Giby, gosh you are sitting on a gold mine for such informal citizen scientist type papers and you could recruit your parents, relatives etc to simply mark off near a picture of things you want to document ... and collect the picture/paper from them once a week... or it could be slate board near kitchen or something where a chalk could be hung, and they can mark off the sightings...
and record their verbal memory of what they used to see when they were young, and how for a few years they disappeared and then you can use your own scientific knowledge and do comparison between your farm and other farms in your area that are still using the chemicals and compare the vegetations in meter square plots... do it over a year or two... take it from there... also the kerala univ folks must have some grants funds available to do research of this kind... they look very progressive from where I sit... but the reality on the grounds may be different... though not impossible to find out... ---------- *SECONDLY " she even knows medicines for cattle! "* talk to her and get her stories, record them on paper and may be even a recorder for that matter.. that's your family heirloom ... best of the kind... you may later decide at your leisure to publish it... usha di === On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 11:00 AM, Giby Kuriakose <giby.kuriak...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > We, my parents and my aunt are the farm workers. They are healthy > and fully fit to do farming and all at their 60's, unlike many people in > Kerala at this age. We don't do much farming practices. We have a mixed > crop system in half of our land (out of 3.6acres) including Rubber, > Coconut, Coffee, Nutmeg, Cocoa, Areca plant, Jack fruit tree, Ginger, > Turmeric, other ginger family members, several medicinal plants, etc, etc. > The rest of the area is a moist deciduous forest dominated by *Tectona > grandis* and *Terminalia* spp. Medicinal plants are being used by ourself > and neighbors who is in need. My mother use to suggest traditional > medicines, she even knows medicines for cattle! > > Unfortunately we haven't noted down the changes systematically. Because we > stopped fertilizer due to the price hike! Later we realized that there is > no difference in yield after we stopped fertilizer. And recently I realized > that the flora and fauna of older days are already back. It was not visible > and I use to be in different places depending upon my work. Earthworms are > back to our farm after long years. I now reckon that it take at least 8-10 > years for earthworms to settle back once we stop fertilizer or pesticides. > > We could understand that there is a big change especially in herbaceous > plants and butterflies that feed on them (both adult and caterpillars). > Then birds, I use to see many birds including Malabar Grey Horn bill. I > have records of occasional sightings of Malabar Trogon and > Malabar Whistling Thrush. Day before yesterday I have seen a Stork > Billed Kingfisher, for the first time in our farm. I now, plan to get as > many endemic plants as possible to make it become a butterfly area. We have > Southern bird wing as well in our farm. The nearest forest is 4 km away > from our farm. > > Publication! never thought of it! Will try now. > > > Thanks and Regards, > Giby > > > > > > > On 12 June 2012 10:30, ushadi Micromini <microminipho...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Good, GIby >> Have you documented these changes... good b ad indifferent in flora, >> fauna diversity and crop yields, and health of the farm workers changes >> during use of and after stoppage of use of chemical fertilizers and >> pesticides... >> did uou publish them/it? >> >> usha di >> === >> >> >> On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Giby Kuriakose < >> giby.kuriak...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> I assume that this might be an agricultural land and somebody (farmer) >>> might have used some herbicide to kill all herbaceous plants. This is a >>> common weeding practice in Kerala nowadays that kills all chlorophyllous >>> plants. Now no laborer to pick the actual weeds. Nobody cares about the >>> soil micro -flora and -fauna and their importance in agriculture. Everybody >>> is after 20:20:0:15 ( a fertilizer by FACTproduct). As long as they get >>> chemical fertilizers they dont need to understand what is going on.... We >>> see lots of changes in our farm after we stopped any chemical application >>> in our farm for the last 10-13 years. We slowely reduced it. >>> >>> >>> Regards, >>> Giby >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> Regards, >>> Giby >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On 12 June 2012 10:00, ushadi Micromini <microminipho...@gmail.com>wrote: >>> >>>> Surajit >>>> that s Atish plant , isn't it... >>>> why are they being sprayed? >>>> >>>> usually grown in gardens, hedges I thought ... why would they or their >>>> surrounding be sprayed? >>>> >>>> >>>> *SECONDLY.*.. this is the horror that Rachel Carson wrote about in >>>> her seminal book "SILENT SPRING"... I read it a few months after it came >>>> out, it has affected my outlook on life like no other ... it came out >>>> long before most of you were even born... but its good to read it now... >>>> its still very relevant.. new editions are out,,, most indian bookstores >>>> also carry it.. i think and many libraries too... >>>> >>>> Thanks for highlighting this problem... >>>> may be we can have a thread dedicated to this ... >>>> Usha di >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 11:28 PM, surajit koley < >>>> surajitnotavaila...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Sir / Madam, >>>>> >>>>> In one of my earlier post i mentioned about a killer chemical that >>>>> mercilessly destroys every plant and related fauna. This common lime >>>>> butterfly (*Papilio demoleus*) is in search of fresh *Glycosmis >>>>> pentaphylla* leaves so that it could lay eggs. >>>>> >>>>> Species : *Glycosmis pentaphylla* (Retz.) >>>>> Habit & Habitat : common shrub >>>>> Date : 9/6/12, 9.20 a.m. >>>>> Place : Nalikul (Hooghly) >>>>> >>>>> Thank you & Regards, >>>>> >>>>> Surajit Koley >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Usha di >>>> =========== >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> GIBY KURIAKOSE PhD >>> Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), >>> Royal Enclave, >>> Jakkur Post, Srirampura >>> Bangalore- 560064 >>> India >>> Phone - +91 9448714856 +919947109987 (Mobile) >>> visit my pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/giby >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Usha di >> =========== >> >> > > > -- > GIBY KURIAKOSE PhD > Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), > Royal Enclave, > Jakkur Post, Srirampura > Bangalore- 560064 > India > Phone - +91 9448714856 +919947109987 (Mobile) > visit my pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/giby > -- Usha di ===========
