More rain but no water

It rained again last night and very early this morning.  Although its made everywhere very muddy, there was not enough rain to put water in our ponds.

The earth must have got very dry indeed.

Rain!

The kolam obviously worked because we had rain this afternoon.  Although by then I had of course done all the watering.

Pity it didn’t do anything about the humidity though because it feels uncomfortably damp.

Diwali

This kolam was made yesterday.  According to Sivakala – shown on the right making the kolam with Vasantha – it should bring the rain.

So far no rain.  Just a quiet day when I have enjoyed working on the material I am going to use for this week’s teaching.

Our own rice planting

We planted our own rice in the school vegetable garden at lunch time.  Only three students turned up, two of whom were princesses who sat and watched rather than joining in.

I am very pleased we have done it.  Now I have to think how to make the next four sessions of this module interesting for everyone in the group.

Rice seedlings ready

These are the rice seedlings which we will plant in the newly prepared rice padi that we made yesterday in Deepanam school.

Puddling

After a lot of effort we managed to get everything ready for making a rice padi and millet patch in the Deepanam school vegetable garden.  This involved getting two cement rings, putting them in the right place and then filling them with soil.  The picture is of Selvam with several students mixing up the soil, compost and water – or puddling as it is known.

I got very cross with one student who wouldn’t join in because she would get soil under her nails! 

Having fun

Here is one of the volunteers having fun pretending to be a monkey.  This after rolling in the mud after watering trees.

I need to learn how to have more fun.  Feeling that I am way to serious at the moment.

Flower power

When I came in after work this morning I found this plumaria flower in my pocket.  I don’t know how it got there and didn’t get crushed.  It was like a present from the garden.

Mother’s meaning for this flower is ‘psychological perfection’ which I’m not quite sure what this means for me.

Marking

Had a pile of marking to do for one of the schools where I help the students make a vegetable garden.  Every week I give them a work sheet to do to help them reflect on what we are doing.

Very disappointed with the result as only one of the group has made a proper attempt at doing it.  A few started and then gave up and several have done nothing at all.  I also asked them to decorate the folder but only a three of them have bothered to try.

Clearing up

When I went out early this morning to clear up the last of the Pryog orchard I was surprised how many other people were around.  We all seemed to be feeling the need to do something in the garden.

Very pleased to have just about finished everything, especially the terrace.  Originally this was going to be a place where we demonstrated how to grow things on a terrace.  But now I am not so sure.  So have cleaned it up and see what happens there and what feels right.

Indian crib

I was going to make an Advent Calendar but have ended up doing what I am calling an Indian Crib picture instead.  I am going to send lots of pictures of Indian flowers and animals so that the children can decorate it.

This is my first effort at the picture.  I’m getting it printed here in Buddha Garden so I can check how it will look.  Some of the pictures are from low resolution from the internet and I need to make sure they print OK before I have them done professionally.

Pryog orchard

For the last two days I have been working in the Pryog orchard, cutting the grass and today weeding the cement rings.  Because we didn’t have a grass cutter for a few weeks the place had turned into a jungle.  But now it is starting to look really beautiful.

I am so enjoying working there as I feel it developing into what it is meant to be.

Noisy day

Had my first class of the cereal project at one school and then off to help with the vegetable garden at another school.  It became clear that my communication with teachers and students needs improving for the first school.  There was a certain amount of chaos as people had different ideas about what should have been going on.

I feel as if it has been a very noisy day and my ears are ringing!  

Clearer

Realised today that Buddha Garden is our anchor.  This is what I created today to express what this means, but realise its not quite right yet.

Maybe tomorrow……

Discussion

Had a long an intense discussion with Vivek today.  How to set up something in Buddha Garden that holds the energy?  Something that has the flexibility to move forward in the right direction and give individuals room to grow, but is not so flexible that everyone ends up doing their own thing side by side instead of together.

I don’t know.

New chickens

20 new chickens arrived yesterday from a place nearby that sells them for meat.  So instead of being someone’s lunch they are going to make compost and lay eggs for us instead.

They all look a bit scared at the moment and want to keep close to each other.  But hopefully that will change soon.

Thinking

Have been thinking very deeply today about the rewrite I am doing on ‘Hands With the Earth’.  I have been trying to describe all the connections between the different elements in a small patch of Buddha Garden.  Its difficult if not impossible.

So I took a picture instead and hope eventually I will be able to describe how what we do in Buddha Garden is in tune with natural cycles.

We had the first meeting to try and set up the Buddha Garden Alliance this afternoon.  It was interesting and disturbing.

Shifting

I felt a shift in Buddha Garden today as the place changes from me at the centre holding everything together to a more collective way of being.  I’m not able at this point to describe it in words.

Got the idea last night for a new project and a next step for me. Realised today that I have provided two of the things – a sanctuary and a learning place – in Buddha Garden already today.  Again it is too early to describe how this might develop.

So much going on

So much seemed to be going on today.  With the addition of all the work generated by the two school project I did yesterday.

