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THE ISCOWP NEWS Volume 16 Issue 2 2006To Kill Cows Means to End Human Civilization Srimad Bhagavatam. 1.4.9 Purport
Krishna
Visiting with Balaram while taking a tour of the ISCOWP farm Calories of fossil fuels expanded to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78 In spring and summer the land awakens from a long winter sleep. The earth that was once frozen and dormant softens and becomes alive with warmth. The spring is a time to cultivate the earth and plant it with the hope of a bountiful harvest. The summer is the harvesting of springtime’s labors. The two are inseparable. Fresh, lush, green grasses grow in spring and are a delight to the cows after eating hay all winter. The prayer is for enough rain to keep the hillsides green through the summer. This is also the time of year conducive for people to travel outside to visit places and friends. Not only does our farm become alive with the new growth of grasses, vegetables, flowers, and fruit, but also with visitors Letters: Vegetarian Food, Cosmetics & Body Care Products Alert, World Grain Stocks Fall to 57 Days of Consumption: Supermarkets and Services Stations Now Competing for Grain
Vegetarian Food, Cosmetics & Body Care Products Alerts, World Grain Stocks Fall to 57 days of Consumption: Grain Prices Starting to Rise Supermarkets and Services Stations Now Competing for Grain Vegetarian Food, Cosmetics & Body Care Products Alert Newsletter Issue 1 From: John Howley Sent: 5/29/2006 10:46:04 PM Subject: Vegetarian Ingredients Warning Newsletter Hare Krsna
Vegetarian-Restaurants.net
Vegetarian Food, Cosmetics & Body Care Products Alert Newsletter Issue I
By the Vegetarian Research Organization
This is our first Newsletter and I hope you will consider it to be useful. I am sure many readers of this newsletter have done their own research on what foods contain meat products.
Your input is extremely valuable in making this newsletter useful. Please send what you have discovered to vrupdates@yahoo.com so that I can add your letter to our web site. Then thousands of others can benefit from what you have learned. Please feel free to print this newsletter and show it to your friends. Also if you want to put anything from this Newsletter on your web site please feel free to use anything. In return we just ask that you give a link to Vegetarian Restaurants.net (http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net) Natural Nirvana (http://www.naturalnirvana.com) is our new sales web site selling vegan, vegetarian and spiritual products.
Natural Flavorings There are no laws requiring the disclosure of meat as an ingredient on food labels. Companies often use the term natural flavors, which can mean almost anything. Meat must be mentioned on a food label if it is a stand-alone ingredient (as tuna fish or chicken or beef stocks). Companies cite "proprietary reasons" to avoid disclosing whether their natural flavors contain meat. Many companies do not put the word "animal" on the ingredient label in order to not lose customers. Health Food Companies Being Bought Up The sale of organic food has been increasing by 20 percent per year for the past 10 years and sold over $11 billion worth of organic products in 2004. It is the fastest growing segment of the food industry. Because of this many of the organic and vegetarian health food manufacturers are being bought up by major food companies, many of which deal in genetically modified foods, meat processing and supplying cigarettes. Often the label of these acquired health food companies do not say who actually owns the company. On Terra Chips package in very small print it states that Terra is a division of Hain Celestial (whose brands also include Westbrae and Health Valley), which is partially owned by Heinz. Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen products are distributed by Small Planet Foods and Small Planet is owned by General Mills. In 2000, Kraft Foods who is owned by tobacco giant Philip Morris purchased the vegetarian Boca Burger line. Kraft also sells Oscar Meyer hot dogs. Responsible Shopper contains a list of companies and whether they are responsible companies and if not what they have done that is irresponsible (http://www.responsibleshopper.org). Some of the purchased health food companies and who acquired them is listed below. Company True Owner Brown Cow Hershey Earth Best Baby Food Heinz Arrowhead Mills Heinz Hain Pure Food Heinz Terra Chips Heinz Garden of Eatin Heinz Westsoy Heinz Millstone Organic Coffee Proctor and Gamble Nature¹s Farm Chicken Tyson Cascadian Farms General Mills Muir Glen General Mills Knudsen Juices Phillip Morris Odwalla Coca-Cola
Orange Juice Minute Maid orange juice contains D3 derived from lanolin (usually an animal source). The vitamin D3 found in Tropicana is a synthetic powder and is the same form that is added to milk. Their source of vitamin D is not derived from an animal and the product is kosher certified.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that aids in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from food. Vitamin D raises the blood levels of calcium and phosphorus and is part of a large group of bone-making and bone-maintaining nutrients and other compounds. Some vitamin D is made in the body when skin is exposed to sunlight.
Burger King Veggie Burgers now contain egg whites. Previously the veggie burger paddy was vegan. Also this burger is often cooked on the same grill as meat burgers.
Cochineal or Carmine Cochineal (also called carmine or carminic acid) is a red dye that is made from the crushed female and unhatched larva of the cochineal beetle. These insects live on prickly pear cactus plants in Peru, the Canary Islands and other places. These bugs eat the red cactus berries and the red color accumulates in them. Carmine is a more concentrated coloring made from cochineal. The insects are ground up and are used in red, pink and purple processed foods. Cochineal is used to give color to candy, ice cream, fruit bars, yogurt, bright red maraschino cherries, jams, pills, lipstick, fruit fillings, blushes, eye shadows, vitamins and juice drinks. I would be extremely careful of any strawberry product that is colored by natural colorings. They may be declared on labels as "natural coloring" or "color added." Because the red artificial dyes 2 and 40 are both believed to be carcinogenic, cochineal is often used as a safe food dye in natural products. In the past several years, doctors from around the world have proven that these artificial red food colorings can cause allergic reactions, including sneezing, asthma, and who knows what. Some products that get their red color from cochineal (carmines) are: • Dannon Strawberry Yogurts • Ocean Spray Pink-Grapefruit Juice Drink · Tropicana Pure Premium Orange-Strawberry Juice · Tropicana Season's Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice.
Lecithin Previously eggs were the main source of lecithin used in processed foods. Now more often than not soybean is used to produce lecithin. Because of its high lecithin content, egg yolk is still used today to produce mayonnaise and other products.
Vegetarian Products by Brand Name in England A good England site to check is: Is It Veggie.com (http:/www.isitveggie.com. This site tells whether many of the products found in the UK are vegan or vegetarian.
Some Products You May Be Interested In In their questions and answer section Heinz states that there are no meat products in their catsup and that any natural favoring in any of their catsup come from a vegetarian source. Wrigley's gum contains a vegetarian source of glycerin, but some of the other gums contain animal-derived glycerin. Caesar salad dressing often contains anchovy and raw eggs, and Caesar dressing usually means containing anchovies and eggs to thicken it. When I contacted Kraft about animal rennet in their cheese, they told me that the only cheeses that do not contain animal rennet are: Kraft Swiss Cheese and Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheeses. Prego does not make a single vegetarian pasta sauce, Campbell's, the parent company of Prego, makes only two vegetarian soups, out of its numerous lines of soup. Meat ingredients are often listed as “natural flavors.” Cane (Sucrose) Animal bones are often used as a filter while processing sugar. Florida Crystal Sugar and Jack Frost Sugar are not processed with animal bones. In the UK, Tate and Lyle and Billington's sugars are free of animal substances. British Sugar, trading as Silver Spoon state that their white sugar is vegan but they don't guarantee the brown sugars they receive was not processed with some bone charcoal by their suppliers. Maple Syrup Most maple syrups do not usually use any animal products to process them at the present time. Holsum, Spring Tree and Maple Groves do not use animal-derived products to process their maple syrup.
European Numbers Most ice creams contain E471 or egg. Igloo, Kimo and Nestle are some brands which are often vegetarian. Most chocolates contain E322 & Lecithin. Some brands clearly specify that the soya lecithin in them comes from a vegetarian source, such as Kit Kat.
Gelatin and Foods That Contain Gelatin Gelatin is boiled animal skin, tendons, ligaments or bones, Gelatin is used to make many products. Beside food products gelatin is also used to make photography film, which is a good reason to use a digital camera. Kosher gelatin can be made with fish bones or cow skins, but it can still be considered kosher when it is mixed with dairy products. The bones and hides used in gelatin production are considered pareve. The general meaning of pareve refers to foods that are neither milk nor meat. Since the gelatin ingredients are derived from hides or bones and are not the flesh of an animal and also because gelatin has been significantly changed, it is considered to be pareve Kosher, and therefore can be mixed with dairy products.
An alternative substance to animal gelatin is Agar-Agar, which is sold in noodle-like strands, in powdered form, or in blocks. It is usually whitish in color. Some products that are vegetarian that have the same properties as gelatin are: Cellulose (Amid), Agar-Agar (derived from seaweed), Biobin, Guar, Xanthan, Carob fruit and the root of the Kuzu. In our correspondence with Yoplait-Colombo they state that the gelatin in their yogurt is from an animal source. There is gelatin in the Yoplait products but not usually in their Colombo yogurt products. Some products that contain gelatin and are therefore not suitable for vegetarians are: Breakfast Cereals General Mills Lucky Charms Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats Kellogg's Cinnamon Marshmallow Scooby-Doo Kellogg's Magix Kellogg's Smorz Trader Joe's Frosted Mini-Wheats
Yogurts Dannon Yoplait Mountain Dairy
Margarine Promise
Energy Bars Advantage Carb Control Nutrition Bar Carb Solutions High Protein Bar Odyssey Triple Layer Protein Bar
Baked Goods Sara Lee French Cheesecake Nabisco Devil's Food SnackWells
Candies Black Forest Gummy Bears Snak Club Apple and Peach Rings Creme Savers Soft Candy Brach's Fruit Ripples Junior Mints Jell-o Pudding Bars Jellie Beans Jell-o Almost all marshmallows
Get Our Newsletter by entering email address here:http://naturalnirvana.com/Yahoo-Survey/survey.php?s_id=1 (We don't give out your emails to others.) View Vegetarian Ingredients Newsletter Issue 1, Issue 2
Check out our detailed list of ingredients that may contain meat by-products: http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/OtherInfo/Chemicals.htm
I now have hundred of pages of information on vegetarian food ingredients that I am working on and every donation that I receive frees up time for me to spend time to bring this information to being published. If every person who reads this newsletter just makes a one-time donation of $20 this would mean these newsletters will come weekly. All donors that give $20 or more will receive a free copy of our USA Vegetarian Restaurants & Health Food Stores book sent to them. Thank you in advance for your help.
All donors for this project will be listed in future newsletters.
Please give a donation now while it is still fresh on your mind: http://store.naturalnirvana.com/index.html If you know of information that should be in future newsletters please email us at vrupdates@yahoo.com ISCOWP has printed excerpts from this newsletter. It was sent from: Spiritual Guides, 2006 NW 55th Ave, Apt J2, Gainesville, FL 32653. Back to letters Volume 16 Issue 2 Earth Policy News – World Grain Stocks Fall to 57 Days of Consumption: From: Earth Policy News Earthpolicynews@earthpolicy.org> To: <iscowp@earthlink.net> Date: 6/14/2006 7:42:33 PM Subject: Earth Policy News - World Grain Stocks Fall to 57 Days of Consumption: Grain Prices Starting to Rise
Eco-Economy Indicator – GRAIN HARVEST, June 15, 2006 Eco-Economy Indicators are the twelve trends the Earth Policy Institute tracks to measure progress in building an eco-economy. Grain production is the best indicator of the adequacy of the food supply. On average, half the calories we consume come directly from grain and a large part of the remainder come from the indirect consumption of grain in the form of meat, milk, eggs, and farmed fish.
WORLD GRAIN STOCKS FALL To 57 DAYS of CONSUMPTION: Grain Prices Starting to Rise
Lester R. Brown This year’s world grain harvest is projected to fall short of consumption by 61 million tons, marking the sixth time in the last seven years that production has failed to satisfy demand. As a result of these shortfalls, world carryover stocks at the end of this crop year are projected to drop to 57 days of consumption, the shortest buffer since the 56-day-low in 1972 that triggered a doubling of grain prices. World carryover stocks of grain, the amount in the bin when the next harvest begins, are the most basic measure of food security. Whenever stocks drop below 60 days of consumption, prices begin to rise. It thus came as no surprise when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected in its June 9 world crop report that this year’s wheat prices will be up by 14 percent and corn prices up by 22 percent over last year’s. With carryover stocks of grain at the lowest level in 34 years, the world may soon be facing high grain and oil prices at the same time… For entire text see http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Grain/2006.htm For data see http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Grain/2006_data.htm For an index of Earth Policy Institute resources related to Food and Agriculture see http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Grain/index.htm And for further reading on food security, see Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures by Lester R. Brown (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005), posted on-line for free downloading or for purchase at http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Out/index.htm Back to letters Volume 16 Issue 2
Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain From: David Fuller To: badrinarayan dasa;isanah;iscowp;jerry_grotepas;nirantara;pg1944; Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 10:06 AM Subject: Earth Policy News--Supermarkets and Services Stations Now Competing for Grain
Eco-Economy Update
2006-5 Cars, not people, will claim most of the increase in
world grain consumption this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
projects that world grain use will grow by 20 million tons in 2006. Of this,
14 million tons will be used to produce fuel for cars in the United States,
leaving only 6 million tons to satisfy the world's growing food needs. As the price of oil climbs, it becomes increasingly
profitable to convert farm commodities into automotive fuel, either ethanol
or biodiesel. In effect, the price of oil becomes the support price for food
commodities. In Europe the emphasis is on producing biodiesel. Last
year the European Union (EU) produced 1.6 billion gallons of biofuels. Of
this, 858 million gallons were biodiesel, produced from vegetable oil,
mostly in Germany and France, and 718 million gallons were ethanol, most of
it distilled from grain in France, Spain, and Germany. Margarine
manufacturers, struggling to compete with subsidized biodiesel refineries,
have asked the European Parliament for help. For the 2 billion poorest people in the world, many of
whom spend half or more of their income on food, rising grain prices can
quickly become life threatening. The broader risk is that rising food prices
could spread hunger and generate political instability in low income
countries that import grain, such as Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria, and Mexico.
This instability could in turn disrupt global economic progress. If ethanol
distillery demand for grain continues its explosive growth, driving grain
prices to dangerous highs, the U.S. government may have to intervene in the
unfolding global conflict over food between affluent motorists and
low-income consumers.
Yellow zucchini, bush beans, flowers, Jerusalem artichokes, and to the right tomatoes.
The garden is happening. We are harvesting kale, Rainbow chard, two types of bush beans, Romaine lettuce, beets, Yukon Gold potatoes, spinach, peppers, and Lemon cucumbers. Next week should be the start of ripe tomatoes. This year we have four types of tomatoes. Brandywine is a first for us this year as is Double Rich. Both are medium size slicing tomatoes with good flavor. We have an early tomato called Moskovich originating from Siberia. So far there are many green tomatoes with some movement towards red but the weather has been fickle and so goes the ripening of the tomatoes. Our fourth variety is a Roma called San Marzano which we like allot and use primarily for canning and drying. This year we have about 300 tomatoes plants in the garden.
Orders waiting to be delivered. Harvested potatoes, beans, squash
Wild blackberries grow abundantly on the farm.
The berries are in abundance this year and at least every other day Chaya devi, my wife, or myself pick for a couple of hours. These are all wild berry bushes and we have 3 or 4 different areas that are good to visit on a rotation basis. I like to pick in the morning when it is still somewhat cool and fresh and the wake up concert from the bird population is in full symphony. Many varieties of birds with so many different songs. Fresh berries for Lord Krsna's breakfast.
Farm Wedding On July 2, our daughter Lakshmi and Janaka Mahajan were married at the ISCOWP farm. We chose the farm setting for the wedding ceremony and reception to expose the wedding guests to farm life based on cow protection. A good number of the invited guests had never been to the farm and were unlikely to the visit the farm if not for the wedding. In total we had from 60 to 70 guests.
We had hoped by July 2 much of the garden produce would be available for the wedding feast, but the weather since spring was cold and wet hindering the normal growth of the garden. Fortunately, our potatoes were ready and we used them for preparing roasted potatoes. Due to last year’s food preparation, we were able to use canned tomatoes, beans, and dried tomatoes and Bitter Melon. The feast was delicious and enjoyed by all with many guests taking seconds. As it is the Vedic custom to give a cow in charity at such an event, we had framed pictures of cows for everyone to take home. A cow bride and groom topped the vegan cake and an additional unique feature was the bride and groom being yoked with an ox yoke to symbolize the bride and groom learning how to work together for life. Bhakti Visrambhar Madhava Swami read scriptural passages about cows from the Vedic scriptures.
Click on picture to enlarge Balabhadra fitted a yoke on both Janaka Mahajan and daughter Lakshmi. He explained it was to symbolize them working together as a team through life.
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Surabhi is a temporary new member of the herd. Lakshmi and Janaka will be living at the farm making it their home. Not only have we spent time making all the preparations for the wedding but we have also been helping with additional construction on the basement house that Lakshmi was living in to accommodate their life here on the farm. We are happy that Lakshmi will be able to continue to help on the farm and that Janaka Mahajan has joined us. Cows Summer is here and the cows are on pasture. Everyone is doing well including the older cows. This is a pleasant time for them. Even the older cows seem to get new strength to enjoy another season of grazing. Surabhi, viewed in top picture, is visiting the ISCOWP farm from the ISKCON New Vrindavan temple. She is to be observed and the time for her to be bred determined while here. The temple needs to have a milking cow to supply milk for the Deities. As you may know, to breed a cow means to reproduce another cow or ox. The temple cow department realizes that they can not produce more cows than they have the personnel, land, and funds to care for properly. At one point New Vrindavan had hundreds of cows and found that they did not have the resources to care for them well. Gita follows Surabhi about the pasture and is very happy to have another girlfriend. It is always an adjustment for all the herd when a new cow or ox arrives since cows in a herd have a "pecking order" established.
