Project Zero Flies

Dear Readers;

 Last week we had a truck of pea gravel and a truck of sand delivered to the Farm and since then Natha and Gord have been hauling it into the barn. Our goal was to reduce the fly population and flies just love to lay their eggs in moist straw.

 We have noticed a huge reduction in the fly population and the calves just love lying around in the sand. Cleaning up the poop is a pleasure. We just pick it up with a little trowel and pop it into a pail where it is then placed on the garden.

 The compost toilet was giving off quite the offensive aroma. The guys didn't seem to mind but I was seriously grossed out so I insisted that we stick to the plan of drilling a hole through the bathroom wall so that the urine could be directed outside into a 5 gallon pail. Urine is incredibly nitrogen rich so we pour the entire dang pail on the apple trees roots....because those poor trees look as though they have been lacking in some TLC.

 Until next time.
Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal

Five gallon pail....of pee:)

Gord drilling the hole with a long two foot ships something or other into the bathroom.

Radhe,Gopala,Nimai and Nitai...just being their cute selves.

Arjuna peeking out.

Twins Radhe and Gopala just checking out the dump truck.

Market Day and Magic Mouthwash

Dear Readers;

 What a great day at the Farmers Market yesterday. We sold tons of soap! Although rain threatened to dampen our day....it didn't happen. The shoppers were happy to be out and about.

We really get a kick out of customers who bought our soap last year and who are super excited to come and find us to have a smell-o-rama! Of course they then buy bags and bags of various soaps:)

 Since the loaves of soap are hand cut they can be a little wonky but some are a little small so I sell those ones four for ten dollars and here is my little basket with my hand stitched banner.

 My daughter Lalana and I did nip away to do some errands... leaving Gord and Ty to manage the stall. We both love to search for treasures at the Cornwall Flea Market. She found a Bruce Lee poster for her husband Ty and I found a vintage silver ladle and a glass jar.

  You would think that finding a gallon glass jar would be as easy as falling off a log. Not so!!! They are becoming as rare as hens teeth. I saw this pickle jar at the Flea Market over a month ago and the guy tried to sell it to me for six dollars! This time I asked him how much and he told me...eight dollars....because it's tourist season and besides he was going home to make pickles:) After much back and forth dickering....we settled at four dollars but only because I really.....really needed it for the gallons and gallons of milk that we hand milk morning and night.

 The apron in the back ground was hand stitched by Ruths mother at Serendipity in Montague. Although aprons have fallen out of fashion I personally love wearing them. When I put my apron on..that's a signal to myself that I'm ready for work!

 Another fun thing that Natha did this week was show us how to make Aloe Vera Mouth wash. He said that his recipe stops cavities in it's tracks!

 Today is my day off...so I am heading up to my room to do some light reading and to pluck my eye-brows....my goodness..I've been so busy...I'm starting to look like a bushman:) Until next time.

Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal

Natha Das Is Here!

Dear Readers;

 We have had a super busy day. We started the day by milking the cow , getting a soap order together,  driving to Charlottetown to pick up our new resident Natha Das from the airport. He flew in from Vancouver and will be spending some time with us. We then had to do some errands before heading back to the farm to make soap and cheese.

 Poor Natha Das was to tired but still couldn't rest so we kept him busy until he was good and ready to get some sleep. Oh ...and he brought a murti of our Spiritual Master...His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:)

 While the men where making soap and cheese I tried to cut some grass but the mower kept stopping so I brought Radhe over to eat the grass. The plan was easier said that done. I had to get her from the field but she is very intelligent so she knew something was up as soon as she saw me. All four calves took off at high speed running and jumping. Now I know that there is no use running after them so I just went into the barn to wait. Cows and calves are very curious by nature...so they had to come into the barn to see what I was doing. I then managed to catch her and bring her to the house where she ate grass for an hour before I took her back to the herd.

 Time to hit the sack after a fruitful day.
 Hare Krsna.
Kokum Lal

This gas guzzler?

or this lovely grass eater.....hmmm...I choose Radhe.

Gaura Nitai making soap while Natha makes cheese.

Simple Living Is Not Easy Living

Dear Readers;

 Simple living is not easy living...that's for sure! We get to go to the barn and milk the cow twice a day ...every day...rain or shine. Some days it's just the last thing that you want to do....such as this morning. I had a lousy sleep due to the heat and I even had the box fan blowing directly on me and still slept fitfully. I took a couple of Homeopathic Calms around 3 a.m. and slept until 7:15 a.m. We usually milk around 7 a.m. so already we were 15 minutes late....bummer. Gord suggested that we milk and then take our showers after but I hate walking around feeling all groggy. Although we got out a little late nobody complained and all went well.

 We decided that we will take all of the woodchip bedding out and replace it with sand. You see we are battling hoards of flies! The flies are causing misery to the poor calves and alpacas. Flies like to lay their eggs in moist hay so we need to eliminate their nesting area. Perhaps we could also sprinkle salt and dichotomous earth to make the bedding unattractive to fly larva. That is what we decided at this mornings chin wag ...down at the barn!

 I didn't know that huge American dairies used sand as bedding until I saw this pic!

 Well alright then...G just ordered the sand and now we must get back to bread baking!
 I'm also making Natural Bag Balm for our Jersey cow and Honey lip balm for an order at a local store.

Hare Krsna
Kokum Lal

Market Day.

