram, sesame, fennel and cotton. Around 25 acres of our farm comprises of orchards of chickoo, mango, amla (Indian gooseberry) and lemon, vegetables, (some exotic ones too) are being grown though at present on a small experimental scale, as we are still exploring the field and also the market to determine which vegetable are the most popular and at the same time suited to our semi arid weather conditions. Spray dried powders is another product which we specialize in. And this is produced from the pulp of the fruit grown on the farm (chickoo, amla, lemon) This is manufactured at a neighborhood food processing unit and can be utilized for Chickoo- milkshakes, ice creams, puddings, desserts etc. Amla- a daily health tonic, in shampoos, creams etc. Lemon- flavoring in puddings, cakes yoghurt, juice etc.
A plant nursery specializing in rare species and those suitable for growing in semi arid condition e.g. agaves, bougainvilleas, furucareas, palms and plumarias also forms a part of our farm's multifarious activities. Our garden is home to a wide variety of palms, residents from different parts of the world, now growing and flourishing in our sylvan surroundings.
Language | english, hindi , Gujarati |
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Farming Method | non-organic |
Total Land | 140 |
Organic Since | 2003 |