One day Srila Prabhupada asked two leaders in the field of book distribution, “What you will do when the cities are closed?”

Oregon outback featured at Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal

High Desert

High desert hay and wheat farms in Oregon, California and Nevada produce superior quality hay and grain – the highest nutritional value of any wheat or dairy test hay in the world. Additionally, many of these farms produce more hay and wheat per acre than any land in the world. Irrigated grain and hay farms in the high desert often have AAA volcanic loam soils that are rock free and not muddy when wet. Superior soils, flood irrigation by gravity flow, and near all-time sunshine in the growing and harvest season reduce much of the stress and risk involved in producing wheat and hay.

Micro climates are numerous in these so-called deserts. Some of the valleys get as much as 20 inches of rain a year, with high mountains nearby getting more than twice that equivalent in snow pack. Temperatures may also vary dramatically from place to place and between night time and day time. True desert areas get less than 16 inches, generally, but sometimes more. Most of this “surplus” rain arrives in late winter and spring, boosting native vegetation in meadows and wilderness habits without threatening an early hay cutting. Many farms have sub-irrigated meadows that stay green naturally all summer.

Interesting people from all over the world visit or live in the high deserts of Oregon, Nevada and California – astronomers, physicists, wildlife biologists, pseudo-spiritualists, geothermal farmers, hippies, foreign aristocrats, natives, and families that have been in the same valley for ten generations. There are small worker villages where more than half the people are Mexicans or from Mexican families. I’ve seen no sign of racial tension anywhere.

QUESTION: Why live in a desert if there is good land elsewhere, such as the South or the Midwest?

ANSWER: The high desert climate is better for health. Everything is different here. Ultra pure water, fertile volcanic soil, and clear air full of vitality. Winter low temperatures are tolerable due to the dry air. One only need to become acclimatized to it. The winters here are mild, compared to places like Gita Nagari, New Vrindaban and the Midwest, and summers are not unbearable, as in the South. Moderate temperatures here are due to the constant Pacific Trade Winds.

Q. Isn’t the South better for devotees who want to live simply?

A. Although the South has mild winters, these mild winters are not good for most types of grains and the best kind of hay. The summers are very hot and humid. Insect problems are numerous and all the neighbor farmers will be spraying poisons often. Moreover, in the South there are severe cultural problems between blacks and whIte hicks. I grew up in the South and preached all over the South, and I know the region well. Rural people here are dull and closed minded, as a rule. The air is thick and hard to breath. Main problem in the South, apart from the high humid heat, is the people: dense populations of downtrodden blacks and dull whites and a near police state.

Q. Aren’t deserts too dry to farm?

A. Oregon high deserts have some of the best water resources in the world, but you need to find an oasis. Places of great water availability are not uncommon in the high desert. Another good thing here is that there are less farms and less people because water and good soil appears in “pockets” surrounded by national forests – it is not all-pervading. This limits the type of agricultural and social development that ruins the environment.

Q. Aren’t deserts inauspicious?

A. Not necessarily. Deserts are the preferred abodes for sages, like Dadhici Rishi and John the Baptist. Jesus Christ and the Sons of Sagara went to the desert for fasting. Kurukshetra is bordering the desert, as is Dhanustirtha and other holy places. Due to the general lack of material vibrations, chanting is easy in the desert. In the Oregon, Nevada, and California outback there are “power centers” that have been recognized for eons by native Americans and recently by modern pseudo spiritualists and others. There is a deep stillness out there, day and night.

Q. Aren’t deserts desolate and ugly?

A. There exists a sublime beauty and expansiveness in these high desert regions. There are mountain faces covered in juniper and ponderosa, which are not desert, sub irrigated meadows, which are not desert, amazing river canyons, crystal lakes, alkalai lakes, sand dunes, forests with trees a thousand years old, and an overall mood of timelessness. You can see for fifty miles. The air is clear, the sky is large and alive. These are not ordinary deserts. There are artesian springs, hot springs and many other wonders, like vortexes, lake canyons, and rare plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth.

