Sheep's wool

[Guest guest]

On Fri, 3 Mar 2000, Radha Krsna (das) ACBSP GB (Great Britain) wrote:

 

> <<If they don't have propane to burn then having the sheep in the same area

> >as Gosh suggested would probably work.

>

> >Uh, I think I missed something here !! I didn't read anywhere Gosh

> >mentioning sheep... maybe the text didn't arrive here

>

> So, are we saying it is in fact OK to bring on some other animal after cows

> and oxen, I.E. sheep to aid your rotation? It is considered VERY important

> in orgainc farming to be able to do this. As we, ISKCON, do not have flocks

> of sheep, is it OK for them to come and do this valuable service for Krsna?

 

 

What is meant by "we don't have sheep in ISKCON"? We used to have about

30 sheep at Gita-nagari. I think they still have sheep. They were

valuable for keeping the grass in the apple orchard short enough to

discourage mice from making homes there.

 

Of course, the main reason that we had them was for their wool. You can

read Mother Satyabhama's letter to Srila Prabhupada and hear Srila

Prabhupada's emotional and appreciative response in the Prabhupada

Varnasrama Book -- when Paramananda gave Prabhupada the shawl that

Satyabhama had woven for His Divine Grace.

 

Satsvarupa Maharaja gives a beautiful description of this event in the

Prabhupada Lilamrta, and describes that Srila Prabhupada had tears of

appreciation in his eyes when Paramananda gave him Satyabhama's gift.

Mother Satyabhama had spun, dyed and woven the wool from the Gita-nagari

sheep. Later on, she also made beautifully patterned shawls for all the

Deities.

 

Srila Prabhupada encouraged devotees countless times: Grow your own food,

produce your own cloth. For Northern devotees, cloth means linen or wool.

So raising our own sheep is a very important part of building the

self-sufficient communities that Srila Prabhupada wanted.

 

Satyabhama explained to me in later years that one problem of the sheep

that we had at Gita-nagari was that we did not realize it, but they were

more of a meat sheep. Their wool was very coarse, good mostly for outer

garments, like a shawl or for rugs. She said if she had it to do over

again, she would have preferred sheep with much finer wool. That way, the

cloth could have been used for more different articles of clothing,

especially sweaters and mittens and scarves.

 

If someone wanted to get sheep for wool, one good place to start might be

to attend a local agricultural fair and talk to the different farmers

about their sheep, and look at the different kinds of wool produced.

Nowadays there are a number of sheep which have been bred for fine wool.

 

On the other hand, it may be important to obtain good wool sheep as soon

as possible. In some countries, wool sheep are going out of use. I

talked to one long-time sheep farmer recently who was planning on

switching over to a new kind of sheep which has practically no hair and

does not have to be shaved each year.

 

He told me that because Australians produce their wool at such a low price

that farmers in other countries can no longer sell it, so it is better for

them not to have to go to the expense of trimming the sheep. Better to

just raise them for meat. More profitable. Capitalist philosophy at work

again.

 

So, maybe we should think of buying and preserving the breeds of sheep

that produce wool that can be made into nice articles for the Deities and

for our own families.

 

In addition, we can still have the benefit of using their manure as

described by Carol Prabhu and Radha Krsna Prabhu.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi