- Dear Friends, With the warm weather, ISHA welcomes back all visitors who wish to offer seva to Ishwar Ji. This will be an exciting and busy year at the dera, as construction continues on the Meeting Hall, and much help will be needed in the garden and on many other projects from... [read more]
The Construction Chronicles
This blog will present the latest information on the activities of Ishwar's dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin. Entries will be written by Paul Bauer, a member of the ISHA Building Committee. We are happy to answer your questions, which can be sent from the form on the right. If you would like to be notified by email when new blogs are posted, please submit the subscription form that is located on the right.
- Dear Friends, Winter has turned to spring at Ishwar’s dera in northern Wisconsin … at least according to the calendar. In reality, the community of Bruce has experienced a karma-rich winter that seems far from over. You may recall that the snow storms began on December 13,... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is delighted to announce opportunities for all of Ishwar’s friends to come to his Wisconsin dera for seva in 2023. There are two ways you can participate in volunteer work at the dera: 1) Attend any (or all!) of these three group events sch... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The Dera Building Committee is overjoyed to report that on December 13th ISHA’s contractor completed the foundation for Ishwar’s Meeting Hall just hours before the "snowstorm of the century" blanketed northern Wisconsin with two feet of snow and subzero temperatures.... [read more]
- Dear Friends, In spite of the unexpected snowy Wisconsin conditions, construction continues on Ishwar Ji’s dera Meeting Hall. This week, workers poured another 47 cubic yards of concrete for half of the foundation walls. The second half will be poured as soon as the weather war... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Amazing news! The first batch of concrete has been poured for Ishwar Ji’s Meeting Hall at the dera in Wisconsin! Yesterday morning (November 4), workers poured 36 cubic yards of concrete to start building the foundation for Ishwar's tribute to his beloved Gr... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Construction of Ishwar Ji’s dera Meeting Hall in Wisconsin begins! On Wednesday morning (October 19), excavation equipment will begin work on the foundation walls for Ishwar Ji’s offering to his beloved Great Master. You can watch the progress on ISHA’s n... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The ISHA Dera Building Committee has exciting news. ISHA has signed a contract with a General Contractor who will begin construction of Ishwar Ji’s Meeting Hall in Wisconsin within the next week! Phase 1A will involve completion of the concrete and steel footings ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar Ji’s Prashad Garden is thriving! Below are five time-lapse photos of the garden taken from the loft library window from May 31 to July 23. The dera is open to volunteers all summer. If you would like to offer seva to Ishwar for his tribute to h... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Over the Memorial Day long weekend, about 40 of Ishwar’s friends gathered at his dera in Wisconsin to express their love and devotion by helping to plant Master’s Prashad Garden. The weather was beautiful, and there was plenty of seva available for all. A small group... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar’s dera is open for seva! Last week, volunteers arrived to begin spring preparations for a busy year of activities. Planting of Master’s Prashad Garden is planned for Memorial Day Weekend (May 28-30, 2022). All are welcome, and satsangis are i... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As you may know, construction work will begin soon on Ishwar’s Meeting Hall at the dera in Bruce, Wisconsin. For this "Phase 1" of the project, most of the work will be done by professionals because of the highly specialized nature of the work (concrete foundation an... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Exciting News! During the last year, volunteers have worked to design an affordable building that can serve as a gathering place for Ishwar’s friends from all over the world. ISHA has signed a contract with an architectural firm to develop the final plans for... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Winter weather has finally arrived at Ishwar’s dera in northern Wisconsin. In a typical year, a killing frost can be expected in mid-September. However, this year, September visitors enjoyed the most incredible weather, with sunny days in the 70s, including a day late in the mon... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Last weekend, with an abundance of love and devotion, eager volunteers harvested prashad potatoes from Ishwar’s dera garden in Bruce, Wisconsin. The potato-plucking party was ably assisted by “Shanti" the dera puppy, who has a nose for buried treats... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As the gardening season winds down at Ishwar’s dera garden in Bruce, Wisconsin, volunteers are busily harvesting, storing, and eating the delicious bounty of organic prashad. By any standards, the 2021 garden was miraculously productive. Here are some pics of just a small exam... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Great news! The ISHA Dera Building Committee has completed a concept design for the Meeting Hall at Ishwar’s dera, and will soon be hiring a Wisconsin “design and build” company to develop the final detailed drawings. In today’s blog, the committee discus... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s truly magical! Ishwar’s prashad garden at the ISHA dera in Wisconsin is thriving beyond all expectations. In eight short weeks, the garden has grown from nothing to a dazzling outburst of delectable vegetables. Here’s the garden on May 28 ... … and h... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As you may know, before Ishwar left his physical body, he established a new ISHA Dera Building Committee, which he authorized to have complete responsibility for building Dera Baba Sawan Singh on the ISHA lands in Bruce, Wisconsin. This committee has been actively wo... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar’s garden of prashad is planted! During the long Memorial Day weekend, a devoted team of vegetable-loving volunteers gathered at the dera site in Wisconsin to plant the nearly 10,000 square foot garden. Last fall, large plastic tarps were placed over ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As the ground thawed at the ISHA dera in northern Wisconsin, sevadars were busily planning Ishwar's 2021 prashad garden. This year, 72 vegetable varieties, 9 flower varieties, and 9 different herbs were carefully selected for suitability in our garden. ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is pleased to announce the schedule for the 2021 summer volunteer (seva) opportunities at Ishwar Ji's dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin. “I want every satsangi, even the poorest of the poor, to be given the opportunity to offer something in seva, even if it ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, This is the final installment showcasing the marvelous 2020 ISHA garden at Ishwar’s dera project in Wisconsin. Our green-thumbed volunteers planted six varieties of squash, one kind of pumpkin, and 4 types of potatoes. Delicata; Butternut; Kabocha Winters... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The volunteer gardeners at the ISHA dera site in Wisconsin cultivated three varieties of corn and eight varieties of tomatoes. All of which were grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Sweet Corn varieties: Bodacious; Montauk; Tem... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The 2020 ISHA garden was such a great success that the kitchen sevadars were able to serve fresh vegetables to volunteers for lunch nearly every day. When Ishwar Ji visited the dera site — where he was served fresh garden veggies — he declared that everything ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, In any garden, some of the earliest veggies to ripen are the salad greens. The ISHA garden in Wisconsin was no exception, and starting in early June, the volunteers enjoyed a cascade of fresh, organic salad featuring lettuce, kale, swiss chard, endive, and mustard. ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar's 2020 dera garden was a grand (and delicious) success! Here’s a lofty view of the garden in July, with all of the vegetables flourishing. But the local horticultural volunteers put in a lot of work before this photo was taken. Months before,... [read more]
- Dear Friends, During the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2020, the local volunteers performed a major upgrade on the dera garden in Wisconsin. The size of the garden remained unchanged, but the level of the garden surface was raised three feet and huge amounts of beneficial compost were ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Even though ISHA canceled the public programs at the dera property due to coronavirus concerns, the local volunteers have continued to maintain the property and complete some small projects. In the spring, they planted groves of trees and shrubs along the western edge of the... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is happy to announce that the Construction Chronicles Blog has safely emerged from lockdown, and will now begin to catch you up on our 2020 activities at Ishwar’s dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin. For the last four months, the dera has been closed to visitors... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is pleased to announce the schedule for the 2020 summer volunteer (seva) opportunities at Ishwar’s dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin. Here are Ishwar’s words on this seva: “Hello Friends, Great Master said — and I agree with him — that if you do seva service for the Master,... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As another seva season has ended at Ishwar’s dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin, some of the volunteers have chosen to share their seva experiences. Here are their words. "To do seva at the dera in Bruce is a gift. Happiness and bliss is an endless state during this wonderful... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA’s dera property in Wisconsin was walloped by some early storms this year, resulting in about 18 inches of snow on the ground. The scene was set for our local photographers to take action … from the ground, and from the air. Here’s a ground-based shot of the gre... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Below is a holiday message from Ishwar. With warmest regards,Paul BauerChair of ISHA Building & Fund-Raising Committee Dear Friends, I send you all my love and Great Master’s Blessings for this holiday season. I a... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of the big projects for the 2019 summer seva season at Ishwar’s dera project in Wisconsin was to finish the ISHA greenhouse, so that it is ready for use by the gardeners in the spring. With all of the doors and windows installed, it was time to finish the interior w... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Recently, visitors to Ishwar’s dera project took aerial photos of this beautiful part of northern Wisconsin. A view to the north from over the construction site. The lovely Chippewa River meanders around forests and farms for approximately 183 miles (294 km) through... [read more]
