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!

Won’t you be our Valentine?

TICKETS: Advance Ticket Donation on kickstarter of $20 or more!) Door price ( $25.00) http://lovethyfarmer.eventbrite.com/

WHEN: February 12th, 2009 8pm- 11:30pm

WHERE: SPiN New York 48 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010

MORE INFO: http://lovethyfarmer.eventbrite.com/

We had our first real snow of the season at Ananda. While most of us in the city dread the cloudy skies, this one was a sight for sore eyes. Gleaming white, fluffy — it was the perfect snow. A group of us worked through the actual storm moving rocks and gravel to build the access road for the new cabins to be built. (Though there was joking about escaping from the gulag, I don’t know another bunch of folks that’s has had that much actually working in the snow).

We talked in the one cabin already there about future plans for the garden over hot cups of tea. Then down to the cafeteria for an amazing macrobiotic meal and to warmed up some more to tea and soup — getting us warm enough for a post-meal snow ball fight!

The snow lightened up for a beautifully bright evening of meditation (Joan, one of the oldest women at Ananda who helped start the ashram said it was the most beautiful she has ever seen the place).

After a bit of banjo playing and merry making with new and old friends over a roaring fire, the guys went out to clear the snow off the makeshift hoop houses we have up to protect the still baby veggies (Matt and Dave are going to Maine next weekend to learn a little more about winter gardening. Serendipitously, our friends Jose, Seth and Stephanie stayed with the expert on the stuff while they were up in Maine last year!)

In the morning, we woke up to the above scene. The kind of quiet where you can hear the snow fall and your foot steps crunch. The veggies looked a little cold this morning but the snow might actually help keep them warm and by 11 am the sun was going strong and melting much of the snow.

All in all, a pretty beautiful weekend.

Amazing talk by Douglas Rushkoff on the origin of the money we know and potential for future forms of peer to peer value creation. (huh? watch the talk)

This song came on while working on some Ananda Harvest stuff and just thought I’d share.

Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band: Carrie Brown

Happy Saturday!

For those of you who are more visual learners, here’s the first of many video tutorials to come. Below is part 1 of how to take down a tree (think of it as forest weeding)

… footage of the falling tree to come!

Ananda Lesson 1 from Jerri Chou on Vimeo.

It’s early November and it’s officially fall. The trees are dropping their final leaves and the cold is creeping in. That means frost! We had our first big freeze the other night and we had no idea what was going to become of our baby greens. Dave W stopped by to check on them at 6am and, as suspected, the little guys were frozen stifff. Were they going to be little piles of much come morning thaw like the many wilted frozen bags of spinach we’ve left in ice boxes turned up too high?

When we went back, we found the little guys were A OK! But why?!  Typically, when you have greens in the fridge, there’s a lot of water in the leaves. When it gets to freezing, the water expands and bursts the cells, making for the green mush you didn’t get to turning into a salad. The thought is that with the hearty greens, the moisture goes into the roots when it gets too cold so that the cells don’t burst… fact of fiction, only the internet will tell. (Here’s at least why buds don’t freeze.. plant anti-freeze?!)  All we know is that we harvested some arugula that day which we shared with the Ashram lunch crew and it was DELICIOUS. (Janka couldn’t wait that long).

Full coverage by Winnie Au here.

]]> http://blog.anandaharvest.org/2009/11/265/feed/ 1 http://blog.anandaharvest.org/2009/10/a-photographer-friend-pays-a-visit/ http://blog.anandaharvest.org/2009/10/a-photographer-friend-pays-a-visit/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:22:12 +0000 jchou http://blog.anandaharvest.org/?p=159

Will Winnie Au be our new farm photographer? Will we finish weaving the Fence!? All questions to be answered, but one that’s sure is that Winnie is yet another city lady who might be in love with the Ananda Harvest. Everyone who comes gets their hands dirty, but it’s always interesting to see how they use their skills to help the farm along. In this case, it’s creating beautiful images. Thanks Winnie!! Come back soon!

Full post and slideshow on Tumblr here winnieau.tumblr.com

Just because you’re not digging in the dirt everyday doesn’t mean you can’t help lay the foundations for better food systems, communities and joy. That’s why inviting anyone the chance to become Founding Farmers!

Ananda Harvest is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide nourishment to the minds and bodies of all those seeking it. We’re supported by the hands and gifts of those who believe there’s a better way of living.

Any and all tax exempt donations are welcome here

http://www.ysnyfoundation.org/contribute.htm

BECOME A  FARMER/VOLUNTEER

For $108 or more,  with the commitment to come and volunteer on the farm, we invite you to become a Founding Farmer of Ananda Harvest. In thanks for your gift, we’d like to extend the following:

• 1 Year membership to Ananda Ashram
• Access to a number of complementary classes, including yoga, mediation, sanskrit, and more
• Camping at the ashram
• Weekly updates from the farm
• Time to work on the farm and a voice in planning and future developments
• 10% Discount on all seminars including beekeeping, biodynamic & rooftop farming and more.
• Ananda t-shirt and 10% store discounts

JOIN A WARM COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS & FARMERS

Make your donation at http://www.ysnyfoundation.org/contribute.htm and email ananda@anandaharvest.org to make sure we get to say thank you and send information about your benefits!