Dear Readers;

 I love going to Farmers Markets and I especially love being part of the action! The other vendors are usually pretty cool to work with and they make some amazing things. For instance Hannah Boer sews up some great bamboo undies...bras,bathing suits ...dresses...flowy pants and other great things. I have super sensitive skin and I am very picky about what touches my skin so finding underwear has been a real challenge ...but...yesterday I bought one of Hannah's creations and I am so happy and comfy! She sews those pretty little things with no elastic around the waist!!! Comfy...comfy...love them:)

The Crazy Cat Lady is a hoot! She has taken her love for cats to the EXTREME! I put that in capitals because she treats the cat dolls like her naughty children and has funny conversations with them....and the stories ...well.....wow!

The vegan ice-cream next to us...well ..what can I say? Capital YUM!...especially yesterday....it was so hot something like 35 celcius.

 We stopped at No Frills Grocery Store to fill out the order of soap. Strange but true....I'm real interested to see how our Natural wonders will sell to that crowd. We are doing a 6 month trial to see if the clients will accept something natural and healthy. I sure hope that they do.

 We were totally bagged when we got home but still had to milk Saci and take care of the calves. Saci had been lying around in cow poop so was dirty!!! I gave her udder a good cleaning and then we were done milking we took her outside and hosed her right down. The water was kind of cold but I'm sure that she appreciated it after the fact. She has never had a human care enough to wash her clean so she was looking at us as though we were doing something weird but she still came in to get milked this morning so all is well.

 We also figured out how to treat our bull who had us quite terrified with his wild bellows...while he rubbed his face in the red soil..and charged us. One day this past week we just bellowed right back at him and then Gord charged..while throwing clods of dirt! Poor Pita did not know what was going on and ran away but did take his testosterone out on a large round bale and practically destroyed it. We find that he has calmed down quite a bit but we have found out first hand where the idiom comes from....the "Stop being a bully!"one.

Hare Krsna
Kokum Lal

This is my grandson Maitreya feeding sweet Pita dandelions..last year.

Pretty Murray Harbor

Dear Readers;

 What an incredibly sunny day we are having here on the Island. I am making 5 gallons of strawberry jam and the darn thing won't jell so I decided to take a run to Butlers at Murray Harbor for some pectin to help my jam along.

 We have a few places that sell our soap so we decided to restock them if they needed restocking. Gord and I were shocked to see that Butlers only had 5 bars of soap left...out of 50!!! Wow...the locals are loving the natural soap. Nice!

 We also restocked The Church Bizarre...and here are a few pics.

 Gords' new thing is making cheese....which is kind of funny because his nickname when he was a kid was Cheezy. So Cheezy is now making all kinds of cheese with the gallons of milk that we hand milk from our lovely cow Saci.

 This is the first stage of cheese making. I did not take pictures of the rest of the process but I will do later on.

 Anyways we have a busy...busy day packaging soap for tomorrows Farmers Market....so I had better get going.

Hare Krsna.
Kokum Lal

Restyling...Revamping

Dear Readers;

 I'm revamping my blog and my Facebook...Om-Made Soap so that this all flows better. Also our website where we are trying to sell our soap...sucks...big time because we have no clue what we are doing. Neither of us are techi....:( I am sending out a ..."HELP!!!" I just checked our website  and the last person who tried to help us had set the cost of the soap bars at "FREE"  hmmmmm....poor clients who look for our soap...they must be completely bewildered. The pictures are boooorring. I just want it to be colourful and simple to use...you know the KISS principle...Keep It Simple Stupid.

 I feel that I am leading a few different lives here and it just isn't working for me. I feel that Govindas Farm ought to be the home of Om-Made Soap. Nothing has changed as far as what we are doing but I just want to connect it all so you can see that the soap is a big part of what we do to make money to keep our lovely cows in hay and straw for those freezing cold winter months.

 I was very frustrated with the Branding of our soap because it just wasn't representing who we are ...the pictures were so boring. Here are a few brand new pics that I styled and took today. Hope that you like them:)
Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal

Luscious Lime and Misty Mountain Mint

Luscious Lime

Mmmmmmmm........Misty Mountain Mint

Cascades of Fabulocity:)

Dragons Blood and no dragons were harmed in the making of this soap...

WWOOFER , Strawberries and a Wedding

Dear Reader;

 My husband made this massage oil from patchouli...tea tree and lavender essential oils. I used this oil on my injured elbow and my fingers are recovering very nicely. Before using it ...when I was milking the teats on my cow ...I wasn't sure if I was squeezing my finger or her teat:)

 Our volunteer from Switzerland spent one week with us and I hope that her experience was worth it for her. She was a hard worker and one of the fastest soap wrappers on the planet. Liza...definitely tapped into her Swiss Watch heritage! Wow!

 Our soap selling season has begun! We were at the Montague Farmers Market and the Queen St. Farmers Market in Charlottetown. The Market in Charlottetown is not only a lot of fun but we also make a few dollars.

 We have also finished baking bread for the Buddhist Monks....after 2 years of hard work. It was a good run but we needed to move on and spend more time on our business. We are so grateful for all of the help that they gave us to get us on our feet. Thank you my neighbours and friends!

 I'm also making strawberry jam today because I am picking buckets of berries.

 Oh..yes...here are a few pictures of my daughter Sitas' wedding to Gord Guild. She is now a married lady:)

Hare Krsna,
Kokum Lal

Daughter Lalana at the Wedding Shower. It had a Mad Hatter Theme:)

My Momma...Madeleine...

Lalana...grand-daughter Laxmi and son Rama.

Gord(Gaura Nitai Das)..Mom..and moi.

The Macs and our good friends Hari Lila and Bala Krsna Das from Saranagati Farm.

Vegan Wedding Cake

Me and my son Rama.