Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Chapatis Right Way Or My Way Video !!!




It's a cold and rainy day here at the Govindas' Farm. I felt inspired to make chapatis for a change. We bake bread but I felt that the subji that I was making for lunch needed a traditional bread to complement it.  I'm including a video about how the chapatis are made the right way by the Eastern Indian mataji or my way...the Western Cree Indian mataji;)
Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal.

Monday, 28 May 2012

Fleamarket Sunday

Sundays are when G and I head to town to paint the town red;) Actually we leave our beloved farm and cows for the day to go to the Flea market to sell soap and wild crafted herbal tea. We also take this time to see what people like and what they don't. It is a time to make new friends and contacts. You really never know what is going to happen such as last week this teenage boy who appeared high on something or other grabbed the knife that I use to cut my soap into bars for customers. Mother that I am just said a firm,"No!" and took it back!


Higgly piggly but I'll smarten it up very soon:)

Made from coconut oil and is an amazing stain remover.

Teas that I dry and sell

Is this blurry for you to? Maybe I should put my glasses on!
This week G and I chatted with this elderly fisherman who recounted the most interesting life on the Island. I'll tell you more about him in the near  future because I just had a very busy day baking in our Underground Bakery and I am pooped. Good-night.
Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal

Saturday, 26 May 2012

Simplify...be a Tosser!

You really can't think clearly if you are surrounded with a pile of useless junk. If you aren't using the thingy move it along..recycle or toss it in the garbage.If the clothes no longer fit or to old..give...donate or use it as a rag. I use old clothing as sheet mulch when I'm making a new planting bed. Everything we own takes up a little bit of our energy. It takes energy to move it...to clean it.Things also create mental anxiety. What if you actually hate that picture someone gave you but feel obliged to put it on your wall..just in case that someone comes to visit and asks about it. Family and friends I'm hereby giving you permission to ditch all that art that I've given you as gifts. What if that glass vase is super expensive and the thought that someone might break it completely freaks you out. Give it away and let someone else get the ulcer. Once that thing is gone you will breath a sigh of relief and don't go check up to see it's doing because it's no longer yours. Now that thing is someone else s' problem.
G's holy sock;) ruff?

Socks final resting place as part of the sheet mulch.
I like the Simple Rabbit site online but there are quite a few to inspire and encourage such as ..http://www.writechangegrow.com/2011/03/6-more-inspiring-minimalist-blogs/
Simplify...simplify...be a tosser!
Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal

Friday, 25 May 2012

Tons Of Soil Donation!

The neighbor monks are building a new meditation building and pond. They required 20 truckloads of soil to be removed and disposed of. Which is perfect for us because we have so many low spots on the piece of land where we want to plant our Sepp Holzer's Permaculture inspired orchard/gardens.
Low land that requires the donated soil.


In between moving the herd and helping G I am working on a great salve made from the wonderful healing plants in my herb garden:)
Hare Krsna,
Incredible healing Cree Chamomile/Plantain Skin Salve
Kokum Lal.

Surprise Visit from The Walking Monk


G and I would like to give a big thank you to The Walking Monk, Bhaktimarg Swami, Nitai Rama Das and  Kunal...(sorry Kunal I can't remember your new name)...for stopping by for a quick visit last evening.
G was still working at the neighbors building site and Ty had to finish installing the new fence line for the pasture...so I had the good fortune to show our guests around the project. We arrived just on time to see the cows being moved forward as per our mob grazing experiment. Excellent timing! We then took a donner to the beach. Sorry Maharaja ...I'm so accustomed to clambering up and down the rocky path I didn't realize that for newbies it might be a little scary. At the chasm Maharaja stopped...looked down..and said,"It doesn't look like there is anything down there!" Me,"There isn't! Don't look down!"
They did just fine. I then showed Nitai Rama Das the beauty of sheet mulching. Then off we went to see G to say hello. He had so much cleaning up to do that I suggested that we all pitch in to get it done faster and it was done in no time at all. After all love is a verb.  We came back to the house and G showed them the compost toilet. They were quite fascinated by it and I had to entice them out of the bathroom with glasses of freshly blended dandelion juice. Once again thank-you for the visit.
Until next time.
Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal.

Thursday, 24 May 2012

Mob Grazing Update Video


Young oxen Baha who loves a good scratch!

