The Bramhacari garden

A few snapshots of the amazing vege gardens at the Brahmacari ashram in Otahuhu.

The landlord doesnt seem to mind that the whole section front and back without an inch to spare (except to park a car) has been converted into an abundant and colourful vegetable garden. pumpkins, tomatoes, bittermelon, potatoes, eggplant, beans, lettuce, passionfruit, lemons, grapes, beetroot, spinach, silverbeet etc etc the list just goes on and on.

Surpisingly enough the whole thing is practically managed and maintained by one devotee -

Yadu raya prabhu
(I hope I spelled that right Yadu!)
Here he is about to transport the prasadam the other devotees just cooked for the University program.

*please note his fingers are actually green, its just the angle of the light.










The photos don't really do justice as most things have only just been planted after the winter harvest so you don't get to see it in its most amazing looking state. Don't worry I ll be sure to post some of those photos in Summer!

To give you an idea of how valuable space is when you're pumping out a garden in surberbia for 10 or so very hungry sankirtan men heres a pic of the roadside potatoes out the front of their place..















Anyways, thats we I get my inspiration from.

Now heres a couple of pics of my puny little garden in comparison after planting the seedlings. The other pic also shows a second bed ready to plant out this weekend.
I picked some yard long beans (snake beans) to plant. They are nectar, i'll have to get a good subji recipe for them..got any?



If foodstuffs cooked in devotion for the Lord purify ones existence so what then of honoring prasadam cooked from vegetables that have been grown right from the very seed state in the same consciousness. (What to speak of all the extensive health benefits for the body)

HARE KRISHNA!

Damodara masa

Todays the first day of Kartika. I missed out on singing Damodarastakam this morning because i had to get ready for work. But not to worry as the Lord is so merciful he allows you to come and sing and offer a candle for him in the evening too.

I just brushed up my mrdanga skills before heading over by going over Sitapati's achived post on Damodarastakam beat. I'm supposed of already practised for a month! Oh well.

My 3 year old daughter Vedapriya has been waiting all day to see Lord Damodara and offer a ghee lamp. So she gets to stay up past bedtime to sing for the Lord. My not so fortunate memories of staying up past bedtime were to take darshan of the one eyed guru - T.V.ji.

Lord Damodara ki, jaya!!!

Growing veges for the 1st time

Gardening - can't say i ever really had the desire for it.
Hard work, dirty and takes so long to reap the fruits I always thought.
All the outlook of someone too influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance.

Well, for some reason or another I've become inspired to get my gummys on and give it a go out there. Which after thinking about all the positive benefits its hard not to become enthusiastic about growing your own.

We have heaps of space here at the place we rent on New Varshan.
There was also an existing overgrown vege garden. Its also Spring now in N.Z. great time to start planting.

This is what it looked like after we cleared out all the weeds and got things ready for planting. The frame with netting over the garden is to keep the pooks out!





Pook is short for pukeko, a NZ native bird.

They are a swamp bird. See the long claws, there for walking over swamps without getting stuck. Actually there more like a swamp crow. A scavenger.
Whatever you did that reacted in taking on a pukeko body must of been real sinful man as these guys continously fight, mate and steal food all day from each other as well as the ducks. Actually they even eat the ducklings - we were counting the ducklings each day to see how many were left. - 7 out of 11 I recall.

"Among envious birds I am the pukeko."
- Street Samhita

Anyways among their tastes is veges and little seedlings hence the enclosure over our garden.

To prepare the soil we didnt have any compost on hand so we bought some standard organic bags. Mixed that through the top layer of soil. Then on the advice of the seedling guy at the markets I also put some lime in too which apparently many gardens commonly lack. (No lime for tomatoes and potatoes though I was told).i then gave it a quick watering and left it for a week.

SEEDLINGS
I picked up a whole lot for a $1 each at the Avondale Markets. Not organic but hey I guess you gotta start somewhere especially with limited time. Also i figured it would easier on myself first time round to start with seedlings rather than start from seed. Next year I may be more prepared and go all the way. That would be really good. We have a few things in seed, like basil and corriander so we'll raise them over the next few weeks.




FERTILIZER
I'm using this seaweed fertilizer just cause its what we had lying around. I mixed up some with water and poured into bottom of the seedling holes and then covered that over with a little dirt to avoid burning roots.
Now my seedlings were ready for transplanting.
My next garden blog will show photos of seedlings in place as well as cultivation of a a second garden bed.
So far so good.
Hare Krishna!

Destination: Planetiskcon

Here we go with my first official blog post.

Following suit from my senior Godbrother Sitapati prabhu my first and foremost purpose of keeping a blog is for my own purification - may I not forget that! Grasping those thoughts, realizations up there put down there on paper or should I say in the ether. I think it will be good for my personal devleopment on many levels.

From what I've seen on PlanetisKcon, many others besides myself gain much inspiration and knowledge by hearing from devotees from all parts of the world, different ashrams, occupations etc.

Seeing Krishna consciousness being applied in so many variegated ways by so many unique devotees of Lord is a very special and wonderful thing.

Unfortunetly my contribution may not be so special in that way, but it may perhaps inspire the reader to pray for this poor ignorant fool when they see how much he's struggling. Which is great! My twofold mission statement: Purifying the heart and invoking the prayers of the Vaisnavas. What better reason to start a blog!

Also of course its a great way to have fun and games in Krishna Consciousness. I've had many a laughter fit watching various devotee's posted videos and blogs!

PLANETISKCON ROCKS!