When I first came in contact with Hare Krishnas I was intrigued by their philosophy of simple, rural living. I remember being particularly inspired by the picture of a bare-chested devotee ploughing a field with oxen in the “Great Vegetarian Dishes” cookbook. Back then I just had vague notions of the realities of agriculture and farming and little idea how to take practical steps towards simple, rural living. That was until I received an inspirational answer to a question I asked during a morning philosophy class:

“Maybe before we start thinking about a farm we should first try a garden? (laughs) If we can’t handle a garden what makes you think we’re going to be able to handle a farm?” (HH Devamrita Swami, 2006/07 Otaki Retreat)

And so the seed for the Gaura Urban Permaculture project was sown. In 2007 I had the good fortune to purchase a property in central Johnsonville with a large backyard. The previous owners hadn’t taken much care and it was overgrown and weedy (photo 1). For the first months I was out with the chainsaw every weekend pruning trees and hedges. All clippings were mulched, mixed with dung from the local stables and composted.

Next a retaining wall was built to create a level area for the vegetable patch (photo 2). This created a large flat area for the main garden. Several smaller areas for growing perennials and vine crops have been created by terracing (photo 3). The soil started off as heavy clay, but has improved markedly by applying organic gardening practices such as mulching, double digging, and growing cover crops.

The 2007/08 growing season yielded some successful crops (photos 4 and 5). There was sufficient production to meet my own needs, to supply fresh, organic vegetables for Devamrita Swami during two of his visits to Wellington, and to occasionally give vegetables to Gaura Yoga and Parama Karuna Ashram.

“When you taste food from the garden, grown naturally, from the material point of view, that’s the real pleasure of life. But because people don’t do that any more … they have to make their life so complicated.” (ibid)

The 2008/09 season is just getting underway. It should be bigger and better than last year since much of the hard work has been done to get things established. As I write, the first crops are being planted out under polythene and glass to guard against the unpredictable spring weather (photo 6).

North East corner, showing the roof apex. Also, proof that I had a level on site (not necessarily proof that I used it):

East Barge, it isn’t quite square, there’s 25 mm variation in the width of the gap between the fascia and roofing iron.

These are turn-ups to stop the wind blowing water up the roof, under the flashing. I have no idea how this is supposed to be done, I just did what seemed appropriate.

North West corner.

Some ideas on flashing for Glenn. Click on them to get a bigger image (same for all the photos on this site).

My mother’s coming to visit in about a month and it would be great to get the building finished by then. There’s still quite a bit to do though - roof, door, windows, cladding, ceiling, flooring (pavers), etc…

Framing with Macrocarpa is hard work. Most of the nail holes have to be pre-drilled or the wood splits. But it’s turning out as a very solid structure.

Here’s the current progress (tonight I did a couple of hours work in the evening under floodlights).

Is sustainability just a whimsy of the middle/affluent class? Can we reasonably expect people who are only just getting by, fearful of unemployment, illness and crime, to have the mind-space to care about thier ecological footprint? Once I’m set up in my own backyard it would be interesting to explore ways to make such a shift easier for others.

This is the first course (with steel)

And an angle on the progress by the end of the weekend… more soon!

This will collect rain water for the garden. Rain water is much better than chlorinated town supply water for the garden and gives more freedom — this year the council had a sprinkler and hose ban for several months.

Prabhupada: Yes, naturally. If this man is fed up with this industry, he can go back to his village and produce his own food. But he is attached to this industrial activity … “We are getting more money for wine and women and meat. Let me enjoy.” … But if he chants Hare Krsna maha-mantra his consciousness will be purified and he will be made not interested in this kind of work. He will go back to the village and produce food.