Alpacas,Rosemary and Thyme Guinea Fowl and Bahir.

Baby Aruni with Mom Mukta

Getting ready for another move forward.

Yummy...new grass! Dandelions are like candy to all the animals.

Finished pasture that won't be grazed on again for a full year.

The cows are being moved every two hours. Your life goes real quickly when it is measured in two hour intervals. You have just barely started weeding the garden when it is time to move the cows once again. G finds that since he spends so much time talking to the cows he is really connecting to them and is beginning to understand their different moos. As a mother I could tell the difference in the cries of my babies so it becomes  like that when you spend time with your cows or other animals. The herd is moved about 6 feet . The alley is about 100 ft wide. We keep a close eye on them to make sure that they have eaten the pasture and stomped all the long grasses,manure and urine into the ground.
  The men were working off  the farm on Saturday so I was left in charge of moving the herd. That calf had my number! The herd is all the way across the field from the house and when I go out I unplug the electric fence. No problem right? So I'm by myself and move the fence to let them into the new small section...just as I turn my back Aruni walks under the fence and gets her hind leg tangled up. I'm like..."Oh no...she is going to freak and get tangled up and I don't have a knife on me." I calmly drop the electric fence and patiently wait for her to walk out of  the line. She does but now the herd is eating the new section. Alright ...no problem...I think to myself...I'll just move the line up again...ready for the next move...so I move the line and Aruni walks under it again and gets her hind leg stuck! Once again I get her untangled and move the line forward.....then RUN like a maniac across the field...hop the fences and race to plug in the fence. I get the fence plugged in and feel pretty good about my heroic feat or heroic feet:p I take one last peek at the herd and darn if Aruni isn't out of the pasture!! I need backup! I go to the truck to get the guys ...after all they were suppose to be home hours ago. The truck doesn't start....darn,darn,darn it! Pop the hood and look around. I've seen the guys do this before...but I had no clue what they were fiddling around with in there. I figure...guys never put stuff away...so lets see what is in the truck that they might use to fiddle around under the hood. I found a small wrench...checked the engine things to see where the wrench would fit and noticed the cables to the two batteries were off. Hooked that up and off I went...woohoo! Ty sorted out my BIG PROBLEM in half a second and said that they never have a problem. So Aruni knew that I was nervous and she was just messing with me. Who says cows aren't intelligent.      Hopefully the pictures will be able to show how well the pasture is doing. Pictures are alright but I'll try and figure out how to edit my movies.
We did notice that our pasture is much lusher than the neighbors even though the herd only grazed it once. So we can just imagine how abundant the grasses and herbs will be after a few years. Very exciting! Hare Krsna,
               Kokum Lal.

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Whats-up today?

G heating and stretching the plastic pipe.
Yesterday G discovered that the toilet smell and flies were coming into the house due to the old system vent stack for the compost toilet. The new plumbing for the dry well that the men installed appeared to affect the draft for the toilet. The vent did not have a screen over the top so the flies were using it like an international airport terminal. Once G taped a screen over the top.... no flies:) The smell was still an issue. G did notice while he was on the roof that the vent pipe did not clear the roof line. When the wind from the south blew..it caused the vented air to blow into the house. Since the pipe we did own was too narrow we used the heating gun to melt the plastic and stretch it to fit over the already existing pipe. This is a few hours in and it appears to be helping. I'm still not happy with the quality of air so we will go ahead and install a fan that will fit right into the venting pipe. We will be able to control the fan by installing an electric switch in the basement.We aren't thrilled with this option because we would like to limit our use of electricity since our goal in the very near future is to go off of the grid completely. But for now it will have to do.
We have incredibly fresh lettuce for lunch every day that we grow in our $50 dollar lean to greenhouse.
Mint and spearmint ready to  harvest.

Lovely mixed lettuce and radishes in the greenhouse.
I am also harvesting mint and drying it on my new drying rack that G just installed over the wood stove. Since G up-cycled the wood and chain for the drying rack our only expense was $1.33 for a pack of brass hooks.                                                                                                                             We have such a large quantity of mint and spearmint that I will be  drying  for sale as wild crafted tea. The dried mint will be used for our own tea needs as well as an additive  to our "Cool Mint "soap. Simple living at it's best.                                                                                                                 Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal.
                                                 
My baby herbs and G's baby veggies

$50 greenhouse that withstood a hurricane:)

Up-cycled wood,chain and $1.33 for the hooks

New drying rack over the stove.





