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THE ISCOWP NEWS Volume 1 Issue 2
Not only do we travel with our oxen to spread the message of cow protection and vegetarianism, we also offer information on the practical application of protecting the cow. The distribution of this knowledge is necessary in order for cow protection to spread throughout our society. To present this practical knowledge, this and subsequent issues will continue to present Vraja and Gita's training lessons and begin to give you information on how to develop your basic equipment for working with your ox. With permission from our friend Ben Jenkins (Parmananda das) we are reprinting his master articles: "How to Make a Yoke", "Making The Irons", and "How To Make An OxBow". These articles appeared in the 1984 ISKCON farm newsletter published and written by Ben. Pages 3-5 of this issue are devoted to the first instalment of "How To Make A Yoke". These articles expertly explain how to construct your most essential and important piece of equipment, the yoke. If you seriously want to take up training an ox or plan to do so in the future, the summer issue, this issue, and the following issues will prove invaluable. So, save these issues!
The photos on this page visually present the command "Haw", to turn left. The first picture shows Vraja and Gita going into the turn, and the second picture shows them after its completion.
Second Lesson - The Commands "Gee" and "Haw" Back to Back Issues Page
Second
Lesson - The Commands "Gee" and "Haw"
How
to make a Yoke The full version of this article will appear in our
resources section as soon as I have all the installments. In order to get the grain lined up so that it goes lengthwise across the whole yoke and gives maximum strength, we want to make the yoke out of one quarter of the tree. Therefore, the tree has to be quite large. The diameter of the Sycamore log that I am going to use is 2 1/2 feet. If you are making a six inch by eight inch, or a seven inch by nine inch yoke, you have to start out with a quarter that is at least a foot wide, so that by the time you get it trimmed down and squared it won't be too small. There is a two inch difference between the depth and the width of the yoke that I am going to describe.
The yoke I am going to make is six inches across the top and from the highest point to the lowest point it measures eight inches. If you had bigger oxen you might want to make it seven by nine. I've never made a yoke bigger than seven by nine. I don't think it is necessary for the strength of the yoke, and if you make it bigger than that you are really just adding extra weight on the necks of the oxen without any purpose. A yoke should be designed to be as trim as possible without compromising strength. The log should be six feet long to begin with. To quarter the log, I use wedges and a sledge hammer. Such a big log may take a lot of wedges. If a quarter is too small you can split out a bigger section and make the yoke out of a third. You may have to make some quite large wooden wedges in order to split it evenly so you don't ruin the log. It is possible that only one or two quarters will be good and the others will have a lot of knots in them. If you can't split your log with wedges, you can resort to a chain saw and slice the log in quarters.
Diagram 2 shows the end of the log divided in thirds. The spotted rectangle is the end of the yoke. If made this way the grain will run all the way through the center of the yoke. This rectangle should be laid out at both ends of the log and then lines drawn connecting the two ends. These are important guidelines for squaring the log. This rectangle should be laid out before splitting the log so you are sure your section of wood will be large enough for the yoke. Make sure to leave an extra inch around the lines. You may have to shift the layout a little due irregularities in the grains or an unforeseen knot. As you can see in picture 1, I'm using a broad axe. If you have this tool, it is ideal for squaring a log and hewing it. It is flat on one side and it is specifically made for hewing. Its broad cutting edge facilitates making a flat surface. With this tool I am going to flatten out this quarter on all four sides and make it into a rectangle, six by eight inches. To hew a log, hit it at an angle and make notches that penetrate as deeply as possible. After you have made a whole row of notches that penetrate as deeply as possible, lower your axe almost parallel to the log, and swing it right along all the notches. They will all come off. In that way you work your way down and begin to develop a flat, hewed down surface. Throughout this process, you want to be careful to keep looking at your lines to make sure you are making a nice squared off piece. Keep turning the log and working on all four sides at once. Gradually work your way in toward your lines. Don't come too close to the lines because there may be some irregularity since you are working with a very rough piece of wood and you are doing a lot by eye. Use an L square to check your angles. You want to get right angles as you go around the log. Be careful not to take big chunks out of the wood when you hit a knot or if the grain changes a little in the wood, because it could spoil your yoke and make it a very ugly, messy, irregular thing. If you want to do a nice job, you have to watch the grain carefully. If you see that the grain is changing and the axe is digging in too far, then you turn around and hit the chunk from the other direction. This hewing is not light work. In the right mood the quartered log can be squared in a day. The article "How to Make a Yoke, " appeared in the 1984 "ISKCON Farm Newsletter" written and published by Ben Jenkins. Further installments of this article will appear in the future issues of the ISCOWP News. We will also be reprinting "Making the Irons" and "How to Make an Oxbow. " We recommend you save these issues as they will prove to
be invaluable when you are seriously ready to train and equip a team of oxen for
your farm. We apologize for the break in installments due to last issues Annual
Report.
