To go to Himalayan Acres, which is what we call the agricultural endowment lands on the south side of the river across from Iraivan, requires that we drive one mile north of the Aadheenam and then take a left to go west and across the river.

To make that crossing we go over a ford that has about 10, two-foot culverts buried in concrete that take river water under the flat surface that provides a bridge over the rocky base of the river. Of course, when the river is in spate, then 5 feet or more of water flows above the ford, and we cannot makes the crossing.

Recent floods blocked the culvert with rocks and even when the river was low, we could not cross.

Acharya Arumugaswami, who heads the noni operation, was determined to clear the culverts which make ford crossable ever when the river is a little high. Off we went for adventure on dry, sunny day to see what could be done.

Two rainy retreats ago, Kumarnathaswami and Adi Srikantha milled a first batch of Formosan Koa logs. Continuing several rainy days later Acharya and Brahmanathaswami milled the remainder of all that will be needed, and then some, to build this a table for the cedar room. It's a trestle table designed by the famed Stickley brothers in the early 1900s. The creative top is the brainchild of Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami, fancy medallions and all.

Some images of our monastery hydroponic greenhouse. Everyday the Siddhidatta Kulam brings in greens and vegetables to be used for cooking. Here was are able to grow many things that we can't grow outside due to too much rain or insects. Things like tomatoes, cucumbers and softer lettuce varieties such as butter lettuce now grow in abundance. Aum Namah Sivaya

The most recent goings-on of the Siddhidata monks are in:

One of Natyam Dayanatha's day jobs is to perform engine repair. Here he is working on one of our generators. Thank you Natyam.

Finish up those emails, shut down the computer, clean up the desktop and off to the weekend! Two days a week we monks get to see the sun rise, go out and about and stop to smell the honey. A few shots were taken this past retreat, let's see what they're up to...

The mighty Siddhidata Kulam are rounding up granite stones and moving them in place for the next batch of silpis who arrive in just a few weeks. The foundation of Iraivan is getting cleared for work, and that means moving some serious crate collections that have built up over the years. Luckily our monastic staff has forklifts, big-wheel trucks and gas-powered pressure washers to get the work done swiftly. Here's a small slideshow of their recent effort.

The Siddhidata Kulam has been working overtime to get strawberries, cucumbers and a variety of kales and chards growing and into the kitchen as soon as possible. Here are some photos of their journey into finishing the greenhouse addition.

What was just an empty field April 27th last year is today a fully finished and equipped processing facility for noni from our certified organic orchard located across the river from the monastery on land leased from the State. The orchard's eight acres has proved to be a successful "cash crop" which ultimately will support all the agricultural activity on the 312 acre parcel. This 24 foot by 56 foot building is one of the few we've built "from scratch" at the monastery and was a bit of a challenge to manage. But it is now finished and exactly what we needed to clean, ferment and press what becomes "Wailua River Noni Juice." Since its inception, the monastery has always maintain agricultural activities. Earlier it was honey production on a commercial scale; now, with the acquisition of the large parcel of former sugar cane land it is noni, nursery trees and hardwood trees. One benefit of this agricultural activity is to keep the monastery closely tied to the local community of our rural island. Our thanks to architect Thamby Kumaran who did the building plans as a donation, to Easvan Param who installed all the electrical wiring and to all the others who helped.


You can buy our noni on eBay, visit us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @wailua_river_noni.

The Minimela is blessed to have a full team of hardworking sevaks take the inventory and price checking by storm. This devoted group spent hours chipping at the endless supply of new Minimela items and getting their tags and prices in order.