The Place
The Homestead@Shreevanam itself is an example of sustainable architecture. Inspired by giants like Laurie Baker and Geoffrey Bawa, the house is full of light and air and enveloped with deep verandas and high ceilings all celebrating tropical living. It has three bedrooms and five bathrooms, a living and dining room, a family room and a generous kitchen.
Located in Bulandshahr; just over an hour away from Delhi, it falls under the National Capital Region and well connected by a wonderful highway.
The Animals
Beejom began with animals, is about animals and run by them too. It’s at the foundation an animal sanctuary for domestic animals. In a world where humans have made extraordinarily cruel factories to produce more and more meat, dairy, leather, honey and wool, the time has now come for animals to be recognised for who they are and what they mean to our survival. This world does not only belong to us and all other species do not exist for our pleasure.
At the Beejom farm in Noida we have all species of domestic animals who have come to us in various ways and now this is their forever home. They exist because it’s their right and contribute in myriad ways to make our farm what it is. We have chosen to be a vegan farm to honour them and also demonstrate that we can lead a very wholesome life without exploiting other species including trees and plants.
At the food forest the narrative is the same. We have a lovely cottage called Dogpur that houses our beautiful rescued dogs, a cattery that is home for our cats, a cattle shed that houses rescued cattle, many rabbits, a duck and goose herd headed by iconic Tinku lal and some goats. They are all vaccinated and neutered. You will love to get to know them in your stay here.
The Food Forest
Growing a food forest changes you. Farming skills apart it needs solitude, stillness, self reflection, philosophy, a love for nature and learning, great enquiry, a sense of adventure, intense observation, absolute concentration, empathy, compassion and a great amount of joy, equanimity, passion, perseverance and patience. Then you shall be rewarded surely. This is the greatest inner engineering.
Fukuoka’s famous words ring so truly....
“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
The Food
The food that we serve is vegan, seasonal, nutritious and extremely diverse given the wonderful variety of vegetables and grains we grow throughout the year. We have been cooking food for our farmers markets for at least ten years now and are somewhat known for converting our abundant and interesting produce into a feast. Native foods are our speciality and the food is homestyle and healthy.
We use sustainable vegan substitutes when required like Oat Milk, Peanut Curd and Tofu instead of paneer. Most of the major ingredients are grown by us and what we don’t grow we source from responsible brands and sellers in the market. The food is cooked mostly using the Bio-gas system that we have installed.