Support A Desi Gaushala

This program is a logical extension of Adopt A Natural Farmer program with a difference that here the focus is a Gau Sangrakshak who chose to preserve Desi Gau for the reasons already described on that page.

Highlights on Desi Gau

1. Our traditional farming community was centred around our local breeds of Desi Gau & Nandi
2. Desi Gau/ Nandi prefer only Gau Char (i.e. open grazing on grasslands for their food). They remain healthy consuming their preferred grasses, directly from the grassland on their own. 
3. They choose the grass and the quantity based on their special body needs which changes from time to time. It is also seen by keen observers that, specially Gau feeds on grasses based on health needs of her Gau Sevaks, also. So that her dung, urine or milk becomes a medicine for the Gau Sevak.
4. Desi Gau/ Nandi’s cow dung/ urine is excellent source of positive microbes for soil rejuvenation and farming purpose. Using Jeevamrit you can make and keep 30 acres of land fertile per animal. 
5. Desi Gau/ Nandi’s cow dung does not give a bad odour.
6. Based on wisdom passed from generation to generation, it has also been observed that a Desi Gau/ Nandi creates positive energy vibrations in a radius of 5.7 miles (3 kos), which is helpful for flow of prana that promotes life and living foods. 
7. Natural Farms centred around Desi Gau is more about farming for consumption of family/ community/ village, not for commerce but for sharing abundance, so that all inputs that go into getting the farm output, are also freely available from Nature and from family/ community/ village. Such farming would focus on bio-diversity, poly-cropping, open grazing of Desi Gau, multi-strata agro-forestry, Desi Seeds, etc.
8. Advent of cash cropping/ chemical farming has led to decline in populations of Desi Gau which needs to be preserved.

Preservation Work

Many Gau Sangrakshaks are preserving the breeds of Desi Gau and Nandi and have anywhere between 1 to 60 to hundreds of Desi Gau.

Preferred design is to have a simple shed built using Natural Materials where its conveniently designed to allow the cow dung to be separated and for the cow urine to flow into a trench and be collected in a tank.

Focus is on using cow dung & urine to make Jeevamrit which is then used for growing grasses such as Super Napier, Doob, etc. for grazing purpose. The area of grass land should be such that the cows can graze year around on rotation basis without having any dependence on Chara. This could be in the land of the Gau Sangrakshak or in community/ village lands.

Support Needed

1. Biggest support needed by elaborately designed concrete Gau Shala where cows are kept tied, is help them to transition to open grazing, and develop enough grasslands to reduce dependency on providing chara by spending money.
2. Secondly, they would do good to have a shed made using Natural building materials.
3. Thirdly, the next logical sequence is to have a Gobar Gas Plant
4. Fourthly, many Gaushalas have traditionally focussed on milk, which needs to be transitioned to cow dung and urine as main focus, and dairy only as a by-product. So setting up a workshop area for making Jeevamrit, Gau Kripamrit and other bio-enzymes would be a good next move.
5. Fifthly, having a kitchen garden would bring local food self-reliance to the Gau Sangrakshak’s family, allowing him enough of excess harvest to gift to those who are helping him in Gau Seva, Gau Prachar, etc.
6. Sixthly, an outward project of developing food forest in the village land would be a great idea as it will improve local food self-reliance for the villagers.
7. Any tools needed for doing any food processing like making ghee, butter, curd naturally should be already available, else that needs to be added.
8. Finally, a little help to make natural building cottages to support the Gau Sangrakshaks, Gau Sevaks, Gau Pracharaks, while being able to invite Digital Nomads and interested urban migrants in order to take the project into a full fledged Gau Gram Teerth as a next phase. A few cottages being added with natural kitchens and compost toilets would be a good way to close this phase, as it would pave way to immersive responsible agritourism.

What’s in it for you?

• You can visit the Gau Sangrakshak’s place and you can live a natural life style and experience eating natural foods cooked naturally in a wood fired mud stove in earthen vessels, with all ingredients off his land except Salt. Visits can be short term or long term or for life. Natural Life Style would mean that you earn your food for the day by performing some labour (Shram Dan/ Gau Seva) on the field, and find other ways to contribute to the Gau shala.
• On short terms visits, you can bring back with you whatever fresh harvests/ produce and other handmade local products that is transport friendly and earmarked for abundance sharing.