What’s up with the strange sounds?

We have become aware of a phenomenon where people all over the world are hearing eerie sounds.  When I watched the first youtube video, I believe of the sounds occurring in Ukraine, it reminded me of a reenactment in documentary of some settlers who heard a strange sound coming from a hole in the Earth.  At first we suspected that it was a hoax with world wide copycats, but with all of the local news coverage and huge number of videos of the phenomenon being posted, it is apparently really occurring.

So what could this be?  People are coming with all kinds of theories.  My theory is probably more bizarre than most, but this phenomenon reeks of Hollywood.  The sounds sound like the scariest sound that anyone could come up with.  And they’ve been used in all kinds of horror/sci-fi movies.  I think that the sounds are coming from sound cannons that have been provided for crowd control to many different local police.  The obvious question would be, “why?”  Perhaps a group of people would like to create an environment of fear so that they can control people.  It is an odd phenomenon, and that is my odd theory.

 

Here is a link to a video compilation of just a few of the sounds:  http://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse#p/search/0/GZ2ZcmMxehk

Here is a site dedicated to the phenomenon: http://strangesoundsinthesky.com/

Here is a map where people can add their experience: http://seektress.com/ssounds.htm

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas.  Here are some family photos and some of the mini wind storm that blew our elm tree onto the barn roof.  The storm only lasted 10 minutes or so, but Billy estimated that it gusted to about 60 mph.!

Another new baby boy!

On Friday Marilyn and I were in the kitchen making wreaths when I heard an unusual “moo” over the camera in the barn.  When I went out there, Miss Moon was giving birth, even though I’d ascertained that she wasn’t in labor when I went out a few hours earlier.  The little boy appeared fully within minutes and was up and nursing in record time.  He is a Dexter and he and his Mom belong to some friends.  Miss Moon has easily agreed to be milked by us, so she’ll be going back to her own home soon.  In the meantime little Fireball has been out with Dhana and Torus.

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The Self Reliant Project at New Nandagram

The Self Reliant Community Project of East Lewis County

First Meeting: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:30 pm.

151 Anderson Rd. Glenoma WA

360-496-0058

Billy and Anuttama Budd are happy to announce their successful relocation to East Lewis County.  We’ve named our new farm “New Nandagram” (pronounced new non-duh-grom).  It is the former Rainey Valley Farm located in Glenoma, 14 acres of pasture, barns, a covered arena, other buildings and a house.  We will be continuing our project which we did in conjunction with the Self Reliant Community in Graham where we explore all kinds of aspects for living locally and self reliantly including:

• growing, processing and preserving our food without depending on petroleum driven machinery
•  bee keeping
• using alternative energy (solar food dehydrators, wind generators, solar collectors etc.)
• building energy passive buildings using locally available materials (cordwood construction, timber framing etc.)
• permaculture
• exploring using natural remedies for curing physical ailments (herbal medicine, colloidal silver, acupressure, urine therapy etc.)
• using animal power to farm (oxen, draft horses)
• growing, harvesting and processing food grains including wheat, oats, barley and buckwheat
• home dairying including cheese making
• using alternative forms of currency including barter, life dollars etc.
• becoming conscious of God

We currently have a milk cow, an ox, 9 slug-eating drakes, two bantam hens (including the great mommy, Margaret Scratcher), two dogs, three cats, racing pigeons and two horses.  We also have been collecting manually operated machinery for a working farm including a petal operated wheat thresher, hand scythes, an ox cart and hand wood working tools.  We also have a petal operated dehuller scheduled to arrive this month.

We expect to soon be able to offer classes including cheese-making, woodworking, grain growing, food preservation and basket weaving in the near future. 

Because we benefited so much from the community involvement with the Self Reliant Community of Graham, we will also be starting a Self Reliant Community of East Lewis County with the first meeting being held at our farm, 151 Anderson Rd., Glenoma on Wednesday January 18, 2012 at 6:30 pm. and continuing on the third Wednesday of the month thereafter.  For more information please call: Billy and Anuttama Budd 360-496-0058 

New Family Members!

The Budds have welcomed little Torus who was born early Wednesday morning.  Mother and son are doing well and we’re expecting to have lots of dairy products to once again share with friends.  We also picked up Rain, Torus’ grandma who was unexpectedly offered to us by the Pioneer Farm Museum that used to employ her as a cow for children to milk.  Here are some pictures of our new family members, taken in the barn due to the fact that we’re being inundated with rain:

Torus at a day and a half old

Little Torus is a good eater

Rain is the mother of Dhana and Makani (our ox) the the grandma (oma) to little Torus

The word “torus” describes an energy field, shaped something like a doughnut that surrounds many things in nature such as planets, galaxies, atoms and even living beings.  I just watched a documentary that makes connections with the torus to seemingly unrelated ideas such as free energy, crop circles, UFOs, world hunger, chemtrails, wars, health and happiness.  The good thing about the documentary is that it gives some realistic solutions to the problems facing us.  It can be seen at: http://krishnascience.info/THRIVE.html  I highly recommend it.