True
Farmer's Network
This issue we are featuring Ananta Krsna who heads up the cow protection program at the 90 acre New Varshan farm in New Zealand, Here are excerpts from her letter to let you know how cow protection is going on "down under". My name is Ananta Krsna dasi and I wrote to you sometime ago regarding the PR you have with your bullock program. You wrote me back a long informative letter including pamphlets that you send out. I'm sorry that I never replied to your letter. Since then I have been developing our cow protection and bullock program here on New Varshan Farm in Auckland, New Zealand. Last summer I took our bullocks to the Royal Easter Show and gave rides throughout the day for 13 days. Although I am able to drive the bullocks, the crowds that we had to go through made it imperative that we lead them for the safety factor. We also had our calves there with a display on cow protection. Since then I have taken over the maintenance of our Goshalla and am currently milking 4 cows. I am getting approximately 90 litres of milk each day, and I am supplying the temple, our school, and our restaurant with all the milk they require. I also make curd, yogurt, cottage cheese, and 8 hard cheeses. I have also set up a cow sponsorship program with photos of each cow and a monthly or yearly donation. Friends can sponsor an individual cow or the general herd. Indians come and do puja and make offerings. This is very nice. Whenever people sponsor the cows, they receive a framed certificate with a photo of that cow on it. Regarding our bullock program, all young bulls are handled a lot including picking up their feet, leading, grooming etc. I then drive them from behind with long reins on each side of their bridle. Then I put them in the gig. If I have another one of the same age/height, I yoke them up together after they have been taught to individually drive. I make all my own gear. Unfortunately I have had to use leather because of the strength factor. I have a large truck which we have converted to carry 4 bulls, or 2 bulls and the cart. They travel well in it and I only need to get a paint job done. I am saving to get a Tropicultor from Hyderbad India. This saves up to 30% of the bullocks energy and does the ploughing, cultivating, harrowing, discing, seeding, etc. from the one machine. My goal is to work the bullocks as much as possible. I do a lot of odd jobs -around the farm with them, but as yet, they aren't ploughing full time. I do all the cows and bulls feet. It is of course much easier with the new ones lifting their hooves as they have been trained. With the older cattle, their feet need attention and I have a great device that you may or may not know about. Please find enclosed a pamphlet on it. I have one Hoofnac and they are great. They really do work and it saves having to "drop" your cow/bull to the ground by putting 2 half knots around the body and putting your weight into it. This is an unnecessary stressful situation for them to go through when you have the Hoofnac. The other alternative is to put them unconscious. The Hoofnac is far superior to any of these other alternatives. It is portable and can be screwed onto any railing anywhere. In the past I have used heavy wooden yokes, but I have
found a lot of energy goes into holding it up. So I made a new one that works
very well. Basically, I had a piece of piping bent the shape of the yoke, and I
had the neck parts padded as in horse collars. The result was a very light
weight yoke that is comfortable and will never bend or crack. I also got the
bows bent and shaped with a bend going forward so when they put their weight
into the bow, they don't cut off their windpipe. The sides of the bows are also
padded. If you'd like to get in touch with Ananta Krsna write to PO. Box 104 - 020, Lincoln North, Auckland 8, New Zealand. If you are protecting a cow or cows/bulls on your farm and want to share your experiences with our readers send a letter and pictures to us so we can publish it in this column.