Tuesday, 22 May 2012

A Simply Horrible Synthetic Hangover

My recommendation to anyone who is changing their lifestyle to a more simple one,is to do so gradually!. Know what you require so that you don't feel deprived and freak-out like I did last year. You see...last year I wasn't very kind to myself. I was under the illusion that I could handle moving to a new Province, living in an ancient Victorian house(1842) where, not ONE thing worked. The property had tons of garbage piled every where. Instead of electric heating we invested in a great wood stove  but that also meant lots of wood chips everywhere..no insulation in the walls so it was cold and we were in the midst of surviving the snowiest winter in years. Oh! and ZERO income because all our funds were locked up in other properties(in Panama). Plus I had injured my back so moving was incredibly painful. A smart woman would have thought, "Yup...I've got enough on my plate!" Not me ...I decide that I really love http://www.rebeccarburgess.com/fibershed. Rebecca is into textiles and she decided to only wear what was grown and made within 100 mile radius of her home. I wanted to do that as well. I don't like synthetics at all and try my best to purge plastic from my home and immediate surroundings. All of my clothes are made of a natural material...such as wool, silk, cotton or bamboo.

One morning I woke up in a bad mood. That bad mood just kept getting worse and worse until I just wasn't talking to anyone in the house. I didn't want to eat , I was just miserable. My poor husband said something ..probably quite benign...but I FREAKED out grabbed the truck keys...our limited amount of cash and credit cards... cranked the country music and drove like a demon possessed wild woman to Walmart, . By this time I had given myself  a massive headache from crying like a baby so I did the worst thing imaginable...I bought a Coca Cola....my thumbs down to the world! Of course my madness didn't stop there ....I went to the housewares department and found the furriest...cheapest...tackiest...red synthetic  rug for $30 and bought it! How low could I have fallen!!! I went home  tossed that red rug onto my dressing room floor and happily wiggled my bare toes around the static charged synthetic fibers. I then went to bed.
 The next morning I woke up to see this red thing on my floor and felt terrible....sick...guilty. What was I thinking....this rug was everything that I loathed on a sane day. Coca Cola??? I despise them for what they do to the world. Ahhhhh...I had a synthetic hangover!
The moral of this story is to just chill out! Find yourself a little hide out..a quiet spot to retreat to..keep the goal in mind... but honestly, half the fun is the journey and not the destination.
Is this story true? Mostly....but I'm not telling which bits are and which bits aren't;)
"All's  well that ends well."                                                                          
 Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal.

Saturday, 19 May 2012

Neem and Witch Doctors?

The neem tree is fantastic because every part of the tree has medicinal value.....the only problem is...it doesn't grow in Canada...or does it? Bummer...I just checked it out ....Neem can survive for a very short time at 4C. So we are out of luck! We could do the whole  heated greenhouse thing but that is just unsustainable and besides I'm to lazy! Alright now what do we do? Should we spend our hard earned money on expensive imported products at your local Health Food Store? No way! We simple livers use our magnificent brains and research abilities. We find out what medicinal trees  grow right under our noses.....for instance I literally have a ton of willow growing  by my bog. I'm not much prone to headache ,(apparently I give them)and willow is great for that but since birthing 4 humongous babies...my bladder is a tad funky...so I just steep a few 4 inch branches in half a liter of water and drink during the day in the place of water. G also tried it because it is great for male prostate problems...he doesn't have problems but just to make sure that it stays that way...we dose him a few times a year. I mean who wants to be one of those old people who smells of Ben Gay and Pee? Right?
We all live in different environments so check out what is growing in your area by visiting your local witch doctor or if you aren't fortunate enough to have one of those...then some other more trad environmental government group...thingy...whatever they are called. Oooooo...witch doctor...that reminds me of a story! When I was around 7ish my cousin Gisele and I had a bunch of yucky warts on our hands so our moms decided to take us to see the local healer Adrienne . I'll warn you all right now I don't like ugly......ugly houses...ugly guys...ugly cars ...anyways I was scared to death of her and her mentally handicapped  son who I thought was Lurch...I swear the guy drooled and wanted to do bad things to me...besides I didn't like her. You see Adrienne was a sales rep for Avon and on T.V. the commercial went something like.....Ding Dong ....Avon Calling! and the housewife would open the door to reveal this sunny blond Avon sales rep...right? So one day someone knocks on our door and Adrienne announces that she is selling Avon. I was so bummed out and turned to my foster mom Madeleine and said," But I thought Avon ladies were suppose to be beautiful!"
Back to the story...so as we are sitting in her sitting room and I'm giving Lurch the stink eye...Adrienne takes off her wedding ring and asks Gisele, "In the name of Jesus do you have faith that your warts can be healed..in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost?
  Cousin Gisele ...says,"Yes I do!" Adrienne then proceeds to make the sign of the cross with her gold wedding ring on all of the offending warts. Then it's my turn..."Laurianne do you have faith that I can heal your warts in the name of  the father , son and holy ghost?" Me..." Hell no!" So guess who's warts were gone in a few weeks and who had to paint hers with nail polish foreeeeever?
Oh yeah...medicinal trees...here are some that grow in my area and I will be using if need be.
Trees
Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a shade-tolerant conifer of moist fertile sites, with the potential to live four hundred years or more to form an old-growth forest. As well as the previously-noted use of its foliage by indigenous people as an antiscorbutic, an astringent tonic brewed from the red inner bark, which contains up to 12% tannin (Mockle 1955), and therefore has strong astringent properties, was consumed to control diarrhea by the Ojibway, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Cherokee, and Potawatomi (Gilmore 1919, Wallis 1922, Smith 1933). An infusion of the foliage was steeped by the Abenaki and Algonquin in Québec, and taken internally for rheumatism (Rousseau 1947, Black 1980). The Seneca of New York and the Delaware of Ontario steamed rheumatic limbs with the hemlock infusion (Waugh 1916, Tantaquidgeon 1972).
White cedar, or arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), a conifer with scale-like foliage usually found on moist sites rich in calcium (Marie-Victorin 1935, Blouin 2001), was a prime source of medicine to native people. An infusion of the leaves or inner bark was consumed by Ojibway and Mi’kmaq people as cough medicine (Speck 1917, Densmore 1928, Smith 1932). It was also commonly steamed and the vapours inhaled in native sweat lodges to combat colds, headache, fever, and rheumatism (Smith 1923, Smith 1932, Rousseau 1945, Black 1980, Herrick 1995).
Today, cedar oil distilled from the foliage is a principal ingredient in many commercial and alternative medicines, in particular cold remedies. Its primary active ingredient is thujone.
Choke cherry (Prunus virginiana), a small deciduous tree of open areas such as roadsides, riparian zones, and fencerows, is the most widely distributed tree in North America. It was also the fifth most widely used drug plant on the continent; according to Moerman (1998), it had 132 medicinal uses. Indigenous people from coast to coast gathered the inner bark, boiled it, and drank the decoction to cure diarrhea (Holmes 1884, Speck 1917, Smith 1923, VanWart 1948, Herrick 1995). Choke cherry tea was also consumed for indigestion, a tonic during pregnancy, and a gargle for sore throat (Blouin 1993).
Until next time. Be powerful and take care of your own needs!~Hare Krsna, Kokum Lal

Friday, 18 May 2012

The cows thank you for the donations!

The cows at Govinda's Farm would like to give a big milk soaked THANK-YOU to the two donations that they received today. A brand new Toshiba laptop from Sita Rani Devi Dasi so that yours truly can keep blogging about the farm and from the Buddhist Monks  some money towards the upkeep of the cows. Our farm is right on the corner of two roads so everyone can see what is going on...sometimes a good thing and other times just plain darn annoying.The monks drive by and get to see that we actually do take care of cows and that we do actually move them 8 times a day...everyday so they like to support what we do...if not by buying our delicious bread then in others ways.                          I've included a few pics of our old computer that we bounced around the jungles of Panama for 8 years in our rickshaw. Check out the double tape holding the screen on..old tuck tape and of course the very cool steampunk brass hinges. I was sad to see her expire...she was such a loyal friend...but no worries I believe in reincarnation and tada....her new and improved self!
 Wow...amazing! You really never know what is going to happen until you get out of bed. Life is just one huge adventure:) Taking care of cows...simple living and higher thinking....it doesn't get any better:) ~ Hare Krsna,Kokum Lal

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Free Food!

