Off to Sahayadri

As the KSRTC bus slowly turned at a narrow turn, the Sun graciously started lifting the curtain of darkness and unveiling the breathtaking valley ahead of us. The morning birds chirped joyously for the raw melody just melted away with each long breath I took. The unvoiced river was graciously flowing below to the eternal date with the love of its life. The breeze showered the bride to be with flowers and leaves auspicious. And the trees with all their branches danced joyously.

The valley gradually opened open to the distant silent sea, waiting handsomely. The silent humdrum of the sea added the perfect chorus to the grand opera being played before me.  Upon seeing such a grand opening, I could only imagine the wonders that lie ahead in the legendary Western Ghats of Goa.

Once in Goa I headed for the Foyts Farm, situated approx 10km from Valpoi. The Farm is the baby of Clea Chandmal. It was almost evening when I had reached the farm. Nestled cozily in the blanket of Western Ghats, this farm was just the perfect place to be.  I barely dumped my rucksack in the cottage when I got a very excited call from Clea “the sun is about to set come we need to hurry up!” Up we went to the plateau that Clea calls as Sunset point. With the sun setting behind the mountains, we just sat there, lost!

The sun had long gone down and Clea was telling me more about her Farm. She practices Permaculture at her farm. Permaculture is the future or simply put, it’s the way to be. Permaculture is self sustainable. In permaculture everything is designed to form an ecosystem “All I do is the collect fruits, veggies etc. rest is the magic of ecosystem”. Indeed from top of the plateau could not make out the difference between the adjoining forest and her farm.

Permaculture is often confused with organic farming. However there is major difference between the two, Organic farming is like agriculture only with the difference being that manures replace fertilizers and so do the other organic products for the pesticides etc. making organic farming labour intensive and non sustainable. Organic farming though is the solution to the onslaught of the various chemicals seeping in through fertilizers, pesticides etc. but it is not the final solution.

The struggle for land continues and is only growing by the day with more and more land being demanded for agricultural practices (organic or non organic) and the forest cover is also reducing at an alarming rate. Permaculture however focuses on ecological understanding of the forest ecosystem and replicating the same for the purpose of growing food stuff. A lot still depends on the tolerance level of man but at the moment the thought of growing food though ecological process and a self sustaining system seems soothing. The questions still remains unanswered if permaculture is the final solution or do we need to keep looking.

With these thoughts as I was drifting away after dinner, I was gently told that a leopard often visits the farm and many times its pug marks have been found in the farm and gaur along with other wild animals such as langur, civets etc also visit the farm. Which brought me back to the question if  animals considered the farm  a “farm” or “part of forest- rich in food” and I fell asleep for the next day was bound to be more interesting- as I was starting with fauna survey of the farm and adjoining forest areas. Now that’s what we call Life!