Q. Isn’t the growing season very short?

A. Srila Prabhupada has described that devotee farmers in India usually cultivate only 3 months a year to provide all their necessities. There is no need for devotees to farm all year long. However, using modern greenhouses and utilizing the solar energy that is abundant in the desert, one can grow fruits and veggies almost all year. Srila Prabhupada, however, stressed on grain production for our farms. Another point is that in the summer here, due to 15 to 17 hours of daylight, vegetables and some fruits of the vine grow very fast and without being devoured by insects. With simple cloches, the season can be extended by eight weeks, because daytime temperatures are generally mild even into early December. Even in midwinter there are plenty of mild sunny days. Sun is a constant factor here for happy living. According to Srimad-Bhagavatam, glorious sunshine gives everyone the facility to become paramahamsa.

Q. Aren’t the zoning laws restrictive in Oregon?

A. Southeastern Oregon counties and northwestern Nevada counties are as big as many East Coast states. Some of these counties have 5,000 people or less and have only half dozen officials with no traffic lights or stop signs or major highways. No one cares what people build on big back country farms. Some of these farms have been unofficially converted to dude ranches and get hundreds of visitors. Some of them have facilities for dozens of workers, and most have huge barns. Some are owned in trusts with dozens of owners but are vacant of people. We could live in barns converted to apartments. Independent sadhus and vanaprasthas or sannyasis can live in huts in the hills or forests adjoining on the farm. Prabhupada expected devotees to live simply. Nobody will object if we live in harmony with the environment. Oregon zoning laws are meant primarily to limit development that impacts the environment. People in these areas are nonpolitical and nonbeauracratic and decidedly noncooperative when it comes to rules that impose on land owners. Prabhupada predicted that the people will support us, and even the government will support us, if we grow food and distribute prasadam.

Q. Why not go to Mississippi or Kentucky or North Carolina, where rural zoning laws are almost nonexistent?

A. Too many people and no zoning oversight tends to create rural slum dog settlements. Of course, varnashrama can be done anywhere, but why not go where there is less distractions and less yavana culture to contend with? I have seen the mistake of villages that offer all kinds of devotees a false sense of ownership and independence. Main thing is to live with like-minded devotees who understand that Srila Prabhupada is the real, living Acharya for this age.

Q. What is the price of farm land in the Oregon outback?

A. I have seen 7,000 acre farms with abundant water resources for 2.5 million dollars. I have seen small farms of around 500 acres for half a million. The problem is finding that right farm on an affordable, not too huge acreage.

Q. Isn’t isolation a bad thing for preaching?

A. One of Prabhupada’s objectives mentioned when he formed his mission in the US was to create “holy place of pilgrimage” in America. If a few knowledgeable devotees can live together and worship the Deities as Prabhupada advised, devotees and seekers will visit from far and wide, without a doubt. We only need provide some comfortable facilities and good prasadam for pilgrims. There is no place remote in the USA, other than Alaska and Hawaii. Only serious pilgrims will visit. They will come for sadhu-sanga and focused hearing and chanting.

Q. How will devotees make a living in a semi-remote desert location?

A. My ideal is to chant Hare Krishna always, live simply and die to live. Or if I still need money, I could sell prasadam, or host pilgrims for japa retreats. Devotees can travel to distribute prasadam and preach. This is one idea. Srila Prabhupada explained that by distributing prasadam and preaching, all necessities will come, by Krishna’s grace. If we live too close to the cities, we may not learn to cut our dependence. One day Srila Prabhupada asked two leaders in the field of book distribution, “What you will do when the cities are closed?” Another time he wrote to his BBT man in LA, “The higher duty, the highest duty, is to save oneself.”

In contrast, Srila Prabhupada never suggested that devotees on our farm projects needed to go the cities to preach. He specifically discouraged me from doing so on more than one occasion. Nor is there need to turn our farm-tirtha into a tourist attraction. In any case, one can still preach in the cities and county fairs without living near cities or metro counties. (It requires planning and a vehicle.)

Q. Will the high desert areas be safe during and after the war?

A. Without attaining the stage of full Krishna consciousness, no one is safe anywhere in this world. Interesting fact: the only persons who were killed from an attack on the US mainland during WW2 were in the southern Oregon outback. Against astronomical odds, two hunters were killed by a Japanese “Buzz Bomb”. Another fact: southeastern Oregon, northeastern California and northwestern Nevada high deserts are the safest areas in the lower 48 with regards to direct blast nuclear fallout. This is due to the almost constant trade winds from the Pacific and no big cities or bases nearby. Another point: These desert regions will get less residual global fallout due to less rainfall. Finally, the threat from gangs of thugs or desperate refugees will be less at a semi-remote high desert farm.