What We’ve Learned from Years of Chemical-Free Farming

In a market full of green claims, it’s easy to lose sight of what actually matters.

Yes, our spices are PGS India Green certified. But the truth is, we’ve been farming this way long before the paperwork.

We’ve never used chemicals on our land. No urea, no sprays, no artificial boosters. Just compost, patience, and the traditional practices we’ve followed since the beginning, when we were growing food only for our home.

This post isn’t a pitch. It’s simply a look at what we’ve learned by growing food the slow, chemical-free way and what it’s meant for our soil, our health, and the land we live on.

What It Means to Grow Without Chemicals

We don’t rotate between “organic” and “conventional” plots. The land has never seen chemical treatment. That’s rare in today’s farming context and it changes how the entire system behaves.

We rely on:

• Cow dung compost made at the farm

• Dried leaf mulch to retain moisture

• Intercropping of turmeric, pepper, and ginger under shade trees

• Neem-based solutions for pest control

• Manual weeding and mulching, no herbicides

• Keeping the soil covered and undisturbed as much as possible

This is slow work. But over time, the farm started to show us what it remembered.

The Soil Started Repairing Itself

We didn’t expect to see change so clearly. But within three years, it became obvious.

• The soil stayed moist long after the rains

• Earthworms returned in large numbers

• The texture turned from dry dust to dark, spongy matter

• Weeds grew easier to remove the roots pulled straight out

We later read about regenerative farming and realised we were already practicing many of its principles.

Healthy soil stores more water. It draws down carbon from the air. It helps plants access natural minerals. And it needs fewer “inputs” every season.

One teaspoon of living soil can contain more than a billion microorganisms. That’s where real fertility comes from not the bag or bottle.

What It Means for Yield

We’ve never chased volume. Some years give more. Others don’t. But the land doesn’t exhaust itself. We’ve grown turmeric in the same patch for five seasons now, without needing to “treat” the soil.

We don’t use chemical fertilisers to boost output. We compost what the land gives, and give it back.

A patch of our turmeric was once considered “low yielding.” After three years of composting and resting the soil, it began producing more, without adding anything new. Just time and patience.

Health Isn’t Just About What You Eat

It’s also about how the food was grown. Many chemicals used in farming today leave residues that aren’t visible, don’t wash off, and accumulate in the body over time. Some are banned elsewhere, but still used here.

By farming without chemicals, we remove that uncertainty. What we grow is what we eat in our own home, every day. But health isn’t just about consumption. It’s about living alongside clean soil, clean air, clean water. We’ve built our farm and home together. Nothing is kept separate. That’s how we know it’s safe.

Climate Benefits You Can’t See (But Can Feel)

Healthy soil cools the land. It absorbs rain without runoff. It doesn’t crack in the summer. And it stores carbon instead of releasing it.

We don’t burn our crop waste. We return it to the compost. We don’t flood the land with inputs. We build fertility slowly. This isn’t environmental activism. It’s common sense. And it’s how our grandparents farmed, long before the word “sustainable” was used.

What We Grow

We grow turmeric, pepper, and chilli. We harvest by hand. We dry under the sun. We clean every batch ourselves. We don’t polish our turmeric. We don’t add colour to our chillies. The pepper is sorted, not graded. We do it this way because it’s how we’d want to receive it. If it’s not good enough for home, it’s not good enough to offer others.

Curious to know more? You’re welcome to ask questions, visit, or try our produce. 

We believe the way food is grown should be visible not just written on a label.

See our chemical-free spices