This is an article I wrote for a newsletter. It was’nt published but I think it’s worth putting up here.

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).

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.