Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia): This plant is a staple for our soil. We grow MSF throughout the farm, for fast growth and chop and drop. The beautiful and bright yellow flowers attract bees and birds, the dense structure of the plant and the hollow stem offer habitat for small insects and ants. Its extremely easy to propagate through cuttings, is hardy and survives the summer months very well.

#auroville #sunflower #auroorchard #plant #honeybees

A majority of the area of the farm is dedicated to orchards of Mango, Cashew, Coconut, Banana, Papaya, Lime, Pomelo, Avocado, Ramphal, Jackfruit and Pineapple. We also have some trees of Cheese fruit, Bael Fruit, Rose apple and Kumquat. We continue to try out more fruit trees which can do well in our climate and soils, and which can complement the existing vegetation. The season for all these fruits starts now!

#auroorchard #auroville #orchards #trees #farming

*Harvest, Pickle and Aam Panna Experience*

The mangoes have just begun to come in at the orchard, and this is a beautiful time to work with them in their raw stage. We will spend time with freshly harvested raw mangoes, exploring how they can be used simply and meaningfully in the kitchen.

Together, we will harvest from the trees, understand the nature of raw mangoes - their sharp, tangy character and how they shift as they mature and use them to prepare *Aam Panna*, a traditional summer drink made from raw mangoes, known for its cooling effect on body. Alongside, we will also make a simple raw mango pickle, working with basic ingredients and processes that bring out the fruit’s intensity.

Facilitated by *Chef Reuben*. He is the in-house chef at AuroOrchard and the creative force behind its value-added products. With a professional culinary background brings practical insight and depth, guiding participants through both the fundamentals and finer nuances of working with seasonal ingredients.

🗓 Saturday (25th April) | ⏰ 2:00 – 4:00 pm

📍 Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AKoo6riUbTSGP9HQ7

*Registration (Mandatory)*Link in bio:
https://forms.gle/XtysP8Eef3hQk2n37

*Limited spots | Contribution / donation basis*

*Contact: Charan +91 8431764831*

Maintaining a consistent supply of eggs requires a very well planned succession of flocks. We try to maintain three flocks of birds at an age when they are actively producing eggs. This requires us to replace a flock every six months. Recently, we welcomed the sixth flock of one-day old birds. These birds come to us from a hatchery in Vellore. They will spend five months in a nursery and then move to the laying coop where they will spend about 18 months. They start ranging freely from the age of 8-10 weeks.

#poultryfarm #farmeggs #babychicks #auroville #auroorchard

Sweet potato originated in Central and South America over 5,000 years ago and spread across the world through early trade routes, reaching India centuries ago. Today, it grows in many varieties—different colour skins, different shapes, different coloured flesh—each with its own taste and texture. They are rich in fiber, vitamins, and slow-release carbohydrates. At AuroOrchard we grow the purple skin-white flesh variety which is called Oriental/ Japanese. It requires rich soils and we grow in rotation with successive rounds of Sunnhemp, in our experimental agroforestry plots. The yields in the last few years have been exceptional!

#auroorchard #sweetpotatoes #harvesting #fyp #food

*Introduction to Natural Beekeeping*

This workshop offers an introduction to local honeybees and their world. We will explore what honeybees are : how they feed, make decisions, reproduce, and interact with their environment along with key aspects of natural beekeeping, including how to support bees through flowers, water, shelter, and how to recognise different types. Participants will also observe real beehives and a rich photo collection gathered over 13 years.

*Facilitator:*
*Erik Jansegers* a tropical agronomist, organic farmer & beekeeper with 20+ years of experience. Passionate about bees, he studies their behavior and works at AuroOrchard farm focusing on natural beekeeping, sharing his knowledge through workshops, hands-on learning, documentation, and engagement with communities, including children and learners.

*Limited spots available.*

*Registration (Mandatory)Link im bio:* https://forms.gle/XtysP8Eef3hQk2n37

*Location*:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FpRuKH5bfBurmsQL7

*Contact* Charan: +91 8431764831

It was a pleasure hosting The Fungal Thread workshop at AuroOrchard, facilitated by Ishan and Jashid last week.

The session opened up the fungal world beyond just food exploring the difference between culinary and functional mushrooms, and how diverse traditions have worked with them over time. We touched upon how preparation influences their effects, and why mushrooms are often misunderstood.

A key takeaway was their role in supporting balance especially through fibre rich nutrition and their ability to work with the immune system in a more regulating way. We also explored specific mushrooms like reishi, lion’s mane, and cordyceps, and their connection to rest, focus, and sustained energy.

The conversation expanded into their ecological role how fungi act as recyclers and connectors in the soil, supporting plant life and overall ecosystem health.

We then moved into a hands-on session, where we created two mushroom beds together--reishi and pink oyster. It was a fun and collaborative process, with participants exploring the farm to gather raw materials while others prepared the beds. Everything came together using what the land offered, keeping the process simple and adaptable.

A shared space of learning, making, and observing and now we watch how the fungi respond in the days to come.

Our vegetable garden is about 2 acres, growing a diversity of crops on raised beds as well plots. The diversity of crops in the vegetable garden changes throughout the year depending on the season, the needs of the community, the needs of the soil. We are now preparing for summer and for planting in June/July and therefore more and more beds and fields will be put under green manures- like sunnhemp and cowpea to protect the soil from the harsh summer sun and prepare biomass for later planting.

#vegatablegarden #sunhemp #auroville #cowpea #farming

🌿 Stories ~ March 2026 ~ #15 — Our farm had a lot to share this month. From certifications to seasonal shifts, here’s a glimpse into what’s been happening at AuroOrchard.

Stay connected with us. To sign up, go to the link in bio.

#auroorchard #auroorchardstories #auroville #marketgarden

Our nursery is our central zone where all the plants are first started. We save seeds of over 90% of the food crops that we grow- brinjal, ladies fingers, pumpkin, beans of different kinds, cucumber, basil, basella, fruits like papaya, ramphal, soursop etc.

All these are started in the nursery and slowly moved to the fields as and when they are ready. Our continuous harvest requires continuous planting making the nursery an intensely dynamic space and activity on the farm.

#auroorchard #auroorchardstories #auroville #nursery #aurovillefarm