Gathering bright minds, warm hearts, and helping hands, we are creating a small farm that works with nature’s rhythms to nourish the people, the land, and the spirit of Ananda.
Winter’s a good time for indoor games as we rest up and get ready for spring planting. And with Valentine’s day around the corner, we figured, why not play ping pong and show some love for your farmer instead of buy lots of stuffed teddies?
So we’re hosting a Ping Pong Fundraiser this Friday at New York’s only private ping pong club and we’d love you to stop by!
It’s a final push for our kickstarter cabin fundraiser – there are only 6 days to go so if you haven’t donated, do it now! If you’ve already donated, we thank you from the bottom of our harvest baskets. All tickets from the Love Thy Farmer event will go toward the Ananda Harvest Cabin Project. Either way, you should come out, have some fun and learn to love your farmer!
The event will include everything from a doubles ping-pong tournament to DJs, and more!
Jean Pain (1930 – 1981) was a French innovator who developed a compost based bioenergy system that produced 100% of his energy needs. He heated water to 60 degrees celsius at a rate of 4 litres a minute which he used for washing and heating. He also distilled enough methane to run an electricity generator, cooking elements, and power his truck. This method of creating usable energy from composting materials has come to be known as Jean Pain Composting, or the Jean Pain Method.
Maryam Henein (friend) and Geo Langsworthy have made this incredible documentary. I am also looking to see Gunther Hauk in the film. Gunther is a famous biodynamic farmer and beekeeper who was one of my mentors.
A huge row that looks way too huge to reach across. I just can’t figure out how they do this. The only thing I can think is that they walk on their “beds” as they plant and then again when they harvest. I don’t see another way.
I feel like this lady from Cornell.
Confused with lanes (doesn’t she look a little bewildered?), stuck reiterating something Eliot Coleman probably got from Europe 20 years ago. In case some of you are wondering why I’m mentioning this. It’s because I like to grow the most food per area (short of turning into an agro-business monster). The Ashram has usable land crammed between trees. Chop Chop…. NO! Not the trees! It also seems to be the best defence against weeds.
A friend just passed me this excellent article from Dmitry Orlov on the fallacy of “community creation”, two words which certainly get slung around carelessly in my corner of the world. I’m particularly impressed by his observations of the diminished role of women in community building. I’m too young to really know this firsthand, but apparently they were THE community builders — and that makes sense. Ever since reading H. L. Mencken’s In Defense of Women I’ve been thinking about this exact thing in similar terms. Completely non-PC, all of it, but that’s probably telltale in and of itself. Ladies, what’s your take?
Astyk makes the excellent point regarding the destruction of community through overwork and the herding of women out of the home and into the workplace. Women can’t just be (unless they are rich) — they have to have an occupation, and the default occupation — “homemaker” — carries a bit of a stigma. Women have always been the backbone of any community, and the regimentation of women’s lives was a brilliant move in the direction of totalitarian consumerism, because it allowed relationships even within the family, such as child-rearing, to be commercialized. Once all social interaction is centered around consumption patterns, community as a notion becomes little more than an advertising gimmick, and self-organizing properties of society become restricted to pursuing the latest commercial fashion.
If you fancy, do read the full article at ClubOrlov here.
So after Matt & Dave’s glowing reviews, I finally got ahold of a copy of Eliot Coleman’s Winter Harvest Handbook and have this morning already devoured half of it. Really a remarkable, accessible work that I recommend to everyone!
I already want to know even more about the history of it so I did a little research based on the bibliography and found a few things that might be of interest:
A socially conscious venture where 50% of the proceeds of her pillows go to a different non-profit each month.
See her interview below with two fellow farmers Farming Your Mind, Thanks Emma! Keep up the great work….
by Emma
I recently read that delving into 8 minutes of deep meditation daily can increase ones brain size. Although 8 minutes may seem like an easy feat, meditation is one of the hardest exercises to conquer… for me at least.
For those of us still struggling to ignore our overly stimulated minds and reach a sense of heightened relaxation, The Ananda Ashram, located in Monroe, NY, offers a perfect balance of yoga, meditation and now FARMING!
If your mind resembles an erratic maze, with your thoughts running amuck, chances are, silencing those thoughts will prove to be like a maze with no end.
Some yogis use chanting as a way to focus ones energy on repetitive mantras in order to calm the mind. These yogis use farming.
I was introduced to The Ananda Harvest by one of the founders of the farm, David Gottlieb. Gottlieb with fellow founding farmer Jerri Chou, among others, saw an opportunity to start a farm, escape from the city, and help decrease the amount of money the Ashram was spending on food.
I got a chance to chat with the two Brooklynites and here’s what they said:
Why did you decide to start the Ananda Harvest Project?
We didn’t even know we WERE starting it at first. It all started when a group of us started visiting Ananda. It was this amazingly peaceful place on such beautiful land. We started wondering why it wasn’t being used to produce anything and got to thinking how great it would be to start a farm and grow veggies on the land! We started building the idea and then began the actual garden with friends. It’s been a beautiful exercise, not only in body, but community, and personal growth.
Who is involved?
