In 2005, a creative director in advertising and his actress wife started looking for answers to a simple question: Are we happy?
Wanting to get out of the creative rat race their lives had become, Rahul and Sampada Kulkarni left Mumbai and moved to a small village in Konkan called ‘Phungus’… their native place, with an idea of building up a nature resort there.
It was Shekhar Bhadsavle, the entrepreneur farmer who introduced the concept of agro-tourism to India, who calmed them down and made them understand the importance of their ancestral lands. He convinced them to go into farming for a happier living of self and the world.
With no agricultural background at all, the couple then decided to take up the challenge of growing food naturally. And thus started a whole new process of their transformation from city dwellers to earthy but prudent ‘rurban’ farmers -The Urban modernity combined with the Rural earthiness… is how the duo love to put it. And that’s how Farm of Happiness was born.
Farm of Happiness or ‘Aanandache Shet’ in Marathi, is an Agro-Eco Tourism destination in Konkan where the Kulkarnis grow food organically.
How does a capsicum grow? Do watermelons grow on trees like mangoes? Is cashew nut a fruit or a seed? How is rice grown before it lands into a super market or a store? What is nature’s role in producing all of this, if a farmer grows this? What is a farmers ‘KRA’ in his career? ‘Aanandache Shet’ is the destination where you find answers to these questions.
Spread across 20 acres, this farm homestay introduces guests to the concept of natural farming and also eating consciously (know what you eat and where it comes from).
Guests stay in a traditional Konkani house with a spacious front and back yard. Hidden in the lush greens of the plateau, is this spacious house with ethnic and traditional features like the clay floors, wooden structures and ample coziness. The house has three rooms earthily designed with adequate comfort and safety on priority. Attached with urban toilets for ease of use and a good hygiene, the rooms still give a rural touch with clay beds and old styled furniture.
Guests can also sleep on an open ‘Machaan’ or just chill in a hammock under the trees chat around in eazy chairs in the backyard.
Food includes Maharashtrian vegetarian recipes cooked on a chulha and most ingredients including the grains and the vegetables come straight from the farm itself. Guests can also take a walk on the farm to pick the fresh vegetables of their choice which will be served in their meals.
Ever enjoyed working at a farm in the rains? Enjoy a monsoon weekend with a difference – transplanting rice saplings in calf-deep mud. The Rice and Raagi transplantation season at ‘Farm of Happiness’ began on July 10 and ends July 30. Also at the end of this Kharif season, guests can opt to receive a bag of rice that they helped grow!
Guests can also choose from any work activity of their choice that’s going on at the farm – preparing a plot for cultivation, weeding, sowing, ploughing, harvesting, feeding or washing the cattle.
Other activities include:
- Farm Tour
- Experience Farming
- Trekking
- Fishing
- Bird Watching
- Star Gazing
- Rides
Source: Farm of Happiness
