Our building techniques improve and evolve with every ecovillage project. Our traditional vedic mud-stoves (chulha) used for cooking and heating are available in 3 locations. Outdoor kitchen & solar shower facilities are under construction. Crowded trees from our forest are milled for ecovillage building materials.
Our weekly Dharma Discovery gives children deeper insights into the fundamental values upheld in the Vedic culture, namely the importance of cows, farming and natural building/crafts. We are starting plants in our greenhouse while harvesting lettuce & spinach greens.
Sunday GoFest @ Ahmisa Goshala creates a sattvic atmosphere to develop relationships with people who care about cows. Saranagati Village continues to attract pilgrims to their temple, goshala and pristine mountain landscape. Community & temple leaders are overwhelmed by the crowds, as they do not provide guest accommodations, food or facilities. Vedic Eco Village is working hard to increase our capacity to host pilgrims.
Building Vedic Cookstoves
We have successfully implemented three sparkless chulha stoves, combining rocket mass heater technology and traditional Vedic cooking methods. These stoves are essential for safely cooking with fire in the summertime, as we are in a characteristically dry and high fire risk area.
Chulha Stove and Cob oven
A summer time cooking facility. Chulha and cob oven are built on the same cob floor. Cob oven is used for baking bread, squash, crackers, cakes, cookies and dehydrating fruit.
Chulha Mass Heater
Destroyed by wildfire. Cook stove and Mass heater at the Vedic Library and Campground. Kept guests warm and made bath water. Safe for cooking in the summer time.
Chulha Stove in Saranagati
Cook stove and mass heater for Valley Hub / PlayStation. Used for Dharma Discovery to teach kids Vedic cooking techniques. Offers this community a sustainable cooking facility. Provides shelter from sun and cold.
Dharma Discovery
The Govardhana Academy students are preparing the greenhouse with water, cow dung, planting strawberries. The Playstation has upgraded cooking facility, space for take-out window to serve local prasadam to pilgrims. This is an opportunity to experience vedic living. Hands-on learning about cow care, ox cart & plowing, farms, forest, natural building, cob, arts, crafts & markets. Dharma Discovery webage
Ox plowing serves farmers
Early this spring, all 3 tractors in the Saranagati community were broken. Brihat Mrdanga prabhu needed to plow the earth before planting beets and other cold weather crops. The ox will plow the home garden of the Ahimsa Goshala managers as well as the Vedic Eco Village garden. Everything is revived with the arrival of spring!
Sunday Cow Festival at Goshala
The Ahimsa Goshala in Saranagati and their cows have been attracting many pilgrims from Vancouver and across Western Canada. We host a Sunday GoFestival to welcome pilgrims visiting the hump cows. We bring our garden veggies year round, giving pilgrims the opportunity to feed cow.
Cow Brushing
Cow Hugging
Ox Cart Rides
Future Development Plans
Future farm projects: expanding production, seed bank, walipini underground greenhouse, transplanting fruit trees, plant guilds around the orchard, living willow fence. identifying flora and fauna on the land to make a eco village ecological database, native wildflower seed bombs and vertical planting for potatoes.
The cows in Saranagati need a heated winter barn. We will build a new goshala to host cows during cold days. The Goshala will be the first structure built in the VeV colony. The bulls and ox will be in a separate area of the village. See the project page.