Third
lesson - Pulling
As mentioned in the previous issue we will be making a metal prototype of the water wheel before building the wooden wheel. There are several advantages to doing this. First, a "natural" resource of America is the junk yard. A small family farmer can find the gears at such a place at a low cost. Second, we should be able to manifest the prototype within several months and get an idea of some of the problems involved in producing the wooden system. Third, there will be a system operating soon to give everyone the realization that ox power is a practical alternative energy. Shown above is the main gear known as the "bull" gear and a smaller gear (sitting on top of the main gear) that we recently purchased due to the contributions of our members. Now we are looking in junkyards, auctions, and salvage yards for the remaining 6 gears to finish the metal prototype. The well that we presently have on our property is a 6 inch tube well being pumped by an electric pump. This is a common type of well. It is preferable to have running water on your property. It is much easier to tap into for irrigation since the water is already on the surface. Since the goal of this project is to show ox power as an alternative to electricity and other standard forms of energy, we are researching pumps that do not depend on electricity. Piston pumps or an auger-shaft could be put into the well. As the auger turns, the water is propelled upwards. These types of pumps are used in South Africa and we are presently trying to get a lead if they are available and from what depth they can deliver water. Part of the problem is that most of these systems can deliver water from a maximum depth of only 40 feet because the weight of the water has to be moved upwards in a 6-inch tube. For every foot of pipe, there is a gallon and a half of water, which will be 12.3 pounds of weight. If your auger is at 40 feet, the initial force against the water would have to propel 492 pounds of water just to get the momentum going. When the appropriate type of pump is found it can be used for our wooden water wheel as well. During our travels this summer we are looking forward to an exchange of ideas with you our members for the completion of this project. We thank some of our members who have made suggestions, which have proven valuable. Of course you can always write us with your ideas. When we get back from our travels in late August we hope to proceed in full force to complete the project by the end of the year. We have decided to print the names of all water system donors at the completion of the system to leave room for information we wanted to include in this and subsequent newsletters. Water system progress reports will also follow in further newsletters and literature.
The first step in cow protection is vegetarianism. Often we meet people who sincerely love the cow but continue to eat meat. They find it very difficult to take up vegetarianism due to old habits, lack of knowledge on how change those habits, and the fact they are living in a society where meat is readily available and its consumption is a way of life. Sometimes we meet people who were vegetarian for awhile but discontinued because they lacked knowledge of how to prepare a variety of dishes. Their diet was limited and did not compete with their previous meat-based diet. To help those who wish to make the transition from a meat based diet to vegetarianism, we are offering a new column, "Laksmi's Kitchen". This column will present a variety of simple recipes that will make the transition to a vegetarian diet an easy and positive experience. Our daughter Laksmi, age 15, is the cook in our house. She has prepared and we have tasted all the dishes presented in this column. And they are good! If she can do it so can you! Okra in Tomato Sauce Okra releases glutinous sap when cut, and sweats when salted, so dry it thoroughly before cooking is completed. Okra is a summer vegetable. When selecting okra look for small pods. If the pointed end snaps off, it is fresh. Serve this dish, which originates in Trinidad, as an entree or side dish. (We have it as our main vegetable dish). PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes COOKING TIME 20 to 30 minutes YIELD: enough for 6 persons 500 g (a little over 1 pound) young okra pods 3 tablespoons (60 ml) olive oil 1. Wash the okra, dry them with paper towels, and cut off the stem ends. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and sauté the okra until lightly browned all over, (about 10 minutes). Lift out the okra with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a saucepan. 2. Sauté the asafoetida in the oil remaining in the pan, add the peppers and chili, and stir-fry until they become soft. 3. Add the tomatoes and sugar and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes or until the tomatoes break down. 4. Pour the tomato mixture over the okra, stir to mix, and cook covered until the okra is tender (about 5 minutes). Sprinkle in the salt and serve hot. |
This site was last updated 10/23/07
