Ashish Shah, 50, always wanted to build a farmhouse in the countryside. “Even when others told him to buy and sell a ready-made house, he remained adamant about it,” his wife, Nipa Shah, said.
The couple and their two daughters live in Mumbai, India. Mr. Shah runs a garment interlining business and Ms. Shah, 48, owns a brand that produces and markets organic, farm-sourced food. After they developed an interest in organic farming, the couple sought to set up a farm within a two-hour drive from Mumbai, making for easy travel back and forth. They initially looked for land in the cities of Alibag, Nashik, Pune and Lonavala, but found only rocky sites unsuitable for cultivation.
Eventually, they came across a two-acre plot near Karjat, a city 40 miles from Mumbai, that was surrounded by the grassy peaks of the Western Ghats mountain range. “It was just beautiful. It was exactly the backdrop that we wanted,” Mr. Shah said. They bought the lot for 6 million Indian rupees, or $67,000, nearly a decade ago, and decided to build a farmstead there to grow mangoes and other crops.