There are so many aspects of simple living but today I'm going to show you how to find free food! G and I take a 5 mile  japa walk most mornings. This morning I noticed that the fiddle head or the tightly furled new growth of the "ostrich fern" were growing profusely all along the border of our bog. The fiddle heads are best picked when they are perhaps 5 inches tall. The head needs to be furled tightly ...if they begin to unfurl they just aren't edible. I always tell the plant that I'm going to pick it so that gives it time to turn off the nerve impulses to that part. Also only pick what you are going to use immediately and don't pick to much off of the same plant. Then silently thank the plant before you leave.
I once almost died over these things. I was 9 months pregnant with my daughter and I decided to go for a short walk down to our brook to see how the fiddle heads were doing. Well stupid me...really I don't think my brain was in my head at this point or else I would have clued into the fact that we had a bad rainfall during the night and something had blocked our culvert...so the stream had backed up and the road had become a dam...where once was a cute...trickly 3 foot wide brook ..now was a lake of 100 ft across and at least 30 feet deep. Anyways I checked the fiddle heads and then climbed back up the embankment .....just as I reached the top...I heard this thunderous crack and turned around to see the entire road disappear... the wall of water smashed the trees and my poor fiddle heads to bits with tons of boulders.
Anyways...no biggie..I lived!
Just wash the fiddle heads with loads of fresh water and I always soak everything in 1/2cup vinegar for 15 minutes. Drain the greens and blanch for 5 minutes...drain once again and fry them up with butter...hing...salt and pepper. Some people think that they taste like asparagus....I'd think more like mushrooms or something equally earthy.
I noticed that they sell for about 5 dollars a lb. at the store.
I offer all of my food to Srila Prabhupada but offer to your chosen one as a thank you....it's the polite thing to do.~ Hare Krsna, Kokum Lal

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Dandelion Flowers Natures Yellow Dye

Not only are dandelion greens great for eating but the flowers make a fantastic natural yellow dye. I picked a pail full during the waiting periods as G's helper. (He is building a "hoop greenhouse" for sale.) My immediate plan is to dry the flowers. When they are dry I will buzz them up into a powder in my blender then use them as a colorant in my summer soaps. Hare Krsna~ KokumLal

More Simple Living!

I was majorly bummed when I took a good look at the ingredient list of my favorite Burts Bees  Honey Lip Balm and discovered although it was suppose to be all natural ingredients it contained parfum or fragrance. I know that parfum is bad so I did more research and found David Suzuki foundation had some good information. Here it is.

Photo: Fragrance and parfum
Fragrance is an obvious ingredient in perfumes, colognes, and deodorants, but it’s used in nearly every type of personal care product. Credit: blue celt via Flickr.

Use in Cosmetics

The term "fragrance" or "parfum" on a cosmetic ingredients list usually represents a complex mixture of dozens of chemicals. Some 3,000 chemicals are used as fragrances. i Fragrance is an obvious ingredient in perfumes, colognes, and deodorants, but it's used in nearly every type of personal care product. Even products marketed as "fragrance-free" or "unscented" may in fact contain fragrance along with a masking agent ii that prevents the brain from perceiving odour. In addition to their use in cosmetics, fragrances are found in numerous other consumer products, notably laundry detergents and softeners and cleaning products.

You see....ol' Burt must have sold out to "The Man". I'm not happy about this at all. I feel let down like  one of my best friends sold me out....cheated on me.
Chemicals on my lips just sucks badly! I mean I apply lip balm at least twice a day ...everyday...so if I am reapplying it..where did it go the first time? I must have sucked it off and now I'm full of these 3000 chemicals that I wasn't aware of. Arrrr!

