24/04/2026
10 points of Smell of the Earth Farm Updates from the end of April 2026.
1.It's hot. Very hot outside, reasonably cooler inside the house during the day, cooler in the evening, and quite pleasant at night with the windows open. Believe it or not, I needed a sheet this morning. We love our mud house more and more.
2. Vegetables are few and far between. We have some bhindi, some bitter gourd, some lalte shak, a handful of tomatoes everyday still. Wild greens are aplenty, as are papayas, plantain and bananas.
3. Fruits are producing well--fat sweet chikus and jamrul/waterapples are arriving daily now. We are waiting for the kalo jam, the litchus, and for the jackfruits to ripen. Whatever ripe papayas we save from the birds are sweet and full of flavor. Occasional bunches of fat, yellow bananas (mostly martaman and kanthali varieties) brighten up a few days.
4. We have an entire year's supply of rice, and some more. We have bags full of wheat and musur dal. There are bunches of onion in the kitchen, enough to last us the year. We have started harvesting mug dal, and already have a sizeable harvest. There is a steel barrel filled with last year's Gobindobhog rice. There is sesame in the field waiting to be harvested for a small crop.
5. We have preserved tomatoes, enough for the rest of the year. There are also bottles of tomato sauce, jars of Starfruit, rosella, mulberry jams, and lemon marmalade. We have pickles of various kinds, dried lemons and kimchi for the year.
6. The ducks have been laying upto 6 eggs per day, so we have plenty of eggs right now. We can get good catches from the pond now that the water level is going down.
7. We have a flower broom harvest waiting to be turned into brooms.
8. We have jams, pickles, squash, rice, chire, gur, turmeric for sale from our store Dakai.
8. We have a children's camp coming up for 8-15 year olds from May 22-24.
9. We have a short Introduction to Permaculture course from 5-8th of June.
10. Debal Mazumder is working on a permaculture design project and a natural building project. I am teaching gardening and English to different sets of kids.
Our days and our hands are full. We have no regrets about the life and the smaller income we chose. Wars, AI, and stupid leaders convince us every day that this was a good decision.
When are you stepping off the treadmill and the lie of traditional economics?
