It’s that time of the year when you need to put your walking shoes on, and trail around to de-stress and devour — the many succulent variants of the King of fruits — Mangoes! And, if you’re looking at places to visit, look no further as a volley of Bengalureans have taken upon the onus of welcoming wide-eyed ‘aam’ — enthusiasts to their farms to spread awareness about homegrown produce, and bite into the ‘delicious M’s’ so that you can go mmmm while on the go! Hamsah Organic Farm, MA Kareem Mango Orchard, The Martin Farm and Gopalan Organics Farms are some of the best spots to go on a fruit trail this season. Here’s a lowdown on places to visit.
A mango orchard with ready to pluck mangoes.
The Savi Trail
If you have a long weekend to spare, this trail won’t disappoint. This Mango de Tour on an organic farm is a four hour day tour, which is conducted in two batches: 9 am to 2 pm and 4 pm to 8 pm. Simply put, this is a verdant Mango orchard in Garudapalya, located in a village near Kolar district.
Savi, a family farm, houses myriad variants of mangoes – Badami, Dasheri, Mallika and Banganapalli mango trees. What’s more? Well, the orchard offers visitors an opportunity to try their hands (and ace it too) at mango picking. Meander and wander around their orchards, ride in a tractor, spot wildlife like peacocks, deer and black-bucks and feast on a scrumptious farm grown meal after all the mango picking,” shares Meenakshi Byre Gowda, a n organic living enthusiast.
The Green Path – Sukrishi Farm, Chikmaranahalli
Lawyer-turned-Organic food crusader, Jayaram Hr is popular among city folk for his benevolent and innate passion towards healthy eating and holistic living. While the farm focuses on farm tourism, this haven for greenery lovers has made conscious efforts in the past to take care of environmental measures – like rain water harvesting, transformation from the barren and the like... Speaking of what exactly would a trail to the farm entail, Jayaram adds, “I’d love for people to come, and experience living in the wild during their visit. More than a mango orchard, I’d like to call this a food forest which encourages responsible farming and people to eat healthy. This season, visitors can come forward, bite into Raspuri and Badami mangoes that are completely free of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. After the visit, visitors can make a healthy home-cooked meal with the farm produce in the open kitchen available!”
Mango Moods!
We have all envisioned, at some point in time, living amidst an idyllic landscape, living the good life and growing our greens. Looks like city boy and marketing professional Sumit K Kapur has checked that off his bucket list as he stays in a mango orchard, Ferns Meadows, a gated community, and the king of fruit is the reason he is summer happy!
“Come summer, Ferns Meadows is always a buzz with mango lovers. From pickling to juicing and raw with masala to ripe with pulp, there are many different ways they like the king of fruits. It’s usually made into a family activity trying to teach the young ones to climb trees (safely, of course),
pick the right trees depending on the kind of fruit and then how to identify the ripe from the raw,” shares Sumit.
