Euroville is the 45 acre second homes project located at Kharade village in Shahapur Tahsil in Thane district. There are more than 40 bunglows currently and owners and their families visit on one or couple of weekends in a month. There is a 2.5 acre common amenity space in the middle of the project which is converted into the Community Kitchen Garden.
The objective of the kitchen garden is to provide a steady supply of seasonal vegetables and herbs throughout the year to the guests, staff and visitors. The area is divided into multiple sections based on contours and separated by bunds. Bunds are planted with perennial Pigeon pea, lemon grass and Sesbania varieties to provide continuous mulch. There are rows of papaya interspersed with pineapple along the bunds which provide partial shade and year round supply of fruits. Within each section, seasonal vegetables are grown on raised beds supplied with drip irrigation. There is a complete trellis section for growing gourds and beans throughout the year.
There is a 70 acre land located on a plateau parallel to the Western Ghats on the boundary of Ambekhor and Tembhurli villages in Shahapur Tehsil of Thane district. The objective of the project is to develop a sustainable perennial system on 25-acre as an experimentation cum demonstration area and evaluate potential of various seasonal and perennial produce for processing for developing a farm-houses project on the remaining land.
The system is designed with bunds on contours with half meter contour intervals planted with productive perennial and support species in the ratio 1:1.
Artificial pond of 1 acre size is created for storing rainwater for irrigation and fish culture.
It is a 25 acre land located at Dolkhamb village in Shahapur tehsil of Thane district. The objective of the project is to develop native vegetation patches for development of an eco resort along with diversity friendly farming and food forest.
Sesbania, Gliricidia and grasses (Lemon grass, Citronella and Vetiver) are used as support and mulch species. Grafted varieties of various fruits suitable for the climate are planted in the food forest. In the wet season, paddy is grown in a wet terrace system followed by legumes in winter on residual moisture conditions. Animal systems consist of chickens and cattle grazed on the currently uncultivated patches. Native vegetation patches involve planting of native trees, shrubs and climbers so that it will represent the composition of the surrounding natural areas.
This place is a 1 acre land originally intended for industrial use. Although there are many trees growing along the periphery, the entire open land has never been under any cultivation with highly degraded eroded and degraded soil. The land is now being developed into a productive permaculture farm. There is a swale system which has significantly reduced the soil-water erosion and conserved plenty of moisture in soil.
A productive mandala kitchen garden is being developed with herb spirals, Banana-Papaya circles, a food forest, a wild forest patch with rare local species, and a number of water bodies. There will be flowering plants, plenty of climbers, butterfly garden, There will be an activity area cum restaurant where organic vegetarian food will be served, and a unique styled homestead is being developed for overnight stay accommodating a limited number of visitors.