- Dear Friends, During Mitti Seva Day, several groups worked on the northern end of the ISHA property, near the site of the Meeting Hall Dome project. Teams of sevadars repaired damage to the driveway. The damage was caused by an intense rain storm. The teams used sho... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Everyone who joined Ishwar at the Mitti Seva Day in Wisconsin found some suitable service work to perform on the ISHA land. 240 people working together, with the single goal of expressing their Love and Devotion, was a beautiful sight! Many people worked near the n... [read more]
- Dear Friends, For many years, Ishwar has hosted an annual “mitti seva” event at the future ISHA dera site in Wisconsin. Ishwar has modeled this mitti seva after Great Master Baba Sawan Singh’s construction work in India, where everyone was offered the opportunity to serve by working a... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA’s annual “Mitti Seva Day” is only a week away! On that day, many of Ishwar’s friends will gather at the dera project site in northern Wisconsin to perform volunteer work, and to join Ishwar for lunch and a discourse. This year, the Mitti Seva headquarters will ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of ISHA’s goals this year is to have the Maintenance Shed “dried in,” meaning that the roof and walls and all of the doors and windows are installed, so that anything inside the shed is protected from the rain and snow. Recently, our skilled volunteers insta... [read more]
- Dear Friends, We now have fresh, clean water at the ISHA Greenhouse, Garden, and Maintenance Shed in Bruce, Wisconsin! The water well was drilled in early July, and now the water lines have been buried and the pump has been installed in the well. First, a deep trench was caref... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Work continues on the ISHA Maintenance Shed on Ishwar's dera project in Wisconsin. Now that the concrete floor is finished, a small team of volunteer carpenters could build a staircase that allows access to the loft area in the Shed. First step, cut some wo... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s been a gorgeous summer at Ishwar’s dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin. Including both the days and the nights. Here are some evening, time-lapse pictures of the ISHA Maintenance Shed and Greenhouse. Enjoy! &nbs... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Volunteers have been busy at Ishwar’s dera project in Wisconsin. Recently, they finished pouring the concrete floor for ISHA’s new Maintenance Shed/Greenhouse. This building will be used to store vehicles and equipment, and can be used as a workshop when construction be... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The ISHA garden in Wisconsin is flourishing, thanks to the efforts of a small team of cultivating, rototilling, weeding, and picking volunteers! The great harvests of veggies are being used to feed all of the people who come to the dera to offer love and devotion to Ishwar throug... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The volunteer carpenters at Ishwar’s dera in Wisconsin have finished framing the roof for the carport that is attached to the ISHA Maintenance Building. This roof is noteworthy because of its design. It’s a “hip roof,” which is a type of roof where all the sides s... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is delighted to announce two weeks of volunteer (seva) opportunities in September at Ishwar’s dera project in Bruce, Wisconsin. The first week (Sept 7-12) is planned for just before the Meditation Workshop in Menomonie. The second week (Sept 17-22) is planned for the... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Half of the ISHA Maintenance Shed in Wisconsin now has a fantastic concrete floor! Putting a smooth, durable finish on concrete is a skill you can only master with the proper set of tools and lots of practice. We are fortunate to have several volunteers who are sk... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of the recent big jobs at Ishwar’s construction project in Bruce, Wisconsin was to pour the concrete floor for the ISHA Maintenance Shed/Greenhouse. Due to the size of the garage floor, the pour was divided into two sections, each of which is about half of the floor area. &nb... [read more]
- Dear Friends, While Ishwar's team for the ISHA Meeting Hall Dome is working to finalize the building design, other volunteers have been busy on a variety of projects on the Dera property. The principal task is construction of the Maintenance Shed & Greenhouse that is located near the G... [read more]
- Dear Friends, There’s been lots of recent volunteer work on Ishwar’s dera project in Wisconsin. One important project was to get the greenhouse “dried in,” meaning getting all of the doors, windows, roof, and walls installed. Here, a large patio door is being installed on the south wal... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The volunteer gardeners have planted 80 varieties of vegetables and herbs in Ishwar’s dera garden in Wisconsin! Beans - Bush - Garbanzo - Shell or DryBeans - Bush - Soybeans - Be SweetBeans - Bush -Fresh Shell - FlamboBeans - Pole - Emerite&nbs... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Among the many wonderful vegetables planted in Ishwar’s 2019 Wisconsin garden, one stands out. It’s called "Beas Kohlrabi,” and was discovered in the Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog by one of the volunteer gardeners. Kohlrabi is a low-growing, stout cultiva... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Many more vegetables have been planted in Ishwar's dera gala garden in Wisconsin. Three varieties of potatoes were selected this year. Dark Red Norland - Round to oblong, red-skinned tubers have white flesh, store well, and are excellent for roasting and bo... [read more]
