Sunday, May 2, 2010

Vedi Farms

From last few weeks I was having difficult time to find suitable place to visit during summers. The summer is a bit harsh this year and it is not helping to make this decision any easier. So while idly reading the local newspaper I spotted a news about agro-tourism. This is where I spotted the name of Vedi farms... Vedi Ve as is Way and di as in Dinar, is about 90km from Pune on Pune-Satara NH4 highway, approximately 45km before Satara. As soon as you cross the Khambatki Ghat, keep an eye on your left for a village road and a hoarding pointing towards Vedi farms. This stretch of road is quite rough and lasts for about 10km. On reaching the destination I was told that the road is under construction and would be tarred within a year or so. And what I found was that the Vedi farms itself is under construction. This fact was hidden very cleaverly by the marketting person from me. Most of the staff was on leave, the caretaker was not informed about our arrival. We were left to ourselves and after lunch we asked the caretaker about the activities and farm visit. They agreed to show us the farms as and when we were ready. So we started in the evening at around 5 pm after a siesta. Saw some crops like tomato and capsicum and then headed to see the Emu farming. Also saw the green house of Gerbera. I was curious as I had never seen the bird before. It bears similarity to ostrich, is about 5-6 ft tall and has a stronf smell. In the evening we had dinner and roamed around the Machan, this is a wonderful construction at this farms. It is quite windy at machan and one can see for long distances at a stretch. At night one can see the lights of the vehicles driving down the highway far away.



The next day we left after lunch. On the way we saw the windmills and on whim decided to check them out. Just about in 10-15 minutes drive we were at the base of the first windmill. I was awed by the size of the structure. I was surprised that the windmill was spinning even when there was not much wind. My idea was that it would need a huge thrust of wind to move those huge blades... its a must see.



In about an hour and half we were back in Pune. All in all the visit was not all that interesting. Probably I had some expectations set after seeing the website of Vedi farms, and they were not met there. As a matter of fact there were no vistors there and it was so very empty. I hope that the owner of this wonderful site would make the most of this location and most importantly handlle the marketting properly. Afterall a satisfied customer is the best advertisement.