Peepal Farm Products: Handmade, Homegrown Vegan Products With A Heart!

Peepal Farm is a unique sanctuary for animals. Situated in the quaint hamlet of Dhanotu in Himachal Pradesh, the estate doubles up as a recovery centre for animals and an organic farm, where a diverse group of volunteers work with animals and live sustainably and as close to the land as possible. The farm has now branched out into new territory – their brand of organic produce and vegan products, ranging from herbs to upcycled accessories. Their goods are handmade, homegrown and made by rural women from the village.  We caught up with Shivani Bhalla, one of the co-founders of the farm and the spark behind this initiative. 

How long have you been working with Peepal Farm Foundation?

Right from its very inception! Peepal farm is a 4-year-old foundation, and I am one of the three co-founders, who built this place from scratch, literally. When we commenced this journey, all we had was a vision to provide a place for animals to heal and be heard, and a piece of empty land that we had procured in the hamlet Dhanotu, in Himachal Pradesh. From mud-plastering the walls to adding hand-painted artwork here and there, it was just us, with a handful of other volunteers, who raised the infrastructure and shaped the farm in its nascent days.

Shivani Bhalla, co-founder

Tell us about your new brand - Peepal Farm Products. 

Peepal Farm was always envisioned as a safe haven for non-humans as well as a non-profit foundation that aims to raise awareness on the need to adopt an ethical, low-impact and cruelty-free lifestyle. Before the products, our reach was limited to our social media followers and volunteers. Peepal Farm Products was introduced to broaden our horizons and spread our message (both literally and figuratively) far and wide.

We also realized our products and line of vegan alternatives helped us with funding the farm, along with involving and engaging the residents of the hamlet to learn about and consider cruelty free living. It began with simple vegan nut butters and dairy alternatives for ourselves, but we kept receiving appreciation followed by custom orders and special requests from volunteers and friends. We have also begun working with discarded scraps of fabric, to upcycle them into handcrafted pouches, wallets and dog toys.

Coin purse

I’m fortunate to have found a very dedicated team who work with me in sync and with utmost sincerity. All our products are handmade, and homemade in our kitchen with either organic herbs grown on the farm or whole unadulterated raw ingredients we procure from our trusted local sources. We do not stock the edible items and prepare them freshly on order.

We have certain shipping constraints as we do not add any preservatives or emulsifiers, which leaves us with high-quality unadulterated products with low shelf life like soy milk, tofu, kombucha etc, which we sell locally, but the rest have a natural high shelf life and are promptly shipped across the country.

What products are on offer?

We have edibles like nut butters, chocolate spreads, organic shade dried herbs, homegrown spices, muesli, munchies, granola bars. And upcycled non-edibles like wallets and dog toys. It is a growing list, I might have a few more items to mention if asked the same again in a few months! We do a lot of custom-made orders as well. All our products are vegan, ethically sourced, unadulterated and contain no preservatives.

The product range

Where are they made/sourced from?

We can categorize our products based on where they are sourced from in 4 major sections. The first would be our own organic farm produce surpluses like turmeric, herbs and banana chips. But this category is season-harvest dependent and not all the products are available throughout the year. Second would be our procured raw whole ingredients from trusted local farmers, like rice and seeds. Third would be the high quality raw whole ingredients like organic cacao beans and nuts which we outsource from specific reliable vendors from across the country, like Auroville and Ludhiana, respectively. All the three mentioned categories are our edibles, which are prepared by the team in our very kitchen. Fourth and final would be the discarded scraps of fabric donated to us by friends of the farm, which we upcycle into handcrafted pouches, wallets and dog rope toys.

One of the dogs at the farm playing with a handmade dog rope toy

Peepal Farm Products is also helping reduce rural women's unemployment - tell us a little bit about the initiative.

I’ve had this pipedream, ever since I got back home from the States, to work with Indian rural women who have been thus far homebound, in an effort to encourage them to be financially independent and confident individuals. I realized with the inflow of the first few orders that I would need a team soon, and I started looking out for people to work with, regardless of gender. But as fate would have it, in this village and those nearby, I found only women to be skilled at cooking and embroidery, which was going to be the team’s main work. I grabbed the opportunity and formed a team.

The Peepal Farm Products Team

They are beginning to understand how consequential their contribution is and acknowledge how significant the tiny details of the product specs are. Their world expands as they interact with our volunteers, it gives them the exposure this village could otherwise never provide them with. They go back home and encourage more women to pursue their dreams and embrace kindness in everyday living. As of today, the team comprises 5 women- Diksha, Pooja, Varsha, Anju and myself. I wish to employ more such talented women in the future as we grow.

What are your future plans for both the farm and the product line?

We don’t really believe in assigning ourselves arbitrary goals, instead, we endeavour to establish systems that can be replicated on various levels. We want to make veganism accessible and understandable for rural India, a large section of which is not privileged or educated enough to break free from animal farming or consumption customs that have been followed for generations.

The farm

We want to raise awareness on why it is not only ethical but also beneficial for everyone to embrace a cruelty-free lifestyle. We want rural consumers to understand the value of vegan alternatives in terms of health and progress, to inspire rural producers to make vegan milk easily from soy and nuts, instead of impregnating a cow and following the vicious cycle of dairy farming. We aspire to form a system that is profitable for everyone. We are trying to bring about a change in the mindset starting with one village, and we hope many more will be inspired and encouraged to follow the same model.

And lastly, where can our readers buy your products?

They can order our products at our store online- https://peepalfarm.org/shop

Chai Masala

We also participate in vegan fests and events in different cities and have a few third-party vendor outlets in Dharamshala that display our products. But the all-time reliable source would be our online shop only. We also have a collaborating vendor who lists our products on Amazon as well.

Check out their full range of products HERE. 

Like this?

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