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From Dubai IT Career to Organic Farm | Forest Side Farm
Updated: Aug 30
Connecting the Dots: How a Dubai IT Career Became Forest Side Farm
Quick answer: Forest Side Farm's founder, Hemanshu Joshi, left a 14-year IT career in Dubai and Oman after a 2015 family health emergency, returned to a plot of land his sister had spotted in Kotabagh, Uttarakhand in 2011, and spent years learning to farm from scratch — from a failed mustard crop to building one of Uttarakhand's first commercial avocado orchards — before turning the land into a chemical-free homestay.
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." Steve Jobs' words resonate deeply when reflecting on the journey of Forest Side Farm — a story of unexpected turns, unwavering faith, and the serendipitous connections that shaped both a life and a place, one dot at a time.
How Did It Start? A Phone Call in 2011
In 2011, Hemanshu was living a comfortable life in Dubai, immersed in the world of IT. Owning a sprawling piece of land — let alone becoming a farmer — was as distant as the stars. But life had other plans. One afternoon, his sister Meeta called from India, her voice filled with excitement. She was passing through a picturesque area called Kotabagh, and a beautiful parcel of land was for sale. There'd never been a serious plan for land ownership beyond an investment apartment in Delhi-NCR — but something in her voice resonated. "If you think it's good," came the answer, "let's buy it." In his mother's name, the land was acquired — a simple decision, made without any grand plan. Just a dot, scattered on the canvas of a life.
What Made Leaving a 14-Year Corporate Career Necessary?
Fast forward to December 2015. After a long journey home from Muscat to see his parents, Hemanshu's father collapsed, unconscious, within hours of arriving in Haldwani. The shock was immense — the family rushed him to hospital, where he was diagnosed with appendicitis and a minor blood clot in the brain. Watching him recover brought a hard realization: staying close to family wasn't optional anymore. The return to Oman was followed by a resignation from an established 14-year IT project management career, and a permanent move back to India in February 2016.
Consultancy in business process and project management was the first attempt at a new direction, but the response was slow. In the meantime, the land in Kotabagh kept pulling — a sanctuary amid the uncertainty. The decision was made to dedicate six months to farming, to see what it could become. If it didn't work, corporate life was still an option to return to.
Learning to Farm From Scratch
Starting as a complete novice, the land was fenced, and in July 2017, mustard was planted across 14 bighas (roughly 95,000 sq ft) — with no real idea about sowing, watering, or harvesting, relying on laborers brought in daily from Haldwani. The harvest arrived in November and sold for a mere ₹12,000. It was humbling — hard to fathom how farming families survive on such thin returns.
The next two or three seasons yielded similarly weak results. Driven to understand why, the research deepened — organic farming, permaculture, regenerative agriculture. A conversation with Gopal Upreti ji, an apple orchard owner near Ranikhet, changed the direction entirely: "Hemanshu, have you ever seen money growing on trees? Go to Himachal Pradesh, where apple farmers thrive." If apples couldn't grow well in Kotabagh's climate, the question became: what could?
Building Uttarakhand's First Commercial Avocado Orchard
A chain of introductions — from a family friend at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bangalore, to a contact at the Indian Horticulture Research Institute, to a grower in Tamil Nadu — led to a trip to Kodaikanal in October 2017 to purchase 180 avocado plants of a local variety, TKD 1. Inexperience slowed their early growth, but the guava trees planted alongside them thrived — a glimmer of hope. Online communities like "Seed to Soil" and "Permaculture India" on Facebook became invaluable — a community of people navigating the same uncertainty, united by a shared passion for clean food and a sustainable life. One philosophy took hold from those years: diversification. Rather than betting on a single crop, the farm grew into a portfolio of complementary plants and regenerative practices.
What Did the Transition Away From Corporate Life Actually Look Like?
The hardest part wasn't the physical move — it was the identity shift, going from someone whose expertise was recognized and titled, to something entirely unknown. There was no clear plan for what career to pursue or where income would come from. Construction timelines, farming cycles, and guest hospitality all had to be learned from scratch, often getting it wrong before getting it right.
Guest rooms were designed with intentionally rustic, unfinished walls rather than a polished hotel look — partly an aesthetic choice, partly because it matched the pace guests were meant to slow down into. Wood carving and pyrography became a genuine daily practice during this period too — not a business feature added later, but a source of quiet, repetitive focus the transition needed. The corporate project management background didn't disappear either; it got redirected, first into building the farm stay's own digital presence, and over time into work that supports employment for families in the surrounding villages.
What Has the Farm Grown Into Today?
Forest Side Farm today has over 600 trees across 30 fruit varieties, providing a year-round harvest, alongside pulses and spices like turmeric, ginger, and coriander, and herbs including chamomile and lemongrass. Turmeric, chamomile, and honey from the farm's own hives are its cash crops today. To build a genuinely sustainable ecosystem around all of this, a farm stay was introduced for guests seeking a quieter pace amid nature — since recognized by Condé Nast Traveller and The Better India as a place worth visiting near Jim Corbett.
Forest Side Farm also directly supports four local families and many more indirectly. The four team members are the main breadwinners of their households and have been employed since 2017 — while also managing their own farmland, with produce bought from them as needed to increase family income.
Is This Kind of Career Change a Growing Trend in India?
Reverse migration — professionals moving from cities back to rural India — has been increasingly documented since the pandemic reshaped how people think about remote work and quality of life. This is one example of it, not a claim that it's easy or guaranteed to work for everyone who tries it. The dots, once scattered, connected into something that was never originally planned — proof, mostly, that trusting your gut and following through is usually enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Forest Side Farm start?
It began in 2011 when the founder's sister spotted a parcel of land for sale in Kotabagh, Uttarakhand, while he was working in IT in Dubai. The land sat mostly dormant until 2016, when a family health emergency prompted a permanent move back to India and a shift toward farming it directly.
What was the first crop grown at Forest Side Farm?
Mustard, planted across 14 bighas in July 2017 — the harvest sold for approximately ₹12,000, a humbling early result that pushed a deeper search for a more sustainable approach to farming the land.
Is Forest Side Farm known for a specific crop?
Yes — it's home to one of Uttarakhand's first commercial avocado orchards, alongside over 600 fruit trees across 30 varieties, turmeric, chamomile, and its own honey.
When did Forest Side Farm become a homestay?
The farm stay was introduced after the farm itself had developed into a diversified, sustainable ecosystem, as a way to share the land and its produce with visitors seeking a quieter pace.
Is reverse migration to rural India a growing trend?
Yes — it's been increasingly documented since the pandemic, as remote work and a re-evaluation of city-based careers made rural relocation more practical for some professionals. It remains a minority path, not a mainstream one.
How does Forest Side Farm support the local Kotabagh community?
Four local families are directly employed, and many more indirectly — the four team members are the main breadwinners of their households and have been employed since 2017, while also managing their own farmland.
If a place shaped by this many small, unplanned decisions sounds worth experiencing, get in touch to plan a stay → — we're always glad to share more of the story in person.
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