Ayurvedic cooking vacation in Southern India

Planet

• Wholly Organic
We’ve brought our ethos of being wholly organic when we became planters thirty-years ago. Since then we’ve worked hard and focused on ensuring that Mother Nature and the soil we work with were respected, nourished and which ultimately retained all their natural health with out any man made additions. We have been growing our tea keeping this exact ethos in mind and have managed now to create an eco system that not only raises lush, vibrant tea but also an immense variety of sub-tropical indigenous tree species and fruit trees.

• From Farmer to Plate – organically
Following our ethos of wholly organic, we’ve partnered with organic farmers within the Nilgiris from whom we source all our vegetables extremely fresh with an almost immediate transition from farm to plate.

• Our S.O.S. Program
Over a decade ago, we created a campaign to Save Our Sholas. Sholas, the indigenous Toda word for native sub-tropical forest species. With the spread of tea across the Nilgiris, natural forests such as these had come under immense pressure and ran the risk of being replaced entirely by the monoculture of tea.

We began the process of systematically planting sub-tropical rain forest tree species within our plantation and have been actively encouraging all our travelers to do so since. Ever since we set up this S.O.S. campaign, we have planted over 1,500 independent trees and have achieved a mortality of 98%. Each year we add close to three-hundred new saplings to our plantation.

People

• Organic Fair trade with the Farmers
Through our process of procuring organic produce and grain, we have ensured that we only purchase all our produce straight from the farmers, thereby eliminating any middlemen traders in the process. This enables the Farmers to price their produce at levels that are comfortable and sustainable for their profitability and their continued sustenance of organic farming methods they employ.

• Sustaining ancient Toda artisanal traditions
The Toda Dairy tribes of the Nilgiris are unique in two ways – The fact that they are one of a kind tribal group across the sub-continent and as a result their traditions, especially their artisanal heritage, viz. their traditional weaving on forest silk cotton cloth.

For a decade now we have supported a Toda tribal village and the women who live within. With modern influences, the Toda have not been impervious to change and a dilution of their ancient traditions and craft. We began working with the women of this specific Toda hamlet to re-inculcate the love of weaving they had and to preserve their ancient patterns that were at the risk of being lost forever due to disuse.

We began actively with a group of two women that is now a total group size of eleven women who actively weave complex patterns on their traditional cloth. We have in turn set up a fair trade exchange to ensure that these women get the most money for their craft thereby ensuring that they remain motivated and profitably employed doing something they have for generations.