Exploring a natural way of farming
Mar 20, 2025 · Taisiia Latypova
For two weeks in February, life at AuroOrchard has been documented by Taisiia Latypova, a volunteer from Russia. Being a biologist major and a photography enthusiast, Taisiia took a snapshot of the farm’s life and summarized the main techniques used at AuroOrchard. Such work can be helpful for future volunteers and brings a new perspective of the farm for those who have worked or are working here.
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AuroOrchard is the oldest farm of Auroville, established back in 1968, and the second-largest farm, currently occupying 25 acres of land. It supplies Auroville with vegetables, fruits and poultry, being a year-long supplier for the Auroville community, participating in the evolution of consciousness. The latter began with the work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.
From the perspective of The Mother: “work, even manual work, is something indispensable for inner discovery. If we do not work, if we do not put our consciousness into matter, matter will never develop. To allow the consciousness to organize a little matter by means of one’s body is very good. To create order around us helps to create order within us” (“To be a true Aurovillian”, The Mother, 1970).
In this sense, coming to Auroville even for a short period of time, one should consider volunteering or participating in workshops to introduce consciousness into matter. Being a biologist and sincerely enjoying putting my hand to planting, farming experience was the best option for me to support the spiritual experience with manual work.
In line with sustainable farming, at AuroOrchard farmers are constantly experimenting with farming techniques and finding new ways for optimization of vegetables, fruits and chicken eggs production, at the same time maintaining a balance between natural processes and manmade agriculture. Methods of plant farming, which are used at the farm, can roughly be broken down to composting, soil preparation, planting, irrigation, pests’ managing, harvesting and pruning. Some of these techniques will be briefly discussed below.
The life of a plant starts with a seed. Most vegetables’ and fruits’ seeds (about 90%) at AuroOrchard are saved. Only a few plant species’ seeds, which haven’t yet been grown on the farm, are bought outside, such as cacao recently. Some of the seeds are being saved at the farm continuously for over 40 years!
Any seed is needed to be planted in a soil rich in nutrients. Soil composition may vary greatly, depending on a desired crop. At AuroOrchard, the nursery soil is made “from scratch” and is composed of garden soil, compost and coco-peat. The compost is made on the farm itself near the cows and it has to be rich in nitrogen and carbon in different proportions. The soil at AuroOrchard is bronze in color and quite soft to touch. Working with such soil, which hasn’t been simply put into a package and shipped from another region, or even country, is a true pleasure.
The main source of nitrogen is organic matter. Atmospheric nitrogen is fixed either by free-living bacteria in a soil or by symbiotic bacteria (Rhizobium), which live in root nodules of
legumes and exchange nitrogen with carbohydrates from plants. When a plant dies, it is decomposed by bacteria and fungi, which release nitrogen in the form of ammonium into the soil, enriching it. Ammonium is then sequentially transformed into nitrite and nitrate, and the latter can readily be reabsorbed by plants. The other source of nitrogen is cow dung and urine.
The main sources of carbon are dry leaves, chipped wood and wood from regularly done pruning, as well as green manure. Green manure is a fast-growing crop which is grown to be incorporated back into the soil for adding organic matter to it. It is a good source of both nitrogen and carbon, whose proportions may vary depending on which green manure is being used.
Old forests have soil high in carbon and its microbiota are fungi dominated, however grass
fields are nitrogen-enriched with a bacteria-dominated microbiota.
To prepare the soil, green manure is grown in a desired place to be then plowed into the soil just before it starts blooming. The latter is crucial, as flowers, being reproductive organs of plants, tend to accumulate all the nutrients. Such cycle is repeated 2-3 times, till the soil is ready for fruits and vegetables planti
At AuroOrchard, the method of soil enrichment was optimized by using a tractor with a disc harrow, which goes through green manure and digs up the soil at a shallow depth, so the plants fall down to be further decomposed. The same method can be used for seeds planting.
Such an approach can be included in no-till farming, which is aimed to minimize soil disturbance. Conventional plowing leads to oxidation of soil nutrients and disturbance of soil structure, e.g. micro-, meso- and macropores, bacterial colonies, fungal hyphae and soil aggregates.
Even though using the tractor might not seem natural, it is about a balance between benefiting from technological progress and being organic and sustainable. To my belief, achievements of science and engineering might benefit organic farming in a way of making it even more sustainable. By using modern technologies mindfully farmers can indeed minimize damage to the environment and benefit economically at the same time. For example, the plowing technique, which was mentioned above, increased the quality of the soil and, as a consequence, raised yields.
When the soil is ready to be used, the seedlings are made at the nursery to be further planted into beds. The process of seeding is quite precise, yet meditative. Each seed has its own place in the planting tray and is grown individually to be then introduced into the farm’s ecosystem.
The placement of planting broadly depends on a plant itself. Two major questions arise, when the placement of planting is being considered: 1) how much sunlight a plant needs, 2) can it be planted with another crop, so the bed is being used at its highest potential.
