Is the ₹899 box dearer than the market? We priced a week
We bought the same vegetables at a Coimbatore market and a supermarket in the same week, and compared the bills honestly.
What “organic” on our list does and does not mean
An honest look at what we can say about how our vegetables are grown, and the questions you should ask any organic shop.
The word organic is used so loosely in India that it can mean almost anything. We would rather you knew exactly what it means at Vayalveli, including its limits.
It means that every farm on our list has agreed not to use synthetic fertilisers or chemical pesticides on the crops it sells to us. Instead, the farmers use farmyard manure, compost, jeevamirtham and green manure crops, and they control pests with neem, crop rotation and mixed planting. Our agronomist visits each farm every season and walks the fields. New farms are marked on the list until we have seen them through a full season.
It does not mean that we test every vegetable in a laboratory, or that your food is entirely free of residues. A farm next door may spray, the canal water may carry run-off, and the soil on a converted farm takes years to recover. Nobody can honestly promise you zero. What we can promise is that we know the farmer, the field and the method.
It also does not mean that organic food is a cure for anything. It is food grown with more care for the soil and the farmer, and many customers find it tastes better. That is reason enough. When you shop elsewhere, ask three questions: which farm, who visits it, and how often. If a shop cannot answer, the label means little.
