It’s hard to believe I’ve already been here 10 days, we’ve gotten so much accomplished & yet it feels like I just got here yesterday! I drove down from Fairfield, Iowa to pick up my friend Steven in St Louis (I’ve known him for over 30yrs & he flew out from CA), then we road tripped the rest of the way to Houston with overnight stays in Memphis & New Orleans. It was a slightly nerve racking trip as I had my trailer in tow with my rooftop tent on top, but we made it. Day one I had some hesitation when initially interacting with the cows, especially Chaidanya (che-de-knee) & Gaura (gore-uh), but that quickly went away as they warmed up to my presence in the fields. Manu & Satrupa, the ducks, don’t run away nearly as quickly as they did the first few days, so that’s an improvement. I’m learning so many new things, it’s hard to keep up. We immediately started clearing trees & cut pieces to form fence posts. My first Saturday was filled with new faces & names with so many people from the community coming to volunteer their time & effort to clean up the barn as well as to help clear more trees.
A good portion of this day was also spent discussing the VedicTree goals of providing a place with a Vedic library for the youth (adults too) to come expand their knowledge & develop a stronger connection to all things living that we share this planet with. The robust discussion varied widely from Osha, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Ayurveda, the holistic approach to health with preventive care as opposed to sick care or treatment of symptoms as opposed to the cause of the ailment. This type of discussion was something I was craving, I loved that it was so free flowing & couldn’t be happier with my decision to contact Sahana Singh after reading her article on Medium.com about Abhinav Goswami & his family. https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/i-would-like-to-offer-america-the-best-of-ancient-india-ethical-milk-vedic-education-and-e240fac2d21e
Today I will be working on building version 3.0 of our saffron bulb dibbler & I think this iteration will last. The field has been double tilled & is ready for more love & attention!
The Cows: Chaidanya, Gaura, Nandini, Kamla, Asha
The Ducks: Manu, Satrupa
Maharishi International University Regenerative Organic Agriculture Program Student, Farm Intern, Veteran, Ryan F Beylikjian