Children enjoying looking at the cow photo albums at the ISCOWP booth There were two festivals held at New Vrindavan in which ISCOWP participated by giving a slideshow presentation, maintaining a cow protection booth, and giving tours of the ISCOWP cows, garden, and property. The Inspiration Festival has grown each year to more and more numbers of attendees. It is a social as well as educational gathering of persons desiring to be inspired to engage in devotional service. It is held on May 12, 13, and 14. At this festival, Krishna, Vraja, and Radharani were adopted. In such a situation, adopters have the opportunity to visit their adopted cows.
Aksheetha and Anirudh Sridhar pet their adopted ox Krishna during a visit to the ISCOWP farm. Krishna's adopters, Aksheeta and Anirudha Sridhar, visited as well as Radhe Shyam's adopters, Deanna and Shrutadev Kaufman. Radharani's adopters, Jagai-Nitai and Amanda Stock had visited in the past. It was an enjoyable bonding experience for all.
Deanna and Shrutadev Kaufman visiting their adopted cow Radhe -Shyam. There were also several other groups of visitors who were given the official ISCOWP guided tour. The tour, weather permitting, consists of visiting the cows whether they are on pasture or in the barns, viewing the barns and hearing the history of their development, walking in the garden, and depending on what is ready for harvest, having a taste of some delicious fresh garden produce. The other festival was Kulimela held in June. This event was a social and educational gathering for the younger generation of the Hare Krishna Movement. We interacted in the same way as we did with the Inspiration Festival. One guest from the Kulimela festival was Ananda Baldzhyan. In 1991, we brought Vraja and Gita to LA California to participate in the Rathayatra parade. There we met Ananda, who as a young girl took a great liking to Vraja and Gita. In the slideshow there is a picture of her as a young girl hugging Vraja.
Ananda Baldzhyan visiting Vraja again after 14 years. As a little girl, she first met Vraja at the LA Rathayatra. Ananda came to the slideshow presentation at the Kulimela and we were all glad to make her acquaintance again. We never expected to see her again. She visited with Vraja and Gita at the ISCOWP farm and remains a strong cow lover.
Priyavarta, director of Food for Life Global, visiting with Gita. Another guest from the Kulimela was Priyavarta das (Paul Rodney Turner), the director of Food for Life Global. The mission of Food for Life is "To bring about peace and prosperity in the world through the liberal distribution of karma-free vegetarian meals”. He visited with his wife and daughter and all enjoyed spending time with the cows and oxen.
Jana meeting Krishna who inspired her to become a vegetarian. In July, Jana Rozalka, Janaka Mahajan's sister, came to visit for the wedding. It was her first time on a plane and her first visit to the USA. She helped Balabhadra herd the cows and water the garden. Jana was particularly attracted to the cows, specifically Krishna. When she met Krishna she said, "Oh! I love Krishna!" After understanding what wonderful personalities the cows have, she has become a vegetarian. Jana recently wrote Balabhadra; "Krishna the ox, a cow with the name of God, became my friend and said; 'Don't Eat Me!' The book Cow Protection, Book 1 is in print again with the help of ISCOWP member Shelda Bloomingdale. We had copies available for both festivals here at New Vrindavan. Shelda became acquainted with ISCOWP through last year's Harvest Workshop. She has since adopted Dwadasi and volunteered her time many times in the garden and with the cows. She has been a tremendous help to ISCOWP. Balabhadra’s mother sent Balabhadra and Chayadevi two tickets to visit her in Hawaii for our combined birthdays: her 90th birthday and our 60th birthday. Balabhadra's birthday is April 22, 1946 and Chayadevi's birthday is April 25, 1946. Balabhadra is a twin so it was also his sister’s birthday and she lives in Hawaii. While we were there, we consulted with Tejoprakash das, the temple president of ISKCON Hawaii, who desires to start a cow protection farm on the island of Oahu and possibly the island of Hawaii. The climate is ideal for cow protection and the cows could graze all year long. We looked at possible land purchases on the big island of Hawaii where we also met with other devotees who were interested in establishing a farm. On several areas of Hawaii there were cows grazing. They looked very healthy. We visited with Dayal Chandra das who has 52 cows on the island of Hawaii. He sells his milk to local people who realize the value of fresh whole milk from lifetime protected cows. Therefore, there is a market for fresh cows' milk. We will remain in touch in an advisory capacity with those interested in establishing a holistic, cow protection farm project in Hawaii. We did a slideshow presentation, Holistic Cow Care: Not Just Milk, both on the island of Hawaii and the ISKCON temple in Oahu to show the benefits of a cow protection farm. We showed this same slideshow at the festivals at New Vrindavan.