- Dear Friends, All of those little seedlings are introduced to their new garden homes. In goes the kale! How about some onions? Anybody for parsley? Okra! Somebody’s favorite! Don’t forget the peas! Everybody loves broccol... [read more]
- Dear Friends, A lot of planning and preparation goes into establishing a large garden, and the dera gardening volunteers have been at it for months. Back in the gloomy days of winter, they created a (long!) list of vegetables to grow this year, and ordered the seeds. ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is pleased to announce that two cameras are now live-streaming views of Ishwar’s dera in Bruce, Wisconsin. These “DeraCams” are now visible to all of Ishwar’s friends throughout the world. You can find the cameras on ISHA’s webpage at https://ishanews.org/der... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The gardeners at the ISHA property in Wisconsin have also planted some ornamental, perennial shrubs, including one elderberry and two chokeberry bushes. Our elderberry variety is called “Adams Elder" (Sambucus canadenis "Adams”), and is excellent for pies and j... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The next perennials planted in Ishwar’s dera garden were 30 Jersey Knight asparagus plants. Jersey Knight makes huge yields of big, tender, bright green spears. Asparagus is one of the first plants that emerges in the springtime. It’s a perennial, wh... [read more]
- Dear Friends, This year, the gardeners at Ishwar’s dera in Wisconsin are planting some perennial fruits and vegetables. Some of the earliest to go in were the blueberry bushes … probably because everyone loves fresh blueberries! A berry-loving gardening team planted four variet... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s time to prepare the garden at Ishwar’s dera land in Bruce, Wisconsin. A local farmer delivers a load of magnificent, rich, organic compost to the site. A large bale of hay is unloaded from the Dera Dumper. The hay will be used to mulch the gard... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The first apple orchard has been planted on Ishwar’s Dera property in Bruce, Wisconsin! A team of volunteers gathered on a Sunday morning to prepare the holes and plant the trees. The potted apple trees are lined up according to the date that the fruit ripe... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is delighted to announce the schedule for the 2019 summer volunteer (seva) opportunities at Ishwar’s construction project in Bruce, Wisconsin. Although much of the work will be focused on completion of the Maintenance Shed/Greenhouse, there will be a great variety of v... [read more]
- Dear Friends, In Wisconsin, spring is the time to plant apple orchards. Lucky for us, several local volunteers have decades of experience growing fruit trees in the area around Ishwar’s dera project at Bruce. Standard-size apple trees make impressive shade trees, with the added b... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The first planting of the year in the ISHA Wisconsin dera garden was four rose bushes. Roses are one of the most beautiful, traditional, and fragrant flowers that can be planted in a garden. Our rose garden was planted in the circle where the ornamental corn was planted last... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As the 2019 seva season gets underway at Ishwar’s dera project in Wisconsin, there will be lots of things to move … including some very heavy things. Things like lumber, dirt, windows, gravel, trees, cement, sheds, rebar, doors, rocks, and much more. ISHA needed some equ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The variety of April weather at Ishwar’s project in Wisconsin has been amazing. Cold, warm, wet, cold again, snowy, warm again, rainy, cool, and now warming and drying. Here are some photos from the last week of this wild ride. As the snow melts, and the ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of the tasks this week at Ishwar’s construction project in Wisconsin was to install four, large, sliding, clerestory windows above the greenhouse on the ISHA Maintenance Shed. These windows will allow light and air into the upper-level loft that is located above the garage.&... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Following the Bhandara Event, there has been a great burst of seva activity on Ishwar’s Dera construction project in Bruce, Wisconsin! As the 2019 work season opened on the Maintenance Shed & Greenhouse, dozens of volunteers converged on the ISHA property to off... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The snow has begun to melt at Ishwar’s construction site in Wisconsin. Here are a series of repeat photos of the ISHA Maintenance Shed/Green and garden area. The photos were taken from the same location over the last three weeks. They provide a glimpse of the variety of late-winte... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s been an unusual winter at Ishwar’s construction project site in Bruce, Wisconsin. Record-breaking high temperatures, then record-breaking winter rains, then some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded, and finally, record-breaking snowfall. November and December... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As Wisconsin slips into the early winter season, the blog turns to the pictures of local photographer Susanne Schroeder. Susanne has spent many years exploring the countryside in and around Ishwar’s dera site in Bruce, Wisconsin. Enjoy this amazing landscape through her eyes... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog features a holiday message from Ishwar: Dear Friends,I send you all my love and Great Master’s Blessings for this holiday season. I am looking forward to 2019 with great anticipation and excitement for it appears it will be a great year for spiritu... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Nearly 250 of Ishwar’s friends performed volunteer work (seva) at the ISHA construction site in Bruce, Wisconsin in 2018. Some of these sevadars spent weeks — and even months! — on ISHA’s summer projects. There were jobs suitable for every person who wanted to work, no matter thei... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The last construction project of the year on Ishwar’s building site in Wisconsin was to winterize the partially built Maintenance Shed & Greenhouse. This part of Wisconsin is renowned for its winter storms, and it’s not uncommon to have six or more feet of snow ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As the building season in Wisconsin ended, volunteer workers had one last task to complete on Ishwar’s construction project. Now that the roof was on, the four sides of the Maintenance Shed had to be sealed for the winter. There wasn’t enough time to install the permanent metal ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, After the rain stopped, a handful of volunteers only had a few days to install the metal roof and seal the rest of the building in advance of the Wisconsin winter. The first job was to remove the plastic tarp that covered the roof. Here, some acrobatic sevadar... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Although activity at Ishwar’s construction project in Wisconsin slowed after mitti-seva day, work continued on several other projects — in spite of the relentless rain! The primary project continues to be the ISHA Maintenance Shed, but workers also moved forward on ins... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog is Part 5 of a 5-part series on the ISHA Mitti Seva event of September 24, 2018. "I am building the ISHA Meeting Hall in Bruce, Wisconsin as a tribute to my own Master, Great Master Hazur Maharaj Baba Sawan Singh Ji. This project is a project of Love... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog is Part 4 of a 5-part series on the ISHA Mitti Seva event of September 24, 2018. Dozens of volunteers worked to feed the 325 attendees a menu of salad, rice, Indian dishes, and dessert. All of the cooks, including these skillful fellows, ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog is Part 3 of a 5-part series on the ISHA Mitti Seva event of September 24, 2018. Ishwar arrives at the Meeting Hall Dome excavation site in the ISHA golf cart! Prior to his arrival, 325 of his friends had already arranged themselves a... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog is Part 2 of a 5-part series on the ISHA Mitti Seva event of September 24, 2018. On mitti seva day, enthusiastic sevadars arrived at the ISHA land on a gorgeous Wisconsin morning. This year, the mitti seva tents were set up in the excavated... [read more]
- Dear Friends, For many years, Ishwar has hosted an annual “mitti seva” event at the future ISHA Meeting Hall site in Bruce, Wisconsin. Ishwar has modeled mitti seva after Great Master Baba Sawan Singh’s construction work in India, where everyone was offered the opportunity to serve by wor... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA’s annual Mitti Seva event will be held on Monday, and preparations are well underway at the Meeting Hall Dome site in Bruce, Wisconsin. Last year, the sevadars walked up the Hill to visit the large excavation for the Dome basement at the construction site. ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, This week, volunteers continue to frame up the Maintenance Shed on Ishwar’s project in Bruce, Wisconsin. Workers were busy installing the heavy beam that spans the building and then fastening in the long, wooden rafters that will support the roof. The mighty se... [read more]
- Dear Friends, During the last week, a small team of eager volunteers has been framing up the ISHA Maintenance Building in Bruce, Wisconsin. Today’s blog is a construction diary which illustrates the progress that was made during each work day. Wednesday, Aug... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As the ISHA Meeting Hall garden reaches late summer maturity, the plants have become a treat to the eye, as well as to the soul and to the palate. Here is an intimate pilgrimage into the natural splendor of the flowers and vegetables, as seen through the magical macro l... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The Maintenance Building is now well underway at Ishwar’s construction site in Bruce, Wisconsin. This large, pole-barn storage and service building will support all of the future work on the ISHA Meeting Hall project. All work is being performed by vol... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s time to send you an update on Ishwar's construction projects in Bruce, Wisconsin. Meeting Hall dome The next step in the creation of the Meeting Hall is the biggest and most important in the entire project — constructing the steel and concrete foundation for the b... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The ISHA Meeting Hall Garden is thriving! Here’s a photo journey through the latest vegetarian delights growing on Ishwar’s hallowed land in Bruce, Wisconsin. Here’s a photo of the garden from a distance. It’s so green in Bruce that it can be d... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Volunteers are keeping busy at the ISHA Meeting Hall building site in Wisconsin. During the last two weeks, the sevadars have been working on a new entrance for the ISHA construction office. Although the volunteers and the Seva projects change over time, one thing remain... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The early varieties of garden vegetables are ripe! Of the 50 varieties planted in June, nearly 10 are already available for harvest, and so our green-thumbed volunteers have been enjoying some delicious salads. After a morning of weeding, these hungry se... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Definition of a weed: A plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth; especially one that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants, such as in a garden. The ISHA garden in Bruce, Wisconsin happens ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The retention ponds at the ISHA property in Wisconsin have attracted an exciting variety of life this year. Today’s blog is an exhibit of some of the creatures that have been seen there lately, as viewed through the lens of local resident Susanne Schroeder.... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar Ji’s garden is planted! A cheerful team of grubby volunteers spent two days in the dirt, planting an amazing variety of vegetables and flowers. This garden is based on the gardens that existed in the early days of the dera in Beas, India, where th... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s been a big week at the ISHA property in Wisconsin. As summer approaches, a team of hardy volunteers has finished preparations for the ISHA vegetable garden. The garden is located at the south end of the property, next to the large retention pond. It is ne... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As the record-setting snowstorms of April have melted into memory, a small group of volunteers has sprung into spring action on Ishwar’s project in Bruce, Wisconsin. It turns out that spring is the perfect time to work on vegetable gardens and trail building. The bugs are st... [read more]
- Dear Friends, For the 50th Construction Chronicles blog, here is a note from Ishwar in appreciation of the immense love and devotion of his friends, who have now donated over $1,000,000 to help build his tribute to Great Master Baba Sawan Singh in Bruce, Wisconsin. A Message from... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As spring approaches, our thoughts turn to the start of construction activities on Ishwar’s building project at the ISHA Meeting Hall in Wisconsin. In great part, the start date will be controlled by the weather and the moisture conditions of the soil. Once the snow melts, a... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of the great advantages of building on a hill is that the basement (also known as the lower level) can actually connect to the land surface. Such is the design of the ISHA Meeting Hall in Bruce, Wisconsin, where people in the basement Dining Hall can walk directly outsid... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog highlights the breathtaking winter beauty of the Bruce, Wisconsin area. Yes, it can be 20 degrees below zero! Yes, there can be 8 feet of snow on the ground! And, yes, the roads and sidewalks can be icy! But the splendor of the landscape radiates through it all... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Among the many outstanding attractions of the beautiful Meeting Hall Dome site on ISHA Hill is that it’s riverside property. Getting to the river, however, can be challenging. From the Dome site, explorers can walk east along "Master’s River Trail" to a bluff tha... [read more]
- Dear Friends, After the construction work shut down for the season, the bare soil on ISHA Hill needed to be protected until work recommences in the spring. This seeding and mulching work was done by a team of sevadars in November and December. First, tractor-drawn equipment was use... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog features a Holiday message from Ishwar! Dear friends, I would like to send you all a warm wish for happy holidays and happy New Year. I am looking forward to 2018 with great anticipation and excitement, for it appears it will be a great year for Spirit... [read more]
- Dear Friends, On most days, volunteers at the dome construction site had lunch in the nearby ISHA office, where they were served a hot, hearty, and healthy vegetarian meal in air-conditioned comfort. However, on occasion, the group was seen gathering for a different... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Today’s blog features a Thanksgiving message from Ishwar. With warmest regards, Paul Bauer Chair of ISHA Building & Fund-Raising Committee Dear Friends, I send you all my love and Great Master’s Blessings on this Thanksgiving ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As many of you know, the ISHA Meeting Hall property contains several shallow, artificial ponds (technically, “infiltration basins”) that are designed to manage storm water runoff, prevent flooding and downstream erosion, and improve water quality in nearby rivers and ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The lower level of the ISHA Meeting Hall dome will contain a circular dining hall capable of seating 200 people at tables. Connected to the dining hall will be a large, keystone-shaped commercial kitchen (approximately 1400 square feet) that will provide all of the space a... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The ISHA website (ishanews.org) is again fully operational, and so the Construction Chronicles Blog has been called back from its extended vacation. The Blog apologizes for its absence, but wants you to know that it is feeling well rested, and is ready to return to wor... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Yesterday was an electrifying day on ISHA Hill, when a tremendous thunderstorm unexpectedly arrived to deliver an amazing blessing of water from above. Sevadars working on the Dome excavation were thrilled by the magical display of light and liquid. The timing of the storm was abs... [read more]
- Dear Friends, There has been a lot of activity on ISHA Hill this week. Most of the work has involved moving large volumes of dirt, which turns out to be much more complicated than one might imagine. Dirt is heavy, and expensive to move, and so it takes specialized equipment and a g... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Part 2 of the Mitti Seva blog features photos of sevadars at work on various projects. Although the afternoon rain storm prevented some seva work, lots of work got done. Picking up branches and sticks in the parking lot provided seva for many volunteers. The wood was placed in a pi... [read more]
- Dear Friends, On September 18, about 170 of Ishwar’s friends gathered with him at the construction site in Bruce, Wisconsin for the annual ISHA-sponsored Mitti Seva event. Here is Part 1 of a photo essay of this special day. Look for Part 2 tomorrow. Preparations bega... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The first phase of summer construction work has just been completed! During the last three weeks, sevadars have excavated the foundation for the Dome Meeting Hall, as well as creating much of the support infrastructure, including building sheds, burning huge piles of brush, instal... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Here are some happy sevadar faces from the last two weeks of work on ISHA Hill. With Warmest Regards,Paul BauerC... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The first phase of digging out the foundation for the Dome Meeting Hall is nearly done. During this phase, the goal was to excavate down to the level of the bottom of the basement wall. The hole is about 110 feet across and 10 feet deep. That’s approximately 3500 c... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Moving dirt is time consuming, expensive, and requires heavy equipment. Therefore, the engineering plan for the excavation on ISHA Hill was carefully designed so that the amount of dirt that is removed from the Hill is equivalent to the dirt that is needed to raise other par... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As we all know, the BIG job this week on ISHA Hill is to dig out the foundation for the Dome Meeting Hall. Here are some photos of that work in progress. The excavator has started to remove material where the Dome basement will be located. Water is sprayed to... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of the many construction tasks at the ISHA Dome Meeting Hall property last week was to install a fence and gate along the front of the property. This lovely sign, which graces the front entrance to the property, was built and installed by sevadars during the mit... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As we all know, Ishwar’s construction project runs on "sevadar power,” an unstoppable and passionate force that transcends this physical plane. Not only are sevadars bound to their beloved by love and devotion, but we also enjoy special personal bonds among ourselves. T... [read more]
- Dear Friends, One of the first jobs undertaken by the Dome sevadars was to build an open shed near the Dome site. This simple wooden shed will be used for things such as: resting in the shade during work breaks; eating lunch; the daily morning safety meeting; and as the first aid... [read more]
- Dear Friends, This gorgeous 50,000-pound CAT 323F L hydraulic excavator is an amazing and versatile machine. We are very fortunate to have sevadars who are expert at operating this machine. The excavator will be essential for digging out the basement and footings for the Dome over th... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Sevadars are sustained by love and devotion, but they also need to eat! The construction workers in Bruce are truly blessed to be supported by an amazing and dedicated team of skilled chefs, who prepare simple vegetarian meals and snacks for all. Most of the foo... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Work has begun on Ishwar Ji’s tribute to Great Master in Bruce, Wisconsin! As the project proceeds, I’ll be blogging much more often … perhaps as much as several times per week. This weekend, sevadars from as far away as California gathered on ISHA Hill to ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA’s team of volunteer construction planners has postponed the start of work until mid July, due to a delay in being able to move the heavy equipment onto the site in Wisconsin. If all goes well, excavation work will begin on July 15, and proceed for about 10 days. At the ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It is with great joy that I can report that construction work will begin in early July on Ishwar’s tribute to Great Master Baba Sawan Singh! If you can help, please email Harjit Sohpaul at RSSB2511@gmail.com. Through the persistence and devotion of ISHA’s... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Great news! ISHA’s architects have delivered the nearly final design drawings for the ISHA Meeting Hall dome! During the last year, the design has undergone some major modifications. The biggest of which is the addition of a full basement to the building. This... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As Wisconsin emerges from an unseasonably mild winter, ISHA’s volunteer builders have begun to plan a schedule for Ishwar’s construction project in Bruce for the upcoming year. Because the winter was so mild, we expect that conditions on the site may allow us to begin work e... [read more]
