Autum Update
Namaste everyone and welcome to another Ashram blog post update. We have been chipping away on the smauses, and settling into our fall push, as well as welcoming a few visitors.
Work has continued on Fridays and Saturdays on the smauses, as those of us who are teachers have gone back to work and our volunteer season is closed. Nowadays, Dhriti works on the same ashram schedule that we keep during the summer: 3 days on, one day off, 6 hours per day. Sama is working full time as Ashram President, and spends 3 days per week on hands-on physical ashram development, and 3 days per week on presidential duties. Besides Jnanda, everyone else works off-ashram Monday-Friday. Right now, we have 10 permanent residents: Jnanda, Saucha, Gudu, Adhii, Jitvara, Bhati, Sama, Vishada, Upekkha, and Dhriti. Everyone works a full day every Saturday on the Smauses, and some folks put in an additional Friday as well most weeks. In addition, we are in the midst of our Super Weekend right now. We have worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and will be working Monday tomorrow.
We have put a roof on the Laundry Facility, and continued to plaster the smauses, install all of the windows in both smauses and added window trim in preparation for siding. We installed most of the deck boards, and installed most of the interior and exterior hurricane hangers. This weekend, we have begun installing siding, and continued electrical preparation. We are still in reach of our goal of having the Feminine Ray Smaus liveable by the end of October.
Our budget is tight for these smauses. We have been able to accomplish a lot due to our hard work and devotion. Donations will enable us to hire contractors for some of this work, and free us up to develop other areas of the Ashram, like our farming and silvopasture. Please consider donating to HYA.
The bulk of our harvesting has taken place this month! We have eaten hundreds of asian pears, as well as made some into jam. We have harvested lots of kale, chard, tomatoes, bell peppers, and acorn squash as well. We will be harvesting apples ASAP. We are very appreciative to Ember, who has been cooking up all of these ashram-grown items.
We celebrated Gudu’s birthday on the 10th with a fun barbecue, with bratwursts, a pork roast, grilled chicken, and corn. We had a bonfire as well. It was lots of fun.
Finally, we have had visits from Aabhaasvara, Anusha, and Namita this month. We were very happy to see them.
We are grateful that you have read this far. Check back in next month for another update. Namaste.