Educational Materials At the iscowp web site www.iscowp.org there are some more materials available in PDF file that can be easily downloaded to your computer and printed. The pamphlet "What is ISCOWP"? and "What is Cow Protection"? are now available along with several other materials like the Cow Protection Book 1. Just go to the Educational Materials button on the left side of the web page.
ISCOWP has started a blog: iscowp.blogspot.com. The goal is to offer a timely (so far we have posted every 2 days) and personal description of life on the ISCOWP farm along with some spiritual and practical information about cow protection and simple living on the land. Our web page is the educational resource center. It contains almost all the ISCOWP newsletters, amongst other things, which began publication in 1990. You can also adopt a cow on the web page. Take a look at the blog and web page!
Asha in the lead, Vishaka second, Balarama and Krishna next, and the rest of the herd. Changing the cows from pasture to pasture occurs approximately every 30 days. I have the farm divided in half. On one half there is about 40 acres of pasture and on the other half there is about 40 acres of pasture plus the cows have access to about 40 acres of forest which gives some grazing and lots of shade during the heat of the dog days of summer.
Fence line Before changing pastures, the first thing that needs done is to check the fences to see if any are broken. If there are broken fence lines then they are repaired. If a tree has fallen across the fence, it needs cut up for firewood. If the tree happens to be a wild cherry then it is imperative to make sure that all of the wilted leaves are removed from the pasture so the cows cannot eat them. Wild cherry leaves in a fresh condition straight from the tree will not harm the cows. The problem arises when the wild cherry leaves are in a wilted condition. In a wilted condition, if eaten by the cows, there is a high likelihood that the cow will come down with a condition called BLOAT. BLOAT is the build up of gas in the body of the cow, which happens quickly with wilted wild cherry leaves, and can kill a cow in a matter of hours. The actual cause of death in a bloat death is suffocation as the build up of gas in the cow’s body hinders the lungs from doing their job of bringing oxygen into the body. The second thing that needs done is to make sure that all of the gates to the new pasture are closed. No matter if the gate is 1/2 mile away or further, if it needs to be closed it gets closed, no guessing or speculating. The third thing I do is go to where the cows are and call them first with a sound like a conch shell. Whoooooooooooooooooooooo They immediately respond with moooooooooooooos as their heads turn towards me and they start walking to me. As they come along, I call out some of their names like Vraja, Gita, Bhumi, Bhima. Come on Asha, come on Radharani, Ujvalla come on girl lets go and then more conch shell sounds .whoooooooooooooooooo...........................whoooooooooooooooo It is now possible to move the 22 cows/oxen with just one person who speaks the language of these cows. As they come through the gate into the new pasture, I call each by name, count them, and take a close look to see that they are all alright. It’s pure nectar to see everyone partaking of the fresh grasses and herbs in the new pasture. Comments on blog: Madhava Gosh said... (you can read his blog at) : http://Walkingthefenceline.blogspot.com
"Healthy cherry
leaves contain prunasin, a cyanide precursor that in itself is non-toxic.
When the leaves are damaged, the prunasin molecule is split and free cyanide
(also called prussic acid or hydrocyanic acid) is liberated. Many plants,
especially those in the rose family, have the potential to produce toxic
levels of cyanide under certain conditions. Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)
is also toxic. There are reports of peach sprouts, leaves, and pits
poisoning sows. Apricot pits and apple seeds are toxic as well."
