ISKCON Miami's "Heavenly Forest"

Swarms of bumblebees humming around newly-grown mango buds, peacocks strutting beneath flower-laden trees, cows munching happily in the fields-ISKCON's new eight-and-a-half-acre farm on the western outskirts of Miami, Florida, resembles Lord Krsna's spiritual abode, Goloka Vrndavana. Srila Prabhupada has requested that the land be developed into "a tropical paradise full of fruits and flowers," and Temple President Narahari dasa and the other devotees are fulfilling that request. They recently installed a marble floor in the seventy-by-twenty-foot temple room and built a new barn.

But there's still plenty of devotional work for the fifty devotees on the farm, which is named New Naimisaranya (after a sacred forest in India). Some go out daily to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books and magazines. Others are busy putting the finishing touches on the temple. And still others take care of the bees, cows, and peacocks.

"We have fourteen working beehives right now," Narahari said, "and we've built an additional twenty hives that we plan to set up over the next year. We expect at least one hundred fifty pounds of honey a year from each hive, which should fully supply our temple's needs-and then some."

Meanwhile, the herd of five cows (two Jerseys, two Brown Swiss, and a Guernsey) produces more than enough milk to provide a sumptuous variety of milk sweets and other dishes for the temple's Deities-Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai.

Narahari seems confident that the paradisal environment, the beautiful Deities, and the natural joy of Krsna consciousness will attract many spiritually-minded people to New Naimisaranaya.