This is a picture of the end of the irrigation pipe art installation.  Each end of the pipe has been tied up and it sat in the sun today.  So tomorrow it should be OK to go to the place where it is going to take water from the big water pipe coming in to Buddha Garden to the New Horizon land. 

Glowing green

We started the Deepanam cereals project today with a trip to Annapurna farm to look at the rice growing.  As the picture shows, some of the fields were glowing green with the new rice growing up.

This afternoon we started the vegetable garden again at Udavi school.  As usual the students were very all over the place, but as usual we got a lot done.  The plants looked really healthy.

I am so pleased the internet is back everywhere in Buddha Garden.

Exciting day

The people came today to install the new internet line.  Regretfully, as I type this, it has led to my internet not working.  They promised to come tomorrow and sort it all out.

The picture is of the new cables which go from the new dish to the office and back again.  The third ‘cable’ is plastic and holds up the other two.  So the weight of the cables protects the wire inside so it doesn’t stretch in the heat.  Very clever.

Artwork in the garden

We got all our irrigation equipment for the new land on Saturday.  We unwound the large pipe which is going to take the water from the tank to the field and this was the result.  It looks like an art installation of some kind.

According to my daughter I should charge a LOT of money for people to come and look at it! That is before we pull it out and tie it up straight in the sun so that it eventually lies flat.

The Farmer's Shadow

Went onto the new land early this morning and in the early morning sunshine had a lot of fun with my shadow.

Someone once told me that for a farm to be successful the farmer’s shadow needs to regularly fall on all the land of the farm.

Love the Land

Got lots of things sorted out today, one of them being that we are getting a new Smartnet connection for our internet.  We have been told that BSNL will take at least two months to repair or replace our cable.  We cannot wait that long.  Eventually the Smartnet representative turned up and I signed the form which means work can proceed.  According to him we will have a connection by Monday.

Didn’t have time to do a picture so am using one of the new land.  I just love going there and seeing how it is being brought to life.  We have now finished planting all the sweet potato on half the beds.

More children coming

In the last few days we have had two more children come and join in with the morning activities in Buddha Garden.  Maybe having Magzhiran here is attracting other very young people.

He’s a bit young for real friends just now and a bit cautious,  but it won’t be long before that changes.

Lovely smile

This afternoon I went to a ‘seven-month ceremony’ that Vasantha, our kitchen helper, put on for her pregnant daughter.  It was held in front of her house in the village.  Her daughter is about 7 months pregnant and this ritual is meant to help protect her during birth.   Usually it is carried out in the husband’s house but the two families don’t get on, so Vasantha did the ceremony herself.  She told me that she ‘wanted her daughter to feel good’.

As you can see from the picture I think in the end she did feel good.  During most of the ceremony she looked very tense but then toward the end there was this lovely smile.

First planting in New Horizon

Today we planted the first bed in New Horizon with pumpkin seedlings.  This despite the fact that we had a large group of students from the Delhi Ashram school to deal with.

I am so very pleased with how this new land seems to be coming together.

My nerves

Over the last few days since I have seen Jo I have felt that my whole nervous system has changed.  The picture is how I saw it during my yoga class today.  Generally the ends of the nerves are red but now they often seem green.  In fact I felt that I had a button inside where I could turn them from red to green if I wanted to.

Very useful!

Students

Today we had 33 students from a school in Kolkkatta come to join in the morning work.  The work didn’t go quite as planned for practical reasons but they nevertheless managed to get a lot done and seemed to enjoy themselves.  Its amazing how quickly the New Horizon land is coming along.

I have been invited to visit the school! 

Blossom

Today Rajan and Selvam moved the jasmine tree which was close to the entrance to Buddha Garden.  When in blossom, like now, I would get a lovely lungful of jasmine smell as I came through the Buddha Garden gate.  Because we are building a new covered vehicle shed at the entrance I knew this tree, along with a lemon tree, would have to be moved eventually.

I would have waited until after the blossom had finished before I moved it.  It’s a tough local plant though, so hopefully it will be OK. 

While I had the chance I brought some of the blossom inside.

Magzhiran

Was very surprised to hear a lot of noise early this morning (it being a Saturday) as Selvam and Rajan went out to do some work.  I went out to see what they were doing and found them digging holes with Magzhiran helping with the wheel barrow.

He seems to me to be really enjoying living in Buddha Garden.  I love having him around.

Amazing session

Had an amazing session with Jo today.  The cards showed that to heal myself I need to let go.  To allow things to happen in their own time.  Which is VERY difficult for me to do.  Ever Since I was born I feel that if I am not struggling I won’t survive.

The picture I took of the card layout from which this insight came, did not come out properly.  So have decided to find a flower picture that expresses this insight.  This flower is not jasmine although it looks and smells a lot like jasmine.  Its planted just by the entrance to Buddha Garden so there is a wonderful smell just as you come through the gate.

Flowers

This picture comes from Dirk who is in France where it is still warm and summer like.

We had another big thunderstorm last night and its nice now the earth is softer and easier to plant.  With the damp I did feel a bit creaky this morning though.