Threshing the wheat with oxen which breaks the seeds from the husks. At present, there are 150 devotees living at the Vraja-dhama farm in Hungary. Some of them are celibates but the majority are householders. The day begins early in the morning because early hours are very favorable for spiritual practices. At 4:30 AM everybody gathers together in the temple room for the early morning worship. The community chanting, the mantra meditation and the philosophical class last until 8:30 AM. The devotees then take breakfast together after which they begin their work. Some of them work in the fields or tend to the livestock, others do their jobs in the art Studio, the bakery, the kitchen or the apiary. Still others do office work or receive and guide guests visiting Vraja-dhama. In midday they again take lunch together, and at the end of the day they meet again in the temple room for the evening worship. They try to spend every day so that it is centered around Krishna (another name for God). Some excerpts from their site "Simple Life" http://manorama.1108.cc/?p=40 As followers of the Indian Vedic scriptures, we practice the principle of non-violence. Among other things this means we do not eat food obtained by inflicting pain and violence on others. What and how we eat is not only an expression of our views on life, but it also has an impact on our future and our spiritual advancement. This is why we eat only vegetarian food. The Bhagavad-gita says the following about vegetarian food: "Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction."
Grinding the wheat seeds into flour during Harvest Festival.
Here at Vraja-dhama we prepare our food from vegetables, grains, fruits and milk grown and produced on the farm. Grain is one of the most important things a community needs. We celebrate the festival of the "new grain“, the Harvest Festival, when the first wheat is harvested. The devotees go out to the fields and together harvest, collect, thrash, winnow and grind the wheat. Devotees make chapatis and cook a ten-course feast from local vegetables on a small stove, and offer everything to Krishna.
Self-sufficiency in farm communities was one of Srila Prabhupada’s desires he wanted his followers to fulfill. Self-sufficiency begins with eating what you grow. In New Vraja-dhama, for five months of the year, our standard of worship is that we offer Radhe-Syama (worshipable forms of Krishna) only what we produce (except for a few items like sugar, ghee, spices, etc.). Also, in our devotee kitchen, we cook for 100 devotees daily from local ingredients. In the summer, we reserve vegetables and grain, and we use them during the rest of the year, so that we won’t have to buy them from shops.
Establishing gardens of fruits and vegetables at the Luvungi headquarters In ISCOWP newsletter Volume 12 Issue 3 (2002) we published an article entitled "ISKCON Farm Uganda" submitted by Adrian Baguma. He wrote: "I view the ISCOWP example as an active approach for propagation of Krishna Consciousness and Cow Protection in Africa, Central Africa, in East DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi, where cows are worshipable and are given the same respect as our material mothers as the cow is considered the mother of the family. Actually there are many opportunities to propagate the mission of ISCOWP and ISKCON Ministry of Agriculture, for bringing salvation through action. Many are ready to give some land for the mission. My family has disposed already 8 hectares for ISCOWP agricultural project for the future in Goma, Bukavu. It is said by an old man that here in Mungu, Nyamuzinda, Krishna names were used to send cows through Kivu lake for the traditional king to have more milk for the population". Now, 4 years later there is a project developing in the hometown area of Adrian Baguma (now initiated Bala Nitai). He is the project manager and Alexander (Asto) Petroff is president of Working Villages International which is the western sponsor. Asto had an interest in developing a self-sufficient community in the Congo as a result of a school project. After reading Bala Nitai's article in the ISCOWP newsletter Asto made contact with Bala Nitai. At http://workingvillages.org/luvungi_report.shtml you can be informed of the latest developments with this project. Some excerpts from the web page follow. The money did not go to carpenters from Bukavu or a metal roof factory in Burundi. Rather the labor was local, local carpenters, local matteti switchers, and local grass thatchers. The materials were local, and the money didn't leave the village with the payment for materials and wages. Rather, the villagers got it and used it and are using it to pay school fees and employ each other to plow fields, thatch their own roofs, and herd their cows and goats. Furthermore, the tall grass that was cut is now short and providing excellent grazing for their cows. Because of the new pastures, the villagers informed us that the cows are now producing 5 liters a day instead of 1.
At first, it was hard for even some of our staff to feel resolute about our plan to install a thatched roof, especially once we began to feel pressure from the local committee and villagers. Yet, in the end everyone came round to understanding why we wanted a grass roof, why we wanted our toilets and shower building build out of matteti and grass instead of bricks and concrete, why we wanted composting toilets instead of just holes in the ground, why we wanted local wooden doors instead of metal ones, and why we wanted screens with local grass awnings instead of glass windows.
On April 27, we began our current state of employment with the 20 workers. The roof is finished, the holes in the building are patched, the toilets and showers are up and running. The building is mosquito proof, and is repaired. There are now 35 mango trees planted on the north and east sides of the building.
Fiston also supervised the creation of several big gardens for dozens of types of fruits, vegetables and flowers, all arranged very skillfully in raised bed formation on the south and west sides of the HQ. In a few months, these fruits, vegetables and herbs will provide food for our staff and workers, reducing the cost of feeding them, and at the same time providing them with a substantially more nutritious diet than they are accustomed to.
