Wednesday 28 May 2014

Fence Checking

Dear Readers;

Now that winter is finally waving goodbye, G and I decided to check the fence line. Here are a few pics of what we saw.
Baby froggies.

Rosemary loves coming for walks to check the pond!

Our fantastic bog..it's just full of cranberries and other good plants.

Drat...I missed picking the fiddleheads...but they are pretty.

I love trees!



The cows are forever curious to see what we were doing and not a little disappointed that we didn't move them to a new pasture. We tried to explain to them that the fence line would only be fixed on Sunday but they still weren't impressed and mooed at us until we went back inside the house. Until next time.
Hare Krsna.
Lal

Grow Your Clothing

Dear Readers;

The first year at the farm I grew flax...a small plot..maybe...but it made me happy. I harvested it but didn't know what to do with it so the small pile became mulch for my garden.

This year I decided to grow another small plot and maybe I will not be so overwhelmed by house renovations and soap production.

This time I won't loose my pictures. These two pics are from Pintrest.

Until next time.
Hare Krsna.
Lal
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/452259987552760451/

Sunday 25 May 2014

I Love Micro Businesses

The ladies hard at work machine knitting warm,woolie sweaters!

The ladies can knit them a little longer for us ladies to wear with leggings.

Finger puppet Anne Of Green Gables

...and her best friend Diana..of course:)

These mittens are hand knit by local ladies and they are full of puffy wool...so toasty!
Dear Readers;

The key word in running your own micro business is the word...``running ``! These past weeks have been busy with packing orders and selling soap or just advertising by giving out hundreds of  samples. We dropped off more product at Founders Hall. They are selling oodles and have made a fantastic display for our stuff.
Founders Hall display.

Giving out samples....right....that`s why I came...not! :(

I love micro businesses and the people who do them for many reasons. My number one reason is that these owners are usually really cool people because they are happy people:) They are following their passion and money isn`t their driving force. Sure we have to make a few dollars because we have bills to pay but that is secondary to the craft.
Colourful hand knit socks. Warm and wooly.

Here are a few pics of our Saturday at The Tulip Festival in Charlottetown. We gave out a lot of samples but for us at least we did not sell much. It was Johns`day! He is a local photographer and he sold tons of postcards and prints. His final comment as we were all packing up was, ``I don`t want this to end!!` All good things must come to an end...even this. So until the inspiration stikes again. Hare Krsna.
Lal
Glass lady right across from us.

Victoria Row is full of tulips.

Eckart the Curious Mouse. You can try and find Eckart in 9 different areas around the downtown area:)




Wednesday 21 May 2014

Yay! Spring Has Sprung.

Dear Readers;
 Ah...Spring is actually here and I for one could not be happier. Winter was just so,so long! We've been making loads of soap and we went to a Craft Fair on Saturday but we were not very successful. On the way back home we stopped at this incredible art gallery  called The Dunes. I didn't get any pictures of the inside but I just had to take a few pics of the garden. I love...love statues of all kinds but especially East Indian.
Gaura Nitai enjoying a few minutes of calm.

Reclining Ganesh and a Goddess

Ganesh wood carving.



Alright now that the weather is warm Gaura Nitai and Andrey have spent the past three Sundays moving the piles of cow dung to the fields and spreading it around. They have also been moving and cutting wood because we burn wood all year long.
  While they are busy outside  my job is to make sure that everyone is full of prasadam. Somehow I started to make spicy pancakes and that has expanded to various chutneys,yogurt,rice , dahl and a yummy desert.

 I met our Japanese volunteer Yuka in Charlottetown while we were selling soap at the Mall. She really wanted to get out of the city and DO SOMETHING!!! "Alright no problem", said I. She spends Sundays with us planting seeds into flats,digging up strawberry plants,feeding calves and chanting! Yuka is a joy to have around and she is so stylish:)




Until next time,
Hare Krsna.
Lal
Stylish Yuka digging up strawberry plants.


Monday 5 May 2014

AH... Spring...Yes? No?

Dear Readers;

Has the Spring Fairy blessed you with warm weather and lovely flowers yet?

As I type..snow is falling here in Highbank Prince Edward Island,Canada. I'm trying to console myself by reciting a verse from the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Chapter 2 Verse 14
O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

Alright I'm feeling slightly disturbed even though I know that the temperature is to warm for the snow to stay on the ground..yet it is slightly disheartening. 

Yesterday was a beautiful day full of sun, friends , family and my daughter Lalanas' little dog named Mini. Andrey and his six year old son Lior came from Charlottetown to volunteer for a little go(cow) seva.

 While the men shoveled compost into the back of the pickup and then spread it on the field near the house, Lior was busy in the workshop building a transformer car out of wood. Lalana and Ty left Mini with us while they took a trip to the Emergency room at the local Montague Hospital. Lalana was having difficulty breathing after inhaling nasty chemicals while working at her job. The Xrays confirmed that the chemicals had irritated her lungs and they were slowly filling up with water! Ah Yikes! I'm sure she will recover quickly because when I made my children...I made them out of rubber so that they would bounce back quickly:)

Little Lior has an indomitable spirit like his father. After hours of working on his car Lior,Mini and I took a walk to check out the pond that is situated at the bottom of the North pasture. I had to carry Mini past Rosemary (guinea fowl). 
Mini had a fantastic time running full speed thru the shallow water.
You see when Rosemary was just a little fluffy thing I caught Mini with Rosemary in her mouth! Rosemary never did forgive Mini and now she is twice the size of the little terrier so tries to peck her every chance she gets. 

On the way to Radha Kund..that is the name we call our little pond, Lior and I saw the first little yellow flowers dotted around the field. We also saw a pair of geese. Since our pond is only two years old it is quite exciting to see the same pair of geese return for a second year in a row.

We finished off the day with some nice bhajans...short talk from Bhagavad Gita and then we had to feed the calves before Andrey and Lior headed back to Town. It was a great day. 

Until next time.
Hare Krsna,
Lal


They were quite cute...they pretended that they were rocks when we first spotted them.Mini stayed far..far away from them:)

Six year old Lior going to test his car/boat invention.


A little back heavy and slipped sideways. Back to the shop to add stabilizer wings...