There’s a group of us (mostly creative, eco/socially conscious people from the city). We’re programmers, communicators, designers, etc. But it would never have been possible if not for the original farmer of the land, Dave Washburn, and his son, Matt, who have been holding down the fort up there!
What can we expect to see in 2010?
There’s a lot coming. There’s been so much excitement! We’re planning on building an additional cabin for people to stay in and holding a workshop on how to build that cabin! We’ll be planting in the spring and expanding our growing to more areas of the Ashram. We’re also looking to host all sorts of courses including permaculture, beekeeping, etc. It’s going to be a jam packed season of growing!
Is there any synergy between the farm and the yogis that visit the Ashram? If not, do you plan on creating any? Definitely. The whole concept is based on meditating with your hands. So many of us need a place of peace and where we can create something tangible. That’s what this farm is for us, a meditation. Not to mention that all yogis are welcome to pick up a pick and help dig and we’ll be encouraging those who visit to partake in the amazing and extensive series of courses at Ananda.
How can we help?
We’re always looking for help, supporters, or just visitors. For more information you can check out anandaharvest.org and sign up for our newsletter. Or feel free to send us an email at hello@anandaharvest.org.
Answer’s Contributed by David Gottlieb and Jerri Chou
Founding Farmers at Ananda Harvest
www.anandaharvest.org <http://www.anandaharvest.org>
While plenty of city schools, from elementary to secondary, teach students about environmental issues like endangered species or global warming, places like the Green School put an overwhelming emphasis on civic involvement.
The students are encouraged to delve into local issues that may affect them and their families, like contamination in waterways like the Gowanus Canal, water quality or the razing of low-scale housing.
“You can’t have a kid in a violent neighborhood and say, ‘Let’s talk about the polar bear,’ ” said Karali Pitzele, one of the school’s two co-directors.
Across the nation, the range of green schools form a fledgling network, with some of them benefiting from state grants and mandates to incorporate environmental education into the curriculum.
This short photo essay is absolutely beautiful, and makes me want to build a glass beehive. Anyone know if that is possible, or if it would actually be damaging to the bees even if it were out of direct sunlight?
A bell jar was placed on top of a mini hive and bees from the nucleus started to create foundation of a hive in the jar. Once the foundation is laid, the bees work in masses to form the rest of the hive.
Click on the link below. It is a video of our first weekend at the ashram. We escaped the concrete jungle and enjoyed the pleasures of nature, water and the silence at the ashram, but most importantly we shared and learned more about permaculture.
Please note that I did not capture the educational sessions that were taking place during the weekend. I can share with you the relaxing and beautiful moments from the weekend with my first time video editing skillz off of iMovie.
Reposted from Johnny’s Seeds (not sure how I missed this?):
USDA TO LAUNCH HIGH TUNNEL PILOT STUDY TO INCREASE AVAILABILITY OF LOCALLY GROWN FOODS
3-Year Project To Verify Effectiveness Of High Tunnels In Natural Resource Conservation
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2009 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced a new pilot project under the ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ initiative for farmers to establish high tunnels – also known as hoop houses – to increase the availability of locally grown produce in a conservation-friendly way. Merrigan and other Obama administration officials highlighted opportunities available for producers in a video posted on USDA’s YouTube channel, which shows high tunnels recently installed in the White House garden.
Perhaps this might add validity for some of you to the notion of setting up quick hoops. Me, I’m starting to reconsidor. I wonder if Michelle Obama had to fight as hard to bury the EMT hoops in the ground. This shit is driving me bananas. I’m starting to think cold frames was a better idea. Anyone know where we can get old sliding glass doors from? That would be an ideal size pane to use for a coldframe. How bout 3/4″ to 1″ diameter footing pins 3 ‘ or more? The wider diameter footing pins might make it easier to bury the 3/4″ EMT. Currently I’m using 1/2″ to 3/4″ pins, pounded in to the ground, and then yanked out to create the hole.
John Jeavons Look this guy up. Along with Alan Chadwick, Jeavons is one of the pioneers of French Biointensive Gardening. (Bio for Biodynamic). His books are amazing. I am planning to go to the conference if anyone is interested.
He will be presenting a one-day GROW BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming Workshop at Treys Hall on the Douglass Campus at Rutgers University.
The workshop offers an excellent opportunity to acquire a wealth of information on the most efficient gardening method we know. This information has been gathered from over thirty-five years of research, and is currently in use in over 130 countries around the world.
John Jeavons has been the Director of the GROW BIOINTENSIVE Mini-Farming program for Ecology Action since 1972. He is the author of How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine, the primer on sustainable Biointensive Mini-Farming, which is currently available in English, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Hindi and Russian.
These guys seem like the are doing it swell over in Pine Island, NY. Only about 20 minutes drive from Ananda Ashram. It would be another local farm to check out I think. Sounds like they have some type intimate dining experience as well…
I discovered the transplanter while living in Japan a few years ago. I was
so excited about it that I not only decided to buy one and bring it back but
also made arrangements with the company to import them because they are so
well-suited to small farms.
Maryam Henein (friend) and Geo Langsworthy have made 
So after Matt & Dave’s glowing reviews, I finally got ahold of a copy of Eliot Coleman’s 
