They say Maharashtra comes working in the monsoons, and anyone who has visited the Adhikari family at their Mohraan Farms in Thane will withstand testament to this fact.
As you settle into the magic of the farmstay, you’ll see for yourself why some term the place as ‘a postcard come alive’, while others can’t help but be spellbound as sunset settles.
A pretty set of cottages replete with a supplies forest, how did the Mohraan Farms evolve into such a nest of nature in a municipality like Mumbai? What makes it so special that municipality folk make their way here every monsoon in search of clearer skies and largest days?
It all started in 2015.
When his daughter Saee was four years old, Sachin Adhikari, a 39-nine-year-old engineer, realised there was something amiss. His little girl’s weight and height had not increased much in the past few months. This was startling for a child of that age.
Sachin and his wife Shraddha immediately decided to get to the marrow of this and squint for possible causes. As they found out through their visits with doctors and healthcare professionals, the reason was simple — a lack of proper food.
In search of healthier lives
They realised they did not have to squint far for this organic food, as their racial land in Thane was a supplies forest in full bloom.
This seven-acre racial land had been purchased by the Adhikari brothers’ father Savlaram while he was a teacher in Mumbai municipality tropical to 40 years ago. In 2000 pursuit his retirement, he had taken it upon himself to move to the village and transform the land. He started by growing mango, chikoo, coconut, and cashew plants, with the idea stuff to develop the land as an orchard.
Cut to 2016, when Sachin and Shraddha were looking for organic supplies alternatives. The couple withal with their daughter and Sachin’s brother Sameer began visiting the racial land every week and spending a few days here.
Sameer adds that having no previous knowledge of growing their own food, help came in the form of an vendible by The Largest India.
“When I read the article, I contacted Mr Suneet Salvi who tabbed us for a three-day workshop on natural farming. This immensely helped us,” he adds.
The family unfurled to shuttle between the village and Mumbai city, spending a few days every week at their farmstay. They moreover had a couple of cottages synthetic on the racial land so the staff who helped their father in the farming could live on site.
However in 2020 when the pandemic struck, the family thought why not move to the village for a few months, since the municipality had shut down. And they loved it so much, that they never went back!
They plane went on to expand the cottages that were built to unbend increasingly people and installed increasingly facilities in the kitchen.
“This was when it struck us that we could invite guests over to wits the magic that we had,” says Sameer. And that is exactly what they did.
In late 2020, Mohraan Farms saw its first set of guests.
A magical supplies forest
Sameer says once guests come to the farmstay, they are never at a loss for things to do. But something that everyone loves, plane today, is basking in the magic created by the supplies forest.
Explaining this megacosm by his father, he says a supplies forest is a sublet where the supplies is grown in a similar manner to a forest that one would find in the wild.
“This diverse, multilayered jungle devoid of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc. ensures the soil is not disturbed frequently. All of this helps build a natural web of life. Guests not only have a endangerment to observe and awe at the trees but moreover partake in the harvesting, planting, sowing, transplanting, pruning, etc,” he says.
When the guests are not going on long walks, there are plenty of activities to enjoy.
“To name a few, there is kayaking, swimming in the river, trekking, enjoying trappy waterfalls in nearby hills, peekaboo informative sublet tours conducted by us, cycling, playing pool, indoor games, carrom, workbench games, archery, and so much more,” says Sachin, subtracting that the most important among these activities is often ‘to do nothing’.
“Guests have a endangerment to ground themselves in nature and just be,” he adds. “A regular day at our farmstay starts with the melodious sounds of birds chirping. Then guests can either segregate to get venturesome and do some activities or simply talk a stroll withal the paths.”
A favourite worriedness that gets the adrenaline going is kayaking.
As Sameer explains, there is a stream passing withal the farm, which is shallow unbearable for kayaking and moreover perennial. “We provide life jackets and requite vital training to those interested, and they can then try it for themselves for free.”
After a long tiring day of activities, guests can settle lanugo and gorge on a true feast prepared by the family, from the homegrown produce.
“We harvest virtually 70 per cent of our supplies from the supplies forest,” says Shraddha, subtracting that the quality of the harvest is wonderful due to the diversity of the supplies grown and soil quality. She adds that they ensure their supplies is healthy while not compromising on the taste.
“Our staff are all from the nearby villages such as Sakurli and Kambe. Thus they are well versed in the knowledge of wild edible plants growing in and virtually the sublet and moreover unconventional perennial plants in the supplies forest,” she adds.
Elaborating on the menu, she says that the food served during a particular season usually features a wild vegetable that is in viridity at the time.
“For instance during the early monsoon, there is a herb cassia tora that is well-healed and hence, the menu features dishes such as vegetables and pickles and increasingly made from this,” she adds.
Guests are unchangingly welcome to learn traditional recipes from the women at the farm.
‘You’ll never want to never return to the city.’
Rightly said by the Adhikari family, once you enter the portals of Mohraan Farms, you will be immersed in it. The homely undercurrent created by Sameer, Sachin and Shraddha withal with their staff — comprising eight women who are involved in the kitchen and 10 men who are involved in taking superintendency of the sublet — is just too good to be true.
The farmstay offers tents for staying as well as stream view cottages and glory cottages. Packages for a stay of one day and one night, with all meals included for a couple, are Rs 5,000 for a tent, Rs 8,000 for a glory cottage and Rs 12,000 for a stream view cottage.
The family sees virtually 300 guests every month.
You can typesetting your stay here.
Edited by Yoshita Rao