Reports

By Krishna’s mercy and Srila Prabhpada’s mercy Bhakti Raghava Swami has successfully conducted the Viva Voce Seminar at Osmania University and has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Sociology.  

The title of the thesis is VAISNAVA VEDIC SOCIOLOGY its Application in the 21st Century.  Dr. Ganesh, the Supervisor for the research requested a book based on the thesis. He further commented that such a subject matter dealing with Vaisnava philosophy is less known and therefore needs to be spread more.

Despite the very cold spring and a very hot summer, our harvest was fruitful, especially cherry, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and hempseeds.  Our small apple trees are starting to produce fruit. 

Natural Building projects use our milled wood and cob made from earth, cow dung and clay from our lake.  This summer we launched the rocket mass heater for the library cabin. A cob bench around the exhaust pipe will be crafted next.

We built a cob oven hut for baking bread, pizza and more.  The cob oven burns wood or dung and frees us from using propane

We lay the foundation for a trade center and market, located in the heart of Saranagati Village, between the goshala and Govardhan Academy.  We used milled wood for the 10x10 foot structure.  Straw for cob came from goshala.

Our farm apprenticeship continued with Govardhan Academy, teaching kids about farming, harvesting, seed collection, cow care and natural building.

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:

Surabhi's New Calf

Early morning August 18, 2022 Surabhi cow went to a remote part of the forest to have her baby.  Calf and mother are healthy and happy.

Rescue Cows

Earlier that week, 2 new gir cows arrived to Ahimsa Goshala from a small farm in BC that needed a home, or they might end up being sold for slaughter. Welcome to Varuni and Revati. They were restless and confused at first, but they quickly realized they had arrived in a wonderful new home. Sincere thanks to the many devotees who helped this to happen.

New Goshala at Saranagati

The devotees are busy building an additional Goshala in anticipation for the new cows. Our original Gir cow, Surabhi, is in ecstasy that she will be graced with the association of two new friends who belong to practically the same family lineage.

Clay is one of the few building materials with a negative ion charge; healthy to touch & work with!

https://www.ahimsagoshala.com

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.

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 project using locally milled lumber is almost complete, the bathhouse is functional and now we are experimenting with techniques to insulate the walls using cob.

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.