Autumn Pictures at New Nandagram

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Good video about why democracy doesn’t work

My spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, said that democracy means that the “demons are crazy” and explained that democracy simply doesn’t work.  This video explains how our founding fathers made an effort to avoid a democracy for the United States:

A trip to Paradise

For Gopta’s last day visiting here in Washington, we went to Paradise.  Here are some photos from out adventure:

It is easy to see why they named this place Paradise

We had a picnic by a stream

The gray jays were very friendly and even landed on our hands to get food

A gray jay at Paradise

He appears to be a wild creature, but willing to take handouts

Update and photos of New Nandagram

We’ve been here a month now, and although progress in getting the property fixed and clean has been slow, we’ve made lots of progress.  The weekend before last, nine people helped get the 9 acre pasture ready for the animals and did other repairs.  The big hero was Tristan who although only 14 slung a hammer like a pro.  He demolished unnecessary walls in the barn and then shoveled gravel into stalls to level them for mats.  He also got the pressure washer running and fixed the rototiller.  All without complaint (or pay).  We did give him Twasheek, the 30 year old formerly starved horse who was given back to us due to his former caretaker needing to simplify her life.

Last week a friend, Gopta, came for a visit and has done amazing things to get the house more liveable.  He determined that the 50 year old hardwood floor was in fact salvageable and then proceeded to turn a floor that looked like it should be demolished into an exquisite, rich work of art.  He also fixed gutters, cleaned roofs, painted ceilings and taught us how to texture walls.

Here are some pictures of how things are now and one picture of Billy’s new birthday tractor:

The hardwood floor after Gopta and Billy finished it

Our fireplace getting ready for a new hearth

Their Lordships, Balajii and Giriraja

The view out the living room

The cows and horses are happy in their 9 acre pasture

The building in the background on the right is the covered arena, also on our property

The nice Massey tractor that Billy got for his birthday

Gopta and Billy trimmed the large elm tree by the barn, cleaned the roof and repaired the gutters

A stall after it has been leveled and matted

There are still several stalls that need to be mucked out, leveled with gravel and matted

We have 300 bales of local grass hay stored in the barn for the winter.

The motor home that Tristan lent to us

Like winning the lottery without buying a ticket!

Right after we’d made our last trip of this move, our Realtor, Karen, turned up.  She asked Billy how much land he’d bought and Billy replied, “almost 5 acres.”  “Wrong,” Karen replied, “I just found out that you bought two parcels and the second one is about 9 acres.  You bought a total of about 14 acres.”

We went back and read the deed, and we had, indeed bought two parcels totaling 14 acres.  We consider this to be a vote of confidence from Krsna who does tend to have some pizazz with the way He gives gifts.  We are still reeling with our good fortune.  The new parcel is an excellent hay field and also has a 24′ barn.  While we thought that this property was almost perfect, we had been disappointed that it didn’t have more acreage.  Now we’ve found out that it is totally perfect!

We’re officially moved, thanks to our friends

After living on our little farm in Eatonville for 13 years, we didn’t realize how many things we’d accumulated until we had to move or throw away everything!  And we weren’t living there with the intention of moving soon, so we’d accumulated so much more including such things as 10 4′ x 10′ sheets of tempered glass, a huge pile of black locust wood, two huge wood lathes, and four carport/greenhouses.  That’s not even mentioning the pigeons, ducks and all the things needed to care for cows and horses.

We couldn’t have done it without the help of so many good friends including Gordie, Gerry, Heather, Mike, Tristan,  Jerry, Sarah, Bruce, Selina, Deej, Monica, Chris, Jacob, Mary, Sandy and Dave,. Billy and I have almost broken down in tears with gratitude from all of the help we received.  I don’t like to get sappy, but it’s true.

There is so much to do here that I might not be posting too regularly, but anyone who is interested in what’s up can call our new number: (360) 496-0058

We did it! Moving to New Nandagram starting tomorrow

We just got back from signing the papers (after a torturous delay due to the fact that the property was owned by the VA and they’re really slow) and will begin moving tomorrow!!!  We will gratefully accept any help offered during this move.  We have a four horse gooseneck trailer, our horse trailer, our cargo trailer and a small trailer loaned to us by the Swiss Sisters all loaded and ready to go.  Anyone who wants to visit our new property can ride up with us and help unload there.  And if any such people still have energy and enthusiasm, they can load an unload another load:)

Please give me a call if you have extra time in the next few days,

 

Anuttama (253) 875-1842

Fantastic News!

