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<\/div>\nEight of Bhaktivedanta Manor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 100 acres of farming land\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmainly grazing pastures\u00e2\u20ac\u201dare ploughed by oxen, and yield enough vegetables for the Deity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kitchen. While the farm has a long way to go to provide all the vegetables needed by the temple\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhich feeds 2,000 people each week\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still an impressive effort. And there are future plans to harness the strength of the ox in another way, with an ox-powered mill expected to start providing energy to the community within the next few months.<\/p>\n
It was in the setting of this inspired agricultural community that devotees from all over Europe attempted to learn new skills and get encouragement to boost their own efforts.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On each of the three days of the conference, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d start at 10am, and have four or five different presentations before lunch,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shyamasundara. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some related to different projects going on around Europe, but many were concerned with the Manor, since there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot going on here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Japa Yajna Dasa gave a presentation about the Manor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s care farm program, established with the Lotus Trust, a parallel charity to ISKCON. Created in connection with government care organizations, it arranges for people with special needs to get exercise, fresh air, good company and fulfilling work by coming to the Manor and working on its farm.<\/p>\n
Japa Yajna also spoke about a recently established program wherein people serving a non-custodial sentence can do the community service required of them at the Manor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s farm and Goshala. He also explained how other farms around Europe could set up similar programs if they wished.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Another program that can be set up to draw volunteer workers to our farms is WWOOF\u00e2\u20ac\u201dor Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shyamasundara. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prabhupada-Prana, the temple president of Karuna Bhavan in Scotland, which has had quite a lot of success with the program, gave a presentation on it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
WWOOF doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide financial compensation for work, but instead gives volunteers\u00e2\u20ac\u201doften traveling students\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfood and accommodation in return for learning and an experience of the organic, sustainable lifestyle. As well as explaining how devotees could set this program up at their own farms, Prabhupada-
\nPrana gave another presentation on natural energy technologies being used at Karuna Bhavan, such as wind turbines and biomass burners.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile on the subject of cow protection, Sita Rama Dasa, one of the senior managers at Bhaktivedanta Manor, described the Ahimsa Milk Initiative, another project executed along with the Lotus Trust charity.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very bold initiative, considered controversial by some,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Shayamasundara says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He has created a partnership with a conventional farmer who has agreed to enter a certain number of his cows into a protected system, so that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be taken care of by the Ahimsa project once they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finished milking. In the meantime, their milk will be sold as Ahimsa milk. Sita-Rama has also created partnerships with a production company and a delivery company, so that the cruelty-free milk can be delivered weekly by subscription to devotees and cow-lovers around North London. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a program that takes some compromises, but saves a lot of cows.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Presentations were also given on a community-centered lifestyle and the use of oxen by devotees from New Mayapur and Hungary. Dhanesvara Dasa, a popular speaker on the Varnashrama lifestyle and author of Spritiual Economics, gave a thought-provoking talk about Vedic culture and the importance of living on the land.<\/p>\n
Afternoons during the conference were devoted to practical learning on the Manor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s farm, an extremely important element. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the first day, I gave a tour of the Goshala, explaining in great detail how we run the farm and take care of the cows and calves,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shyamasundara. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I explained how the cows are milked, and how the milk is tested and properly sterilized according to local health regulations. I also described how the calves are cared for duing the different cycles of their lives. For the first two weeks, the calf stays with its mother and drinks her milk, and we take the surplus. After that, the cow and calf are put in separate pens, but the calf still has access to its mother at milking times until it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about six months old.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
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<\/div>\nShyamasundara also showed the conference attendees the cow \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsick bay,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 equipped with a crane for lifting old cows or oxen that needed medical attention. He demonstrated an Amish-invented contraption that enabled five oxen to pull one load by harnessing them all to one unit. And he explained how the roof of the Goshala building collected rain water which was then used to wash the cows down and to provide them with drinking water.<\/p>\n
The next afternoon, workshops were given on how to run a dairy, how to make a yoke, and how to drive oxen.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A lot of the participants had never driven oxen before, so they were given an apportunity to actually drive the ox carts and use the plows, and to see how simple it is,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Shyamasundara says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We also showed them the Manor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s technique of harnessing the bulls by the nose, and explained the benefits of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
The day concluded with a tour of the polytunnels where vegetables were grown, wherein Krishna Chaitanya Dasa showed attendees the various crops, the tools, and the facilities used for special needs groups in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153care farm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d project. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the final afternoon, Uddhava and Janakula gave us a tour of both the formal flower gardens and those in which we grow flowers for the Deities, and explained how we grow them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shyamasundara. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We then concluded the conference, with everyone expressing their appreciation for it, and the enthusiasm it gave them. They were all chomping at the bit to get back on their farms!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shyamasundara explains that the annual Farm Conference is very practical\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit gives devotees a chance to see what people on other farms are doing, and the knowledge to implement new initiatives on their own farms. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a very important event for rejuvenating devotee farmers, for leaving them feeling that their project is important and an essential part of the ISKCON mission. For, unfortunately, it seems that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get that inspiration much elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Recently, when I did a tour of all the European farms, it became clear that temples are not supporting agriculture or cow protection\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand ISKCON leaders are not talking about their importance anymore,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Shyamasundara says.<\/p>\n
He explains that this is because of an unrealistic expectation of farms, which also stunts the growth of farm projects in ISKCON. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Leaders are not getting behind farms because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trapped in the idea of farmers living in mud huts and not earning anything from their work,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Even though you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have farming in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s times unless people can make a living from it. And temples are not buying the food that ISKCON farms produce, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s double or triple the price they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d pay in supermarkets, and comes with some dirt and insects on it, some natural elements. The same goes for milk from protected cows\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit has a naturally higher cost. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So farms can be very successful, and do wonderful preaching as they are in Hungary\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut only if ISKCON leaders accept the naturally higher prices of protected-cow milk and homegrown food, and tell the temples to buy it. It would also help if they spoke more about farms during their regular preaching tours, which would support and energize the farmers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
Until then, the ISKCON European Farm Conference will continue in its job of inspiring and providing practical advice for farmers. <\/p>\n
Next year, the Conference will be held in New Vraja Mandala, Spain. Shyamasundara hopes that gradually it will catch on beyond Europe as well.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153North America and India should have their own, too,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This principle of farmers coming together and getting practical experience and enthusiasm for their service is very important.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thirty devotees from ISKCON farms all over Europe attended the fourth annual ISKCON European Farm Conference from May 10th through 12th this year, hoping to gain inspiration as well as practical advice for their various rural projects. Devotees hailed from farms in England, Sweden, Czech, Slovakia, New Mayapur in France, and Hungary. Some wanted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cow-protection"],"views":7948,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}