We’re renovating the Abundance room — the space where our farm produce is stored and transformed through preservation.

We continue to offer a large diversity of produce through Abundance– cashew, coconut oil, lemon marmalade, basil pesto, conserves of lemon and mango, dry herbs and seasonal vegetable recipes like Brinjal spread and Rosella leaf chutney.

The team is exploring how to move beyond “food processing” towards food preservation, where the goal is not just “adding value” to sell something for a higher price, but focus on food preservation keeping the nutrition and flavour for longer.

If you have ideas, time, or passion for traditional preservation methods, we’d love for you to explore this with us! 🌾

#auroorchardstories #abundance #foodpreservation

Who is the Market Garden Course for?

This course is designed for farmers aiming to strengthen or scale up their operations, as well as individuals, groups, and communities interested in starting or diversifying food production using sustainable, agroecological methods.

What Will Participants Learn?
Participants will master a step-by-step framework for planning and managing productive, diversified market gardens.

Key learning areas include:
- Soil health
- Crop planning
- Water management
- Pest control
- Harvesting and marketing

Participants will work with hands-on design tools tailored to local contexts, gain insights from case studies, benefit from peer mentorship, and develop a personalized market garden project plan with continuous feedback throughout the course.

Course Dates
4 February 2026 – 29 April 2026

Registration link in our bio

[AuroOrchard, Market Garden Course]

Spread over 25 acres, AuroOrchard is Auroville’s oldest farms producing a diversity of fruits and vegetables and eggs that are supplied directly to Auroville’s kitchens and residents.

Join us to learn to work with the soil, plants and food while sharing with a diverse group of people.�We offer breakfast made with farm produce.

We offer breakfast made with farm produce!

Monday to Saturday – 7am to 9am and/or 9:30am to 12pm

Link to sign up for volunteering, in our Bio.

[AuroOrchard, Volunteering]

The Makrut Lime also known as the Thai Lemon is a unique citrus. A culinary staple in Southeast Asia, it is easily recognized by its intensely bumpy rind. While its juice is sharply sour, its zest is unbelievably aromatic—far more fragrant than a regular lime. Its properties are legendary, offering a bright, distinctive flavor to everything from curries to this refreshing peppermint lemonade! 🍋

Here at Auro Orchard, our volunteers harvest fresh peppermint and use the Makrut’s fragrant zest and juice to craft this perfect post-work refresher. It’s a simple joy that reflects the harmony here! 🌱

Want to join our farm and experience the vibrant flavors of the orchard? Visit the link in our bio to register for our Farm Walks, Volunteering Opportunities and much more!

[ Makrut Lime , Thai Lemon, AuroOrchard, Auroville, Organic Farming, Volunteer, Sustainable Living, Farm Fresh, Peppermint, Lemonade ]

AuroOrchard is Auroville’s oldest farm, founded in 1968-69 under the guidance of the Mother with the vision of “growing food for Auroville.” Spread over 25 acres of red earth on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, AuroOrchard has been a cornerstone of Auroville’s food system for more than five decades.

Today, we produce over 50% of the fruits and vegetables and 90% of the eggs from Auroville farms.

We grow a diversity of crops—mangoes, papayas, bananas, guavas, citrus, roots and tubers, leafy greens, vegetables, and herbs—alongside a small poultry that provides eggs. Each year, these fields and orchards yield several tonnes of fresh food, much of it flowing directly to Auroville’s kitchens and residents. These numbers are never the measure of the work, but rather quiet signs of the farm’s steady rhythm of care and abundance.

Join us for a stroll through these orchards and vegetable gardens and learn about the agroecological techniques that we practice at the farm.

Every Wednesday, 10 am to 12 pm.

Please sign-up for the walk for us to organise this better. Form link can be found in the bio.

[AuroOrchard, Farm Walk]

We have some news for you!

The Market Garden Course will now take place from Feb 4 – Apr 29, 2026! 🌿

We’ve postponed the start a bit to make space for more participants to join this hands-on learning journey. Thank you for your interest and patience! 🌾

For any queries, please reach out to us on auroorchard@auroville.org.in

[AuroOrchard, Market Garden Course, Agroecology]

Most of the saplings raised in recent months have now been planted across the farm to strengthen biodiversity and biomass production.

This month, we’ve started a fresh batch of herbs: Basil, Celery, Mint, Peppermint, and Lemongrass. 🍃Our mint experiments have gone beautifully — it’s now a regular in our farm baskets!

In the coming days, we’ll be preparing seedlings of Rugula and Spinach.

#auroorchardstories #seeds #nursery

Our new Avocado block planting is complete — just in time for the monsoon! 🥑🌧️

Now the focus is all about care and regeneration — pruning, cutting grass, and adding biomass in our Papaya, Avocado, and Jackfruit orchards. These help open up light and ventilation for the trees while mulch protects the soil from rain compaction. 🌱

We’ve also added many more biomass trees — Melia dubia, Acacia Auriculiformis, Medical Sunflower, Subabool, Moringa, Agathi, and others — to enrich both our old and new orchards. 🌾

#auroorchardstories #orchards #syntropicagroforestry

The monsoon has arrived early this year! 🌧️

We’re wrapping up the last bit of green manure work and adjusting to the rains — sweet potato planting is on pause for now, but we’ve started rugula and spinach in the greenhouse instead.

The fields are still giving us beautiful brinjals, ladies fingers, a few late cucumbers and pumpkins. 🍆 🥒.

We’re expecting a lighter harvest next month, with the clouds keeping the Sun away. ☁️

#auroorchardstories #vegetablegarden #AuroOrchard #MonsoonAtTheFarm

Our poultry unit continues to evolve — we’ve introduced improved systems for drinking water and feeding, and are now working on redesigning the nesting boxes. 🐔

We also welcomed our third flock of brown birds last month, completing our transition from white to brown. A small but meaningful step in creating a more resilient and sustainable poultry setup.

#auroorchardstories #chickencoop #poultry