In the late ’90s I was walking up the main road to the back entrance of the Palace. I encountered a very large turtle on the side of the road opposite the Palace driveway. It had a shell that was about 12″ in diameter, so I knew that it was very old. I was [...]

Wood is my teacher,
wood is my tool,
my sustenance,
my Holy Rule.
Wood fires my furnace
and my soul.
Through wood
I have achieved my goal.
—-copyright Ms. Rural, from The Basketmakers,
in honor of Connie & Tom McColley

    The catalpa tree (”catawba,” “Indian bean” is in bloom. Two large ones are on the Ghosh family property, and a huge one is just across the street from the front entrance to the Palace. I don’t know if they are Southern or Northern species. Here is a photo of the lovely blossoms.

pond

    As you pause to reflect on the meaning of the day today, you might be drawn to family memories. What childhood memories do you have of nature?  What interactions with the natural world did you have while growing up?
I remember digging on the beaches of New England, playing with (harmless) jellyfish, looking for sand [...]

    Multiflora rose and raspberry bushes are blooming. The fragrance of the multiflora combines with the locust blossoms to perfume the air.
“I am the original fragrance of the earth.”
—-Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, Ch. 7: Text 10
(trans. by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

    Today’s New York Times travel section has an article about Concord, Massachusetts that describes the important literary figures of the town, both past and present. Of course, the Transcendentalist connections and Walden Pond are the star attractions for most visitors there.
New Vrindaban has a link to the Transcendentalists through Hayagriva das, who was a [...]

a red-tailed hawk (being harassed by two smaller birds)
 
Hawks
Hawks upon the thermals fly
Upward spirals in the sky,
Canvassing the fields below,
Circling endlessly, and slow.
 
Far beneath them winds the creek
Through expectant woods to seek
Union with the Ohio,
And forever southward flow.
 
Here [...]

O Mother Earth and Father Sky,
With tired backs to you we cry
Accept these gifts, in which you delight,
And weave us a garment fair and bright.
May the warp be the white of the morning sun,
May the weft be the red of the day which is done.
May the fringes be raindrops which gently fall,
And the border a [...]

    May is American Wetlands Month, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There are several sites in New Vrindaban that are wetlands. Some of them are natural, while others evolved due to community landscaping or construction projects.
One of these natural occurring sites is by the apartment buildings. The edge of the playing field, just [...]