While researching facts for the revised pamphlet "What is Cow Protection"?, We came across these facts on the http://madcowboy.com site. We found them very interesting and thought you would too. "Area of tropical rainforest destroyed for the production of each fast-food hamburger made from rainforest beef: 55 square feet." (Denslow, Julie, and Padoch, Christine, People of the Tropical Rainforest, University of California Press, 1988, pg 169) [02.08.08.01] "Rainforest beef is typically found in fast food hamburgers or processed beef products. In both 1993 and 1994 the United States imported over 200,000,000 pounds of fresh and frozen beef from Central American countries. Two-thirds of these countries' rainforests have been cleared, primarily to raise cattle whose stringy, cheap meat is exported to profit the U.S. food industry. When it enters the United States, the beef is not labeled with its country of origin, so there is no way to trace it to its sources." (Rainforest Action Network) ("Seven Things You Can Do to Save the Rainforest," Rainforest Action Network Factsheet, http://www.ran.org/ran/info_center/factsheets/) [02.08.08.02] "Livestock account for 15% to 20% of (overall) global methane emissions. (Worldwatch Institute) (Durning, Alan, and Brough, Holly, "Taking Stock: animal Farming and the Environment," Worldwatch Paper 103, July 1991) [02.07.27:09] "The overall energy efficiency of beef often is comparable, or even superior, to the energy efficiency of plant-source foods." (National Cattlemen's Beef Association) ("Myths and Facts About Beef Production: Energy Use," National Cattlemen's Beef Association) [02.07.27:10] "American feed (for livestock) takes so much energy to grow that it might as well be a petroleum byproduct." (Worldwatch Institute) ("The Price of Beef," WorldWatch, July/Aug 1994, pg 39) [02.07.27:11] "Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2" ( Pimentel, David and Marcia, Food, Energy and Society, 1979, pg 59; And Pimentel, et. al., "Energy and Land Constraints in Food Protein Production, Science, Nov 21, 1975; cited in Lappe', Frances Moore, Diet For A Small Planet, 20th anniversary edition, Ballantine books, New York, 1991, pg 74-75) [02.07.27:12] "Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78" (Pimentel, David and Marcia, Food, Energy and Society, 1979, pg 59; And Pimentel, et. al., "Energy and Land Constraints in Food Protein Production," Science, Nov 21, 1975; cited in Lappe', Frances Moore, Diet For A Small Planet, 20th anniversary edition, Ballantine books, New York, 1991, pg 74-75) [02.07.27:13] "Results (of extensive research at the Fort Krogh Livestock and Range Reserve Laboratory at Miles City, Montana) pointedly reveal the high level of dependency of the U.S. beef cattle industry on fossil fuels.(Journal of Animal Science, 1996) (Heitschmidt, R. K., et. al., "Ecosystems, sustainability, and animal agriculture," Journal of Animal Science 1996:74:1395-1405) [02.07.27:14] "The two worst things people do to the planet in their daily lives (according to the Union of Concerned Scientists): Drive vehicles that get poor gas mileage and eat beef." ("Groupís Surprising Beef with Meat Industry: Study ranks production of beef, poultry and pork as second to automobiles in ecological cost," San Francisco Chronicle, Apr 27, 1999; See also Brower, Michael, and Leon, Warren, The Consumerís Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists, Three Rivers Press/Crown Publishers, New York, 1999) [02.07.27:15] "Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released by driving a typical American car, in one day: 3 kilograms." ("The Price of Beef," WorldWatch, July/Aug 1994, pg 39) [02.07.27:16] "Amount released by clearing and burning enough Costa Rican rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger: 75 kilograms." (Munoz, K, et al, "Food Intakes of U.S. Children and Adolescents Compared with Recommendations," Pediatrics, Sept 1997, pg 323-29. See also, "Few Young People Eat Wisely, Study Shows," Associated Press, New York Times, Sept 3, 1997, A-12) [02.07.27:17] "The evidence of global warming has been inconclusive at best... whether (there exists) a warming trend is unclear." (National Cattlemen's Beef Association)" ("Myths and Facts About Beef Production: Methane Production," National Cattlemen'ís Beef Association) [02.07.27:18] "What a hamburger produced by clearing forest in India would cost if the real costs were included in the price rather than subsidized: $200" ("The Price of Beef," WorldWatch, July/Aug 1994, pg 39) [02.08.08.07]
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