March 9th, 2010
The previous week was spent preparing for 40 guests who were coming to stay for the weekend. They were from the Jain religion, and they booked Hare Krishna Valley to hold one of their retreats. They were very happy with the facilities that we provided, and the prasadam that we prepared for them on the Sunday. They decided to cook for themselves on the Saturday, but after tasting Manigriva’s cooking on the Sunday, they said that they will let us cook for the whole retreat next year. Gandhiva took them for a bush walk, which was enjoyed by all.
Manigriva, Gandhiva and myself started to erect four hot-houses, which will be used for growing vegetables and seedlings during the winter period. We have already received an entire months rainfall in the last week, and everything is looking lush and green. The Zucchinis continue to produce themselves profusely, and now the butternut pumpkins are starting to turn the right colour for us to pick. Because the weather has become quite cold in recent weeks, our eggplants are not producing very much fruit. We will see how things go this week.
Until then, I remain yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada.
Kesava dasa.
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March 2nd, 2010
Another big week at Hare Krishna Valley. It seems the more you serve Krishna, the more service He gives you to do. At least at Hare Krishna Valley, this seems true. It has been non stop. We are now half way around the Temple building with the first coat of the new paint job. Such a big building seems to be taking forever, but, Krishna continues to send us help. This week, a friend of ours named Tom came to our rescue, and helped us complete the painting on the longest wall of the building.
On Friday, Matt Allan, the CFA representative came and assessed the 6 buildings on our property, to rate them in terms of their safety in the bush fire. He will write a comprehensive report, and send it to us in the following week. Overall, he felt that our buildings were in good condition, and will advice us how to make them more defendable from ember attack.
On Sunday, Manigriva and myself, with the help of another of our friends, Rob, put a coat of render on the north and south wall of the mudbrick ashram. This was a long day, and we just had enough render to complete the job. Overall, we are getting alot done, and we always appreciate any help that we can get. If you feel inspired to come and stay for a while to help out, please get in contact with me.
Hope you are all well.
Speak to you next week.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada.
Keshava.
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February 23rd, 2010
This week, following our prolific rain and sunshine at Hare Krishna Valley, we were able to harvest 20 crates of Zucchinis for use in our Temple and Gopals Vegetarian Restaurant. At this point in time, we are waiting for our Pumpkins, Eggplants and Tomatoes to ripen. Our vision at Hare Krishna Valley is to grow enough produce for our residents and for our community in Melbourne.
This week I was on the tractor, mulching the long grass that has grown all over the property, to decrease our fire risk. The CFA will be visiting our property later in the week to inspect our progress. They have informed us that the fire risk for this summer is no longer high, which means that we can spend time preparing the property to guard against the fire risk for next summer.
The painting has continued on the Temple building, and we are now applying the new colour on the walls. Stay tuned for future updates of the progress.
Until then, we hope you are in the best of health.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada.
Keshava.
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February 23rd, 2010
Click on the image below to view full size image.
You are invited to our upcoming Yoga retreat weekend at Hare Krishna Valley. This promises to be a fulfilling weekend of wisdom, health and relaxation. A good friend of ours, Vanessa Lee, who has 12 years experience as a Yoga teacher, will be teaching the philosophy and practice of Hatha Yoga. This will benefit both your mind and body. I will be teaching complimentary classes on the philosophy of a Yoga Lifestyle, based upon the ancient teachings of the Vedic literatures. Along with the classes, there will be plenty of time for bush walking, relaxation and socialising. We hope you can join us. Please contact me to secure your place.
Warm regards,
Keshava
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February 16th, 2010
It was another fruitful week at Hare Krishna Valley. With the help of our Wwoofer friends, Pete and Audrey, we were able to get a lot of painting done on the Temple building. Wwoofer stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. This is an organization which has been set up to provide organic farms with volunteer manpower. The Volunteers work for 6 hours a day, and in exchange, receive free accommodation and prasadam. In this way, both the farm and the volunteers are benefited. 
Manigriva Prabhu was busy fixing the tractors, as they are old and needed some care and attention. This week, we were able to bring 14 crates of zucchinis to the temple and Gopals.
Our Sunday feast was well attended with at least 30 people joining the devotees in the celebration. Manigriva Prabhu led an ecstatic kirtana in which the guests and devotees danced and chanted together. I then gave a class with a Valentine’s Day theme, from the perspective of Krishna Consciousness. Everyone then enjoyed a feast which was prepared with vegetables grown on the farm and donated by some of our local friends.
We will keep you updated with new developments at Hare Krishna Valley.
Until then, I remain yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Kesava dasa
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February 9th, 2010
I just thought I would give you a brief report on what has gone on at Hare Krishna Valley in recent months. We have planted pumpkin, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes, which will all be ready for harvesting in the near future. Manigriva prabhu has been delivering our organic produce to the Melbourne temple on a weekly basis.
We have all but completed the kitchen renovation, and it has turned out to look like a first class catering facility. This has allowed us to register the kitchen with the Surf Coast Shire. The main things that are left to do are to put in a new vinyl floor and replace the cover of the rainwater tank. Mahajana prabhu has kindly offered to supply the flooring for this job.
We have also completed the garden along the front of the temple building, which also looks quite impressive. We have had a number of WWOOFers and other volunteers helping us in the last few months, and this has allowed us to get alot done and make the place look presentable for guests. Three of the volunteers who stayed with us left chanting Hare Krishna on a regular basis, and are preparing to return again soon.
We have now begun the big task of painting the temple building. Hopefully with enough help we should be able to complete this task in a few weeks, and then begin painting the inside of the building.
We have also hosted two successful retreats with His Holiness Devamrta Swami and His Holiness Prahladananda Swami. All those who attended were pleased with the improvement in the facilities, and with the friendly community at Hare Krishna Valley. The Sunday feast in January saw almost 50 guests and congregational members gather for this festive event. We also managed a successful catering event at the Tranquility festival at Ocean Grove with the help of our enthusiastic congregation.
We are planning to post a regular report on our blog to keep all of you informed of progress and events at Hare Krishna Valley.
We look forward to seeing you down here soon.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Kesava dasa.
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November 28th, 2009
How lucky are our cows. 200 acres of land all to themselves.
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