Simple Living, High Thinking #12

For the week of September 8th-14th, 2008

The season's are a changing, the groundhogs are fat and sleepy, and we're back with our weekly look into the world of the Small Farm Training Center here at New Vrindaban Dham. Come along!

What we got done
-The New Vrindaban Community was blessed with the presence last week of HH Bhakti-Raghava Maharaja, who is devoting his life to practically bring about the other side of Prabhupada's mission, varnasrama-dharma Click here for a article on his enlivening Farm Circle talk.

Our series of Farm Circles is drawing to a close, but not before the real excitement kicks in! This week we'll be hosted by HG Yudhisthira Prabhu at his palatial and humble forest home for a whole shebang on canning tomatoes, herbal medicines from the forest, kirtan, prasad, and maybe even some good' ol "End Times" preaching magic. We leave with shuttle service from the Teaching Garden at 6pm on Thursday, the 18th. See Tom, Chris, or Tulasi for all the details.

Whereever the Farm Circle is, there's a man, a devotee man, named Devananda Pandit, with a guitar and a song to warm your soul


-Our varieties of tomato crops have been fully harvested up top at the Garden of Seven Gates, thanks to the help of a number of our community devotees, and we are in the process of freezing them and preserving them for winter stock as we did our green bean crop from earlier in the summer.

Next up are figuring out what to do with our oat crop, as we begin to slowly transfer over to the growing of grain as a key aspect of providing a reliable supply of foodstuffs of community. We'll have an update next week on our oat collection.

-Here's a clarion call to one and all for your hands, hearts, and assistance. As we begin to wrap up this growing season and harvest, we have to prepare the grounds and beds of both the Teaching Garden and the Garden of Seven Gates. We need your help in doing this, so that we're not out in the December cold trying to make sure the ground is ready for next year's beet crops and all.

Your service to us is our livelihood and the warmth of our green heart. Ask Tapah or Chris what you can do to help us insure that the 2009 year is abundant with local, organic magic for one and all.

-Those with intrepid eyes have noticed that our Workshop Extension, after countless hours of tire-smashing and gravel-handling, is now starting to rise from the ground. Our local wood supply is now coming up and being drilled and hammered together to form the foundation for the full construction of the buildling, and work on the roof will begin as quickly as you can eat a fresh laddu. Tom, despite the rickety ladders, with help from Madhupati Prabhu, is hard at work daily making the dream come true.

Here's some pics of the progress, and we'll have a full report next week about the construction's progress over the next few weeks and months.











-As well, we need excited people power to help us in the 2009 season as well. Click here to check out our Small Farm Training Center brochure, with all the info you need to join us, and hey, do us a favor and spread our brochure around by e-mailing to it your favorite green thumbs around the world.

What we realized

Often it feels like we go in circles. We agree on the concept, right?...Prabhupada wanted rural, Krsna-Conscious centered living as a key aspect of his mission. And we see now in this gradually post-industrial 21-Century world that more and more people want to "get back to the land". So what a great opportunity we have here in New Vrindaban and in our other rural communities within ISKCON. Not only can we help people get their hands dirty, we can also get them back to Godhead at the same time. Goloka has some pretty first-class foliage, don't you think?

The vibe we've gotten is that it's time to start talking about it, which we've been doing for years, and just get down to it, depending on Krsna and hopefully our communities and larger institutions. Our Farm Circles next year should be entirely focused on the practical community-building aspects of all of our self-sufficient projects. We have to realize the urgent nature of our duty to Prabhupada and put aside our personal differences, politics, and profit margins.

Here in our holy hills, we can either take New Vrindaban further and further away from Prabhupada's vision or we can step forward into His Divine Grace's guidance and wisdom and heal the heart of our community. Krsna is in control, but he does leave the decision making up to us.

Please help us out! Your hands, heads, and hearts can help us restore Srila Prabhupada's vision of self-sufficency here at New Vrindaban Dham. We're out shining and even in the rain in the Teaching Garden across the street from the RVC Temple, or up the hill at the Garden of Seven Gates. See HG Tapahpunja Prabhu for all the details.

Click here for more info on the Small Farm Training Center.

Stay tuned for next week's update! Hari Haribol!