Jai Shri Radhe! Thanks to your overwhelming support the Shyamdas Foundation exceeded our initial goal of 100 trees and we now have set our hopes on 200!
Special thanks to Simha Bode and Janaki, our dear friends and experts in horticulture, permaculture, Indian-culture, tree planting, and so many other arts. They visited our site and are helping us refine our species selection, planting methods and mapping. Simha even created for us a 3-D computerized model for a future on-site composting toilet!
We missed what little rains fell last summer, so the Forest Service is asking us to wait until the weather warms up to plant your trees. The plantation site has been finalized, holes have been dug. We are currently ordering tree guards, designing name plates and planning the species composition and design of the forest.
The area the Forest Service has reserved for our Shyam Forest is on the inner parikrama path on the north edge of the town of Jatipura. This is a mostly deforested plot at the beginning of a beautiful section of the path between Jatipura and Govardhan. A covered pavilion on site provides a lovely viewing area of the Govardhan Hill and our project site. An onsite gardener hired by Sevayan Samsthan will safeguard and nurture our trees. The site’s proximity to Jatipura will allow Mohan, Vallabhdas and other Foundation staff to regularly observe and monitor the forest and easily bring guests, friends of Shyamdas and Foundation supporters to see the forest and the trees they have sponsored.
