Wood Chip Gardening

Beginning of a MOObile for my new grand-daughter. Made with upcycled cotton and stuffed with merino wool.

Dear Readers;

I walk by a human and they will undoubtedly get this bewildered look and  say..."Hmmmm....all of a sudden I feel hungry for some fries!"  In the mood of making what we use....we make our own shampoo bar and for a hair conditioner I rinse my hair with two cups of apple cider vinegar and just leave it in. The ACV smell usually leaves after my hair is dried.This minty scented shampoo bar is a minimalists dream because you can shampoo your hair...wash your bod and brush your teeth with it. Of course I recommend you cut a bit of the bar off ...for your toothpaste...other wise...that would just be gross:)

I'll write the weekly blog post while my hair dries and besides I look like a wild woman with my hair down...and I hate having anyone see me like that! Once upon a time as I was typing my post and drying my long hair...a man...won't say who....said out loud...instead of wisely just thinking those thoughts said......"AHHHH!!!! YOU LOOK LIKE AN OLD INDIAN GRANDMOTHER!!!!".........thus began WW3 at Govindas' Farm!

Moving on to the present day....all is peaceful and mostly well. Most of the 600 tomato plants are doing well...some better than others. We observed that  the tomato plants that were sunk deeper into the soil are recovering much quicker than the ones that were planted nearer to the surface.

My heritage hollyhocks are beginning to thrive but not the morning glories.

Bhakta David has been planting up a storm. He now knows what a strawberry plant looks like....but not before he beheaded all of the strawberry patch with the weed wacker:(

On Sundays I cook up a prasadam feast using as much as I can find from around the property.

Dandelion greens in the pudhas and rhubarb for desert...along with chamomile and mint tea...to name just a few of the preps.

After lunch and a little cat nap the men went back to the garden to plant carrot seeds and fix fences for the cows. I on the other hand did the dishes

I collect vintage plates from second hand shops and purify them with homa ash.

and spend the rest of the afternoon sewing a mooooobile for my brand new grand-daughter....until it was chanting time.

Until next time.
Hare Krsna.
Lal

What's Up In Pics

Dear Readers;

We are super-duper busy spreading manure...woodchips..planting and finding new locations to sell our most fabulous http://www.om-made.com/ products.

A very happy Alex from Montreal.

Alexs' Traveling Pants:)

Govindas' Farm where every step is a dance;)

Pita the bull and Pita the man.

Bhakta David learning about Mob Grazing.

Happy grazers.

Rosemary keeping her swivel eyes on Bhakta David ..thus making him nervous.

Instead of being all wordy-wordy...here are the pics of what's going on at Govindas' Farm.

Until next time.
Hare Krsna.
Lal

Bhakta David and G planting corn in the wood chips.

My herb garden ready to be planted with herbs and flowers.

G showing off all of the cardboard that he stuffed into the trunk of our Jetta.

A new gift shop that will be selling Om-Made Soap!

Push a hole thru the wood chips,manure and cardboard with a metal pole.

Admire the nice hole:)

Add a little old compost and place plant into hole. Press the soil firmly around the plant to get rid of air pockets.Replace wood chip mulch.

The view of Wood Islands Ferry that our soap will be seeing this summer;)

Lots and Lots of Wood Chips!

Dear Readers;

I think that it was about three weeks back that our friend Andrey turned us on to ..The Back To Eden Garden  Youtube video. We watched the two hour video about this Vietnam vet who had been gardening using wood chips as mulch for thirty odd years! This guy...Paul had damaged nerves in his legs due to "Agent Orange" and walked around with a terrible limp. He used his rake as a cane and that same rake is basically all he used to work his very large garden and orchard. Here's the video and it is well worth watching in my opinion.

We were so convinced by this method of gardening that we ordered thirty-five tons of wood chips!

Anyone want to help haul wood chips?

Starting to cover the front flower garden.

We will keep you all updated on our latest Govindas' Farm experiment.
Until next time.
Hare Krsna.
Lal

Happy Grazers

Dear Readers;

We like to mob graze our herd of cows,alpacas and bird. What we've been finding after a one year break due to the bull, Pita,being a complete tool about keeping all humans out of his domain...is that they lost the comfort level that they had developed when we were moving them. I know that is completely normal for a bull but it did freak us out and mess with the process of mob grazing. We also found that not mob grazing was not good for us humans because we kind of lost contact with the herd. When we go and move the herd two to three times a day...we get to chat with them...check them out to see if they are healthy...check their poop to make sure that it is healthy...as the saying goes...healthy poop...healthy animal. Also when the herd is moved they are happy....they have something to look forward to and they all get excited when they see us coming. When we are getting the fence ready to move them to a new lane..the entire herd moos at us....Pita always screams in desperation...and all the others are sounding like..."Alright already...come on...come on...get going...are you done yet?...now?...done? Huh?......Come on ..we haven't eaten in like five minutes!"

Once they are moved they happily graze on red clover,dandelions,sheeps sorrel,daisies and a variety of other grasses and wild flowers.

Until next time.
Hare Krsna
Lal

They are grazing under the line but are respectful of it.

The lane that the herd has finished grazing and won't return to for one full year.

Heads down and happy:)

Good Monday Morning

Dear Readers;

What a beautiful morning here at the farm. The sun is shining,the birds are singing and best of all Rosemary did not attack G! I think that she is experiencing those funny spring feelings;)...consequently is hate/loving all males.

 Yesterday the men moved and repaired the electric pasture fences  and moved the herd into the fresh pasture....giving the front pasture time to recuperate. I went to check to see if they did it right......kidding!......I went to visit the herd to see how they were doing and to give my opinion on when we will next need to move them.

 It looks like they will need to be moved just after lunch today. On the way back from the pasture I checked on the twenty rose bushes that G and I planted during the week and checked on the baby cherry trees. I gave them loads of manure so that ought to help them grow quite a bit this year.

Miss Rose and her 19 sisters are doing very well.

The dandelions are come up in full force and to those of you who don't know. We love..love dandelions!  We leave them for the bees to draw the nectar.  We also eat the leaves as veggies  and every morning I add a handful of freshly picked and washed leaves to our morning smoothie. I also add the leaves to our home made lemonade...along with a few sprigs of peppermint and of course sweetened with our neighbor Stan The Beemans' Honey. Yum!

Until next time.
Hare Krsna.
Lal

Dandelions!!

Baby cherry trees are thriving .

Today In Pictures

Dear Readers;

Beautiful sunny day here at the farm....volunteers coming to help out so this is what is happening at Govindas' Farm today...this morning...errrr...half an hour ago......;)
Until next time,
Hare Krsna.
Lal

G helping me with my herb garden:)

Cherry tree blossoms!

"Rosemary who's eating my plants?" Rosemary,"Chirp..trill...Not me! I wouldn't dream of it!"

"CHOMP!"

Label for my Natural Fiber Clothing...still needing a few tweeks....