News Reports
Seeking Farmers & Builders
We are in the pioneer stages of developing the Eco Village. We need more people to build living infrastructure and colony plots. Plots to develop this year are Goshala (foundation for future barn), Kitchen, Patha Shala (Learning Center), Yoga Shala and Yajna Shala.
We will provide an opportunity to learn aspects of Vedic culture. We learn hands-on about Natural Building, Permaculture Farming, Building shelters, Cows and Ox care & Natural Fibers for Clothing.
We have the land and clear mission to manifest the vision of Varnasrama villages, as proposed by Srila Prabhupada and our Acharyas. Varnasrama provides self sufficiency and fulfills the material and spiritual needs of our community and the next generation.
We grow seasonal crops and maintain nut & fruit orchards and flower gardens. Our root cellar holds 3,000 + pounds of crops and preserves.
Current Farm goals:
Expand…
Renewal and Growth
Our activities now are building living infrastructure, cob building, clearing forests, milling trees and planting trees and gardens. Oxen plow our fields in the spring and during the harvest. We are teaching and inspiring people to use these ancient and sustainable methods of building, farming and soil tilling.
The gardens are expanding thanks to a couple dedicated to the garden. Our first grafted trees are bearing more fruits and berries/bushes are expanding and giving more fruit. We are canning and jamming as much as possible to fill the root cellar.
In summer, we make cob from earth, clay, straw & cow dung. Cob is used as insulation between walls and on floors. We are completing our first building project using locally milled lumber, a bathhouse with locally milled timber. We milled thinned trees into lumber for our building projects.
In winter, we feed cows last year's…
Working the Land
This spring we continued ox plowing our fields with great success. Daivata prabhu renovated an old plow he found and it works great to turn over sod. Each year the ox team is improving our technique and we are learning the right time to plow for the soil condition. The oxen are getting stronger and have a better feel about when to pull harder. We have been plowing gardens all over Saranagati Village, inspiring people to use this ancient and sustainable method of soil preparation.
Climate change has brought us more extreme weather, this year an elongated winter and a summer full of rain in a normally dry season. The gardens are expanding and the trees and bushes are bearing more fruits.
Despite a lack of labor, forest clearing, wood milling and building continues. Some of our neighbors, Garuda and Ashrith prabhu are apprenticing at the milling operations. Our first building…
Harvest Report Western Canada
Our best crops this year were kale, parsley, beet, carrot, potato, corn, plum & strawberry. In the greenhouse tomato, cucumber, pepper & flowers were abundant. Thankfully, no major losses to birds, grazing cows, deer or bear this year.
We are currently growing Carrots, Beets, Potatoes, Peas, Cucumber, Broccoli, Kale, Chard, Lettuce, Spinach, Strawberry, Cabbage, Green Beans, Zucchini, Tomato, Cherry Tomato, Eggplant, Peppers, Melon, Radish, Fennel, Squash, Asparugus, Parsnips, Turnipsand Corn. We have planted hundreds of Apple, Pear, Cherry and Apricot trees. Dozens of Hazelnut and walnut trees have been planted. We have raspberries, strawberries, currants, gooseberries, honeyberries (hascaps) and saskatoon berries. We are growing millet and buckwheat seed for future plantings. We grow assorted flowers, herbs, and spices.
Again this year, climate change played a big role…
Forest Fire Prevention and Making Building Materials
We inherited an over grown forest, thick with small trees fighting each other for survival. The forest floor was full of debris from fallen trees and branches. This pile up of forest debris is a great fire risk
First we cleared the debris and sorted it into piles for garden mulch, wind blocking piles and burnable wood. Thin trees were thinned and used fire wood and fence materials. Larger trees can be made into building material. To accomplish this, we acquired a wood mill with a saw blade that can cut logs up to 2 feet wide. Most of the trees we are milling are only one foot wide because large trees cannot grow in a dense forest due to competition for sunlight, water and soil.
Vedic Eco Village is surrounded by forest much of which needs to be cleared as part of Forest Management to help in the healthy growth of the forest as well as to help prevent forest fires. Last year alone…