ELA Blooms "Wild place to STAY and TREK"

ELA BLOOMS – “Growing wilderness”

Is an old Cardamom Farm hidden away from human civilization in the rolling hills of Western Ghats in Wayanad at the height of 4612 feet above sea level. We practice Natural Farming or "do-nothing farming" and offer our facilities for guests to appreciate nature.

Our mission is very simple - “Promote Natural Farming”. We strive to provide a safe setting to bond with nature and appreciate its might and mystery”. Our motto is “growing wilderness” and that’s exactly what we do every day in our farm.

The hill that we grow ela or cardamom has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity in the world. The farms are centuries old cardamom-farm-land established during the late 19th century and recently developed to provide enriching learning experience. Older than the Himalayas, our forest is situated towards the south-east of Wayanad, one of the loveliest hill stations of Kerala, India.

The total area of farm is almost 18 acres. Inside the farm’s boundaries there is a large pond fed by a forest spring and a natural cave. On the eastern boundary there is a rivulet with a waterfall. From the highest point in the farm the haunting view of Karapura dam nudged amongst the beautiful rolling hills of Western Ghats area is a lovely sight. From an archeological perspective, we have found some broken pottery pieces from the cave, which we think could have been used by the tribal population during their hunting trips. A significant find has been that of a crude tiger statuette that is thought to mark the location of the act of “Narikandi” (Tiger-Ground). Narikandi is the location the indigenous tribes participated in tiger hunt as a spiritual and social ritual. The farm is thus naturally hosted by human history with the beauty of rainforest.

The land could be dated back to 7th century BC when Roman Empire had a permanent military post in Kerala (Chavakkad) to safeguard their trade of spices from Kerala. This included Cardamom also known as the “Queen of Spices”. The forests of Wayanad, according to archaeological evidences, have been inhabited for more than three thousand years. The land remains one of the few evergreen rain forests in the world where the cardamom plant is native to. William Logan (1841–1914) in his book Malabar Manual notes that the area was highly valued because of many reasons. One of the important reasons was that it produced some of the best cardamom in the world.

Commercial cardamom cultivation demands heavy use of chemical fertilizers and systemic pesticides. This creates drastic effect on the quality of soil and the biodiversity of rainforest. Almost all cardamom that are cultivated have high residue of pesticides and the farmers know that very well. Our farm is one of the few farms that practice Natural Farming or "do-nothing farming”. Along with cardamom, coffee and wild pepper is also grown naturally. The income from guests is utilized to sustain Natural Cardamom farming.