F2C Programs
F2C Educational & Nature Trips
Three days in the hills at our own forest school, and visits to the farms your food actually comes from.
Families · schools · membersFor nine months we lived and taught at a place in the hills above Kodaikanal, the Kalari Forest School: eight or ten small houses in the trees, with waterfalls nobody else had access to. Members went up for three days at a time, and it turned out to be the best teaching we ever did. The trips run from there, and from the farms.
Kodaikanal Kalari Forest School
Eight to ten small houses set in forest, reached from Kodaikanal. Groups go up for around three days. Mornings on the training ground, days in the forest, and waterfalls that are private to the school rather than shared with a coach party. It suits families, older children and adults who want more than a weekend, and it is where the education and the nature side of F2C meet.
- Around three days per trip
- Eight to ten cottages in the forest
- Private waterfalls
- Kalari training alongside the forest time
Science fairs in the forest
We ran science fairs up there, and they worked in a way a school hall never quite does. Children measure, test, draw and build using what is actually in front of them: soil, water, seeds, insects, weather. The forest is the equipment. Nothing gets copied off a board.
Farm visits, and why they matter
You can read that your rice came from Shenbaga Farm in Walajabad. Standing in the field, meeting the family who grew it and eating there is a different thing entirely. A day with the grower shows how the crop is really planted, watered and harvested, what organic means in practice, and what working this way costs the farmer. Children who have only seen vegetables in a bag come home having pulled some out of the ground.
Trekking, waterfalls and forest stays
Walks and treks in the hills around our sourcing regions, waterfalls to swim under, and nights spent in the forest rather than a hotel. These run at the right season and are graded, so families with small children and fitter groups each have something to go on.
Tribal lifestyle experiences
Time with communities who have lived off these forests for generations: how they read the land, what they gather and grow, how they build. These are arranged with respect and on their terms. We go as guests.
Family trips
Slower trips built for mixed groups with grandparents and small children, to places like Poombarai in the Palani hills. Less walking, more sitting in beautiful places and eating well.
Come on the next trip
Trips are announced in the F2C community group with dates, cost and what to bring. Join it and you'll hear about the next one first.
Other F2C programs
F2C Biogas
Turn your kitchen waste into two hours of cooking gas a day, and compost for the garden.
Martial Arts & Life Skills
Adimurai, Silambam and the older knowledge that goes with them, taught to children and adults by F2C farmers.
F2C Community Kitchen
The gravies and fries, cooked from the same farm produce you already order. You make the rice.