<span class="time-wrap">July 25, 2025</span>

Sowing Season

D-Day is here! After months of patiently laying the groundwork on our 2-acre land in Tiptur, we began sowing today. We timed it with the Pushya Nakshatra rains, an auspicious period in many farming traditions believed to support strong, steady crop growth. We followed the traditional row method combined with Akkadi Salu, a mixed farming system where millets grow alongside legumes and oilseeds to improve soil health, reduce pests, and diversify harvests.

Two pairs of bullocks worked in tandem—one pair pulling the sadde, the traditional seed drill that lays down clean, even rows, while the second pair followed with the halube, a light harrow that gently covers the seeds with soil. Along the edges and for finer adjustments, the koorige, a hand hoe, helped create shallow lines and guide seed placement.

Into these rows we sowed Ragi (MR1) along with cowpea, niger, castor, sorghum and mustard—each chosen for its role in restoring nutrients, attracting beneficial insects, or breaking pest cycles. As a final step, we planted six border rows of huchellu (niger) around the field to draw pollinators and offer a natural protective buffer.

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<span class="time-wrap">July 21, 2025</span>

Preparing the Field

With the monsoon finally approaching, the community gathered for a collective stone removal drive across the ragi plots—a small but essential step. Clearing stones reduces seed injury during sowing and ensures better seed–soil contact, especially important for rain-fed cultivation where every germinating seed matters.

Months of cover cropping, slow mulch breakdown, and the incorporation of manure have transformed the field into a nutrient-rich, weed-suppressed, moisture-conserving bed. The soil now feels friable, meaning it crumbles easily between the fingers rather than clumping. This is a key indicator of soil health: friable soil has better aeration, improved root penetration, and balanced moisture retention, all of which are critical for young ragi seedlings to establish strong root systems.

With stones cleared and the soil structure just right, the field is primed for sowing as soon as the monsoon settles.

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<span class="time-wrap">July 10, 2025</span>

A Delayed Monsoon, and Shifting Field Decisions

The late arrival of the monsoon has started to show its hand across the ragi plots. Without timely rain, the incorporation of cover-crop mulch has been slower than expected. The biomass is drying on the surface rather than breaking down into the soil profile. This lull has also given weeds a headstart, pushing farmers to revisit their weeding schedules and rethink how much labour to allocate in the coming weeks. If the next round of showers doesn’t arrive soon, a decision on adjusting the cropping pattern—either delaying sowing or switching to a shorter-duration variety—may become necessary.

After waiting nearly 2–3 weeks for the biomass to partially decompose, we began applying well-cured farmyard manure and lightly tilling it into the upper soil layer. This step is crucial: even without rain, integrating manure now ensures that whenever the monsoon does turn up, the soil is primed to absorb moisture and release nutrients more evenly for the next ragi cycle.

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<span class="time-wrap">June 25, 2025</span>

Soil Sampling, Testing, and Early Biomass Gains

Soil testing is a quiet but decisive step in any regenerative cycle, and on the ragi plots, it begins with choosing the right spots. Farmers avoid recently manured patches, bunds, pathways, or areas where water tends to stagnate—all of which can skew results. The ideal moment is just before sowing, when nutrients haven’t yet been pulled up by a standing crop. Each sample is collected by digging a clean V-shaped pit and drawing soil from the exposed face. Following a Z-shaped walk across the field, 2–4 such samples are taken and mixed to create a representative composite.

With the cover crops now incorporated into the soil, we also recorded their contribution: an estimated 1.5–2 tonnes of biomass per acre, depending on moisture and stand density. This green matter, along with the first light application of farmyard manure, is helping build organic carbon and ready the field for the ragi cycle ahead.

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<span class="time-wrap">June 8, 2025</span>

Mulching

We’re at the 54-day mark since sowing the cover crops, and the crop has grown to a healthy 6 feet. Today also marks the onset of Mrigashira, which signifies a transition from the summer to monsoon (or Mungaru) rains. The time has come to harvest the cover crops and allow them to give back to the soil that nourished them. 

