British Columbia Farm Flourishing

NEW GOKULA (Bridesville, British Columbia) In the crisp Canadian morning air, the sound of a drum echoes off the surrounding hills, hand cymbals ring, and voices rise in song as the devotees of Krsna begin another day of devotional service. This is New Gokula, the 320-acre ISKCON farm-asrama in the interior of Canada's westernmost province, British Columbia. Just five miles from Bridesville in the district of Rock Creek, it lies on the rolling land that ends at the United States border.

One of our main projects this summer was transforming the seventy-year-old farmhouse originally on the property into a shining new temple for Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madana-mohana (the presiding Deities of the community). We doubled the area of the old house by adding a kitchen, a serving room, a guest area, workrooms, and offices. Since Canadian winters are long and snowy, we insulated the entire house and built a special sun-room with double insulating glass for Srimati Tulasidevi (a sacred plant dear to Krsna). The neighbors are amazed at the transformation of the house and farm. All of them are helpful and encouraging: they teach us things like how to get a tractor out of the mud, and we teach them about Krsna.

Rabbits, deer, and squirrels are a few of the many kinds of creatures who share the land with us, but the main animals are the cows. We have nineteen of them (eight of which are milk cows), six calves, a collection of heifers, and four oxen. During the day, they can all be seen grazing on the hills. For several weeks this summer we fenced off one rather wild pasture area, only to find that the cows were too spoiled to eat such rough grasses. They are accustomed to highly cultivated fields. In the spring they loved to get into the budding crop of winter wheat and nibble on the tasty grains. Now, however, they are settling down in a rich pasture of oats.

The cows are giving over three hundred pounds of milk a day, keeping the devotees well nourished. We especially delight in offering Lord Krsna fancy preparations made with yogurt, ghee (clarified butter), cream and curd. All the devotees here at New Gokula are realizing the vital importance of the cow to human life.

New Gokula is especially suited for growing alfalfa. This crop is quite wonderful: not only is it very high protein and the best of all feeds (the cows love it), but it also enriches the soil with nitrogen. It has long roots that absorb minerals and water, and after it's planted, it grows for more than ten years without reseeding.

Weatherwise, it's been a strange year: very cool and dry in the spring, and then cool and wet in summer. Because of this the vegetables did poorly this year, but the grains are doing great. We expect to harvest them soon and fill our granaries to the brim with almost 150 tons of Krsna's mercy.

All in all, though we've had some difficulties, we here in New Gokula are very happy and content. We're confident that if we just follow Srila Prabhupada's instructions and worship Krsna wholeheartedly, He will provide us with everything we need-both materially and spiritually.