Some people who have got their retirement for their work will sit at home, but some of them have other passions to work for and they do not want to depend on others. In that, Punnoose Jacob is also one person, who was interested in pursuing his passion for farming after retirement.
Let us take a deep look into the Journey of Punnoose Jacob who started farming as a passion and slowly turned it into a business and now he is awarded with many awards.
Inspiring Story of a Retired Person Who Turned Hobby into Business
Punnoose Jacob is a 63-Year-Old Person who is a resident of Thodupuzha, (Kerala). You may have seen many urban gardeners who do terrace gardening but you may not have seen the person who is growing vegetables on the terrace and he sells them.
Take a look at the below points and know the story of Punnoose Jacob.
- After retiring from the job, Punnoose Jacob has returned to his village Thodupuzha from Bangalore.
- Basically, his family has an agriculture background and Punnoose also wanted to try it as well. So after retirement, he wanted to have a look at it.
- But to start farming on a large scale became very difficult for him, due to the lack of land that he needed. So he decided to start farming on his terrace.
- Even he has taken a three-storey building for rent opposite his house as it has a 3500 Square feet terrace.
- Even though that place was so small he made it into a farm by taking care of even small things.
How Vegetables Are Grown By Punnoose Jacob on His Terrace?
Go through the below points if you are interested to know how Punnoose has grown vegetables on his terrace.
- Initially, Jacob started planting vegetable seeds like brinjal, tomato, okra, cucumber, and chili in some of the grow bags.
- Within two years of span vegetable varieties increased and all those vegetables were grown easily.
- And also he installed a drip irrigation system for vegetables. So that plants will get enough water too.
- From the garden, 20-25 kgs of vegetables are harvested from his terrace daily.
- And even he sends the vegetables to the nearby supermarkets under its own brand “Mangalam Foods”.
- On the terrace, he has set up grow bags and 1.5-foot tall iron platforms.
- He even built a shed on the terrace six years ago, so that the plants would be protected from rain and heavy sunlight.
Pesticides That are Made by Punnoose With Chillies
Following are the guidelines about the pesticides that are used by the Punnoose and their benefits and many more are provided.
- All plants that are grown on the terrace are organically grown, so the price of these vegetables will be a bit high compared with the market price. And also the rate is fixed and it does not fluctuate.
- The ghost pepper is very famous in Rajasthan and it was grown by Punnoose too but he uses those chilies, for pesticide purposes, interesting, right?
- Not only that fertilizer, he also uses many other organic fertilizers and pesticides like fish aminos, organic Manure, and many more.
- Ghost pepper fertilizer is the main fertilizer that is used for trees and also it is the hottest chili that you have ever seen.
- To make this insecticide, you need to dry the chilies first and then you need to powder it and mix it in the water, so taht you will not get insects to your plants.
- Coming to the soil, he doesn’t always use the new soil for the plants, rather he reuses the soil. He will just mix all the organic fertilizers that he uses and keep them aside so that the soil will again gain all of its nutrients.
- And also he gives a certain amount of fertilizers every week.
- Along with all the vegetables, he also grows some fruits like mango, chickoo, mangosteen, and many more.
Awards and Achievements of Punnoose
He grows many fruits and vegetables, on his terrace and also sells them and makes money, for all this hard work he got many awards and achievements in his village and in many more places, look into them below.
- He got the “Best Terrace Farmer of the District” award, by the Kerala government.
- He says that he got more inspiration to grow more trees with this award.
- And he has many goals and achievements that he wants to complete.
Key Outcomes
Presently, Punnoose gardening on the terrace has completely taken up his employees and also has two staff to pack the vegetables to sell them after harvesting. He also cultivates creeper vegetables, bottle gourds, snake gourds, bitter gourds,s and others in his backyard along with terrace vegetables.
He has a dream to collect 100 grow bags and grow all varieties of vegetables. He also says that farming gave him and helped him to lead a successful, relaxed, and self-sufficient life.