End of Summer

END OF THE SUMMER SEASON BLOG POST:

Heaven hi everyone! The summer has flown by quickly, and this is our end of the Ashram summer update. Read on to learn more about more personnel that have arrived, construction steps that have been accomplished, and other important things that we have done over the last month.

Dhriti and Upekkha have moved here! This mother-daughter duo has been coming around since year two of the Ashram, and planning to live here eventually. They arrived with all of their stuff in a moving truck in the middle of last month. It’s been great getting to know them better and to have their help with work projects and organization. Dhriti in particular is an animal lover and has been helping a lot with the birds, while Upekkha was immediately instated as an assistant grounds manager because of her leadership qualities. With her guidance, we were able to turn one of our many rainy days this summer into a very productive kitchen deep clean, wherein we stripped all the rags, installed a new shelf, cleaned all the old shelves, and reorganized things in a way that makes sense.

Additionally, we have had five volunteers this summer, four more since our last post. All of them enjoyed their experience of learning the starter course and doing the practices, and they are excited to keep up their momentum building outside of the Ashram. Pictures of them will follow below.

July has also had its fair share of construction progress. We started on both decks for the Smauses, and are now in the process of putting the deckboards on. The gray air barrier has gone up on both Smauses on the first two levels, although it still remains to be put on in the high-up spots. We have continued to plaster the interiors of the Smauses as well, which is always a fun and unique construction experience, of spreading a sandy mud mixture all over the walls.

The laundry facility is well underway. The plumbing was laid out, and the slab was poured. The blockmasons have put up all the blocks over the last week.

As far as less intensive projects go, we have been weeding and mulching the garden cover crop, further building up and protecting our topsoil. We have been harvesting vegetables from our garden, as well as fruit from our trees. It has been the summer of peaches over here, with our peach tree producing a lot of fruit. The first round of peaches were turned into preserves, and the second round were turned into pies, both of which were delicious.

We have also been continually maintaining the landscape with weedwhacking and mowing, and have installed a strong clothesline near the Ajna cabin.

Finally, we have welcomed our third rooster so far to HYA. His name is Yamaghosa, which means rooster in Sanskrit.

Thank you all for reading!