The first question is pretty simple to answer, as most crops desire to be grown at a maximum sunlight capacity. Such plants as yam (Dioscorea spp.), taro (Colocasia esculenta), turmeric (Curcuma longa), pineapple (Ananas comosus), ginger (Zingiber officinale) and some others need a portioned sunlight and can be grown under another plants, such as mango trees (Magnifera indica). The second question creates space for experimenting and finding out which plants are optimal for growing together, depending on plants themselves, as well as space optimization.
For instance, at AuroOrchard coconut trees (Cocos nucifera) and banana trees (Musa paradisiaca) are grown together for space optimization. In between banana trees tapioca (Manihot esculenta) is grown.
Green manure needs to be grown together with crops to give some nutrients back to the soil,
which can’t just “give” and need to be supported throughout the process of growing crops.
Green manure can comprise of indigenous plants or other, which are fast growing and produce
a lot of biomass to feed the soil.
Choosing the right soil and introducing sunlight to a system is crucial, but there is one more aspect to farming, which is watering. At AuroOrchard, there are 2 types of watering techniques: through water channels and micro-irrigation through drip lines and sprinklers. Drip lines localize the water and are more efficient in terms of water consumption, however, they are quite expensive to install and therefore require a significant capital investment at once. Large sprinklers are an easier solution; however, they require more water and disperse it more broadly, giving it not only to desired crops, but also to weeds. Storage of the water, which further is being distributed throughout the farm, is located at 3 borewells at mango, lemon and coconut orchards
The other aspect of farming, which must be considered, is microorganisms and insects (pests), which can parasitize plants. To date, up to 30% of crops are lost due to the activity of pests at AuroOrchard. Harsh chemicals can be used to fight against the latter; however, it may drastically disturb the ecosystem. At AuroOrchard, organic anti-pest agents are used to maintain the health of plants, as well as the ecosystem in general. These include neem oil and Beauveria bassiana (fungi) culture, which are sprayed on leaves of plants, effective microorganisms, probiotics, cow urine and wood ash.
The common red bug, Probergrothius sanguinolens, which often can be found on the farm, is
not harmful to crops, no worries.
However, not all insects are harmful to crops. Some of them, such as honeybees, can raise yields up to 40% for certain crops. There are 4 species of honeybees in Auroville, which include Apis dorsata, A. cerana, A. florea and Tetragonula iridipennis.
Quite intriguing is the fact that at AuroOrchard bees chose a place for living close to people – right next to the spot, where workers and volunteers gather for breakfast. The farm has about 16 beehives (4 boxes with A. cerana and about 12 with Tetragonula iridipennis). There are also a number of wild colonies in hollow and living trees, pipes, bushes, etc.
Besides plants, insects and cows, there are also chickens, which are a part of AuroOrchard farm. There are two types of them on the farm: BV300, further named as white chickens, and Hy-Line Brown, further named as brown chickens. However, in upcoming years, full transition to brown chickens will be made and there are several reasons for it.
While both types of chickens are introduced into free-range breeding, when chickens spend around 6-8 hours every day freely in a field in addition to living in a “deep-litter”, brown chickens are better in their free-range behavior. It is connected to the fact that white chickens are used to their conventional method of breeding in battery cage systems, while brown chickens are more genetically close to the country chickens, naturally adapted to free-range breeding and, also, having better resilience against diseases. In addition to the latter, brown chicken lay eggs, which are better in nutrition and taste, adding to the decision of transitioning to the Hy-Line Brown breed completely.
Further speaking, farming is not just techniques of plants’ and animals’ maintenance, but also people, who are constantly putting their effort and will into creating nurturing food for others; and AuroOrchard is not an exclusion. The farm has 22 permanent employees, 7 Aurovillians, who come and help with certain tasks, and 6-7 volunteers, whose number may vary throughout a year. AuroOrchard is not just a farm, but a community of generous and open-hearted people, whose mission is to bring nurturing food to Aurovillians, while maintaining a healthy balance between nature and man-made agriculture.
My experience at the farm truly exceeded my expectations, while there were not many. I was seeking to fulfill my stay with manual work and connect with nature more than I would do by just exploring the area. Thanks to AuroOrchard, I haven’t only put my hands to farming physically, but also learnt a variety of techniques, which I now can implement while doing planting and farming activities back home (with adjusting for northern climate, of course).
As I stated earlier, farming activities may be truly meditative and, after seeding, weeding, harvesting, bundling greeneries, and taking walks throughout the farm, I was coming back to my place in an outstandingly calm state of mind. Also, have you been on the farm just after dawn? The sunrays are coming through the humid air, birds are singing and there is greenery everywhere – truly a magnificent sight!
Thank you for taking your time to dive into AuroOrchard’s life in brief! After you have become acquainted with the farm, you can now take a look at AuroOrchard through a lens of the camera (Asahi Pentax Spotmatic), which was made in Japan in the same time period, as the farm establishment (between 1964 and 1976). These pictures are aimed to create a sense of the farm, which is connecting people together and constantly bringing nurturing food to Auroville since 1968. Enjoy!
