This is Part 2 of our April 2017 update on the work that we are doing to develop Siva Ashram in Costa Rica. If you missed the Part 1 update, you can read and watch the video here. After our friends Nick and Tracey left, another set of friends arrived. Jeremy, Jasmine and their daughter, Ella, came to help us for the following two weeks of work.
Our citrus trees were being attacked by bugs and fungus. Nick spent some time explaining to us before he left the fascinating process of all those creatures involved in attacking the citrus trees. So, to save our trees, Tatiana and Jasmine made a brew of organic neem leaves boiled slowly in oil and, then, left it in the sun to infuse it with sun energy. Once the brew was completed, Jasmine strained the leaves from the oil and we mixed it with some biodegradable soap and sprayed our citrus trees. After only a couple of days, the fungus and pests started to vanish from our citrus, and even our hard-to-impress local guys were astounded with the concoction. Go organics!!!
With the new infusion of youthful energy extended by the Grace family, we completed the Ganesha Circle, which included pulling a bunch of soil from the newly cut service road and creating a mango shaped mound upon which we will one day build a shrine to Ganesha, Hinduism’s elephant-headed great angel of obstacles. We then smoothed the dirt in the mango mound and circumferenced it with rocks to create and maintain the shape. Within the mango mound there is a circle of Delonix Regia Royal Poinciana trees, which will be covered with red flowers when in season, representing the first chakra at which Ganesha resides.
We also designed and created the pathway from the future Rain Tree Welcome Center to the Ganesha Circle. To spice up the walk along the pathway, we built two large flower mounds that were filled with soil and circled with rocks. We will plant them in great detail later on, but for now we are using these mounds to propagate more of our flowering trees.
We spent a couple of days taking stock of the health of all the trees and retagging them all. To date, we have planted over 1,200 plants and trees at Siva Ashram.
Overall, it was an extremely productive trip and it was made largely possible with the help of our Costa Rican team and the Bloor and Grace families who flew down to join us and donated time, effort, love and spirit, and a lot of sweat in the blistering sun. Thank you to everyone who is supporting this project in spirit and in body. We love you all and feel lucky to have you in our lives.
If you'd like to Gift a Tree to our spiritual botanical gardens you may do so here.
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Siva Ashram - 2017 April Update, Part 2 from Dandapani LLC on Vimeo.
