If you are lucky enough to live in, or indeed own a farm, there’s little to match the joy of plucking a pomegranate, guava or papaya from a selection of trees. Or, if you are so inclined, to dig up fresh carrots, beets, potatoes and so forth. I regard myself as an anthophile, though maybe plantsman is a more apt description, and a farm visit is an alluring proposition at any time. To visit a farm in the middle of a desert where you could do the above, and also pluck cherry tomatoes, baby corn, bell peppers, zucchini, arugula, Bok choy, dill, kale (curly or flat), Swiss chard, or lettuce at will is joy rarely paralleled. A range of gourds could be more to your taste – bottle, bitter, ridge or apple. Or the common cabbage, lemon, okra, eggplant, chillies... To make your food more flavourful, there’s basil, mint, lemongrass, parsley, sage, oregano and coriander. Not to overlook giloy, baby spinach, beans (cluster and long) … Then there are the staples – wheat, bajra, jowar, chana, mung, moth. Edible flowers include nasturtium, basil, zucchini and butterfly pea, the latter also available as a tea/infusion, for which other options include lemongrass, chamomile and moringa. Yes, Mharo Khet, about 25 kms north of Jodhpur in an arid zone, is home to about 80 varieties of plants. A local, Rajnush Agarwal and his wife, Vedika, set up this venture, and have turned their 40-acre ancestral land into an experiential farm. Unique journey During a trip to Kyoto in 2019, the couple were inspired by the famed reputation of the vegetables grown in the city. As the family already owned the farm, the couple decided to experiment, starting in November 2020 with an ambitious promise – delivery within 4 hours of harvest.
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Mharo Khet supplies extensively to the city’s culinary establishments, and also beyond
