Please skip reading this post if you find this topic gross.

I have been growing plants using organic products for many years. I do not use any chemical fertilizers. Food grown using organic products is tasty, has more nutrients, and is free of poisonous pesticides. Whatever little i grow, I wish to grow organically.

I prepare pesticides at home using garlic,ginger,green chillies, asafoetida, turmeric powder, soap nuts etc. I sprinkle wood ash on pests. I use neem oil too to get rid of pests.

At times, I also buy natural pesticides and fertilizers like jeevamrutham, Ghana jeevamrutham,panchagavya, agniastram, etc. These are made with Desi cow products like urine, manure ,jaggery, Chana powder, etc. However, they are very expensive.

I also prepare compost using kitchen waste and dry/green leaves from the garden itself. This is an excellent fertiliser that takes two to three months to decompose.

Epsom salt and karanji powder also help in fertilizing the soil, and i add these once a month.

LAB, which is Lactic Acid Bacteria, helps in improving the fertility of the soil. I prepare LAB at home using rice water and cow milk.

Goat manure is now available in few stores which i add once in a while. This is expensive.

Desi cow manure is an excellent organic fertilizer but very difficult to find. ‘Desi’ means ‘local’ or ‘native’. I had this strong wish to procure Desi cow manure. Desi cow manure is the best fertiliser as it contains all the microorganisms that help extract minerals from the soil and provide them to the roots of the plants.

Plants, in turn, feed sugar to these microorganisms. They are in a symbiotic relationship. Isn’t this interesting. Only Desi cows have all such microorganisms in their gut.

A few years ago, I saw Desi cows in the outskirts of our city and decided to go in search of them. So, mom and I went with our driver.

As we approached a village ,we saw a cow and a calf in a shed. The cow was brown in colour.I was excited that we found a desi cow. But Srinu ,our driver, told us that it is not a desi cow but a jersey cow. It is easy to get confused between the two unless one knows the differences between a Desi cow and a hybrid cow. I looked at it once again and saw that it did not have a hump. The back was flat. I was disappointed.

We then came across a few cows grazing in the open. We looked around to see if a cowherd or a shed was nearby. We found a farm house with a shed. We drove closer to the farmhouse and met the watchman there and asked if they sold Cow manure. They did not have any dry manure and told us that they had applied all the dry manure in the fields. They had wet manure, which is no good.

We started driving further. We came across several farmhouses, cricket grounds , a few houses here and there.

We then came across big shed with several buffaloes resting. We drove closer and saw a few native cows. We saw the caretaker in deep sleep under a neem tree. We decided to go ahead with buffalo manure. It was lunchtime, and we were hungry. We decided to have lunch and hoped the caretaker would wake up. We packed lunch for the trip. The guy woke up and refused to give us the manure and told us to talk to the owners. We decided to look a little further.

Very soon, we saw lots of Native cows grazing freely. Native cows are always allowed to graze freely in the open. We drove closer and saw one guy lying under a huge tree. We saw a huge shed further up and started driving towards it. We saw another guy guiding the cows. Srinu signaled this guy to come near us. He then told him our requirements. This guy then signaled to the guy under the tree almost 200 meters from where we were.

That guy came, and Srinu discussed everything, including the price. Very soon, three bags were filled with dry manure and loaded in the car dikki. Meanwhile, we asked him a lot of questions about the cows. They looked very different from the native cows that are usually found here. Their horns were huge and thick , and their faces were short. Learned that they are kankrej cows from Gujarat,that they give 3,4,5 or 6 litres of milk per day, that one liter is sold for Rs 100.

Here are a couple of videos from the location.

Finally ,I successfully managed to get hold of Native cow manure.

Hope to revamp my garden with the best natural ferliser and reap good harvests.

Enjoyed the long drive out of the city and got some fresh air too.

I always look forward to such long drives, which energizes me.