Miraculously we have succeeded in selling our property and securing an ideal property to continue our self reliant project!  In my last blog entry I posted a video of the Glenoma property where we will be moving in the coming week.  This is an exciting and amazing development because the new property is much more suited for growing crops and for hosting teaching events.  There are so many buildings that we don’t even have plans for all the space!  And the soil is perfect, rich, volcanic soil without any rocks.

We have decided to name the new property New Nandagram (pronounced nan‘-da-grom) after a village in India where Krsna’s family moved in order to get out of harm’s way.  We’re hoping that New Nandagram will prove to be a sanctuary in troubled times just as Nandagram was a sanctuary for Krsna 5000 years ago.

The house and buildings at New Nandagram are in varying states of disrepair, so we will accept offers of help from our friends and supporters during the move and until we get the property fixed up.

One part of our plan is to have a guest studio with a separate entrance and bathroom/kitchen where we will be able to welcome guests without having the burden of having actual houseguests.  The property is about a mile and a half from Rife Lake and is right next to Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  When I went to the National Forest site looking for horse riding trails close by, I found hundreds!  There should be great mushroom picking in the fall, tons of huckleberries in the mountains above the property right now, great canoeing and year round hiking/trail riding.  We’ll even be able to host guest horses in our nine stall barn.  We are also about 20 miles from White Pass, a popular ski destination in the winter.

If you are interested in finding out more about our plans or are able to assist us, even for a few hours,  in the transition, please call: (253) 875-1842  Thanks!

Our future farm!

We went to see the farm that we are in the process of buying yesterday and took some video footage.  Sorry, but it is quite long.  The property is located near Randle, WA and is 5 acres of excellent soil. It has a 9 stall barn, a huge tractor barn, a covered arena, two car garage and several other buildings in addition to the house. It even has a huge walnut tree. We are excited to be able to purchase this property which is appropriate for a continuation of our efforts to grow all of our food and farm using animal powered implements. It is a great place for our bees as well as our dairy cow and poultry.  There is plenty of space to be able to conduct workshops, summer camps and classes on this wonderful property.

Great News!

As most of our friends know, Billy and I, although we love our self reliant property in the Graham/Eatonville area, we really want to be near Randle.  We’ve had a series of synchronicities involving the Randle area, and for several years have been keeping up with real estate as it becomes available.  Well, just yesterday we became aware of a property that suits what we are doing more than our present property.  It is five acres of great pasture with excellent soil, a house about the size of ours, a barn twice the size of our current one, a tractor/equipment shed, a covered arena and more.  What is more, we have qualified for a bank loan!

The only catch is that we need to find someone to lease our present property, or possibly buy it.  For the lender to be satisfied, it would have to rent for $1200/month.  We’d be happy to arrange some sort of rent-to-own agreement, if the leasee wished.  Or, even better, we’d like to sell it for $199,000 to someone who qualifies for a bank loan.  Our home that we’d like to lease or sell is about 1200 sq. ft with high ceilings in the living room.  It has tile floors and 3 bedrooms/2 baths.  Other things it has:

• a 4 stall barn, hay storage and fenced areas for each stall
• fencing and cross fencing
• a garden shed
• feed/tack room
• 2 car detached garage
• attached greenhouse
• fruit trees
• productive vegetable/berry garden

Here are some pictures:

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If anyone is interested in leasing or purchasing our property which is located near 320th and Mt. Hwy about 5 miles South of Graham, please give us a call: (253) 875-1842 or e-mail anuttamadd@gmail.com

Video of Makani’s first steps pulling a cart

Scythe vs. String Trimmer Competition Video

I love using my scythe and have even made several tons of hay using it.  It is good for the back and I actually feel energized using it.  You develop a swinging rhythm that seems to loosen the back muscles.  The scythe is also much quieter and enjoyable to use.  When hay prices were high, I figured I was making about $30/hr. making hay using the scythe.

A Hand Operated Dehuller/husker

The machine pictured below is perfect for our project of growing various grains/seeds on a small scale.  It can shell sunflower seeds, buckwheat (really a seed, not wheat) oats or barley, all crops that we’re either growing or planning to grow.  Buckwheat is a particularly interesting crop because it requires a shorter growing time than most other crops and also provides lots of nectar for honey bees.  The only problem is that the manufacturer seems unwilling to give a shipping quote.  The machine is $860 FOB India.  But the shipping?

A great video about how to grow food by cooperating with nature

Awesome video about how an biological engineer in Japan had an epiphany and realized that he could live his life more joyfully while at the same time accomplish the goal of growing food by cooperating with nature:

Easy and artistic bee swarm capture

Some days things just go easy!  Today we had a fairly unexpected swarm of bees from one of our topbar hives.  We’ve decided to use Langstroth hybrid hives rather than topbars due to the length of time it takes to care for the topbars and due to the fact that bees get squished more in the topbars.  This swarm kindly settled on a lilac bush at an easy height.  Because it was so easy, we were able to video the capture:

Not only was this swarm easy to put in a new home, they were really beautiful in the lilac bush.