Anyways enough snashing the teeth and cursing "The Man". I'm going to do something about this injustice to my lips. I'm going to make my own Honey Lip Balm!
It is just so easy to make this stuff! I feel so much better:) Alright so I didn't give "The Man" a major blackeye.... just a little pinprick;)  I'm not going to provide you'all with a recipe because there are literally a gazillion recipes online.... and besides I kind of made mine up. I'm cheering you on...take care of your own needs...it's super empowering!                                                                Seriously though the reason why I do what I do and G does what he does is because we feel passionately about living a good life with as little stress as possible and maybe helping others with ideas on how they can live  a simpler life as well. Hare Krsna, Kokum Lal

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Bread Account Cancelled! :o

A big reality of choosing to live on a farm is income. How to make enough to finance the project but not only that how to make money between the two hour intervals that we have  moving the cows through the pasture. You see our biggest reason for being here is to protect the cows and in order to protect the cows we are experimenting with mob grazing. Most people view cows as food. We want to change their vision. We want the masses to see cows as incredible soil makers...more valuable alive than dead. Mob grazing requires us to keep our small herd of 5 cows/bull/oxen,3 alpacas and 2 guinea fowl moving every 2 hours....which makes around 8 moves a day. So we need to be on the farm and yet make money at the same time. How do we accomplish that?
Gaura Nitai and I have always been involved with real estate to some degree or other so we are accustomed to making large chunks of money. Gaura Nitai has worked hard to bring in the money to take care of his families needs and although I studied business many years back I've basically  been a domestic goddess for the past 8 years. We decided that we are good at a few things and baking bread is one of our talents. G got a bread account  with the Buddhist Monks who live next door. I'm not a foodie or a prasadamarian...I eat to live(although I must admit sometimes I "live" a little bit to much)...so cooking isn't high on my list of fun things to do.. that is G's thing. I on the other hand I love to make lotions and potions.....green witch comes to mind;) I've grown a cottage garden full of herbs in the past so I wanted to do more of that.So right now we have two micro businesses on the go....Whole wheat bread baked in our wood burning Pioneer Princess stove and soap/beauty products. Bread in the morning twice a week and soap making in the evening 3 or 4 times a week.
Since last year we have been happily increasing our bread sales to the Monks.....yesterday they canceled the account due to financial difficulties:( This has freaked us out!!! Now what do we do? Our micro soap business isn't up and running yet.....it's still....well....micro mini. We'll see what happens today. Hare Krsna, Kokum Lal

Nitty Gritty Talk

I was wondering how I ought to represent our little community in my blog. Should I be formal and only quote Srila Prabhupada?
I decided that I'm not very good at that and there are hundreds if not thousands of sites that do a much better job at that than I could possibly hope for. What I am good at is saying it like it is...honest...nitty gritty talk.I will share with my readers what is actually going on in our journey as we discover how to implement what Srila Prabhupada wanted us all to do, Simple living and high thinking. Hare Krsna, Kokum Lal

Monday, 14 May 2012

Humane Mouse trap:)

The house here at Govindas Farm is nearly 150 years old and has no insulation in the walls at all. This presents a problem of making the interior difficult to heat in the winter months and hollow walls make a fantastic protected super highway for our local population of deer mice. Deer mice have very cute features big ears, big eyes and are tan coloured with white bellies. These cuties are also very athletic! Perhaps that is why they are called deer mice because they can leap out of a 5 gallon bucket as easily as a deer can hop a garden fence to nibble on your organic veggies. Gaura Nitai and I have actually witnessed the mouse run around the wall of the plastic pail so fast that it works it way up the side and then just runs out of the opening. We don't like to cause injury to the mice but neither do I want then running through my hair in the middle of the night. After many failed attempts to catch  them  we found that this nickel and jar worked very well.You will need,                                            
                    1-wide mouth glass jar
                    2-1/2 teaspoon of peanut butter
                    3-1 nickel..5 cent piece

Place the blob of peanut butter on the wall of the jar near the bottom. Turn the jar upside down and balance the jar (the side with the peanut butter blob) on a nickel. The peanut butter loving mouse will enter the jar and when he jumps up to lick the peanut butter his weight will cause the nickel to fall. Voila! You now have your slightly unhappy mouse. He will be fine until morning. The next morning we take him on our 5 mile japa walk and let him go in the woods as far away from the house as possible because they have a built in GPS. I'm thinking about putting a paint mark on our catch and release mice to see if they are the same mouse just doing a little tour and then coming home again. It always reminds me of the Flintstone cartoons I used to watch as a child...the beginning of the cartoon when Fred Flintstone puts his saber tooth tiger outside for the night. The tiger runs around the house ..jumps in the window..and as Fred is busy placing the stone milk jugs outside the front door the tiger locks him out! Anyways let me know if this little trick helps to keep your ashrams furry critter free.
Hare Krsna, Kokum Lal