But before mulching, we wanted to understand how much biomass we are returning to the soil. A 1 m² PVC frame was made using waste pipe and elbows. This was thrown around the farm in a zigzag (or Z-shaped) manner and the 1 m² area was harvested. Ten such samples were taken and weighed, and then the average weight was taken as the biomass for 1 m² area. This number was then multiplied by 4000 to get the biomass generated for 1 acre. Based on our calculations, we will add about 16 tonnes of biomass back into the soil.

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‍<span class="time-wrap">May 16, 2025</span>

Nodule Formation

It is exactly 31 days since we planted the cover crops. The past 10 days have been a period of intense growth. From barely 2 inches above the ground, the crops have now grown to around 4 feet in height. The rhizobium bacteria that are useful for nitrogen fixation trigger nodule formation in host plants’ roots. Successful nodule formation is seen as a sign of successful nitrogen fixation. And when we pulled out a few legumes to check their roots, we were rewarded with the sight of well-established nodules!

Currently, this nitrogen serves the growing crop. But once we mulch it back, it will also nourish the ragi that we sow. Read more.

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<span class="time-wrap">May 5, 2025</span>

Summer Rains

Between April and June every year, Tiptur (where the Good Food Movement is experimenting with ragi cultivation) receives light summer rain. Based on the prevailing nakshatra at the time, the showers are recognised by 5 different names—Revathi, Ashwini, Bharani, Krittika, and Rohini—with each lasting for around 14 days. Currently, it is Bharani that is nourishing the crops. This year, the rains have come consistently every 3 to 5 days—a blessing in times of unpredictable climate. 

But even if the rains faltered, it wouldn’t be a reason to turn to irrigation. The crop might suffer a bit for it, but it will still grow. After all, cover crops are grown not to be harvested, but to be mulched back. Just the act of planting them instead of allowing weeds to grow over benefits the soil. It improves soil texture, prevents erosion, and fixes back nitrogen into the soil—all with the help of some light summer showers.

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<span class="time-wrap">April 23, 2025</span>

Germination Check

A week after broadcasting the cover crop mix, the first field check showed a healthy 80% germination rate. The legumes, especially horse gram and cowpea, were the quickest to emerge, their sturdy cotyledons pushing through the warming soil. Sunhemp followed closely, creating the early scaffolding for biomass. Foxtail millet appeared in fine, even streaks, signalling good soil–seed contact from the light rotavator pass.

An 80% germination rate is ideal for this stage: dense enough to form a protective canopy, but still airy enough to prevent overcrowding as temperatures rise toward May. Over the next few weeks, this green cover will help shield the soil, conserve moisture, and begin the slow work of improving structure ahead of the ragi season.

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‍<span class="time-wrap">April 15, 2025</span>

Cover Crop Sowing

Cover crops are a class of crops with a short growing phase, which are sown between the harvests of main crops to protect and rebuild the soil. They naturally fix nitrogen, improve moisture retention and keep the soil active and covered through the dryer months, protecting it from the harsh sun. Once they grow, they are mixed back into the soil, adding plenty of natural biomass and organic matter, eliminating the need for chemical fertilisers.

In rain-fed agriculture, like how GFM is growing ragi, this ‘living mulch’ phase is crucial for carrying the field into the monsoon. Today’s work in our field in Tiptur centred on establishing this cover layer. We mixed a diverse seed blend: horse gram (huruli) for nitrogen fixation, cowpea (alasande) for rapid ground cover, sunhemp for biomass and soil aeration, foxtail millet for quick sprouting, and small amounts of cluster beans and greengram to balance the mix. The seeds were hand-broadcast evenly across the field. 

Traditionally, farmers always began with hand broadcasting: scattering a mix of seeds across the land before the first monsoon showers. You walk along the rows in the field and swing your hand from right to left, scattering seeds in a gentle motion. Then, retrace your steps backwards to ensure an evenness to the sowing. Sometimes, you may step on a seed, but this actually pushes it into the soil rather than destroying it. Ragi, a hardy monocot that needs oxygen-rich, well-aerated soil, benefits from this minimal disturbance. 

Today, we tried to reconnect with this native art of sowing. A light trot with the rotavator followed, incorporating the seeds into the topsoil just enough to ensure contact with the earth, and conserving moisture as the pre-monsoon build-up begins.

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