The interviews and reporting for this story had been performed in Could 2025.
In August 2014, a traumatic occasion modified KS Sheeja’s life without end. Her son, a budding mechanical engineer, suffered a grave motorbike accident in Coimbatore that almost value him his leg.
This second of disaster pushed Kerala-based Sheeja and her household to quickly relocate to Tamil Nadu for his remedy, requiring them to remain there for 1.5 years. Away from their house in Kerala, the household settled quickly close to the remedy facility. Their days now centred round hospital visits and limitless therapies.
Burdened by the emotional toll of her son’s accident, Sheeja discovered herself in search of solace and hope amidst despair. It was in these difficult instances that she found a brand new ardour that may convey peace and goal to her life: gardening.
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The 53-year-old started to experiment with planting small greens across the villa. She discovered consolation within the rhythmic duties of nurturing vegetation, and witnessing their development introduced her sudden pleasure and therapeutic.
“The sight of sprouting seeds and blooming flowers grew to become a supply of hope, a reminder that life might proceed to flourish regardless of adversity. As tomatoes and different greens sprang to life, I realised that my newfound interest offered me extra than simply sustenance; it was a lifeline,” she shares.
A dedication to studying and rising
With solely a Twelfth-grade training, Sheeja initially managed a pc training centre for almost 25 years. However life’s unpredictable twists led her down a path she by no means anticipated — one the place grief, resilience, and keenness for gardening would intertwine.
Upon returning to Kerala after her son’s remedy, Sheeja was decided to broaden on what she had began. Her household already supported seasonal farming, together with banana plantations, and Sheeja embraced this legacy.
Motivated by her expertise and the therapeutic advantages of gardening, she determined to delve deeper into natural farming. Her goals had been clear: to reside more healthy by consuming natural produce, discover psychological peace, and encourage others to do the identical.
Realising the significance of farming data, she pursued formal coaching in natural farming strategies. Sheeja attended formal programs and workshops at a authorities facility in Kerala. This coaching outfitted her with superior methods like precision farming and drip irrigation.
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With unmatched dedication, Sheeja revitalised her household farm, unfold over 25 cents of her personal land and a further acre leased for extra intensive cultivation.
She began with easy crops like tomatoes and different greens. Because the seeds blossomed into fruits, so did Sheeja’s spirits. Every harvest introduced her a way of accomplishment and pleasure, much more gratifying than materials wealth.
These expertise, mixed along with her innate grit, remodeled the modest plots into thriving fields with over 200 vegetation yielding an plentiful array of produce — over 25 types of greens and eight varieties of fruits, together with golden cucumber, watermelon, and unique fruits like rambutan and mangosteen.
Honey, eggs, unique fruits, and extra
Pushed by her interior mettle and need to advertise sustainability, Sheeja additionally ventured into beekeeping, poultry, and processing spices like turmeric. She makes use of poultry droppings as pure manure and integrates bee containers to assist pollination, thereby enhancing her backyard’s productiveness whereas sustaining its natural integrity.
She makes use of hand droppings from her poultry farm as a major element for her natural fertiliser. Sharing the preparation course of, she says, “I fill a 200-litre drum with water after which place 25 kg of poultry droppings right into a masking constituted of fibres, presumably from coconut, which acts like a filter bag. This bag is then hung above the water within the drum however is partially submerged, permitting vitamins to leach out with out direct mixing.”
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“The droppings are stored on this setup for about one week, permitting vitamins to leach into the water. After per week, I take one litre of this nutrient-rich water and dilute it with a further 9 litres of water for utility. This diluted answer is straight utilized to vegetation as a liquid fertiliser. It’s excessive in nitrogen, which helps vegetation turn out to be greener and extra vigorous,” she explains.
Regardless of the challenges, together with labour shortages and the intricacies of natural farming, her resolve by no means wavered. Her efforts bore fruit — actually and metaphorically — as she managed a self-sustaining backyard that provided her group with contemporary, natural produce.
Sheeja’s enterprise didn’t go unnoticed. Advertising and marketing her product largely by means of phrase of mouth and WhatsApp teams, she garnered a loyal buyer base. Her clientele, together with native medical doctors, appreciated the standard and natural nature of her choices. Whereas she confronted challenges in scaling up and reaching distant markets, the demand for her produce continued to develop organically.
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Dr Rajasree Okay P has been a daily buyer of Sheeja for greater than 4 years. Sharing her expertise as a shopper, Rajasree says, “I’ve been occupied with gardening and rooftop vegetable cultivation. It was by means of frequent mates that I received to know Sheeja. After that, we now have been buying natural farm merchandise like cucumber, girl fingers, watermelon, tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, eggs, honey, curcumin powder, and extra. We’re blessed to get farm-fresh and very tasty organically grown produce. All my relations admire it.”
By promoting fruits, greens, and eggs, she makes round Rs 50,000 as an annual earnings from her farming actions. With simply honey alone, she earns Rs 11,000 by harvesting 20 kgs every year.
Whereas her earnings could not revive industrial scales, they embody the priceless yield of self-sufficiency and psychological peace. For Sheeja, gardening is her escape, a therapeutic pursuit that brings peace and goal. By way of her YouTube channel, ‘She Backyard,’ and her on a regular basis interactions, Sheeja conjures up others to embrace natural farming.
In each fruit and flower at her farm, Sheeja sees a mirrored image of her struggles and triumphs.
Commenting on her transformation from homemaker to passionate natural gardener, she says, “Extra than simply sowing seeds — it’s about nurturing desires, therapeutic outdated wounds with every harvest, and providing others the reward of natural life. My backyard was born from a time of adversity and is now a thriving oasis of hope and therapeutic. It is usually a reminder that from the darkest moments, we will bloom probably the most stunning new beginnings,” she provides.
Edited by Vidya Gowri; all pictures courtesy KS Sheeja.