The team of the popular food program on NDTV called ‘Chak Le India’ were here today to shoot our cheesemaking. The host Aditya, the director Shubra and here team took covered Tina making mozarella and then wrapped up with a cookout using local produce from the Coonoor market. Here they are seen cooking on an open fire on the lawn opposite Haloumi House with the cheesemaking cottage seen in the background. The program should air around 12th Dec so do check it out.  Here is the link to watch it on the internet – Acres Wild on Chak Le India

Tags: Cheese

Just got back from Chennai where I spoke at the TEDxYouth Chennai meet. There were 14 speakers and many interesting and entertaining presentations. In all that it is hard to get people to listen to a heavy one and that too of a smaller future. My presentation was called The Third Curve and meant to illustrate the futility and madness of Exponential Growth by comparing the Growth Curve going skyward with the Depletion Curve that dives to zero. I think I did pretty ok but my daughter Zayn who was in the audience said I used some hard to understand terms. Will correct that in future Will also post the link to see the lecture at a future date once they upload it.

My latest lecture on Peak Oil and the Limits of Growth was at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. It was about a 1 hour presentation to about 50 students. I was very happy and I think I got quite a few people thinking about what the quest for Perpetual Exponential Economic Growth has in store for us in the context of finite energy resources on a finite planet. If any of you have any venues for me to speak at on similar topics please contact me.

Farmstay Guests Ravi and Mini, give a helping hand to make orange marmalade.

Tags: Jam marmalade

Exploring the exciting world of making homemade soap. I realised that not only is it fascinating and a step to self-reliance but also the soap if correctly made is much better for your skin. You can design your own soap with whatever characteristics you like – hardness, lather, moisturising, cleansing, conditioning etc. Depends on the oils you use mainly. This is the second days soap with palm oil.

Homemade Soap experiments at Acres Wild

Tags: soap

Large Bungalow for sale in Tiger Hill Coonoor — Nilgiris

10 Tiger Hill Cottages

Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, India

Built up area:3400 sq.ft

Garden area: 16 cents

Price: Rs 1.80

Contact: +91-423-2237742 and cell +91-9443360720 / fayvohra@gmail.com

Beautiful Bungalow with forest view for sale in Coonoor in the lovely Blue Mountains of the Nilgiris. The House is situated in a gated secure community in Tiger Hill. The community gardens, water supply, maintenance and 24 hours security is run by the owners association. There is an un-interrupted view of the reserve forest 100 yards away. On a good day you can see wild animals like Bison [Gaur], Wild pigs, Jungle Fowl, Wild Rabbit and even the Spotted Deer. Elephants are not far away but we have not seen any yet. The view from the upstairs balcony is of Mettupalayam far away in the plains.

Living Room

Downstairs

 One large drawing cum dining room 30ft x 15 ft with a working fireplace.

 Bedroom with built in cupboards with attached bathroom

 A large study

 Glass conservatory over looking the garden / T.V. Room.

 Covered entrance

 Kitchen, pantry and utility room with an outside shed for drying clothes.

Covered entrance to house

Conservatory overlooking the garden

House as viewed from gate

Master Bedroom leading on to balcony and living room

Upstairs

 One Living room with working fireplace leading to

 A large balcony with view of the plains.

 The master suite includes a master bedroom 30 ft x 15 ft.

 Large Bathroom and walk in cupboard and changing area.

 Guest Bedroom includes built in cupboards with uninterrupted view of the forest, with bathroom attached.

Living room with fireplace

Sunrise viewed from the balcony adjoining the master suite

All Floors are rubber wood, all windows and door frames are teak. There are electric lights with fittings in all rooms. Hot water heaters in all three bathrooms plus the kitchen and utility room. There is also a Solar panel for water heating on the roof. House is equipped with Tata Sky and a Lightning Conductor on the roof. Effective rain water harvesting methods are in use. Mature Garden of 16 cents. There are many fruit and flowering trees .Large Lawn in front and a small one on the side. Flower beds with roses and a wild hedgerow complete this quiet peaceful place.

Front garden

Bison visiting the forest behind the house as viewed from the bedroom window

Sunset over the forest behind the house

House viewed from the driveway

Farmstay Guests try their hand at making bread at Acres Wild Farmstay.

Decided to share some of the fun and some of the work of making bread with our farmstay guests. Here is a set of young ones who took it seriously and we made some bread in various shapes. Sadly those got eaten before I could remember to take photos. But here is a photo of my first batch of students making bread.