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At Sahyadri Sri Krishna Balaram Kshetra (SSKBK), Hebri, over the years we have been struggling to grow vegetables. At every step, we have faced many obstacles. But as devotees keep surrendering (yatha mam prapdyante ) the lord gives the intelligence (dadami budhi yogam) to overcome the obstacles.
After I relocated as a Rural Youth Outreach Director for IDVM-India to SSKBK, I saw our devotees go to the market and purchase vegetables required for the week. Then I enquired from Giriraj Prabhu why can’t we grow our own vegetables despite having sufficient land? He took me on a farm tour and showed one area which must be ¼th of an acre. It was well fenced and made rabbit proof. Electric fencing was also being put to keep monkeys away under the guidance of Madhava Prabhu. Then he said, “We could prevent monkeys, rabbit, and other animals from entering this plot, but we couldn’t keep the peacocks away. They fly and eat all the germinating seeds and young buds. This way all our efforts go in vain.” After hearing this, I felt completely hopeless. Nevertheless, I also thought that there should be some solution to this. So for about a week, whomever I met and wherever I went, I was thinking only about the solution. One day when Srijiva Prabhu was taking me to one farmer, I saw a few villagers playing volleyball and they had covered the court with a net. It triggered ideas in my mind and when I came back, I discussed it with Giriraj Prabhu. He said that it was a good idea and we could use a fish net to keep peacocks at bay. He also suggested that we could get a second-hand fishing net in the weekly market. Next Wednesday, we got the net, covered the sides and from the top, we put a steel wire (locally available GI wire like a mesh with two feet both vertically and horizontally) to prevent peacocks from entering.
Thinking we were successful, we began working on the land. This time we used the “Permanent Raised Bed” technique for farming. In this, one prepares the land in the following manner. First, we measure 4 feet / 35 feet, mark it with a rope and then dig 6 inches deep. Remove the soil and instead fill it with small wooden logs. Thereafter, spread cow dung slurry and cover it with soil. Then place small twigs and leaves, again sprinkle cow dung slurry and cover with the soil. This process needs to be continued until the patch is fully covered. The whole bed took us about one week with two devotees putting three hours every day. Finally, our bed was ready to sow the seeds. The advantages of this technique are easy watering, easy weeding, and harvesting. With great hope and joy, we put seeds and watered regularly every fourth day. Our joy multiplied as we saw seeds beginning to germinate. But the next day when we came to water, we saw peacocks had entered and eaten most of the germinating seeds. We again thought and discussed amongst ourselves; then we came to an understanding that we should cover even from the top with the net. By now Lala Gopal Prabhu who takes care of our cows and bulls also joined us seeing our struggles. He found the net in the farm and three of us covered the small area in which we wanted to grow. Again we put some more seeds and watered regularly. After one month, by the mercy of Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaur Nitai and Krishna Balaram we were successful. We could get some leafy vegetables. I am aware that we have a long way to go. But the Lordships are giving us the necessary intelligence and we are learning to surrender. We are now able to get a few leafy vegetables for two days a week. We also thank Sriram Prabhu for always supporting us. We pray to Guru, Gauranga, and all the Vaishnavas to kindly bless us. If you ever visit SSKBK, we would cook fresh farm grown vegetables which have been offered with love and devotion to the Lordships and gladly serve you all.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Varnasrama mission ki jai!
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