- Dear Friends, After retiring from military service in 1889, Baba Jaimal Singh built a small hut for himself in a wild area near the River Beas. His disciples would carry water through the jungle to their Master, from a well that was located a mile distant. Several years after Baba Jaimal ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It’s wintertime in Wisconsin, which means no outdoor work can be done on Ishwar’s Meeting Hall project. As I write this blog, the temperature in Bruce is a balmy +30 degrees F (-1 C), but the average January low is 0 degrees F (-18 C), and the record low a frigid -48 degrees F (-44 ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar has told the story of how the dera in India was established along the Beas River, and how the ISHA site in Wisconsin was chosen in a similar way, along the Chippewa River. The ISHA land in Bruce, Wisconsin has riverfront access to the Chippewa River, so here’s some informatio... [read more]
- Dear Friends, After the ISHA-sponsored Meditation Workshop in Menomonie, Wisconsin in September, a group of about 100 volunteers gathered in Bruce, Wisconsin to perform "Mitti Seva" for Ishwar’s building project. The group divided into several teams to work on a variety of projects, including ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Are you curious about the location of Ishwar Ji’s construction project in Wisconsin? Today’s blog contains some fascinating facts on the area. The ISHA Meeting Hall is being built in Murry Township, located in a remote area of Rusk County in northwestern Wisconsin. The nearest co... [read more]
- Dear Friends, The lower construction site, which is the location of the parking lot and kitchen/dining hall, recently had some large pipes installed by a contractor. The pipes will solve a drainage problem by channeling stormwater runoff under the driveway and parking lot, and then eastward towar... [read more]
- Dear Friends, As part of our stormwater permit with the State of Wisconsin, we need to be able to contain all of the rain and snowmelt that fall on our buildings, roads, and parking lots. The ground surface at both sites is shaped so that water is directed to a number of “infiltration basins” aro... [read more]
- Dear Friends, After the ISHA Meeting Hall site was graded and seeded, the rains arrived, and the grass sprouted! The grass growing in the photos below is mostly Oat Grass. Photo of the ISHA Meeting Hall dome site on top of the Hill. The photographer is standing where the dome will be located, ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, After the two construction sites were graded by the team of sevadars, the soil at the sites needed to be stabilized so that rain storms don’t carry sediment into the nearby creek and the Chippewa River. The State of Wisconsin has strict rules that describe how the soil is to be stab... [read more]
- This is the fourth, and final, installment of part of a long letter to Ishwar Puri from the General Superintendent of the ISHA Meeting Hall construction project, Gilbert Garrett. The letter was written after completing a two-week campaign of earthwork activities from June 7 to June 17. A number of v... [read more]
- This is the third installment of part of a long letter to Ishwar Puri from the General Superintendent of the ISHA Meeting Hall construction project, Gilbert Garrett. The letter was written after completing a two-week campaign of earthwork activities from June 7 to June 17. “Ishwar has asked me to... [read more]
- This is the second installment of part of a long letter to Ishwar Puri from the General Superintendent of the ISHA Meeting Hall construction project, Gilbert Garrett. The letter was written after completing a two-week campaign of earthwork activities from June 7 to June 17. THE SECOND CAMPAIGN “... [read more]
- [Please forgive us for the long time between blog posts. ISHA has been migrating its ishanews.org website to a new web host. Stay tuned for lots of new blogs!] This is the first installment of part of a long letter to Ishwar Puri from the General Superintendent of the ISHA Meeting Hall constructi... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA has hired Cooper Engineering of Rice Lake, Wisconsin to serve as our civil engineers for the Meeting Hall dome project. It is essential that all of the project design features be accurately located on the construction site. In addition to the buildings, this includes the roads,... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Yesterday, the construction site was graced by a visit from the Master Inspector! Ishwar was driven to the top of ISHA Hill where he greeted the sevadars and inspected the earthworks. He was very pleased with the progress that has been made. With warmest regards, Paul Bauer ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, This week, ISHA volunteers are engaged in the first actual ground work for the development of the Meeting Hall. Building projects are commonly divided into six general phases: Pre-project decisions. Early in the process, ISHA had to make many decisions, such as what methods ... [read more]
- Dear Friends, It is with great joy that I can report that on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 7, work began on the Ishwar’s Meeting Hall project in Bruce, Wisconsin. This first phase of work includes clearing ground with a bulldozer in preparation for the grading of the building site. In the pho... [read more]
- Dear Friends, Ishwar currently has two buildings planned for the ISHA property in Bruce, Wisconsin. The first is the ISHA Meeting Hall, a 400-seat dome located on top of ISHA Hill. Ishwar has said that he will speak in the Meeting Hall, and as the size of the audience grows, the dome will be used f... [read more]
- Dear Friends, ISHA is happy to announce a new way for you to stay in touch with progress on Ishwar’s construction project in Bruce, Wisconsin. It’s a blog called the “Construction Chronicles." Periodically, I will post updates to this website. You can expect the topics to range widely, from short ... [read more]