Maria Daniel Deepak

Author: Daniel

  • Essential Farm Makeover

    A couple of friends who run their farms, always advise me to be judicious with the money spent on the farm. Truth be told, farming is not the best business to invest and expect returns.

    However, there are essential makeovers that needs to be done on the farm. This includes fixing the existing fencing stone pillars that are out of place, the barbed wires that are not lined up, painting the fencing stone pillars and removing the weeds that encroached along the entire fence.

    Though spending money on these makeovers seem unnecessary yet fixing the farm boundary is absolutely crucial to avoid conflicts down the road. So I decided to spend on these farm makeovers.

    We hired local resources to get the job done. The work began soon after we purchased the land.

    I could’ve used goats to de-weed along the fence. This would’ve cut down the money spent. But for the time-being, I cannot accommodate goats in the farm.

  • How To Maintain Mango Trees?

    There are a few Mango tress in our farm that are probably three years old. These trees were lacking care and maintenance. Under proper maintenance, these trees should begin flowering late December or early January.

    Mr. Britto Raj, Agricultural engineer often remind in his videos that the care and maintenance during the months of October, November & December shall be fruitful even if the trees weren’t maintained throughout the year.

    Therefore, I’m sharing a few important maintenance factors that Mr. Britto Raj listed for your Mango trees that you can consider doing in the months of October – December.

    1. During October: Begin by spraying Pseudomonas fluorescens in the following ratio — 50 ml mixed with 10 litres of water. Spray twice with a span of 7-8 days in between.
    2. Before flowering: Spray Panchagavya or diluted E.M solution, in the following ratio — 200-300 ml mixed with 10 litres of water, 2-3 days after the second spray listed in the #1. Spray during the evening hours (ideally after 4 PM). Spray thrice with a span of 7 days in between.
    3. During flowering: When the tree starts flowering, stop irrigating the trees until the fruits grow to the size of your pinkie (little finger).
    4. During flowering: Spray Calotropis Procera (எருக்கு கரைசல்) in the following ratio — no dilution required with water. Spray every 12 days when the tree begins flowering.

    How To Prepare Colotropis Procera solution?

  • Delete Daily Backups Except The Latest Three

    Daily backups of my blogs are stored in a separate server than the actual web server that hosts all my files. This practice is highly recommended.

    Over a period of time, the backups pile up and occupy a lot of disk space. You can delete all the files except the last three files by running the following command.

    find . -type f -mtime +2 -print0 | sort -z | xargs -r0 rm

  • A Piece Of Nature For Me & My Family

    It’s been more than a decade since I got my first paycheck. I never dreamt of buying a farm. The adulteration in the food industry, the effect on health because of adulteration, the lack of traditional knowledge, being passed down to the upcoming generations and the desire to grow my own food made me re-think my choice of purchasing a farm.

    Since the last two years, I began attending sessions to learn to grow food without the use of chemicals, the downsides of globalization, the significance of local economy and most importantly understanding how to work with Nature (abiding the law of Nature) and not against.

    Rather than contributing to the unsustainable economy, I wanted to lead a sustainable life supporting local economy and inspire my family along the way.

    Today, with the Almighty’s blessings, I purchased a piece of Nature for me and for my family. I intend to grow fruits, vegetables, millets and greens without the use of pesticides or chemicals.

    Though everything seems to be a dream come true yet purchasing a farm comes with its own share of hardships starting from finance to running the farm. With the Almighty to guide, the learning, the willingness to put in the effort and the delicious farm produce free of pesticides as an outcome keeps me going amidst the hardships.

    Privacy stops me from sharing the location and the size of the farm for now. I’ll share more details when I’m ready.

    Today, I’m grateful to parents for supporting my decision and for the motivation.

  • Spayed A Stray — Made A Positive Impact

    Spayed A Stray — Made A Positive Impact

    Today, RAIN (Rescuing Animals In Need), a non-profit organization conducted a sterilization drive (at no cost) for the community animals of Salem.

    Bruno, a female stray, was the one who crossed my mind when I read about the sterilization drive. I took the responsibility of spaying her.

    Mrs. Vidhya was my point of contact in RAIN and she was helpful throughout the spaying process.

    I lured Bruno using a store-bought Yogurt and rented an auto for transportation. The surgery took about 20 – 30 minutes and I transported her back to her usual location after the surgery.

    Before the surgery
    After the surgery

    Though I understand that the process is against Nature, I don’t regret spaying her. I could only think of the painful incidents that she would undergo when left unspayed.

    Listening to my story, the auto driver who transported us volunteered to discount on the auto fare. However, I thanked for his generosity and requested him to charge me the fare in entirety.

    I was happy that my deed inspired a person to join hands in making the world a better place. I know someday, somewhere, he would help someone inspiring another person along the way.

    Today, I’m grateful to the RAIN organization for making the world a better place. I sincerely thank the entire team for helping animals lead a better life.

  • Lower Immunity & Depression: Consequence Of Urbanization

    What comes to your mind when you hear the word “urban”? Malls, eateries, theaters, etc.? Well, a research states that urban people have lower immunity and are more likely prone to disorders like depression than their rural counterparts.

    Less immune activation following social stress in rural vs. urban participants raised with regular or no animal contact, respectively

    — https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1719866115

    Takeaway

    1. Lack of long-term and early exposure to farm animals and farm milk promotes chronic inflammatory disorders.
    2. Microbial bio-diversity is progressively diminishing in urban areas, leading to lower immunity and is mainly because of sanitation, drinking water treatments, excessive use of antibiotics, replacing breast milk with formulated milk, and a few other factors.

  • Indian Tumblers Vs. Coffee Cups — The Science Behind Tumblers

    I used to hate Indian tumblers for the look. Indeed, many including me would cherish and prefer the feeling of holding a coffee cup to an Indian tumbler. In the recent times, I came across an interesting science fact about Indian tumblers and that made me love the Indian tumblers even more.

    In short, the theory is that surface tension cannot go against gravity making the liquid fall down and NOT run along the surface as is the case with coffee cups.

  • Thirty Three

    I turned 33 today. This post is essentially a thank you note.

    Thank you so much for thinking of me on my birthday. It means so much to me and I thank the dear Lord for letting us cross paths with each other.

    I intend to share a few things that I benefited out of in the past couple of months. I’m sure you could be benefited as well.

    1. Consider buying a term (life) insurance and a health insurance. Both are mandatory if you’re the sole breadwinner. Insurance premium increases with your age. Lock-in the premium at a lower price by opting-in early.
    2. Consider eating locally grown food that are free of pesticides. The more your food travels to reach your plate, the more the loss of nutrients in your food.
    3. Robin Sharma says, “Be a creator, not a consumer”. This is easier said than done. Been a consumer til now? You can become a creator. Start small and start today. If you’re already a creator, feel free to share a link to your blog, videos, etc. in the comments below. Shameless plug — I run a YouTube channel and a blog for dog parents.
    4. Consider being close to Mother Nature. No one can heal the way like Nature does.
    5. Consider having your own measure of success rather than following the society. Arjun Bahree portrays this concept very well.

    Thank you for taking time to read my thoughts. How can I let you go before flashing a few clicks from my camera!

    Enjoyed feeding the birds
    Evin loves animals
    The look after his walk being denied
    The lazy queen
    A beautiful inter-species relationship
    Trek to an abandoned Tiger cave with my big belly
    Munar — Nature’s bliss
    “No” to no-selfie on wife’s birthday

    Today, I’m grateful to the Almighty for granting another year to my life.

  • Ubuntu: Install / Update Zoom

    Ubuntu: Install / Update Zoom

    To install or update Zoom software, first download the Zoom package based on your distro from the Download center. You can then install/update right from your terminal.

    Run the following command from your terminal. Downloaded files are usually saved on to /Downloads folder. Modify the file location if you need to.

    sudo apt install ./Downloads/zoom_amd64.deb

    You can then verify by opening the Zoom application

  • What’s The Worst Gonna Happen?

    Most times life wouldn’t go as expected. Some would move on. However, most would feel disturbed and shattered.

    During those times, we seek support from friends and family. You should feel fortunate when you have someone to lean on. Despite friends and family, the unexpected events may bother you in ways you cannot imagine. I’ve been there many times.

    When I feel shattered, when I feel weakness, I ask myself, “what’s the worst gonna happen?” Most times the answer to this question would be “I may lose the money”, or “I may lose the job”, or “I may lose a possession”.

    Once you know the worst thing that might happen, you will find courage to overcome your difficulty.

    Whether you lose or win doesn’t matter. You will eventually grow to greater heights with time.

    I wish your hardship fades away. Let the Almighty help you find the courage within. Remember, you will win and you will never back down.

    Today, I’m grateful to all my mentors who inspired and portrayed a life of contentedness.