September opened with a spot of gold on the shelf: yellow candy tomatoes — small, honeyed, a shade sweeter than their red cousins — raised hydroponically at a climate-controlled facility here in Delhi NCR and ready for next-evening delivery. Close behind come two newcomers we're readying now: a Swiss chard mix, vivid stems and deep-green leaves from the indoor grow room, and a basil hummus blended in small batches with our own Italian basil. Both are on the site already, and their first harvest and first batch will reach the shelf soon.

The rest of the week kept the farm's quiet rhythm — lettuces coming off the channels in the grow room, herbs cut to order for the herb boxes, salads and pestos leaving the kitchen for the evening's deliveries. Up on the terrace, the greenhouse fitting-out carried on, the insect netting working its way along the frame. And if the candy tomatoes have put us in a certain mood, it is for what comes next up there: cherry tomatoes climbing their string trellises, then strawberries and peppers as the season cools.